Blogging Drought.

Well it only feels like yesterday since I wrote my last post, but time flies over here.
For the first 4 days this week we had no electricity. So during the work day we run on a generator, but that is when I'm working, which means after work, I can't write emails or blogs etc, since the generator goes off then.

So, sorry if anyone has been reading this but not finding any fresh updates. To quote a friend of mine "you have to experience the difficulties before you understand".
Also I've been investing my internet time over the past few weeks into individual emailing, but apparently a bunch of people have been reading this blog. You have to leave comments for me every so often, I didn't think it was being read very much.

A lot of my photos are on other people's cameras, so I might just post some text blog and add photos on later. So here goes for an update with a bunch of random pieces, while I'm awake enough to type it. (because the power has been off and you can only put up with candles for so long, I've been going to bed early, like between 8:30-9:30... so I'm getting tired pretty early.)

The last few weeks I've been working pretty hard on a project for the African Children's Choir. They are building a new campus. Basically they take neglected kids / street kids, train them as a choir which then tours western nations. The money they raise supports the kids through schooling and even university in some cases.
They raise a bunch of funds for orphans in various countries over here, especially aids orphans.
Anyway, the project is due for completion really soon, so we are pushing hard to get it done.

I did some surveying for Wakiso Baptist Church, they will be an upcoming project for us sometime. They started witha children's ministry but found they quickly got the parents also. So they now have 150 children of a morning and 150 adults also but want a church for 800. They currently have a shack with basic benchs, dirt floor (like many churches here).
It is next to a slaughterhouse, which in Africa, smells just like you are imagining. But they are growing by at least 2 people per week at the moment, making it hard to keep up.
They currently look after 10 orphans but want to expand to 30 by three years time.

Wih the commonwealth delegation coming to Kampala later this year, things are getting tidied up a lot here. They are trying to get all the rubbish piles out of the city and ban the street shops. They said everyone has to paint their shops etc. or face removal. There is also a bunch of roadworks going on to make things more passable. It has certainly stirred things into action.
They are trucking the street kids out to the north apparently. Many Ugandans will tell you they can see the changes. I suppose our countries do the same when something imortant happens, host the olympics --> run an anti-littering campaign. Keeping up appearances.

Kampala is a pretty grotty city. Another thing to thank the West for maybe. Bringing in super cheap plastic bags instead of the woven baskets they had beforehand. So mounds upon mounds of plastic rubbish are everywhere you go, mixed in with food scraps. We gave them the cheap plastics but they didn't have a rubbish disposal system in place. They regularly burn it all, producing excellent quality air to breath.
Who knows where all our rubbish goes though hey? We just put it out of site... a Throw Away mentality... Where is "away" though...?

If you are wondering, I'm not disgruntled or even pessismistic about the culture, just stating things as they are to my eyes. Its strange to think we all live on the same earth but there are wildly different standards here.
Animal Rights, Environmental Protection, Occupational Health and Safety. These three things are almost non existent here, to name just some of the pillars of Australian society. Over here, chickens will just be on the buses under people's feet etc. Environment- no emission controls or pollution monitoring, burn plastics. OH&S - they will have an unfenced unsupported hole 8 meters deep, or a guy climbing up a 70 meter tower, no ladder no harness.
Same Earth, but wildly different priorities and philosophies.

Weather. Don't think I've said much about it.
For each month throughout the year, the average temperature in Kampala flucuates by about 3 degrees. ie. the highest monthly max. average temperature is only a few degrees hotter than the lowest month. So I think it is about 17 at night and 30 during the day.
0.2 degrees above the equator, just in the northern hemisphere if you haven't had a chance to look at a map of Uganda yet.
The seasons have been playing up for the last few years, this part of the world is experiencing some unusual and unseen patterns. But still plenty of rain, the dry season here still looks like the greenest winter Central Victoria has ever had. We have a paw paw tree in the frontyard, mangoes, pineapples and bananas are all very cheap. proably 30c/kg for banana's. A pineapple is around 60c. I'm loving the fresh fruit when I get a chance to buy some at the market.

I do miss vegetables though. I found a shop that sells green beans pretty cheaply, so that was exciting and I'll be heading there to get beans every so often. I have potato, carrot and cabbage mainly for vegetables, and matoke too which is a banana shaped and textured vege. It is hard to describe the flavor, but they are savory anyway.
the green beans were just over a $1/kg, so it's nice to have them. Also found cheap meat, like $4 /kg rump steak. It's good for a weekend treat meal. I eat porridge most mornings, just oatmeal. With powdered milk, but that is reasonably expensive. like $4-5 for a tin, cheaper than Aus, but when you see things over here that go above maybe $5, you feel like its a luxury item.
Thats enough for one post, plus I'm going to bed. I'll attach some pictures and some more random thoughts soon. I'm pretty tired so forgive me if any of that is too rambling.