Because of the educational rules set by Ugandan government (and I believe many other African governments), the children learn by rote. They learn things so specifically, they can talk for hours without actually knowing what they're saying, they simply make the sounds they have heard in one long never ending sentence. Everything has to be answered by the textbook. Spelling mistakes aren't allowed. For example, answering "What are the names of Adam's son's?" with "...

Here's a little story of African hospitality. I left Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) for Kampala (Uganda) in the early hours of the morning, on a coach that was not the one that was on my ticket. I had been told that the coach I was supposed to be on wasn't coming, and I should get this one and change in Nairobi (Kenya). What can you do? Trust! So on the bus I got and hoped for the best. As the sun began to rise and the vast plains turned into desert, the bus began to...

Transport in Africa is an adventure. And also one of the most common causes of death, just behind malaria and tuberculosis. Out of 100,000 vehicles, about 20 in the UK are involved in fatal accidents, compared to 510 in Kenya. It is highly discouraged to travel at night, and I don't need much pursuading. Boda-bodas (taxi motorbikes) are quite convinced traffic rules don't apply to them, and it is more common for them to ignore a red light than to stop at it. It s...

Our last few days in Uganda were spent relaxing at the beautiful Lake Bunyonyi- 'the place of many little birds.' There, we walked through the local villages, visited the most wonderful grandma on top of a hill, with her pot-bellied grandchildren, dirty and grimey, who hit their pig out of boredom. A place that is so rich in beauty, fresh water and fertile ground, is home to people of such poverty. One girl we met wasn't at school because her grandmother was at t...

Hello! And greetings from beautful Uganda! =) Electricity in Uganda is a luxury. It isn't unusual to go two days without and it doesn't tend to stick around longer than 2 hours on good days. Therefore my blog entries are a little elusive and eratic in appearance. I love Uganda. It has the source of the Nile, lakes, mountains and national parks. It is diverse and fertile and the climate is less extreme than it's neighbours. Unlike Nairobi, Kampala is full of col...