Half Way Points

It doesn’t seem it but this Friday was the half-way point for our first ‘term’ in Uganda. We’ve been here just over 2 months, and in the middle of January we return to the UK for a couple of weeks for our eldest son’s wedding.

Its also half way point for our plumbing. This week a team of plumbers came to install a water supply to the kitchen and to plumb in a water heater for the shower and kitchen. This meant our kitchen moved into the lounge which made it harder for Malcolm to ignore the washing up.



The pipe-work has completed – the missing bits are:

- we need to have a cupboard made for the sink top – until then we continue to use a plastic bowl for a sink, with no drain even though the pipe has been installed

- plastering
- Irene is waiting for Malcolm to connect the heater to electricity – until then it is still cold showers. If he doesn’t get a move on then he’s the one in hot water! Perhaps next week we will be able to report (without photo!!) Irene’s first hot shower for several weeks. Phew!

On Friday we had our first trip out of Kisoro as Jenny drove us 20 miles through the mountains to Rwamashenyi to inspect a piece of land owned by Potter’s Village. Half way there, near the top of a mountain we stopped at the point where we understand Winston Churchill in 1907 declared that Uganda must be the ‘Pearl of Africa’ because of the beauty of its mountains, valleys and lakes. No doubt the view has changed since then with many trees and bamboo being cut down, and new roads and buildings but it was still a spectacular view.

We have both been busy this week. Irene has continued to meet with students to discuss their career plans, and also showed Jenny’s daughter Hannah and Izzie how to sew dresses for their dolls.

Malcolm spent a couple of days at Potter’s Village helping the administrator with the monthly finance return. He was also persuaded to help Irene with her Business Training course at the Training Centre by taking the 2 hour session on Financial Management. All we can say is that he (and the students) survived.

The nest outside our office is still there, with one of the birds spending time on the nest. We are not experts but we guess we are about half way to any eggs hatching.



The sign this week was spotted on the mud flap of a lorry we overtook on the way back from Rwamashenyi.



You know you live in Africa when….

… when you are crawling around your attic you see in the torch-light a large green grasshopper which decides to jump at your face
…you proudly unpack your new gas cooker which boasts ‘thermostatic control’ for the oven to discover there are no markings to show which knob controls which burner, let alone the temperature of the oven