On Friday the principal of the School, Nansuegh, took me and another teacher out for dinner. Nansuegh is in her 70s or maybe even 80s and she set up Nalusse School when she 'retired'. She is a trained educator (unlike the directors of some similar schools) and really seems to care about the kids. She is very worldly and rather unusually she has travelled, she trained for sometime in Australia and she has also been to England. All in all she is a very interesting person to talk to - there aren't many people her age here (the life expectancy is about 53 years). She obviously lived through the gaining of independence and also Amin which she talks about. It was nice to get the chance to talk to her and very kind of her to take me out.
On Saturday I went to watch Uganda football team play Zambia in the second qualifying match for the Africa Cup. Insane. It was like being on the embankment for the cricket, times about twenty when it came to the intensity of the crowd. I was kind of nervous about going as I had heard lots of horror stories about the crowds. The number of police in riot gear certainly indicated problems in the past. Happily one of the women in our group worked at the American Embassy, and I figured that if there was any intel about problems she wouldn't have gone.
I went to extreme measures to avoid being mugged anyway and so I didn't take my camera and have no photos to share. Even if I had it wouldn't have depicted the atmosphere and the noise of the crowd. You will just have to imagine 40,000 Ugandans and maybe 100 white people shouting and chanting on their feet all dressed in Ugandan shirts, wearing masks, scarfs, and face paint and blowing (what felt like) a million horns for 7 hours straight. (two hours for the game and five hours beforehand). It was intense. At least one goat and one sacrificial chicken (painted in the Zambian colours) were spotted too.
The game itself was really good to watch and Uganda won 1-0. They had lost the other qualifying game with Zambia 1-0 so it went to penalties to determine who qualified. Unfortunately Uganda lost 8-9 in the shoot out. The only good thing about the end result was that it subdued the horn blowing!
I went to the game with about 20 white people and some Ugandans. They were mainly Americans who are here (being Uganda and Rwanda) on fellowships where they work alongside Ugandan fellows in yearlong public health roles. Being such a big group of white people was entertaining because everyone wanted to take photos of us. Some asked outright, others were more surreptitious about it. It was a truly African experience and well worth the £10 ticket price.
The intensity of the football was then followed today by white water rafting the Nile. I went with the two other volunteers currently working on another project for the Real Uganda. (They are an American girl and Canadian guy both finishing/at uni). The other people on the trip were three Brits in their mid thirties working for the British embassies in Uganda and Ethiopia respectively. It was really interesting hearing about diplomatic life in both countries.
The rafting itself was pretty freaky. The first rapid had a 15ft waterfall (and I have a photo of us going over it to prove it) and we tipped out in two of the other rapids. Tipping out and being tossed around in massive rapids, particularly when you don't really know which way is up isn't so fun. But it was a massive buzz! The reminder of the buzz is going to be evident for the next few days thanks to some awesome new short marks - thanks doxycycline for making me extremely sensitive to the sun!
Three new volunteers arrive tomorrow and it is funny to think I won't be the newbie anymore! Next post is likely to be on the value of money here (and the power of the pound!)
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