The 291 Suites & Prince Charming

The 291 suites is where I have been living for the last month or so...apparently it is close to swamp land and with that comes frogs and lots of them. Some of them somehow manage to get into the apartments – see example below (frog who took a liking to the desk). Sadly, the one found in my apartment one evening, did not turn into Prince Charming!

 

 

Frogs aside, I have been fairly spoiled staying at the 291 suites. Sometimes there is wifi, most of the time there is water (sometimes it is warm), there is usually electricity and they often show movies in the garden. I guess I shall miss the place, as I am moving into a house this weekend. Not surprisingly, I didn’t choose the house which had pigs in the garden for the purpose of eating the snakes, so I am living in hope that this will be a peaceful home on the bug/creature front...and so begins a new chapter of life in Lira for Adongo...

 Apartments at The 291 Suites

 

Garden at 291

 



 My last weekend staying at 291

 

 

 Leaving do for Judith at The Prince Restaurant (I am moving into Judith's house)

 

 

 

Bugwatch – don’t look if you fear!

For those who mocked me for bringing my spider catchers...check out their multipurpose usage below...

Below is a typical aftermath following an attack of flying ants – they seem to come out to play when it is about to rain at night. They come on mass, fly around for a few hours, then seem to loose their wings, fall to the ground and leave a scene of devastation behind (see below). Photo’s show the morning after, but you will note, not so many bodies in the picture – this is because locals love to eat the flying ants...I tend to stay in doors, lights off (they like light) seeking refuge under the safety of my mosquito net on nights like this – but occasionally one sneaks into the apartment...easily solved by a quick catch in the spider catcher!

 

 

I have no idea what the bugs are in the picture below - but I know I'm not too fond of them. Fortunately, (touch wood), I haven’t seen too many of these in Lira, they tend to hang out in Gulu - as you can see from the picture, they also seem to be shortlived...

 

 

Again, not sure what this is but it took residence outside my hotel room for a few days...

 

 

 

The delightful moth below, luckily wasn’t in my room as it was far too big for the spider catcher (the size of a hand I would say). One or two of his smaller friends have successfully been caught in the spider catcher though.

 

So, still not very good friends with all of the above, but I am coping - the smaller the better as far as bugs are concerned. I even happily fish them out of my drinks from time to time now.

 

 

 

 

Scary “Muno” in the field...

This pic was taken in Otwall (Oyam District), during a visit to CEASOP’s outreach sites. If you look closely at the photo above, you will spot a child hiding in the photo – these were the brave children, the rest literally run away as apparently a white woman with a camera can be a very scary thing – very sorry children of Otwall!

CEASOP trains people in the community and encourages those trained to train others in their community. They can learn trades such as bakery, welding, brick laying & tailoring. CEASOP have proudly succeeded in engaging some women in male dominated courses like BCP and training men in some of the more female dominated courses. Many of those benefiting from the training have had little or no education because of 20years of conflict experienced in Northern Uganda.

 

 An outreach centre

 

Latrines (toilets) constructed by students

 



 The students are using paper to practice their stitching as it is cheaper than material

 

 Bakery class

 

Welding an oven

 

 

Alito outreach centre in the Kole District...

Vocational Training at the CEASOP VTI in Lira...

 

 

 

My new place of work...slight change from the Woolwich Centre...!

I love the peaceful location of the new office, surrounded by chickens, guinea foul, goats, sometimes cows...We have enjoyed many mango breaks under the tree here, sadly mango season is almost over. Still at least I will still get to eat beans every day for lunch – I don’t think that they ever go out of season...

 

 The new CEASOP Office

 

Tea break with some regular visitors

 

The new spacious office

 

 Diana preparing lunch

 

 Lunch is served

 

Rice and beans (no they are not Heinz!)

 

 My new office friends

 

 

The Principal's daughter, also a regular visitor to the office, Fay (8 months)

A cultural trip to Soroti

Northern Uganda isn't very touristy and travelling around isn't all that easy. Here we ventured to Soroti for the day, a town where a fellow volunteer lives. Most of Uganda is predominantly Christian and religion is a big feature of daily life, for example, meetings at work often start with a prayer. I believe that there is a 12% Muslim minority in Uganda - in the picture above, we were welcomed at the local mosque in Soroti.

Another warm traditional welcome, at Ave Maria VTI ...

During the Country Director's Tour of Northern Uganda



Look where I could have been living...

So, this is Agoro (close to the Sudan border), it is a place where I was considering taking a placement before the one in Lira came up. It is a beautiful place, but there really is nothing there, electricity, water, transport are in short supply and the nearest town is quite a drive away on a very muddy road which after heavy rain can at times be impossible to travel on. I believe that the volunteer there was given a village of his own on arrival but has yet to experience the local delicacy of bush rat! A lovely place to visit...

 

 

A fix of the city...

Here are some snapshots from Kampala whilst getting my fix of the city. A few days of shopping – it was supermarket and restaurant heaven after a few months of being based in Northern Uganda. Getting to Kampala can be an interesting experience – or should I say there are some interesting travel companions...the shot below of the chicken is particularly amusing as the girl in the picture was clueless that there was a chicken under her seat. Another time I travelled to Kampala, the hotel staff told me I must take the Post bus – their reasoning “it is safer because they pray first unlike on the other buses - and you need God with you when you travel”. The bus took  an 11hour scenic route (should take 5hours)  - I even received a text message welcoming me to Kenya at one point - not so sure about taking the scenic route in future.

 

 

Above Bus Park in Lira

 

Typical bus journey to Kampala

 

Sunset in Kampala

 



Lake Victoria, Kampala

Jackfruits, an enormous strange looking fruit common in Uganda

VSO on the dancefloor

So back in April, VSO held their annual volunteer & partner forum. It was a fantastic evening with great music and lots of dancing. Sorry, GLLaBettes but VSO can give you a good run for your money on the dance floor! Pictured below are the Lira based volunteers, with Joyce, our VSO Programme Manager and the band that kept us entertained throughout the evening. The two short clips show the band and a volunteer singing with the band.

 

Adongo, finally checking in again...

Almost 4 months here and over 3months since the last update, so on the eve of moving into my new home, it seemed like a good time for an update from Adongo. This is my local name which seems to have stuck - apparently it means to follow twins, the name was given to me as Carly (volunteer in Lira), is a twin, giving her the local name of Apio. Prashanti (other volunteer), has been named Akot, which means rain - as it never stopped raining when she got here!

This photo (myself, Father Christmas & Akot) was taken before leaving Gracious Palace Hotel. I never did find out why Father Christmas stayed there all year round?!