a year to indefinite: Monday = Larium day!

Oops I forgot to take my Larium. I will have to remember to take it tonight.

For those who don't know (and if you haven't been to a malaria infested country why would you?) Larium is one of the anti-malarial drugs available to help prevent malaria. There are quite a few that I know of - all of them differing in effectiveness, side-affects and cost.

Larium is relatively expensive but only has to be taken once a week, which to me is a benefit. Doxy is relatively cheap but has to be taken at the SAME time EVERY day to be effective. The side-affects of Larium though can be quite serious. To the point of triggering psychotic episodes. And lots of people have really vivid dreams. Like a friend of mine who was taking Larium and had a dream that he had to open his tent for some reason. In the morning he wakes up to find that he has opened his tent and is now covered in mozzie bites. And ended up with malaria.

However, despite the risks, I am taking Larium (and have for my last 2 trips) and apart from the awful taste I have had no problems with it.

Okay, so this blog is actually about my second week in Africa. I'm a bit behind so I'll be playing catchup for a couple of weeks but at least I know I have something to talk about.

Bill and I stayed in Lugala, Kampala, Uganda at the guest house of Frank and Michele, one of the partners that Australia HOPE International http://www.ahi.org.au/ works with here on the ground in Uganda. The guest house is lovely and a bit of an oasis - the girls that work for Michele learn how to cook western food so if you ever got sick of African food it would be a good place to go. In our time there we were inundated with Aussies all on their own African adventures (but more about that in my next instalment).

This was the week of meetings. It was very busy and (in my opinion) un-African. We spent most of our day every day for a week at cafés and hotels meeting with all our African partners and the various staff that work in coordinating the work of HOPE. Bill commented at one point that this has never happened before and I am amazed at the amount of work that has been done since HOPE started (10ish years ago) considering the limitations of communication via email with partners for whom English is a 2nd (or 5th) language.

These meetings were very productive (my involvement mostly limited to typing notes for Bill) and for me slightly overwhelming. I have not been involved in HOPE to that level before and to see the extent of the vision that Bill and Norma initiated all those years ago was a bit mind-blowing. HOPE runs in such a way that pretty much as soon as money is donated it goes out. Often those donations are ear-marked for a particular project. Most of the regular money coming in is though sponsorship. There is not often 'extra' money that can go towards the various projects we have running. And yet somehow we have 9 schools that we have contributed towards or are still building. Almost 2000 students in those schools who would most likely not have finished Primary School without the work of HOPE. There are over 60 teachers that are paid every month through HOPE. There are builders and others who have been employed and are able to support their own families. Being here and seeing first hand what HOPE does makes me even more passionate about it. I still can't believe I am here for a year to help towards that work and my prayer is that my time will be effective not only in what I am doing here in Africa but also in raising the profile of HOPE and attracting more support so that these amazing things can continue.

Our meetings were mostly held at Garden City which is a shopping mall and we spent our time there at Café Pap (amazing coffee) where we could plug into their power. Garden City is where, in the words of one of our partners, 'the mzungu (white people) hang out'. White people really do stand out here so I guess there is safety in numbers :)

We also had a couple of meetings at The Grand Imperial Hotel which is very old and has a swimming pool.

I also met Irene who is one of our sponsored children who is now in university. She is studying IT and Bill had been able to get a laptop for her (imagine studying IT without a computer!) so it was very exciting to be there when she received it.

There is probably heaps more I could write but I am trying to keep this short and readable so I'll just finish with some photos.

Blessings,

Kamugisha (my nyankole name, meaning 'many blessings') Bron