More Uganda updates!

Time is just flying by! I know it’s because there is so much we have to do before going home AND so much we want to do! Since I updated you last time, I have learned a few things. Among other, the possible reason for the juice we drink in the morning having a bizarre taste and colour as the label on it says: “Manufactured by: Excel chemicals”! I felt a bit more relaxed when reading that it only contained “permitted food colours and flavours”... ;o)

Last week we prepared our in-depth interviews for the 2 groups we have already visited. We went back to the first Thursday which turned out to be a very interesting day. We each did an interview with a group member (with the help from interpreters) and then Sophie and Sara went on to interview another member while I went with Cotilda and the chairman of the group to his house where he showed us the groups pineapple winery.


The Community facilitator and the chairman of the group.
And of course we had to taste it.


Me and Cotilda enjoying a class of pineaple wine!

Later the others joined, the community facilitator got a little bit drunk emptying the half full glasses we left on the table. Hilarious! And interesting to discovery a picture of us and the chairman from our visit 2 weeks earlier on his wall! (In the upper right corner)


The next day (Friday) we finally went to Kampala. We got a lift with one of the employees at our organisation and arrived at our hotel around noon. We decided to immediately go to the big mall 5 min away to have lunch and check out the supermarket! And we all got a bit high on buying each a pair of shoes/sandals! Thus the kissing of the elephant ;o)

Later that evening as we were waiting for Matilda and Lisa (two other girls from our class who are also in Uganda, although in another part) we tasted the different beers available at the hotel and maybe got a little bit drunk. A great evening with many intelligent discussions!

Saturday I was a bit hung over and my stomach was upset about something I ate the day before, but we (Sophie, Sara and I) went on a walk through town, had pizza (!) for lunch, took a nap and then went to see a show on the National Theatre. It was performed by high school students and was a mix of traditional dancing, singing and a hilarious although long play. Then all 5 of us went to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. Good, but not as good as the one in Dar es Salaam where I celebrated my birthday last year!

Sunday we did some final grocery shopping (as the supermarkets in Masaka don’t have cheese!) and then began our mission of getting back to Masaka. We ended up on a bus, paid to Mbarara even though we were only going to Masaka, but what did we know! (And they knew we didn’t know!) Waited inside the bus for about an hour (like a sauna full of people selling pants!) but finally went on a death race to Masaka!

Kampala city centre

Yesterday we went to do the in-depth interviews with the 2nd group which went a little bit more according to our plans (meaning no wine!).

While waiting for Sophie to finish her interview I entertained the kids in the village by simply looking at them as they were all scared of me (the Mzungu!). Some were braver than others and even dared to touch we when I stretched out my hand, while some started crying/screaming when getting to close to any of us!... When I wanted to take a photo of Sophie all the kids wanted to be in it as well and one woman even took her child and placed him next to Sophie which he didn’t particularly enjoy.

But we have now completed all data collection for the first school assignment and for the rest of the week we are focussing on getting our background information and data collection methods ready for the actual thesis data collection. We have to have the survey questions ready tonight! The clock is ticking, only 39 days until I’ll be going to South Africa to meet Martin!! I feel a little bit stressed but at the same time, I can’t wait. Time is a funny thing...

Oh, forgot to say: Keep posting comments! I LOVE reading them! Take care

Part 2!

Have you read part 1? If yes, please proceed ;o)

They have built a model of how a small scale farmer’s plot should look like, with everything from the house, animals, rain collector and of course the small agroforestry area where they demonstrated how a field with banana trees could be improved by planting some tobacco to keep insects away, trees to provide shade for the bananas and to provide timber, vanilla to do provide certain nutrients to the soil, and so on! So simple, but really good for the farmer’s income and the environment.

They even had built a toilet that separated human poop and pee to use as fertiliser, but it was not used here as the farmers living on the demo plot thought it was going over the limit ;o)

Among the crops they had coffee plants, and even though I hate the taste of coffee I really enjoy looking at the plant ;o)

Coffee beans!


We even bought a grafted (two species put into one, you can see the piece of tape holding them together) avocado plant that we named Ms Njo njo. She will be planted in our garden as soon as we get some sandy dirt and some manure!

Friday we went to Kajjalubanda to do our 2nd field visit.


The children playing around while we were interviewing the farmers/their parents.

Sara overlooking the focus group, helped by our supervisor Cotilda. And Sophie interviewing a farmer with the help of Teddy translating into Luganda.

The focus group.

Here, the farmers have had their savings meeting, we have done our focus group and interviews and now Cotilda is giving her comments to the group regarding its performance.

Unfortunately, it is not all peachy here at the moment. When we got to the office Friday, before going to the field, we heard that 3 people were killed in Kampala during riots on Thursday, which is why we are not in Kampala this weekend as we had planned to be. And when we got back from the field visit, the guard at the office told us that there had been gunfire in Masaka while we were away. So we went straight to our house and stayed in the rest of the day. Yesterday we were told by the guard from the office that everything was peaceful now, so today we went to the Tropic Inn hotel, had a nice breakfast, swam in the pool and worked on the tan. Now I have to go as I just got the pancake with icecream I've ordered ;o)

Overall, despite riots, we are progressing well and enjoying being here. It doesn’t feel unsafe as we haven’t heard or seen anything ourselves and everybody else appears to be out and around as normal except.
Oh, and 9 more mosquito bites... 6 of them acquired in less than 5 minutes while working at the office. It’s unacceptable!

Byebyo! (That’s all!)

Everyday life... Plus some fun!

Part 1!
First of all, we have finally gotten our computers hooked up to the Internet at the office! Progress! Since last time a few things have happened, so here is a short chronological debriefing:

Every morning offers a wonderful view over the Masaka valley, but some mornings are more beautiful than others, like this one!


Last Friday we went to a BBQ at the Danish NGO/Café Frikadellen, where I fell in love with a guy. Don’t remember his name, but anyhow he was a bit too young for me as he was only 22 months old. But so chocolately adorable and already a master at flirting ;o)

On Saturday we booked a car and went to Lake Nabugabo ½ hour away. We went to a part named Sand Beach, despite the fact that there were no sandy beaches but only grass… Well, the bottom of the lake was sand…

Anyway, the lack of sandy beaches did not make the day any less perfect!

Among other trivial things I have read “101 days” by Åsne Seierstad and really liked it! I have also the honour of announcing my new favourite movie: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. I just love it! We have also discovered one of the local music stores and bought a CD with Ugandan music, by Ugandan artists singing in Luganda. We have been playing a lot of hacky sack and have decided to challenge family and friends visiting us in November, just so you know it! And I’m getting better and better at juggling. My current record is 37!

Other than that, we have completed and submitted our first 2 school assignments, discovered an amazing restaurant called “Aidchild’s 10 tables” where they serve delicious food, beer and show movies. I have had amazing discussions with Sophie and Sara, sometimes we stay at the table after eating for ages and talk about everything! It’s such a positive surprise how well we get along together!

Regarding what we are here for, I can share the following happy news with you: We have finally decided upon our Master Thesis topic which is (for those of you interested): Can agroforestry be a means to develop small scale farmers’ capacity? And we are really exited about this as we now can start deciding and planning how we will collect the data needed for our thesis. To deepen our understanding of the work the organisation does, we went to SCC Vi’s Agroforestry Training Centre (ATC) on the outskirts of Masaka. It was so fascinating.

Grace, a volunteer at the ATC is telling us about the different trees they have. A lot of them are for medicine, like the one that is suppose to increase womens energy level in bed ;o) And she was laughing while telling us. She added that people had broken in to cut pieces of the tree so they had to build a bigger fence...

Seedlings they sell to farmers or give away during droughts.

very cute goats!

Proceed to part 2 now!

Our first field visit!

I'm back again!
Finally, We have started doing what we came for: Field work! And it was great! But also a bit strange. We sat on a couch and watched a village group have thair savings and loan meeting, us on a couch, with a carpet and table, and them on hard wooden benches. But I guess it's pretty normal everywhere in the world to give the guests the best.


After the meeting we did interviews with a few of them and had a focus group meeting with the rest. We consider the activities very successful despite having to change a few things to fit the situation. After the activities we all had lunch inside the church as it started raining outside.


The lunch was beef stew in palm leaves served with rice and Matoke (mashed, warm bananas). Afterwards all the furniture was carried back outside and the women sang and danced for us. We are all in love with their dresses which comes in all colours! I'm thinking about buying one as it only costs about 350kr to get it special made... But I can't really see when or where I'll wear it, so probably not. But they look were elegant!


And they insisted on us joining them which was a lot of fun! All in all we learned a lot and all three of us can't wait to go to the field again, hopefully next week to do another survey and more focus groups! And with this happy photo I say goodbye for now. Please send me a comment or two if you read this, as I sometimes feel lonely here in Africa!



Oh, forgot to say: the mosquitos are here now! I hate the tiny buggers, but they love me!!...