Last week we chilled out a lot more and only indulged in alcohol on a couple of nights in comparison to the pretty much every night previously!

I've continued with attending the orphangae, which I love. It still amazes me that the children are so content with merely the simplest of things. Playing outside entertains them all day and playing with the most basic of toys is seemingly enjoyable to them. I can't tell you how many times I have had to sing 'round and round the garden to them' or playing 'gimme five' with them. They are just entertained for hours. The children are so hardy as well. If they fall over they get straight back up and carry on playing...they play bare foot...when it's lunch time they sit down and eat quietly, with very little fuss, wash their hands and head for an afternoon nap. It really puts into perspective how much cotton wall kids are wrapped in at home and how children can enjoy the most basic of things without a fortune being spent on them!

All the staff are lovely at the home as well. They are so happy to discuss their family life and the struggles that they have endured. They also want to know more about England and my god what a difference it is.

The most striking different between here and back home is the attitude of people. The people here are so friendly. There isn't a day when you don't walk past people and and they say hello are the children don't wave and scream muzungu at you...I swear on some occasions I have actually felt like the pied piper!I think when I get home, I will actually miss people not shouting affectionate things at me on the street! I've explained to some of the people that in England if you said hello to somebody on the street that you don't know you are considered strange, many finding this attitude so strange and uncomprehendable! The way people and communities stick together and help each other out is also so warming and quite enviable when you compare life at home.

I've continued visiting schools and the prison today - the latter continuing to probably be the most emotional of the visits that I've made. Every time I go I continue to be overwhelmed by the womens attitudes to life and admire their strong belief and faith in religion. They have nothing and yet they do not want for anything and are simply grateful for me continuing to visit them and buy some of their items, which are most beautifully made and yet so inexpensive.

I also went out with a hospice last week - a programme that was exactly like I wanted to get involved with when I got out here. The hospice provides palliative care to terminally ill people unable to access hospitals due to their illness and the distance they would have to travel to seek medical care.

We went out into the villages and initially saw patients at the medical centre. The first patient has cancer of the colon but despite being terminally ill still finds the energy and goodness to seek other people in the village who desperately require assistance - hopefully you will now understand what I mean about people sticking together! The second was a gentleman who had suffered from cancer of the leg but has since had it amputated but is still seen by the hospice as it is just not medical care which they provide but support in respect of their emotional welfare, cultural and social welfare. His wife left him and he know considers that he will never be able to find another woman.

I also went and did some home visits and went with a nurse and another lady who works for an African organisation providing assistance and training in respect of carework. She told me that in Africa they are now trying to structure the way that hospices work. Her presence was invaluable in regards to my understanding of what was going on and also in respect of the way hospices and medical care works in Africa in general. Most people who are diagnosed with cancer will be terminally ill. Medical care is expensive here and few can access or afford it. The work the hospice does is therefore invaluable. Not only does it provide medical care but also emotional support. They ask for a mere 5000shillings, which is about two pounds sixty as a contribution for the drugs and assistance but should any be unable to afford it I think it highly unlikely care would be refused. During the home visits I met a two men with HIV, one refusing to take any medication due to the fact that his faith is so strong he believes that god will help and also anxious about the effect of western medicines. I also met several other people with cancer...all patients being incredibly thankful for the work the hospice does and also so welcoming to me in to their homes. I'm going out with them again next week but attending the hospital and doing further home visits. Shem, the organiser, would like me to see as much of what the hospice does as I can and I will take full advantage of their hospitality.

But me warned people, I will be seeking you financial assistance at some point as a few of us are intending to set up a charity to help to continue to fund the hospice and assist in meeting their well worthy visions for the future.

I also attended an introduction ceremony last weekend. Me and a lad I live with, Luke, went to another nearby town for the event. Luke has been coaching the football team and one of the player's sisters is getting married. It is therefore customary to have a ceremony to introduce formally the families to one another. We both purchased traditional clothes...the photos of us being particularly special! We headed to Iganga on Friday afternoon, intending to set off at 4pm but in typical African style leaving at about 6ish...maybe I was an African in a past life and have retained their time keeping?!

I don't know how many brothers and sisters I met when we arrived but I know it was a lot, Raj's father having married 5 women and fathered 20 children! We went to the nearby pub...a room with a few chairs scattered around and looked in at the local cinema - a room with a television and chairs lined up in front of it!

Night out at the pub!

We stayed in Iganga, although having only a few hours sleep given out attendance at the local club, another very special attendance! The clubs are becoming strangely enjoyable and I must say that I am really learning to appreciate hip hop and Akon! I must say it is really easy to spot friends in the clubs though given there are so few white people...a real advantage actually!!!

On the Saturday, despite being absolute shattered, I probably had one of my best days here. We got to the village and family home where the ceremony was to take and where the cooking had seemingly being started incredibly early. We both enjoyed a cup of african tea, which is so amzingly sweet and which I had to force down to me polite. We were also given this root vegetable, the name of which escapes me all the time, something else I struggled to eat but was saved by a trip to the nearby market.

The market was wicked...we visited every aspect of it from seeing the animals tied up ready for slaughter, to the hardy flip flops made from tyres to the food ready to eat. We were bought yams to try, something else I've learnt I'm not a fan of, chicken, which was so incredibly fresh and tasty and liver, which I would never usually eat but was just so tasty.

When we returned Luke did the typical man thing of doing very little but sitting and talking whilst I helped with the cooking. The food is cooked outside in small fires in huge pots surrounded by flys, the knives being used to cut raw meat one second and tomatoes the next.

Assisting with the cooking

When we got ready the shower I was taken to was merely water in a jug to be poured used in a little bricked area. Needless to say I have not become that comfortable with African life that I took a proper shower seemingly concerned as to the random people just aimless walking around in the garden...although I have been forced to use the drop toilets which were horrid but necessary!

The ceremony was lengthy and hot but amazing! Both Luke and I were involved in it throughout. I was paraded around the central maarquee with the other woman, dancing to the music - the purpose of such being a task for the future husband to pick out his future wife from the women.

Parading at the Introduction ceremony

Luke had to offer drinks to the husband's family and also receive gifts...those included baskets of fruit, bags of flour and animals, both dead and alive...a bag with a hoof pocking out being a definite give away of a slaughtered animal!

The ceremony lasted for about three hours - probably the time it will take you to read this ridiculously long blog! We ate once it had concluded and when darkness had fallen thus necessitating us to eat the food in the darkness and obviously with out hands. Although it would have been nice to see what we were eating, it was definitely an experience to try food and not have a clue what I was eating and thus being forced to try everything.

Done very little since Saturday actually. It poured down with rain yesterday, not the best situation when you're on the back of a boda in a 5pound primark dress! Just chilled out today having been at the orphanage and probably heading up the Bujagali to the bar at the camp site there to see a few of the girls who left last week before they leave tomorrow. Saw them last night, which was such a good night, and realised how much I'd missed then actually having only known them for two weeks. It's bizarre at how quickly you get to befriend people here...many it feels like I've known for ages and not just 3 weeks!

Must go now as everyone else has gone and it's dark outside and food is calling me!

Happy reading!

written by  Laura_Smith on June 29, 2009 from Jinja, Uganda
from the travel blog: Laura's little summer break
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oh laura, you and your toilet experiences!!! I always giggle when I think of Halkadiki!!!

Sounds like you are having an amazing time, I am insanely jealous and waiting eagerly for these photographs!! :)
looks like we're going to have a very long lunch when you get home, as there's already so much to talk about!!
Take care chick
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written by  Lindsey Neary on June 29, 2009

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Hi Laura, we are all follwing your travels at Harwich,seems amazing keep up with the blogs

written by  Geoff Smith on July 7, 2009

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