Ants, concrete and wash days.

Ants Antics

For supper tonight I made spaghetti (which is cheap and plentiful here) with a sauce from aubergine, green pepper, onion, chili and tomato puree. It was very good with a bit of grated cheese that my Misha my German housemate bought from a store in Mbale called the Dutchman. I haven’t tried Ugandan cheese yet but from what I have heard it’s not quite the same as European cheese. As it is a warm evening we went for a walk down to the roadside and back up the lane. Its pitch black but this doesn’t stop the steady stream of people walking and bicycles passing on the way – how they see I really don’t know. It’s not too bad when the moon comes out and there are no trees but under the trees it seems completely black. One thing I saw tonight that I have never seen before were luminous insects, giving off a yellow/ green glow. At first we thought they were glow worms but on closer inspection they were little flying insects so I think they might be fire flies. It was great to walk along and see them glowing in the hedgerows.

We decided to clear up the kitchen when we got back. When we did we saw that the scout ants had been out and they were on the scavenge. I have never before seen 5 little ants carrying a piece of grated cheese. The ants here are much smaller than our ants at home, (although here are also some very big ones), but they are very strong!!

Its not the best photograph but you can probably just see the ants at the back of the sink with the piece of cheese.

Concrete delivery

A big lorry arrived this afternoon to deliver concrete as they are preparing the foundations for extra buildings for the School of Nursing. The lorry was too big for the drive way and was in danger of taking half of the trees down. We were quite a large crowd watching this spectacle but no one seemed to be doing anything and the driver seemed to be keen to push through so I took it upon myself to stand in front of the lorry and tell him he couldn’t go through and had to go back. I wasn’t really sure he would listen to me but I thought the locals would back me up. He did stop and reversed back a bit so that the concrete could be delivered behind the building rather than in front.

The delivery was for 200 bags of cement. At home this would probably involve a forklift or some kind of lifting gear on the back of the lorry. Here it means that about 10 men appear from the back of the lorry to do the unloading, it was amazing to watch them just keep appearing from the back.

One of the local ladies said that the men were complaining that they would not be able to produce (have children) because the Mzungu had made them work so hard and walk such a long way – it was only a little bit further. They were laughing as well but I don’t think I was very popular.

As it turned out I did the right thing because the project coordinator (the boss at Salem) said there are pipes buried under the road and because the lorry was so big it could well have ruptured these. I wonder what the outcome would have been if I hadn’t said anything as nobody else seemed to have the confidence to say anything.

Doing the Washing

Very few people in Uganda have a washing machine or anything like that. If a family has bit more cash they tend to have a maid who will come in and sweep, clean and do the washing as well as looking after the little ones if the mother goes to work.

The mud here is very red and so clothes get covered in dust if is dry or mud of it has been raining. Or if I have been to visit the children’s home I just plain get dirty by the time they have finished climbing over me. The other aspect is the heat. When the work of a day involves moving around a lot - as I have been lately as I have been overseeing the building work at the lab – by the time 6 o’clock in the evening comes – there’s no escape I need a shower and my clothes need a good wash.

In the beginning I used to try to wash and scrub the clothes to get them clean, especially as we don’t have any hot water - but I am much wiser now. The washing powder here is really not bad and all it takes is planning to soak clothes in the bowl in the shower overnight and then wash out in the morning. I have also invested in a small scrubbing brush for stubborn stains. We usually get a thunder storm in the afternoon but as long as the washing is done and out on the line before work starts it’s mostly dry by lunchtime. The worst thing is – because our washing line is strung between two trees – there are some things in the trees that insist on using the washing for target practice so sometimes clothes have to be washed more than once. Such is life.

We don’t put underwear of any description out to dry on the washing line as this is simply not done in Uganda. If you are staying with a family then you will be allocated a discrete place where underwear can be dried as it should not be on display at any time. I tend to wring mine out in the towel when I have washed it and hang up on the end of my bed on the mosquito net support. It dries quite quickly really – socks seem to take the longest.

We do have the luxury of an iron here in the volunteer’s house as well, so as long as there is electricity I don’t look too badly dressed. Interestingly the locals tend to wear a lot of polyester clothes probably because they font need ironing and dry quickly. I don’t think I could cope with that I do prefer cotton and linen even if it takes more work.  

Guess What This Is?

I thought it might be time for something a little more interactive. I wonder how many of you out there know what this is. It is located next to our house and we use it as often as we can? The only clue I will give is - what we use with it has to be black and not silver.

I look forward to hearing your suggestions and guesses.  ...............  Answer next time.