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Good Morning!
It's another beautiful day in Uganda and i'm giddy with excitement as we're catching the ferry to Sese Islands in just under an hour - an undiscovered place of beauty we have been promised. I'm feeling under pressure about writing this post after hearing that my mother printed off the last one to show her friends at work - refrain yourself mother! So it's been another busy and jam-packed week here yet it's going so fast and I just wish it would slow down as I am definately not ready to think about coming home yet. I'm learning more and more about the Ugandan culture and people each day and the laid-back lifestyle is very addictive; I don't think I've felt this chilled and content in a long while. Right, where to begin with this past week? I'm a little tired after a fun night in Masaka last night so you'll have to bear with me if my post seems a littled confusing in places.
To pick up where I ended last week, after a day of swimming and exploring the bustling streets of Masaka last Friday, a volunteer who we have met out here called Becky asked the group whether we wanted to join her on a night out and she would 'show us the ropes.' Not one to turn down an offer we put on our best attire, the perfume was out for the first time in a week and we hit the town! First stop was a cute little bar which resembled a beach hut - dimmed coloured lights, palm trees and some sweet rnb and reggae songs in the background which soon had us all dancing and shaking our hips in true African style. Beyonce would have been proud. After this we hit the local club Ambience which shocked us all as it truly would have put Gatecrasher to shame! We weren't even allowed to take our cameras in just in case any local celebrities decided to show up...although a beer or a smirnoff ice was just 50p so we weren't complaining! Waking up the next morning was a difficult task with our nasty hangovers however a day of shopping soon nursed us back into our usual selves again...and shopping here is so much fun. Forget Topshop - we visited lots of material shops to choose our own material then dropped by a local tailor to sketch out what design we wanted. I've managed to buy a printed maxi skirt and top for just under a fiver..what a bargain!
Later in the afternoon we all boarded the pick-up truck and Tom drove us out to Lake Nabugabu for the weekend which is a beautiful picturesque lake and it felt heavenly to sit by it for the weekend eating yummy food and doing nothing but talk and sunbathe after a hard week's work. Can i just note that of course things couldn't go plain sailing for me as I managed to get a leech attached to my toe after taking a dip in the lake. Poor Alex had my foot thrust in his face to remove it as Mike tried to keep me still as I was screaming to the point of tears. It left a nasty bite between my toes which pretty much concluded that I couldn't go back in the lake for the rest of the weekend - sad times. Sunday was another hot hot day and we lay by the lake playing Monopoly (resulting in myself, Carla, Harriet and Kate having a competition to see who could stick the most Monopoly cards on their faces - much more productive.) In the evening we drove back to Masaka to have our first taste of 'street food' - this included rolexs' which are chappatis with an egg rolled up inside them and pork which was very tasty after a week of hardly any meat.
On Monday the heavens opened and the rain poured which lowered the morale of the group, however we did manage to cement in the see-saw and I was the unlucky person who had to hold it in place as the cement was poured..resulting in the lower half of my body being covered in cement! Not such a good look when you have no hot showers! By Tuesday we were ready to start sanding the steel swings - a tedious and boring job however the playground can't be painted until everything is sanded down. Two guys called Richard and Sean also visited us for the day as they volunteer for another charity in Uganda and they wanted to see the work we had been doing - also inviting us to a house party in Jinja at the end of the project! The weather brightened up a little too much on Wednesday and left me with burnt hands...of all the places! This made building and doing simple things like washing up very difficult therefore I've definately learnt my lesson and will putting factor 50 on them for the remainder of the trip! This was probably our most tiresome day so far as we had to mix about 6 bags of cement which is very exhausting especially in the heat and about 300 little black faces staring at you whilst you work!
We only had one more hole to cement yesterday which was pretty much done by lunchtime therefore we had the afternoon to either volunteer at the kids or women's club. I decided to volunteer for the kid's club therefore myself, Alex, Jon, Harriet, Mattias and Mike spent the afternoon teaching the children Quick Cricket and British Bulldog. Of course I had to dress for the occasion so I put my new trainers on and nautical t-shirt - resulting in the group taking the piss out of me and Jon telling me that I looked like a soccer mom! It was a fun afternoon however despite the fact that we initially had 30 children to look after and ended up trying to teach quick cricket to the entire school!
I have to catch the ferry in ten minutes therefore I'll have to end things here. Missing my family and friends from back home so much but do not fear, I'm safe and have't lost anything so far..just a few minor foot injuries! We're going to start planning the travelling route next week therefore by my next post I should have more news on where I'll be heading..hopefully to the base camp of Mount Killi! I'll try to write again soon and I hope everybodys having a lovely summer.
Much Love, Sami x
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