One week in...

One week in and there's so much to tell you all.... We arrived safely in Kampala and have been really well looked after by VSO. Our first week included a tour of Kampala - a very bustling, chaotic city with more traffic than people - a cultural evening of Ugandan music and dance - really good fun, check out the pot balancing, very impressive - and a week of training in the language, culture, customs at a rural training centre where we saw some of the Ugandan wildlife for the first time.

We can now say "Wasuze Otya" which is a morning greeting, although this is generally met with laughs from most Ugandans - A muzungu speaking Lugandan! We are the muzungus (the white people) and this is called to us by all the village children who stop, wave and laugh with/at us. We feel like celebrities although I am sure they will soon get used to us (hopefully)!

This weekend we moved into our new house near Wakiso. We're based about 12km out of Kampala city in a cool little village called Kayunga which is just off the main road on the way to Waikiso. Getting around is pretty simple, hundreds of matatto's (14 seater mini buses) drive everywhere, stop when you put your arm out wherever you are and charge you about 50p for the journey.

Home is a new 2 bed bungalow so we're very lucky (check out the photo of our house and street below). No furniture to start with but by the end of Saturday we'd were the proud owners of a hand made bed (purchased on the side of the road and constructed in situ in our bedroom on Friday night - it's the best bed we've ever slept in!), a dining table and chairs (again hand made by carpenters), a few pots and pans, mossie net, gas cooker (provided by VSO) and we were cooking on gas (literally).

The house has plumbing including a flushing toilet but as yet there is no water supply in the village so we are living from Jerry cans of water fetched from the local well. We were rationed to 4 over the weekend which we used to wash, filter (and then boil) to drink, wash our clothes (by hand), flush the toilet and clean the house. This is a big change from life in the UK and you are forced to think how best to re-cycle water to make the most of what you have. It's a challenge for us but one we will get used as the rest of the village seems to manage fine on far less than what we have done to date. We do have a storage tank connected to the house which we are looking to get filled in one hit to sav having to use the Jerry cans but even then we will need to be water wise.

Work for Jo is interesting, there are limited resources, poverty is high and facilities are basic so there are lots to fundraise for. Liam is home making this week but is looking to research various options this week. Most organisations are happy for any support they can get so hopefully we'll both be very busy in no time.

Being very British we must mention the weather - all good. Not too hot, when it rains it really rains (bit like Wales) but only for a short time then it's nice again. Given the water situation you won't be surprised to hear we were out with the buckets in yesterdays downpour to gather what extra nature decided to throw our way! Generally we are coping well with life on the equator so far.

Food is pretty good. There's a staple called matoke which is steamed banana (savoury not sweet) which is served with most things and is suprisingly pleasant - even for banana hating Jo. We were taken to dinner by Jo's employer on Sat night which was a big dish of cooked pork pieces with avocado and tomates which was eaten with our fingers and tasted great! Afterwards we were taken to a local recreation centre; a huge garden with swimming pool, open air night club and local acts performing on stage - definately a place to return for our weekend entertainment.

So all in all we are fine and well and slowly adjusting... life in East Africa is a whole other world, but we'd expect nothing less.

Sending you all our love - do keep us posted on news your end - births, deaths (we heard about Michael Jackson - shocker!) marriages. Internet is very slow outside Kampala so if we don't get back to you all quickly please don't hate us :)

Jo & Liam