I have compiled a list of foods and services and their prices to put into perspective how much it costs to live in Uganda. All prices are in Ugandan Shillings. 1000 Ugandan Shillings is roughly equal to 80 cents Canadian.

Fruits and Veggies

Pineapple 500-700
Mango 200
Orange’s 3500/Kg
Banana (large bunch) 1000
Tomatoes (about 6) 500
Onions 800
Garlic 6000/kg (big garlic) 3000/Kg (baby garlic)

Drinks

Soda (300ml) 500-1200
Beer (500 ml) 1200-2000
Fresh Juice (small) 500-2000
Water 400-1000
Waragi (without soda) 800-1800

Groceries

Tea (50 bags) 1500
Milk (1 liter) 1800
6 eggs (processed) 2300
30 eggs (farm fresh) 2900
Bread 1500
Peri Peri Sauce 2600-2800
Top up Chili Sauce 800
Towel 12000
Shaving Cream 8000-12000
Deodorant 10000
Shampoo (local bottom shelf) 800
Shampoo (western) 5000-8000
Folks (6) 7000
Butter Knives (6) 14000
Bathroom soap (imperial) 800/bar
Rice 9000/5kg

Meals

Local food (matoke, rice, chapatti, casaba, sweet potatoes, yams, beef, beans, chicken) 1000 – 3000
Hamburger 3000
Chips (French Fries) 1000
Samosa (local kyebando) 50
Samosa (downtown) 500 – 1600
Chapatti (local kyebando) 100
Chapatti (downtown) 500
Meat Pie 1500

Other

30-day phone access card 10000
1 minute to another MTN phone 360
1 minute to North America 2300
1 minute to East Africa 3000
Bathroom Mirror 17000
1 couch, 2 chairs, coffee table, 2 night stands, bookshelf 182000
1 cdr 2500 – 5000
1 cdrw 5000-10000
Box of floppies (10) 7000-10000
Taxi from Kyebando to Taxi Park 500
Taxi from Taxi Park to Kyebando 600
Taxi from Taxi Park to Buziga (Murads house) 600
1988 Mitsubishi Pajero 8500000
Gas (1 liter) 1500
1 day trek of Mountain Gorillas 250 USD
7 day trek of the Rwenzori Mountains 300-500 USD
White water rafting the Nile 65 USD

Just added some new pictures of crazy traffic that happens here on a nightly basis, as well as the toad in the toilet, and some shots of the sky from murads place.

Also I had quite an amazing weekend, when I get a chance to put it to paper I will!

For the last two days Isha was staying at our house. She went with her boss Simon to Kampala from Kihihi. She was very disturbed at the fact how rural it is where she lives, and how far away it is from anywhere. As well she seemed very happy to be back in civilization. Apart from Isha visiting Ali and me have been feeling a little more effective of late.

We have started to work on the SchoolNet Uganda website with a guy from CFI (Computer Frontiers Inc.). Ali and myself are working very much as project managers, designers, as well as consultants for Edwin the CFI employee. There are also many new ideas we have brought to the site, which I think Daniel is quite happy about. It is good to know that we are at least being somewhat useful so far.

Last night as I went to the bathroom before I went to bed I noticed in the middle of the bathroom floor a big toad. I quickly got out the broom and swiped it into the toilet. My goal was to then flush it down the toilet, which I attempted. The frog however was too smart for me and every time I flushed the toilet it would swim its way against the current preventing him from going down the drain. I eventually gave up on him. Today after work we checked in on the toad that was still in the toilet. This time we had a plan though. Ali manned the plunger while I took charge of the flushing, as Ali held the toad down with the plunger I quickly hit the switch and away the toad went down the tub. After that ordeal Ali and me made chapattis. This was the first time for both of us. The first two we made did not turn out to well, but the more we made the better we got. Eventually we were spitting out some very tasty chapatti. We also experimented by added sugar to some of them, which actually made them taste even better. First ever attempt at chapattis I give a big thumbs up!

Ali and myself moved into our house in Kyebando on the 8th of July. Kyebando is located north of downtown Kampala, roughly a 10/15 min drive. In a taxi it costs 500 shillings to get to Kampala, while coming home costs 600. Our house consists of 4 rooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 kitchen, 1 big metal door, 3 detached rooms/sheds, 1 big fence, and 1 big metal gate.

Two of the rooms in the house are used as bedrooms. The other two are used as our living room and our ironing room. The master bedroom (Ali’s Room) is probably the biggest room, which also contains an ensuite bathroom. The other bedroom is a little smaller with a bit less closet space and no bathroom. The living room (or sitting room as they call it here) has two bay doors that open up into the front yard. 2 of the 3 detached rooms are empty, while the 3rd room is for our houseboy Benjamin. A big fence that has glass on top encloses all of these nice buildings. Our front doors, as well as our front gate look as though they came from a prison. Very large heavy objects, with many places for locks. The neighborhood in which this house is located is a very rural area. We have some very nice neighbors, yet since they don’t really speak English and our Luganda is far from conversable we haven’t really gotten to know them all to well. We have met the Vice Local Chair (more to come on the local government etc soon!) and by accident have met the local head of security for the neighborhood. Actually Murad and Me met him on Friday night on our way to Club Silk. He was being extremely friendly so we thought he was just trying to get money from us. Then the next day he came by our house and checked in to see if we got home all right etc. After he left Benjamin informed us on whom he was. And who is Benjamin you must be asking? Well Benjamin is our houseboy. Since Ali and myself could be doing quite a bit of traveling to SchoolNet sites the house could be empty for days on end. SchoolNet thought it would be a good idea to have someone around so that no one would break in etc. As well they also thought it would be nice that Ali and me would have someone to help us keep the place clean, as well to do things like laundry or go to the market. So that is the reason why Benjamin is here, yet you still don’t know WHO he is. Well Benjamin hails from Congo (Zaire) where he was forced to leave due to the civil war. He came to Kampala with his brother about a year ago. He speaks both French and Luganda, but has very limited English, which forces me to rehash all of my high school French. He is 23 years old, enjoys eating matoke on the beach while watching the… Anyways that’s a brief introduction into my new home and neighborhood. Check out the pictures to see how it looks.

I have added a glossary of terms I use that might not be all too common to you back home in Canada. Find the link on the right hand side.

I am currently uploading some new pictures and have added 3 new entries. I have now changed the dates of the 3 entries so that they fall under the date that I actually wrote them rather than the date that I put them on the web. Anyway I will try to get these updates a little more frequent now that I have more chances to access the web.

Today was our first day on the job. We were picked up at our house and preceded to the office. At the office we had a chance to check our email and surf the net briefly. We also got a chance to read reports submitted by schools about problems they are facing with their communication centers.

Most of the problems that I remember reading about have to deal with unstable power supply or hardware failures. After reading the reports we went to go visit a few schools. We visited two schools both very close to the VSO head office. Most of the problems they faced had to deal with overly large class sizes (80 students to 1 teacher) and lack of hardware knowledge. After our visit to those two schools we then went to a school called Makerere College. It is a secondary school located on the campus of Uganda’s (and Africa’s) oldest university, Makerere University. There was a presentation going on there that we were invited to see. It was the launch of a student council guide that was created by schools in Uganda in conjunction with some UK students and the British High Council. During the presentation one of the Ugandan students recited a poem he wrote which was quite well done. I will attach it at the end of this post. Then at the end of the presentation we got to view a traditional song and dance performed by students of the school. One of the students performing was actually our Boss’s son. It was excellent to finally see something traditional and cultural to Uganda. Please find the poem below:

My first night in my new house was a alright, although I didn’t have a great sleep. Waking up constantly due to the mosquito net, the roaches chirping or other strange noises. After waking up I proceeded to have a shower, which I quickly realized was a cold one. No hot water means taking a shower is much like going swimming in the Arrow Lakes in early May. You start by getting your toes and feet used to the water, then slowly work your way up.

When you get to about your knees you start to sprinkle water onto your stomach and chest until your finally ready to just take the plunge into it. Once you’re in the water you are fine, but the initial task of getting in is always a problem. After a lengthy mourning stretch we finally headed off to town. Our houseboy Benjamin walked us to the Matatu’s where we caught the first one in line. It was a beaten old Toyota (they are all Toyota’s) that had seen a lot of rough roads. The white paint was barely visible underneath all of the reddish dirt that had been accumulating over the past few days. The inside of the bus was in similar condition. The seats were worn out and torn, and in some places even the metal underneath was showing. The hand bars separating the driver from the rest of the bus was being supported by a wire attached to the seatbelt holder. The driver of the bus and his call-man were both young men who probably grew up in this very neighborhood. As they sat waiting for the bus to fill the driver of the Matatu chirped out at the locals passing by. Finally once enough passengers had filled the bus we departed. As quickly as the bus began to lurk itself forward, there came a knock on the side of the bus from the call-man bringing the bus back to a full stop. Open slid the side door which no longer had a handle, making the call-man have to reach deep inside the door to actually open it. Outside the door awaited an elderly woman, who quickly hopped into the back of the bus. Again the bus began to jerk itself forward, this time making it maybe a quarter of a kilometer before the knocking came. Again the call-man struggled with the sliding door to get it open, and when he finally did a young man in a fancy shirt and tie hoped in. The bus revved its engine as if it were about to take off again but as soon as it did the knocking came again. The bus returned back to its sitting idle as a very large woman stepped into the bus. With not much room to maneuver the large lady hastily flung her body into the front seat without any regard to the other passengers beside her. Luckily enough the passenger beside her had anticipated her antics and had snuggled up to the passenger by the window. Finally the bus was able to continue on its trek. Bouncing from pothole to pothole the matatu slowly weaved its way down the hill. Up ahead several matatu’s and boda boda’s were parked at a Y in the road. As the matatu approached these other taxi’s it slowed almost to halt as the driver began to chirp back up. He yelped out at the fellow drivers who were sitting there parked. Then continued on to harass the rest of the people on or around the road. It appeared that the driver knew most of the people, and was just doing his park in getting through the day. All the while the driver was chirping away at friends and acquaintances, his call-man was half outside the bus barking out in a monotonous voice the direction the bus was taking. “Kampala, Kampala, Old Taxi Park, Kampala, Kampala” screamed out the call-man. The bus made it only a few more feet before the sound of the knocking came again. This time into the bus pilled a young female in a very summery dress as well as a grimy looking man. With the addition of these two new patrons the bus was officially full which meant the call-mans duties of spotting the pickup were officially over. This also meant that the driver was able to finally drive a lot faster. The bus sped up dramatically bouncing even more heavily from side to side down the dusty road. The matatu’s horn blasted as it zipped past a man on a bicycle. The horn continue to sound as the matatu passed other vehicles as well as people on the street. Finally the bus had made it to the end of the dirt road, but before it could carry on any further it needed some more juice. Without shutting off the engine the driver quickly poured 5,000 shillings worth of gasoline into the tank of the old machine. Into the cab hopped the driver and once again he sped off as he had done so often in the past. The bus raced on now with a new sense of passion. With a bit more fuel in the tank and a nice tarmac road, the bus appeared almost to be in less worse shape than it was. Yet the old matatu couldn’t keep its speed long as the first passenger yelled out, “Mu Maso awo”. The bus slowly came to a halt up ahead, swinging its body off the road and onto the shoulder. The passenger promptly paid the call-man and slid out of the bus. The engine revved and the bus was put into gear speeding off onto the tarmac once again. As the bus got closer and closer into town the more people it continued to drop off, all the while still picking up those who wanted to go further into town. Finally the bus reached the part of town we wanted to be in so I quickly yelled out, “Mu Maso awo!” The bus came screeching to a halt right in front of the building we needed to go to. As I left the bus I dropped a 500-shilling coin into the hand of the call-man and told him thanks. As quickly as I had placed foot outside of the bus it had already began to depart on its quest to and from the taxi park. I thought to myself, “Life is never dull when your source of transportation is a matatu.”

Today we started the day like we start most, waiting. Rose got stuck in meetings all morning so she didn’t get out to Lweza till 12:30ish. Yet I can’t really complain because Rose was doing this for us, and was so patient and helpful all day. After picking us up we went directly to a place called Metro, which is similar to a Costco or a Canadian Superstore

. After spending several hours there, picking up all our household needs (everything from dinner plates to bed sheets) we headed back to our home. We were going to buy furniture for our house but by the time we were out of Metro the bank was closed. Once home we started by unpacking all of the stuff we bought, setting up our beds, and getting supper ready. We cooked up a simple meal of chicken breasts, rice and to drink tea. After dinner we then started the most important mission of the day, extermination. On arrival to the house we knew there were both roaches and lizards living nicely in the house. I could live with lizards if they would eat the roaches, but it seems that they don’t. Anyway we started by going into all the corners and closest and spraying in the DOOM. The spray is actually called DOOM, and it works really well... After killing off most of the roaches we then turned out attention onto the lizards. While they are quite cute, and probably harmless the thought of having one crawl on my face while I am sleeping really made the decision quite easy. Armed with squeegees and brushes we quickly herded these slippery fellows either out the door or into the toilet. The only problem we had was by the sheer speed of these suckers, the fact they tend to blend into their surroundings, and that they can walk on walls ceilings, and floors. In the end we probably removed 80% of these salamander look a likes, which is a good start for day 1. After our crazy expedition (I imagine that is what the locals thought anyway) we decided to pack it in for the night. Tomorrow we shall get furniture and find our way around the neighborhood!

To both Joern and to Agathe. As well just wanted to say sorry for the delay in updates, I have been a little busy with getting my household together and trying to move into the new place.

BTW - I uploaded more pictures from the nile.

This Friday we finally got to meet our employer on our last day of training. We spent the day discussing our roles, and how we are going to proceed in the next coming weeks. After these meetings our employers left, yet one of them was going to come back and pick us up later that night to see off some teachers. These teachers were going to Russia to go to a conference and help promote Uganda, and Schoolnet Uganda.

We meet the teachers at the airport, and them seemed extremely knowledgeable and very excited to have me come to their school in the future. After these meetings it became quite clear that our nice little holiday here at Lweza was quickly coming to an end. In some ways I quite welcomed it, because it meant that I could finally get down to doing some work and actually live here in Uganda.

Friday night was our last night at Lweza (so me and Ali thought), for on Saturday morning we were suppose to get picked up by our employer and taken to our house. We were picked up Saturday morning and were brought to our house. After doing an assessment of what exactly we need to live in the house we waited to be picked up again so we could do some shopping for items we needed to live. We were finally picked up and taken to town. Our first goal was to get curtains which we thought we be a quick process. Anyway time dragged on and on at the textile place. By the time we had arranged to get the fabric as well as the stitching it was already 5pm. We still needed to buy items such as bed sheets, pillows, blankets, kitchen wear, and food. So we decided that the best move would be to go back to Lweza and spend the weekend there. We talked to Rose from VSO (who has been like a mother to us from the start) and she said she would take us shopping for all of the items we will need on Monday. It just goes to show that even the best-laid plans often go astray. Once we are fully moved into our house and feel comfortable I will take some pictures and upload them for you all to see.

Today instead of doing more language training our language/culture instructors took us for a walk in the surrounding area of Lweza. We first went to a disabilities school where students with disabilities are taught things like woodworking, crafts, and/or tailoring. It was good to see that Uganda actually supports the disabled.

This school supports only a few though, and a lot of the times the people that get accepted to the school have had to somehow know somebody, or bride somebody. All in all, the end products of these students were all very nice items. After visiting the school the teacher showed us a plant called a touch-me-not. Whenever you touch it, it will bend down and move out of the way. Next we continued to walk toward the market where we were called many times by young school children a muzungu. It's funny because they will say to you, "How are you?" or "I am fine!" and that is all they know of English because that is all they have been taught. Teaching through repetition.

Good morning sir or madam whichever it may be...

On our way back from the market we walked by a secondary school, and all the kids were staring at us. Finally one of them had the courage to say to us, "Hello". So I responded to her by saying, "Hello, Oli Otya?" which means, "Hello, how are you?" She was so shocked that I knew some Luganda that she went running off giggling after saying "Bulungi" which means "I am fine". It was good to get out with Robert and have him as our personal translator of local Ugandan life.

I am in the process of uploading a bunch of pictures from the last few days. The ones from the Heritage Trail will have a story coming soon, a very interesting story at that! Plus I am uploading a bunch of pictures from our river rafting trip. I will upload more later, I just didn't have enough room on my disc!

Sunday after river rafting and the disappointing Germany loss, we spent a little bit of time in Kampala before heading back into Lweza. We went to the Equatorial Hotel where we sat around the swimming pool and had a few sodas. We noticed that a band was starting to set up equipment and it looked like there was going to be a show tonight.

We were a little disappointed because we needed to head back to Lweza soon to catch dinner and meet a few people. We decided on having one more drink before we headed off. After ordering our drinks from the waiter another man approached us whom we thought was working for the hotel. He informed us that if you stayed passed 5pm you had to pay $3,000 shillings, and since it was already 5:30pm we owed him the money. We asked him why we owed him the money and he said it was because the band is going to be playing and that is the charge to see them. We told the man that we were going to be leaving but he insisted we have to pay him. We eventually paid him the money. When the waiter returned with the drinks we asked him if we should have paid seeing that we were going to be leaving before the music actually starts, and he said that we shouldn't have paid, and that the man did not work for the hotel but rather for the band. We went back to the man and asked him for our money back, but he wouldn't budge. He started making up lies and covering up to the waiter, and was definitely not going to give us the cash back. We decided that we should not let this man get the best so we asked to see the manager. After a long wait the manager of the restaurant finally shows up. After explaining to him the whole situation we were able to FINALLY get our money back. When we left the hotel we all received some very nasty stares from the band manager. This was a good lesson for all of us to not give our money away too quickly and to ask more questions as to why we are paying. It would have been so easy for us to just walk out of the hotel without trying to get our money back. It feels good to have been able to solve a problem like that.

This weekend me, Kate, John, Isha, and Jamie went to Bujagali Falls on the Nile River to do some river rafting. The rapids on the Nile are extremely large and are rated as high as 5 (out of 6). I had been rafting once before in Whistler on level 1 and 2 rapids. The rafting on the Nile was simply amazing, we went off waterfalls, through huge waves, and got really wet.

Our guide was an extremely funny guy who actually owns the company we are rafting with (Equator Rafting). In between the rapids we would always have a chance to hope into the water and swim down current in the Nile. It is such a beautiful river with so much to see, and so much wildlife. The water is actually quite warm and made the day just perfect. After the 6 hours of rafting, the crew took us back to the campsite where they had just barbequed up a ton of fish for us to eat. It was some of the best fish I have eaten in years. After the Barbeque we spent some time chatting with some British folk in the bar. All in this entire rafting trip was an absolutely fantastic. I am glad that I splurged a little to do this because it was such an amazing trip.