Half of it is gone. How time flies!

It's been three months since I arrived in Uganda. There are still so many things to discover, but so many new experiences.

I've found my place at school; all the teachers, therapists, and other workers are incredibly kind and helpful. Of course, it hasn't been all plain sailing, overcoming the language and cultural barriers wasn't easy at first, but after three months, everything is settling in and now I'm learning a few phrases in the local language to better communicate with the children with low cognitive skills, such as "tula" which means "sit" or "jjangu" which means "come", but my favorite word is "okoze bulungi" which I use a lot during therapy to say "well done!" and seeing the happiness in their eyes when I speak to them in the local language is priceless.

In the past few weeks I have completed the first microfinancing project on "health safety and hygiene" in therapy spaces; thanks to Möndo we purchased 20 litres of sanitiser and disposable gloves for the school and I have held a training course on the correct methods of sanitizing of the space, the shared objects and the risk of cross-contamination.

Luckily, I also had some free time to explore Uganda. Going to the source of the Nile in Jinja was amazing, I had no idea that one of the most famous rivers in the world originated right here; getting to know a less gentrified part of the country than Kampala was refreshing and discovering the villages in the area was a precious gift. 

I also visited the Sipi Falls in eastern Uganda, the hometown of a dear friend I met here in Kampala, and spent time in the village where his family lives. Peeling cassava with his grandmother was a hilarious experience, we communicated through gestures because they don't speak English or Luganda there, but another local dialect, but that didn't prevent us from communicating. 

What about the waterfalls? A spectacular landscape; to reach the highest waterfall, there's a 1.5-hour trek, but it's absolutely worth it. Connecting with the communities is always wonderful, you can discover different ways of adapting to the land and respecting it.

 

I'm already sad at the thought of having the other three months to live here and at the same time I can't wait to live them and discover what this wonderful country has to offer me.

The Beginning

Hello, I'm Alessandra, I come from Italy and I'll spend the next 6 mounth of my life in Uganda; I'm here from 4 weeks and with Mondo I work at Bridge Project. 

During this time, I've tried to understand how life flows here in Kampala, and honestly, I'm still trying to fully understand it. One thing I've understood: life here unfolds on the streets, between a local market and a school, a mechanic's shop (for repairing the boda, the most common means of transport) and a hair saloon that's open until late, a chicken rosted food stalls and a rolex food stalls. What is rolex? It is a chapati rolled with eggs and vegetables, rolled-eggs... ROLEX!   

Uganda was once called 'the pearl of Africa', and it's not hard to see why; just travel 30-40km from the city to enjoy the region's vast, lush nature, filled with national parks, lakes (such as Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake) and rivers (yes, the Nile River has its source in this region).

     

My volunteer work at the Kampala School for the Physically Handicap has just begun. I've had the opportunity to meet the teachers, the therapists (yes, there's an entire department dedicated to rehabilitation), and of course the children. But above all, I've seen firsthand how much love all the caregivers have for these children. I've had the opportunity to sit in the classrooms and help the teachers guide the children through their exercises, and I've also collaborated with the physiotherapists during therapy sessions, and I've seen the happiness in the children's eyes at the end of a well-executed exercise.

The school is like a large residence, they call it "boarding school", the children spend their week inside the structure and it seems like a big family, at lunchtime those who have no difficulty walking help their friends in wheelchairs to reach the dinner hall, no one is left behind. 

            

I will still have a lot of time to get to know and enjoy this place, to find my role in the school and carry on this project leaving something of mine and bringing something home from here, and I can't wait.