Things people take for granted back home (part 2)

9. Ovens - All we have to cook with is one cheap, s***ty, single ringed gas stove, and in Uganda even that is a luxury, with most people using charcoal stoves.

10. Variety of food - Fruit here is fantastic. Paw paw, jackfruit, mango, banana are all easy to find and taste great! However, we have maize porridge most days, 'beans and greens' are common meals for lunch and dinner, and meat is an uncommon luxury. We also have to boil milk to clean it and we have to clean everything we get from the market. But now that we're cooking our own food we can choose (from what there is) what to cook.

11. Beds - We're sleeping on foam mattresses which isnt really too bad but the mozzy nets are quite worrying cos mine has a hole or 2 in it =S. Lucky I've got my antimalrials. Also, other vols have had bed bugs so that might be something to come.

12. Lightbulbs/lights - On the 13th January we had our first electricity cut, so we had to use torches that we'd brought with us. That wasn't too bad, but going to the toilet in the dark is horrible (that's when all the roaches, gheckos and creepy crawlies come out), and washing us after dinner is a hastle as well cos we have to do it outside using torches.

13. Money - We're given very little money each month, just enough to buy enough food and water and pay for transport. Being the first month, we also had other expenses so now we've resorted to money saving tactics like walking for half an hour into town instead of catching boda bodas, or hitch hiking instead of using mutatus. But hey, it'll be useful for when Uni starts or when I move out.

I'm sure I'll think of more soon but yeah, send us a message :)