Good evening everyone,
Missionary Ventures GB conferences are next week so today I went to post the new brochures for the programme, the shopping mall I went to was extremely quiet as people are staying away from the malls as Kampala is on red alert due to the threat of a terrorist attack after the attack in Kenya a few weeks ago. . The staff in the shops are all at work and the police are out in force, the guards at the shopping malls are diligent in searching cars and people entering any public place, we pray for peace and safety for everyone in Kampala.
Pat
Tuesday 29 October 2013
Friday 25 October 2013
Good afternoon everyone, Not been in touch for a while, been busy travelling into the villages training. It has been an interesting time as I have taken muzungus with me on the training course which I do not do very often. It is good to have different pairs of eyes and ears to evaluate the work and get a different perspective. The travelling into the villages was quite scary as it is the rainy season and one road was impassable so we had to go a longer way round from the town to the village, the road of which I must say was not AI. My visitor took a video of me getting stuck in a rut in the road which will be posted soon on U Tube, watch this space!
When I start a new training I always meet the officials of the town, the pastor of the church, my trainers in that area on a preparation visit. I took a muzungu, David, with me and we were invited to my trainers
( Charles) home for a meal. Charles has been a volunteer working with me for 7 years, amazing.With it being David's first visit to a village home he was asking lots of questions of Charles and it was very interesting that when he asked Charles why he was still working with me as a volunteer Charles replied that 'as I had never given him any money the programme continued' To understand this statement I need to explain that in Uganda many projects and training programmes are started, the people are paid to attend and all is well until the money runs out, if that happens the people stop taking part in the programme so it all folds, because I had not given the trainers any money in the first place, the situation of it running out has not occurred therefore the programme has continued.What a statement !!
The programme teaches people hygiene and sanitation practices in their homes and it was so gratifying for me to be shown an animal shelter that Charles was building, hens and goats had been kept in the family home at night but now would have their own 'home' The danger there is the snakes coming at night to eat the animals, each situation has its own hazards.
Charles also showed us a bush he had planted next to his latrine ( toilet) which is now used as toilet paper, The very soft leaves of these particular bush is an improvement on the use of hands which reduces the danger of contracting Cholera, Typhoid to name just two.
On a lighter note when driving to Charles home we came to a field David was astonished when I drove across it but that is what you do when travelling in the bush!.
Life here is SO different to life in the UK I hope I am giving you a flavour of life here particularly in the villages. There is so much variety of life styles in Uganda, life is never boring, sometimes very frustrating, you have to learn the art of patience but there is always something different happening.
Thank you for reading this blog.
May you have a peaceful weekend,
Pat
When I start a new training I always meet the officials of the town, the pastor of the church, my trainers in that area on a preparation visit. I took a muzungu, David, with me and we were invited to my trainers
( Charles) home for a meal. Charles has been a volunteer working with me for 7 years, amazing.With it being David's first visit to a village home he was asking lots of questions of Charles and it was very interesting that when he asked Charles why he was still working with me as a volunteer Charles replied that 'as I had never given him any money the programme continued' To understand this statement I need to explain that in Uganda many projects and training programmes are started, the people are paid to attend and all is well until the money runs out, if that happens the people stop taking part in the programme so it all folds, because I had not given the trainers any money in the first place, the situation of it running out has not occurred therefore the programme has continued.What a statement !!
The programme teaches people hygiene and sanitation practices in their homes and it was so gratifying for me to be shown an animal shelter that Charles was building, hens and goats had been kept in the family home at night but now would have their own 'home' The danger there is the snakes coming at night to eat the animals, each situation has its own hazards.
On a lighter note when driving to Charles home we came to a field David was astonished when I drove across it but that is what you do when travelling in the bush!.
Life here is SO different to life in the UK I hope I am giving you a flavour of life here particularly in the villages. There is so much variety of life styles in Uganda, life is never boring, sometimes very frustrating, you have to learn the art of patience but there is always something different happening.
Thank you for reading this blog.
May you have a peaceful weekend,
Pat
Tuesday 24 September 2013
Good morning everyone,
On Saturday I had two Ugandan families for tea which we all enjoyed and they were on Muzungu time!
One Sunday I once invited a family to lunch after church, they told me 5 people would be coming at 2pm. I left church early to prepare the meal then waited for them to arrive, and waited, and waited. At 5pm a pickup came through the gate with 9 people on board Ugandan time! I had to quickly cook more rice, cut the chicken pieces in half etc. This is life in Uganda. When you are invited to a Ugandan home for a meal many times the host will only start cooking when everyone arrives as they never know how people will turn up so you have always to be prepared for a long wait, however the host will feed you snacks whilst you wait, sometimes you think they give you so much that you can think that is your meal. I have learnt to sit back, have plenty of time to spare and just enjoy the event. Ugandans are very hospitable people and give high importance on how they look after visitors and many times I have been told that I do not eat enough when with them but I just cannot physically eat all that they serve. I always remember being in a village where a small child in rags came up to me to give me a passion fruit, that is the nature of these people.
Ugandans eat a very high carbohydrate diet, little meat and practically no vegetables. The soil is so fertile here that greens grow wild, the culture has grown up believing that if you eat greens you are poor as they are so plentiful and nobody wants to be labelled poor. The meal will consist of more than 2 different types of carbohydrates sometimes 5 /6, I cooked 2 types for my Ugandan visitors at the weekend and realised that my tiny kitchen is totally inadequate for cooking a varied menu. I went on the hunt for some form of work surface to put on my kitchen verandah to ease the burden of where to place all the crockery needed for such a meal, yes I have a verandah outside my kitchen, the space would be more effective inside the kitchen. Ugandans mainly cook outside on charcoal stoves so when they build houses to rent to Muzungus kitchen space is not a high priority.
As I have mentioned I went on the hunt for extra work surface to put on the verandah, nothing is that straight forward in Uganda but that is a story for another time. Have a good day.
Pat
On Saturday I had two Ugandan families for tea which we all enjoyed and they were on Muzungu time!
One Sunday I once invited a family to lunch after church, they told me 5 people would be coming at 2pm. I left church early to prepare the meal then waited for them to arrive, and waited, and waited. At 5pm a pickup came through the gate with 9 people on board Ugandan time! I had to quickly cook more rice, cut the chicken pieces in half etc. This is life in Uganda. When you are invited to a Ugandan home for a meal many times the host will only start cooking when everyone arrives as they never know how people will turn up so you have always to be prepared for a long wait, however the host will feed you snacks whilst you wait, sometimes you think they give you so much that you can think that is your meal. I have learnt to sit back, have plenty of time to spare and just enjoy the event. Ugandans are very hospitable people and give high importance on how they look after visitors and many times I have been told that I do not eat enough when with them but I just cannot physically eat all that they serve. I always remember being in a village where a small child in rags came up to me to give me a passion fruit, that is the nature of these people.
Ugandans eat a very high carbohydrate diet, little meat and practically no vegetables. The soil is so fertile here that greens grow wild, the culture has grown up believing that if you eat greens you are poor as they are so plentiful and nobody wants to be labelled poor. The meal will consist of more than 2 different types of carbohydrates sometimes 5 /6, I cooked 2 types for my Ugandan visitors at the weekend and realised that my tiny kitchen is totally inadequate for cooking a varied menu. I went on the hunt for some form of work surface to put on my kitchen verandah to ease the burden of where to place all the crockery needed for such a meal, yes I have a verandah outside my kitchen, the space would be more effective inside the kitchen. Ugandans mainly cook outside on charcoal stoves so when they build houses to rent to Muzungus kitchen space is not a high priority.
As I have mentioned I went on the hunt for extra work surface to put on the verandah, nothing is that straight forward in Uganda but that is a story for another time. Have a good day.
Pat
Sunday 22 September 2013
Sad news today,
Our thoughts and prayers are with our neigbours in Kenya as they try to resolve the terrorist attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, our prayers are with the relatives of the people who have died, those injured and those people still held as hostage.We pray also for the security forces as they deal with this attack and the hospital staff caring for all the injured.
Our thoughts and prayers are with our neigbours in Kenya as they try to resolve the terrorist attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, our prayers are with the relatives of the people who have died, those injured and those people still held as hostage.We pray also for the security forces as they deal with this attack and the hospital staff caring for all the injured.
Thursday 19 September 2013
African Time
Africans say, “The whites have the watches but the Africans
have the time.” Meaning the whites are always running around watching the
time, whereas to the Africans relationships are more important than time. This
creates the saying “Muzungu (white person) time and African time.”
I train trainers and I will tell them we work to Muzungu
time, and they are learning!
It also can be difficult to set a time for an appointment. On Tuesday I spoke on the telephone with an African
gentleman (George- not his real name) who wanted to meet me on Wednesday.
George: Good afternoon
Madam, How are you?
Me: Good afternoon, I am fine thank-you, how are
you? (greetings are so important in Africa)
George: We can meet
Wednesday at 2:00pm.
Me: No, Sorry, I cannot make that, but I can make
Thursday.
George: We can meet
at 3:00pm Wednesday.
Me: No sorry, I cannot make that, but I can make Thursday.
George: We can meet at 4:00pm on Wednesday.
Me: Sorry,
Can’t make 4:00pm Wednesday.
To complete this conversation I finally agreed to meet at 5:00pm
on Wednesday
.
No way was George going to wait to meet me until Thursday.
Monday 16 September 2013
Welcome to my blog
Hi everyone, I am Patricia Crook, National coordinator for a Health Preventative Training Programme in Uganda. I have been living in Uganda for 11 years and have realised that so much happens here it is good to share with you all my experiences of living in Africa. I have started this blog so that I can share with you the events, humorous and otherwise. A sense of humour is very necessary living in Africa, I live in the city of Kampala, it is untidy, noisy, chaotic traffic, on Africa timeline!!!but I love it.Every day is different, I have been here such a long time but every day I either learn something new or put 'my feet in it' BIG TIME.
Today I am working in my office which is in my garage, the work I do involves training Ugandans to teach their fellow neighbours and communities in the rural areas, that involves me travelling around the country in my faithful car, (that everyone recognises now) I drive myself which is an experience.
The car didn't make it this time! but I am fortunate in having an extremely helpful mechanic, he came on the bus from Kampala to rescue us.
More news soon
Today I am working in my office which is in my garage, the work I do involves training Ugandans to teach their fellow neighbours and communities in the rural areas, that involves me travelling around the country in my faithful car, (that everyone recognises now) I drive myself which is an experience.
More news soon
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