Life in Gulu

I must apologise to my sole registered follower (?) for the delay in kick-starting this blog (mainly due to the availability of internet access). However, I can confirm that I arrived safely in Uganda and have now completed a fascinating first week of my placement.

Whilst I had certain perceptions of life in Gulu, several of those have turned out to be quite different. On the positive side, the hotel is remarkably comfortable – I was expecting something far more basic! My room has a good en-suite bathroom, TV, Fan (which I keep on all night to keep cool), mosquito net and sometimes electricity!

In contrast, the landscape around the hotel is pretty typical of the town – A road which is best described as pot-holes surrounded by odd sections of tarmac rather than tarmac with pot-holes. Either side of the road lies red dust channels which accumulate daily rubbish and anything else than happens to gravitate there! Most of the roads are fringed with a multitude of shacks from which locals ply their various trades – The animal carcasses of the butchers, live chickens in pens, welding services, car repairs etc.

But the heat and dust are always constant, night and day. And when this is accompanied by huge gusts of wind, I’m just glad I’ve chosen not to wear my contact lenses!

Choosing the Right Accommodation

 

 

 

Finding a Good local Butcher

Good Supply of Fresh Fruit

Final Choice of Hotel

View Outside the Hotel

Perhaps the most striking impression of this first week has been the friendliness and politeness of the local people. From all the traumatic experiences many would have endured from the recent history of the region, I was imagining that their general demeanour would verge towards being somewhat withdrawn or possibly manifest in anger or resentment. On the contrary, there appears to be a degree of hope for the future which is quite inspirational.

On the work front, it has been a surprising productive week, though not without its fair share of frustrations!

Having previously travelled and worked in Africa, I felt that I was better prepared than most for the type of “manyana” culture out here. Initially, an induction meeting had been arranged for my first day, to meet the key staff and agree the objectives of my assignment in more detail. Amazingly, everybody turned up! However, as the week progressed, some of those key staff disappeared for various (though justified) reasons, leaving me to chop and change my work schedule.

Although my principal motive for coming to Uganda was the very worthwhile causes being supported by the Comboni Samaritans, I was quite concerned as to what I would be doing outside the work environment.

I had already been told that everyone here is obsessed by English football, and have already seen a few live games, not to mention the constantly repeated highlight shows! Whilst the atmosphere in the hotel bar is lively, the greatest challenge is posed by the extent of interruptions during the matches. I am not referring to any breaks for commercials, but rather to the all too frequent power cuts, which sent the whole place into darkness for a good few seconds (before coverage is resumed)! As such, I’m glad I brought my head torch, which really should be a standard issue for this hotel!

As the sad accountant that I am, I generally regard my laptop computer as my life-support system. That view has been further pronounced here in Gulu. Before I left the UK, I loaded several music CDs on to the laptop and packed an assortment of DVDs, just in case I was stranded and bored out of my tree!

Fortunately, I have not needed to resort to this back-up plan – Well, not yet, at any rate!

The social side of life was not looking great after the first 3 nights – OK, I was initially tired from travelling out here and couldn’t be bothered to make an effort. However, since then, I’ve met up with some amazing people, a mixture of those working at the Comboni Samaritans and other ex-pats working for other charities.

Yesterday, a group of us travelled north to visit Bakers Fort. I have never heard the British Empire being viewed in such a complimentary way, since Samuel Baker was assigned to the area to enforce the prohibition of the slave trade (rather than promote it!).

One final story which provides a very poignant message about life in Gulu……

On Saturday morning, I bumped into George, the driver at Comboni who ferries me to and from work each day. He was collecting one of the charity’s HIV/AIDS clients in town……To take them to their funeral.