Thursday March 17th
Last night we uploaded 3 photos into Photobucket.com. We can only put a 2/3 in as it takes bout 4 minutes to upload each picture.
But you will find us in the albums Julie.lorraine.uganda.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE NEW PHOTOS.


The days here now are cool and grey with a chill in the air at night and we are putting a blanket on our beds where previously we could barely tolerate a sheet. The blankets have pictures on them flowers, scenes or animals. Lorraine’s has a horse on it but interestingly I am sleeping under a strange vision of the Virgin Mary! The colours are a rather odd limey green and she is wearing a blue cloak with white spots on it, she has her hands in prayer and a crown on her head so we think we have made the correct identification. Let’s hope she keeps an eye on us until we get home.
We felt we had a good day with the students today. They are getting used to us and as we were doing management of severe special needs we had some practical demonstrations so we had some joining in with circle time and gave them a rousing version of “Row, row row your boat” ! Explaining sensory toys and treasure baskets is a challenge. Schooling here is very formal and the children are expected to sit in rows and learn by rote.
We have had one of our usual days around the hospital. It is an interesting place. As we have said the relatives have to stay around the grounds to look after the relatives in hospital, do their washing and prepare meals. They sleep in the open air balconies that run right round the hospital; this gives some shelter from the rain at night. Generally they are not allowed to stay there in the day time and there are security guards who check the relatives into the wards. For us it is quite an adventure to go to the toilet. Upstairs in some office corridor hangs THE KEY for the staff toilet. So we have to go upstairs and see if it is there. Lorraine hangs out in the corridors to mug doctors who have the key to get it back. It’s the only the toilet which has any paper.
The room where we are teaching has no lights and sometimes early in the morning or if the rain clouds are coming it can get quite dark and it helps to put the projector on as it gives us some light. A couple of days ago one of the more senior doctors brought a hospital workman in to tell him there was no light. As there have been no lights for many months and as things move very slowly we are not expecting any change in this situation. When we were in the Dean’s secretary’s office we had noticed a poster that said “PUSH” which then explained Pray Until Something Happens. We now know that’s how Uganda works and what we need to do!
This evening we have lots of rain and thunder.
Very dramatic and continuingly cool temperatures.

Friday March 18th.

End of a perfect week!! It was brighter this morning but the rains are turning the dust into red mud and have to be negotiated along with water filled potholes.
With the students today we finished introducing AAC and they enjoyed the video about AAC and particularly the high-tech users case studies.
In the afternoon we started Dysphagia. On the journey home we got very wet as and when we got home we filled containers with water as “when it rains the water goes off”.
Tomorrow we are going to the city centre with our reliable taximan Fred who will pick us up at the end of the day. In the night we were woken up with very heavy rain on out tin roof which lasted 3/4 hours accompanied by loud thunder.
Saturday March 19th
It was raining in the morning at first but cleared up very quickly. Fred arrived as promised and pointed out landmarks and buildings on our journey into the city of Kampala. He dropped us off outside Nandos another well-known land mark. The plan was to try and change our travellers’ cheques and it proved very difficult. We went to three large banks and none of them could help us. In the end we found a money exchange bureau which was an Asian based company who were happy to help us. So now we had money for shopping but very few places to spend it that we could see. After that little saga of two hours duration we treated ourselves to coffee and muffins in Nandos and used a toilet without a key! We had a street map of Kampala, as Fred advised that we didn’t ask anyone the way. Kampala is so busy and crossing the road is a gamble as they don’t tend to take any notice of the traffic lights, particularly the boda-bodas. Julie, of course, navigated us up Parliament Avenue past the smart Parliament building to the National Theatre compound. Lorraine thought she recognised the parade of shops opposite the theatre thinking that this was where she had her hair cut when she first came to Uganda as a child. It was a real feeling of deja-vu so she took a photo to look at later with her family.
The compound has a craft village of about 35 small stalls of African crafts from batiks to baskets, carving and drums. We spent a happy hour and a half shopping and browsing amongst the stalls. We had a lovely chat with a lady who loves David Beckham and she also knew about Wayne Rooney. We were able to update with the news that Victoria Beckham was expecting a baby girl and she was very pleased to have this news! She asked why we were in Uganda and she thanked us for coming and helping.
In another stall we had a laugh with some ladies who suggested that we should have a t-shirt with “Musunga …..is not my name” on. Musunga is the Ugandan name for white person which we frequently hear used. They thought it would be funny for us to wear them but we politely declined!
Having spent the house-keeping Fred brought us home for a well-deserved cup of tea.