The video shows 3 year old Guster choping wood for the cooking fire. He is man of the house when dad is busy working carrying people around on his boda boda (motorbike taxi)
Innocent and I stopped to buy eggs and chapatti for a quick lunch
These children watched me mix paints probably wondering what fun they were going to have at school the next day with Madam Gerry! They are stood beside the family latrine & bathroom
Weekend treat is always sugarcane
They strip it down, chew the flesh and suck the sweet juice
It’sgreat to have small toys to give to the children around.
I think I was pleased
My landlord, pig farmer and great friend Innocent
Guster watched my every move
Mama Guster doing the washing
Judith brought me a live chicken as a welcome gift
The poor chicken couldn’t be let free so there was only one thing for it….
We had it for supper!
The children play in the big hole dug to plant matoki banana seedlings
They never got fed up with watching me but I didn’t mind as they were always smiling!
Small gifts for my young neighbours too
The children don’t have toys as we know them
Dear boy Nico was pleased to get a ball
and his friend too who often helped collect water for me!
Our kitchen. Judith in charge!
More water for Madam Gerry!
Many toddlers screamed when they saw my white face
But this one just stared hard at me!
This young girl wasn’t so sure about the white stranger
The third area chosen for mosquito nets meant me driving along the main Jinja to Kamuli Road which I was not looking forward to. Nearly all my driving up unitl then had been along mud tracks at 10-15 kph! Just getting out onto the road was a challenge as I had to manouver between numerous boda’s (motorbike taxi) milling around waiting for a fare. They don’t believe in moving out of the way until you make it obvious that you are going to mow them down otherwise! Then once on the road its a nightmare with the local taxi buses that don’t believe in staying behind anyone regardless of what is in the way! The speed limit is 50 kph and most of the time I stuck to that but even at 60 the taxi’s hurtled past sometimes two or three abreast forcing me on to the narrow area at the side of the road which is supposed to be for pedestrians and animals!
It was always a relief when we got to the trading centres on route as the humps slowed everyone done a little! The boys and Judith were very amused when I told them we call them sleeping policemen in the UK and laughed even more when I said ‘ouch’ going over each one!
As Judith’s family were going to cook lunch for for us as they live nearby the area of delivering we had to go and buy the ingrediants. I’ve always loved going to Kamuli market and this was no exception though I never do any of the actual purchasing as they double the price! As my friends were buying rice, beans, and anything else we needed I was kept amused watching the busy trading and also by the children that always gather around me.
Mzungu, Mzungu!
They had seen my camera!
Great excitment!
While Judith did the shopping
Kamuli Market
Photo bombed!
This youngster asked for her photo to be taken too. She didn’t want to miss out!
We arrived at Judith’s home to great excitment. The children had come home from school especially early. I was honoured by the warmth of the greeting I received from the whole family. I knew that Judith had two other sons, Innocent’s step brothers, but what I hadn’t realised was how young one of them was. She leaves 9 year old Joshua with his aunty so that she can come and look after me! As soon as Judith got out of the car Joshua raced over for a big hug. It was very touching and I felt rather guilty! There again Joshua seemed almost as pleased to see me espcially when I got a small football out of my bag! We dropped off the foodstuffs and the soda’s that I knew would be a treat for everyone and then set off to deliver the mosquito nets while the aunts were making lunch.
Judith’s young son Paul and John Baptist who was helping deliver the nets
Footballs whatever their size are always a hit with children in Uganda!
Judith took me to see her pigggery. She bought the pigs with the wages I gave her for looking after me last year and Innocent built her the pig sty
Judith had carried out the research in the area to find out who needed the mosquito nets so knew exactly where to lead us. Often she would walk ahead of the car and would disappear into what I thought were solid bushes until I got up close and realised the car would just about fit through! Basically no one in the area had mosquito nets and it was difficult just giving them to those who had taken part in the original survery but there was nothing we could do. I was forever telling people ‘maybe next time’ hoping upon hope that I will be able to return with this precious life-saving gift for them one day too!
It was wonderful to meet the recipients of the mosquito nets though some of their stories were harrowing. One particular young teenager was in the early stages of labout after being raped. She also had learning difficulties and had no idea what had happened to her. The perbetrator will never be found! All I could do was give he a gentle hug, a mosquito net and a few baby clothes that friends in the UK had donated. I also gave her a dress for after the birth which she seemed particualrly pleased with. That night she gave birth to a baby boy.
Thanks for all of you who have sponsored a net or even several nets. You are making such a difference. A simple gift but with amazing properties! £5 is all it takes to protect someone from Malaria and for certain help to save their lives!
Thank you Lynn
Thank you Julia and Alan
Thank you Jean
Taking a closer look at this pretty house I noticed….
Manchester United!
Judith sitting beside me on far left. Thank you Anne
Thank you Keith and Pauline
The boys sorted out the number of nets allocated to each family
I gave this elderly lady a black scarf oneof you kind ladies had donated
He daughter got some clothes too
A baby due so a gift of a fw clothes as well as a mosquito net
Thank you Marie
Someone always looking on!
Grinding nuts
It was hard work but at least everyone was hightly amused by my effort!
Thank you Ivy
Another gift of clothing. Thank you!
Thank you Huyana
I have already contacted many of those who donated nets sending them a photo but if you have not seen yours either on the website, email or fb please contact me. I will be writing again soon telling you about my final day of delivering just before I left Uganda. for now there are more photos below.
Childrens clothes are always welcome
Yes toddlers learn early their responsibilites
They are washing up not playing!
I was greeted by this man
and he was even happier when I gave him a new shirt!
His family were grateful for their gifts too!
Thank you Tehya
This lady greeted me with handfuls of green oranges
Thank you Sheila
Thank you Shelagh
Clothes donated here too
trying them on for size
Just right!
Judith leading the way
or even trying to catch me up!
Thank you Sandra and thank you to the friends who donated clothes!
My gift, beans!
Will these fit?
Thank you Joy and many others who have donated already!
A typical home.
I was given this plate of nuts that I had never seen before
The nuts are growng in this big fruit
I was told not to stand underneath as they just drop when ripe!
More beans. These people might not have much but if they can they will share!
Beans drying. They are the staple diet in Uganda
Second hand clothes are all these people can afford
Sometimes they make me smile!
Jack fruit. A massive fruit and when they are ripe no one goes hungry!
Sugar cane is a sweet treat but is terrible for the teeth as the children just suck on its sweet juice
Everyone is so grateful for you gifts
Thank you Carmel
The road was long and hot
and narrow in places!
So narrow we had to walk to some of the homesteads
I never have enough hands!
These three are now protected by mosquito nets
Malaria is till the biggest killer of young children and in Uganda!
Thank you Terryll
I had left my sun hat in the car so was getting very hot by this stage!
Field after field
after field
another homestead
and another
Thanks Pam
A kiln for baking clay mud bricks
Strange cacti!
One family that are now protected by the Malrian mosquito as they sleep.
On our return we had company
Happy children!
A wlecome soda and late lunch awaited us back at Judiths’. A lovely, lovely family where I felt very much at home.
Selfie of Innocent and I on our way to the borehole
Looks easy!
After the rains the fields were green and lush with crops
So my turn!
The jerricans are empty but far more difficult to manouver than I thought!
We were greeted by homeowners along the way who I think were highly amused that I was ‘helping’!
Long narrow ro the bore holeute to
This cow was not keen on me passing it and bellowed at me! May it had never seen a Mzungu collecting water before!
Almost there!
Other locals were using the borehole filling their jerricans and while others were doing their washing so they didnt have toccarry the heavy loads home
Off loading
Maize, rice, beans, cassava, all growing in the fields
Six jerricans to fill
Innocent showed my how it was done
One done, five to go and
I filled all five!
My back ached so I had to stand in ‘split’ style and my right arthritic wrist ached so I had to use my left hand but I did it!
I tried to hold the bike steady as Inncoent attached the heavy load but wasn’t stong enough so this man came from digging and helped us
This elderly man asked for a photo with his hoe!
The long road home, uphill!
I didn’t even offer to help push
Six large jerricans full of water weighs and enormous amount!
Really getting his back into it!
I just followed with my camera!
Innocent didn’t didn’t stop for even a breath in the 20 minute push home!
Home at last, and still uphill!
In the heat and the dust I needed to bathe at least once a day but it meant that someone had to fetch the water from the village borehole! I tell you what, you really appreciate every drop when you witness the hard work it takes to provide the water.
Though it was early morning this was hard work! I needed my bathing sessions so had to be willing to put the effort in. Though if the truth be known I only went with Innocent to collect water the once! I helped push the bike to the borehole, filled five out of the six jerrycans but there my help ended!
Nico had a deal with Innocent that if he borrowed Innocent’s bike he should fill one of the empty jerricans. I was very grateful and Nico was happy to use the bike!
My bathroom. No running water so my dear friends provided me with water whenever I needed to bathe. Buckets, jug, roap ‘sponge’ and a baby bath to stand in, what more does a woman need! PS the blue stool with a hole in it is my loo. I have biodegradable bags that fit in the hole then it and its contents get deposited down the latrine outside – just saying!
One of my dearest friends in Uganda suffers from Epilepsy and gets regular seizures. Last year with the help of professionals in this country I put together an advice sheet about what a seizure is and how to help someone who is suffering one. I spoke to my friends’ family and friends helping them to understand and went into the local clinic to where I was staying to see if they could help. A nun who was one of the head nurses at the clinic told me there are many people in the area young and old who stay in their homes, not venturing out because of the abuse they receive from others. Their families also suffer from stigma and discrimination. There are so many myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings about epilepsy. Many in Uganda still believe a seizure is contagious and that you can catch it by sharing utensils and the sufferer can poison food if they have a seizure nearby! Witchcraft still rears its ugly head too!
I now realise how courageous my friend is as he carries on his life as best he can, not allowing his ‘disability’ to affect him though he too suffers from abuse, name calling and even theft of his personal belongings when he is having a fit! I was determined this year to spread the understanding as much as I could and I got the ideal opportunity when I joined Brain Trust Nursery and Primary School. Charles, the director of the school knows my friend and has witnessed him having a seizure and was keen to help me educate the pupils at the school. I had spoken to Charles about my intentions and asked him if he could help by pretending to have a seizure as part of my lesson, and he did it expertly. I was quite shocked how well!
Judith, my friends mum and I sprang into action with a hundred wide eyed and rather shocked students looking on! Nothing like drama to get a point across! Then, in small groups, I got the children to create and then perform a situation as the other children watched, analysed and discussed right and wrong procedures. They were AMAZING! Note the major accident of one group when four fell off a boda boda (motorbike)!
Now one hundred 11-14 year olds have promised to be my pioneers to spread the word. Judith helped me throughout and was wonderful. She has a natural talent for teaching and of course this was a subject very close to her heart.
During the afternoon the teachers got the children to finish writing out the First Aid for someone having a fit and then they took them back to their families and communities and have promised to spread the word, and Charles tells me that the reaction of the parents and community was very good. Sounds like parents were buzzing about the knowledge their children had come home with and in fact several came to see him about it. So well done the children of P5, P6 and P7 of Brain Trust Nursery and Primary School. With your help life for people who have epilepsy and other conditions that cause fits will be better understood in and around Nawanyago. Video footage at bottom of page!
(I would love to obtain an old tent ground sheet to use in school here in Uganda, for activities such as games, crafts, etc. so the children and me don’t have to sit on bare mud. Please share this with your friends so next time I can teach on relative comfort! Thank you from Uganda)
I mentioned to Innocent that I wished some sort of cover for the ground for drama and other activities and he set to and made me some out of the strong bags that had held the mosquito nets!
I started the lesson but soon let the ‘experts’ take over. Judith who had seen her son have many seizure and Charles who had witnessed them and really wanted to help
Soon after I took this photo Charles had a ‘seizure’. It’s a good thing we knew it was only acting as he was so good!
Then the children mulled around thinking about how they were going to do their piece of drama
The first group
They made mistakes but that was what it was all about, learning.
Judith invited the other children watching to point out good and bad points of each piece
The last group decided they were all on a boda motorbike when the driver had a seizure and invited me to join them! I almost went flat on my face when the whole desk tipped over!
A major incident!
Then back to the classrooms to write up the information
The teachers copied my chart word for word on the blackboard
and the children wrote it up on special copy paper I had bought for the job
Judith took one of the classes very professionally
I love the sounds and colours of the small creatures in and around my Ugandan home particularly the numerous lizards and the colourful geko with their nodding heads. I brush my teeth each morning behind the home and beside the sugarcane field and love to watch the geko racing from the field and up the brick walls stopping, I like to think, to nod a good morning to me! And at night under clear starlit skies I brush while listening to the Cicada singing away in the trees. Sometimes Innocent and Judith have come out to see what is taking me so long and find me just stood absorbing it all.
So, OK I love love love my Uganda home but there are limits! I found a mosquito floating in my tea! I’ve had a stubborn cockroach in my room. First time Innocent came and rescued it then four times I have captured it under the jug I use for bathing and with the help of a piece of cardboard I have taken it outside. One night I found it or one of its relatives sat on my camp loo and had to ‘deal’ with it and left a bit of a mess in my ‘bathroom’! I’m not scared of these creatures but I just would rather they went elsewhere and last time Judith was busy cleaning my room while I was sat typing on the laptop and one raced across in front of her which was very stupid of her as she immediately ‘disposed’ of it!
Then I was eating my supper the other night and one of the flying monstrosities flew into my mouth, see photos. They are 2-3 cms long and sometimes have a female attached! Fortunately I didn’t bite down on it! BUT mosquito in my tea no no no! Love Uganda! X
I got this explanation from the internet: Most people
who see Africa’s “sausage flies” wouldn’t pick that they are actually ants. In fact, these monstrous insects are males of the common Dorylus driver ants. They fly at night to gain a chance to mate with a queen from another colony.
Gerry's Uganda Projects 