So far so good

It is all going well with the election so far, the results are coming in slowly but the test will be when they announce the final results which probably wont be until tomorrow.
I have had a walk around the garden today, pick some leaves to do leaf printing with as examples for the art and craft I will be doing with the girls and we have been watching far too much 24, we are getting quite paranoid about everything, we cant even trust our dogs now, we can trust no one!!! The lads really think they are undercover agents!!
I have discovered I am not very good at being in a confined space for any amount of time, just want to get out of the house soon!!

we are on lock down!

Today is election day so for the next few days I am shut in the house as it may get a bit dodgy out and about. It is only 11.30am and I am bored, I would normally be very grateful for an extra day off as the last few weeks have been so busy but because as I have not chosen to take time off, I am reacting badly to it! I want to go out!!

one of the other fun things that has been going on for the last few weeks is we have 24 hours of power on and the next 24 hours of power off, which makes doing work very hard. The power has just come back so we are all manically typing on our laptops now!! Well the lads I live with are glued to the laptop watching 24. Robbie brought it back from the UK and we have gone a head of them, so because we did not wait for them we are being punished and have to wait for them to catch up with us, a whole 4 hours so we can all carry on together!

one thing I must do today is back my evacuation bag, we have to just in case things get bad here, we are thinking/hoping thing wont go bad and that it is a peaceful election and we don't have to run to Kenya!

all fun stuff! But the most amazing thing about this week is that I have managed to stay on my bike, I haven't fallen off at all!!! Big achievement!

Bikes are dangerous

This week has been fantastic, I have had a great week at the project with the girls but I have had two problems or may be better described as accidents. The first one was on Monday I was about half was to the project and at this point I have to go up on to the railway line, I have to get off and push the bike up there as it is too steep to ride up. As I swing my leg over to get off the bike it gets caught on the saddle and I spectularly fall flat on my arse and the bike land on top of me. To make things worse the time I cycle it is 'rush hour' Ugandan style, in that all the kids are going to school so I soon had a massive group of kids just standing and staring, amazed that a white person can fall off their bike. They have this mad idea here that we never have problems at all, let lone embarrassing accidents!
that was number one, the second accident was slightly more serious and definalty more dramatic. As I cycle to the project, I have to cycle long the edge of a railway line, this is a very narrow path, under a meter wide and bikes go both directions on this, here is a picture of the cycle path by the railway line, to help you imagine it!



I was cycling along it near the edge, before I knew it, I had crashed handle bars with the guy cycling in the oppitsite direction and flew off my bike, off the railway track on to the mud below it, losing my shoes in the process. I actually really hurt myself, I had to try so hard to to cry as the crowd of people gathered to tell me it is too dangerous for me to cycle here. All I wanted to do was to find my shoes and hide some where! I managed to find my shoes, get back on my bike after fixing it and cycled off, trying to look cool but actually thinking I hurt all over. I manage to bash my elbow, got more bruises my legs to add to the massive one I gained from Mondays accident and am currently very stiff all over. My neck especially, I cant quite get it all the way around at the moment as my muscles hurt too much! But I am fine, and very lucky or protected by God as when I walked back that day along the track where I fell off, there was as massive tree stump and loads of broken glass I managed to miss, thanks God!
I think the answer is I need stabilisers!!

the last month and all the exciting things

I am sorry it been so long since I blogged, the last month has been CRAZY!!! Good crazy though, many exciting things have happened, I will briefly take you through them.
At the end of Jan mum and dad came for 12 days which was great, we had a really busy time. They got to see and do lots in Mbale and with the project and then we had a good time on safari and saw lots of animals, especially loads of hippos which I think are very cool creatures.


The next very exciting thing is that we actually started the project!!! We had our open day when mum and dad were here. We invited all the identified girls and their families and key people in the local commmuniy. It was held on the land , under the tree! We had speeches from all the key people and them served everyone lunch and a soda. Then all the grown ups left and we did our first session with the girls which was great.



I did one more session with the girls and then I was away with mum and dad on safari, so when I got back I noticed a huge difference in the girls and have just done a full week with them now which has been such fun. They are responding really well to the programme. They are defiantly the right girls as they all come from such troubled back grounds, most can not read and write and some can not speak English and have very basic knowledge of the local language.
I am now very inspired to try loads harder with my luganda and become fluent, very soon!!! I am getting very good at the international sign language in the mean time though!!!