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So that's me been in Uganda for a month now, and time has flown. It doesn't feel like I've been here a minute, yet at the same time it seems like a lifetime ago that I left my parents in Edinburgh Airport.
This weekend has been busy! Saturday saw us up and outside, ready to practise for the concert in Kabembe Hall the following day. Everyone involved with the All Stars Saturday programme were to perform, so the afternoon consisted of dancing again and again until it was perfect (not me though, I wasn't dancing this time!), and I then had to sing for them so that they could try and work out some sort of backing dance for me (or something). Florence isn't really good for dancing along to, so I was told just to go ahead on my own and improvise the next day at the concert.
That night, we got our usual Ugandan takeaway - chapati and samosas. Honestly, the amount of fried food I'm eating right now can't be good for me at all, but it tastes so good.
Sunday: the day of the concert. Around six, the teachers from school came along to help prepare food for all of the performers. There was a traditional dance and music group coming from Kampala to perform, too, and they spent a while getting their costumes ready and tuning up their instruments. They had an assortment of drums, and funny string instruments that are the Ugandan equivalent of guitars and bass guitars; they sort of looked a little like harps.
We all had matooke and beans for lunch (matooke are bananas that are savoury. It's odd, but good…sometimes) and then headed off into Kabembe. The hall's only a five minute walk up the road, and it's pretty big, with a raised stage. There was a sound system that had been brought in for the purpose of the concert, and they kept putting songs on and off really, really loudly to try and get the right level. Because we were there earlier than all of the people that were coming along to watch, the place was fairly empty. However, when the kids realised that there were two Mzungu there, we weren't left alone for a second! Kids kept asking me why my arms are so hairy and why my skin changes colour when you squeeze it (there was a lot of pinching after the first kid asked me that). It was seriously hot, too, and Fern and I prayed for rain so that the humidity would break (which it did, halfway through the first performance).
The first performance was from the traditional dance and music group, and I've never seen people move their hips that quickly! The girls wore 'skins', which are basically belts of animal hair that you tie around your waist, and when you dance, they make your hips look like they're moving even more. From there, the younger kids danced, followed by the teenagers (including Fern!). In Uganda, they do a lot of 'miming', which is where they pretend that they're the artist of the song, and they sing along to the music. That's what they had me doing to Florence and the Machine. It was good fun, but almost none of the audience really spoke English. At all. So I don't know if they appreciated my singing much!
The very last performance was also the traditional dance group, but they decided to have the two Muzungus up to dance too (should have been embarrassing, but wasn't). It was a lot of fun, and I've been told that I have 'naturally flexible hips' and that they want to teach us properly. I can't wait. I'll be well toned by the end of the year if I actually do learn - the dancing absolutely KILLED the muscles in my thighs and backside.
It was a really good day (even though I may have had a little tantrum to Fern about the fact that we have no DOOR right now, but there you go), and from here I have the induction weekend in Kampala to look forward to next week, where all of the volunteers will be back together again in Makindye at the MAF Guesthouse. I think a night out is in order!
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