food glorious food?

Food is one of those central things here,people eat a lot,and fairly regularly.
breakfast is usually a light affair eggs, sausages, bread and jam and tea or instant coffee,there is always some fruit.In the middle of the morning there is tea or coffee or porridge(maize meal soup) and toasties or chapatis or fried cassava,and groundnuts. Lunch is a monster meal matooke(mashed up steamed green bananas) which has the consistency of mashed spud but less, if possible, nutritional value! rice boiled to extinction,beans , generally excellent, mashed spud(irish), and soup probably originally meat. There is also a pink sauce which is made from ground nuts.Meat is usually cooked to death so tapeworms are avoided,and pork(or goat) served up crispy as a muchomo,or kebab.The evening meal is usually much as that at midday only slightly smaller quantities.The volunteers all tried cooking yesterday and actually it wasn't at all bad,if for no other reason than Ugandans traditionally dont use oil and we also had a Phillipino and an Indian who did their own culinary thing with fish and eggplants.Ugandans also eat lots of fruit which is fabulously fresh and cheap.
What was missing was the occasional insect,not just visiting but deliberately included;at road junctions and rugby matches men and others wander round with tupperware boxes with odd things in them,Grasshoppers,a great treat!(and now you know what happened to all that Tupperware)
When it rains and you leave a light on so arrive vast numbers of flying ants which in the morning have all shed their wings and expired. Eva our lady what 'does'collects them up and hands them to Joseph the factotum ,guard and everything else who washes them ,fries them and they then tuck in . There are several different types of ant, some ants ,some termites, some just things that fly,Eva tells me that they are all very tasty and recommended, as are grasshoppers and if I buy some would I bring some for her? I tell her that people in some parts of Africa eat locusts.
"OOH," she says," locusts,oh no urgh.!"

I'm not sure about grasshoppers!

And here are the hippos and buffalo. Rob says I must mention that this very exciting and luxurious trip was only possible using his hard earned savings, not my meagre VSO allowance. They do say however, that I married well!!

Boat trip in Queen Elizabeth National park on the Kazinga Channel between Lake Edward and Lake George (all sounds so African??). It was a great trip and we saw hippo, buffalo and this elephant!

Easter break

The albertine rift, extending from the north of Uganda through Rwanda and all sorts of other bits.The drive from Kampala is about six hours, four to Fort Portal (General Portal not a gateway) then two down the escarpment ;186 hairpin bends, ok as long as you don't meet a lorry coming the other way.What you do meet are Toyota Corrolla's with twelve passengers and pickups loaded with stuff and stacked high with people,or is it loaded with people and stacked high with stuff (matooke grain goats water fuel all at once). In the far distance you can see the Ssemliki Plateau and rainforest, where we are heading. Lovely walk but sadly the chimps had left their nests, probably because it was raining!

Ggaba Demonstration Primary School

This is Primary Five Class (P5) children of around 10+ years old as some have joined late or not passed end of term exams to move up to P6. On this day there were 107 children present all squashed 5 or 6 to each bench. They stand to greet each visitor "This is P5 class, welcome to our visitor, please feel at home!" They then wait for a response. When I say, "thank you please sit" they giggle and sit! On the following day I returned to observe teaching practice students to find many children heading away from school. The class size had shrunk to a mere 68!! On making enquiries I was told that it was time to pay school fees and they were on their way home! There is Universal Primary Education here but they still have to pay fees. This school at least has buildings with roofs and concrete floors, no glass in the windows though and a play area which would not pass health and safety back home!