Down town Kampala and TAXIS

So being on your youth year of service you don’t get the privilege of parents to drive you around and friends to pick you up and drop you off. So unless your planning on sitting at your residence doing nothing you need to find ways to get out there and do stuff. And for me, a young white Aussie girl in the middle of Africa this was not an easy task at first. After being in Uganda for about 2weeks I had settled into the very different way of life to what I was used to back home in Uganda, so it was time for me to go out and get amongst it all. So why not just drive straight into the middle of Ugandan culture by going to the largest local market in town. Debbie(my year of service mum) had her mum and aunt visiting from Perth and they wanted to get some things so it was decided we would go to the markets, so one morning they went in the car, then Hassan(the driver) and I caught a taxi in(which is a mini van with 14 seats and their version of buses). This was my first experience on was on these buses and it wasn’t that
bad(but I had Hassan to do all the talking and paying). Once arriving in town we met up with Debbie and CO and headed to the markets(now a group of 6 mzungos-white people walking down the street in downtown Kampala is not easily hidden). This was fine, we were safe in numbers and the Ugandans really aren’t that scary. But this was not going to prepare me for being in the markets, once we went in we discovered an entire new world of small walkways, mud, people bargaining and trying to sell you anything. And then you had all the young Ugandan guys trying to pick me up, one guy form the distant was calling me out “mzungo, mzungo, sister, sister, my friend, come you give me you number…”. Now this wasn’t a big problem, but I think it was more the shock of how I was seen and also the attention I attracted that affected me the most. But you will be happy to know that we managed to get out of the place unharmed and
nobody feel victim to pick pocketing. It was then time to go home so Hassan and I walked to the taxi park to go home, on the way up the hill I had people touching me and trying to sell me things-it really was one uncomfortable. (the reason for Hassan and I going by taxis was for me to learn the system in order to be able to use it).
Once I got home I swore I would NEVER do that again, but as time went by and I became more experienced and used to the whole system I was able to do it as if I had been for my whole life. And really it wasn’t that scary and I just leant to block out the comments and also learnt what areas to avoid and tactics to keep myself safe.So what is this taxi park, well in town they have two huge areas where all of the taxis come and take you to your destination. The taxis will only leave once full so depending on the popularity of the place you are going to will depend on how often it leaves.
Also taxis going to a destination always leave from the same point, so once you know where to go it is easy, and people are pretty helpful especially if you seem lost.
So on a typical day how would I get to the kindy…
I would first walk down the hill from our house(about 10mins) then get a taxi(you only usually wait about 5mins for one), then about 25-40mins later depending on morning traffic I would arrive in town, walk 5mins to the new taxi park, get on my taxi(usually wait about 10mins for it to fill up) then travel 15mins to get to the intersection just before the school. All of this would cost me 1100shillings(about 80cents). I would do the reverse to get home. Also if I was lazy or tired and couldn’t be bothered waiting for a taxi or walking I could get a boda-boda which is a motorbike. This form of transport is easy to find(boda-boda men wait on most main intersections), are a bit more expensive but also twice as dangerous. But if you’re a thrill seeker you can become rather addicted to this form of transport.
Also I must say getting attention can work in your favour, one day when I was getting a taxi home the conductor(there is a driver and a conductor, the conductor collects the money and tells the driver when to stop etc), so the conductor took a fancy to me and started a conversation with me about coffee(yer great pick-up) anyway so I didn’t really respond but he eventually was begging me for my number which I refused to give him(this was a normal thing and I had come up with some good reasons why I wouldn’t give it out) but to make him happy and to shut him up I took his number(no intention on calling) then when it was time to pay and get off he wouldn’t let me pay. And luckily I never saw him again.

Moral of the story: At first something new and different may look scary but with a bit of perseverance and courage you can master it!

How to solve our grasshopper plague...

In the last month you may have heard in the news that country western Australia is suffering from an plague of locusts(grasshoppers). But doing some searching on google one may discover that we are not the only place to have suffered from this problem(oh no too many grasshoppers), so how do other places deal with these naughty grasshoppers that breed too much. Well since being in Ugandan I have learnt a lot and believe it or not I also discovered how Ugandan deals with this problem.


So im sure most of you are thinking that the only way to get rid of these critters is spraying them etc, but no those African’s have a much better way to deal with them. And guess what it is…EAT THEM.
Yep once cooked on the hot plate with a few spices they turn out to be a nice snack. And it really isn’t that hard a task, all you have to do is catch them and then cook them up(that’s right no taking off eyes or antennas...you eat them whole).
So since I was in Uganda during grasshopper season, I was convinced to try one of these cooked critters. Yep that’s right I ate a nice little cooked up grasshopper.

SO how did this event come about?Well I was in the car with Hassan the driver, going down the road when he stopped at some guy on the side of the road with a bucket of something in it. Hassan gave the guy 1000 shillings(about 70cents) and got a little bag of grasshoppers. Now I had luckily been told before by Debbie that it is grasshoppers in this bucket. And by now I was becoming rather grossed out that Hassan could eat these things. But then it got worse he was trying to get me to eat one. YUCK how could I do this eat an insect and looking at them with those eyes and antennas on is not a pretty site. But after I awhile I came up with the courage and ate one. Luckily I had a bottle of water at hand and a bunch of PK gum. SO the taste was gone quite quickly.

But to Ugandan’s these critters are a real treat and the story goes that once they had an epidemic of them and the king decided the best way to solve the problem was to eat them.

So who knows if these insects don’t leave WA and meat prices keep to increase we may end up serving them up for dinner. YUM! So start getting ready to have grasshoppers and vegie for dinner, or how about some grasshopper soup.

Back to school for me!

Aunty Claire's Kindergarten...

So who is Aunty Claire and why did she get an entire kindergarten named after her?
Well some of you may have heard of her, or like me never knew she existed or that this school exists.
Claire Gung was a pioneer Bahai who arrived in Uganda in 1957, as a single middle age woman who had previously travelled to other countries in Africa. Once in Uganda Claire decided to open up a kindergarten which soon became the top kindergarten in Kampala teaching high standards of English. The school started out small and did not have proper facilities but over a few years she finally got land just out of the city central and built her own school. This school was finally opened in December 1969, and had a unit built above the school for Aunty Claire to live. She had many tests and trials while running this school but stayed at it and had over 146 children attending. During the war with Idi Amin, she stayed at the school and the area was badly affected with shootings and robbers. But nothing could stop Aunty Claire from teaching those kids. Unfortunately Claire never had enough support with the school and feared that once she left the school would not survive. In 1985 Claire suffered a Stroke and unexpectedly died on 6 February 1985.


So since 1985 the school has been through many changes but it still at the same facilities that were opened in 1969 and the facilities all still exist.
So why would you care about this school, well it was one of the places that I served at when I was in Uganda 2006. Now a Baha’i Persian lady Minoo is running the school and has been involved with it for the last few years.

So what could I do at this school?
Well at first I was asked to come and see what art skills we could teach the teachers and also encourage them to use Baha’i principles. None of the teachers are Baha’is but they teach from a Baha’i curriculum and teach morals to the kids. So I spent the first few weeks just observing the teachers and getting to know everything, even at one stage I was an assistant to one of the teachers. But as time went by I was getting bored in this role and was asked to come into the office and assist more with the administrative materials at the school. It was even suggested that I eventually take over the school(it is very difficult to find people that can be trusted to run this school). Eventually I was seen as to be in the position of deputy principle and looked after the school when Minoo went on a holiday for a month. Now I cant take all the credit I had two GREAT assistants who knew more about the school than me. My two dear friends Sarah and Lydia thanks for everything, you made the days more interesting.

So now a bit about the school today. It has 80 children enrolled from the ages of 3-5, with 4 different levels which are:
-playgroup(3 yr olds), 1 class
-beginner class(3 ½ -4 yr olds) 2 classes
-middle class(4-5 yr olds) 1 and a half classes
-top class(5-6 yr olds) 1 and a half classes
each class has a max of 20 kids and a teacher for each class
the kids start school at 8am and finish by 1pm, but a day care is run from 1-5pm daily
each day the kids say a Baha’i prayer and learn pre-maths, pre-science, art, morals, pre-writing
all of the children are Ugandan except for 4 which are half Ugandan and half European
-there are 6 classrooms, 1 library, an office, bathrooms and many play areas
I would go to the school at least twice a week, my role included being there when Minoo wasn’t, writing letters to parents, doing the school fees accounts, planning the art program, and any other odd tasks that needed to be done.

Before I left I was really feeling at home at this school and loved going and spending time with all of the joyful children.
This school really has a spirit that was created from Aunty Claire’s time which is still present, but unfortunately issues still arise, but like all projects you work through it and focus on the positives and the service you are doing.
Also another wonderful experience I had while at the school was being involved in locating all of Claire’s personal belongings at the school and archiving them all.
While she was running the school she never had lots of money and found creative ways to make musical instruments and learning materials for the children, some of which are still in use today.
If you want to know more about this wonderful woman named Claire Gung, Adrienne Morgan has written a brief book on her life full of many of her experiences.

The garden where the children play each day, it has two swings and other fun things.

The front of the school, upstairs is the flat where Aunty Claire lived and now used as part of the office and stor age.
One of the classrooms...

Lets go groove on the beach

So i have now been home for over two months and am slowly getting back into everything, so no better way than to go and party with my sis, and jacs and hepas of our Baha'i friends and some randoms.

It all started one Friday night, exams over, summer about to begin..


so why wouldn’t you have a BIG party and what better place to have it than on the beach in Coogee. But with silly councils they wouldn’t let us have it on the grass at this park, but that wont stop us form having a party. So an isolated location about 5mins walk away in the middle of NOWHERE was found, behind a deserted power station. So how to find your way to this party was to follow the little white rabbit.
So we walked along this sandy path following the rabbits hidden in the trees and also the lighted candles.

But it was dark and scary…Who knew what was around there
But we made it to the location of the party that was going to ROCK UR SOCKS.
Except there was one slight problem…nobody was here yet, but hey it’s a party so who cares about people we can still dance like we’ve never danced before.
But as time passed by more people came and more dancing was to be had by all. And it was a great workout…dancing on sand is not some easy task.

And no beach party can be complete without a bonfire with everyone sitting around getting warm.
But as more people came news came from the car park that security had locked all the cars in and they better go and sort out their cars. At this point mazza rey rocked up to the party so jacs and I went out to the car park were we were all chilling waiting for security to come and let the cars out.

And some people were just not happy about this car lock in.
But you know if you had just read the sign at the entrance of the car park there would’ve been no problem. (and luckily the security didn’t read the small print of the $50 callout fee)
SO once the dramas of the parking wee solved we trekked back to the party and grooved some more.


And even got some fire-twirling going…this was turning out to be a true beach party.

And then I had to go home because I started to feel sick so we walked out the front only to see two big buses rock up…who knew who they were, and me starts thinking the worst(a bunch of gate crashes) so we rush back to where all the people are, find out it is just a bunch of hippies and then get Shidan to walk with us back to the car where my dad is waiting for me.
SO that was the night at Coogee beach, the night where anything could and would happen.

Hotel Rooms

So on my trip from Uganda to Israel I got to experience the joy of staying in Hotel Rooms and had a wide range. So the first hotel I stayed in was in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and the reason for staying here was I was flying Ethiopian Air and was specific on my dates and this airline likes to change their flight plan rather often so I had a stopover for 24hrs in Addis. Now before starting this trip my mum and I were freaking out about what I was going to do for this long stopover, but the lovely airline was like don’t worry we will give you free accommodation and transfers from airport to hotel. So I was like no worries. So I arrive in Addis, follow the signs and go to the transfer desk, it was pretty busy but I gave them the voucher I was given in Uganda and in a short amount of time I had my hotel booked. Then I went through customs, waited for the bus and arrived at my hotel. It was called Hotel de Leopol…
This was my first time in 3months sleeping in a double bed and also having access to tv, and I made the most of it. The interesting thing about satellite tv was all the international channels had PERFECT recpetion but the local ones had some dodgy reception, just shows what we value in life. The view was a bit of juxtapostioning but I had already come to know this about Africa. Here I am staying in a fancy hotel room in the middle of the city while just underneath is a slum area. The staff were very friendly and helpful and also the hotel appeared to be very well maintained and cleaned.

But as my 24hours came to an end, which I thought never would. I went down to the lobby to wait for the bus, 1 hour after it was meant to come it arrived and I left. Went quickly through customs and then spent some time waiting to depart.
After this long 24hours in a hotel room I then had to wait over 3hours in Tel Aviv airport for the rest of the family to arrive. Whom I had not seen for the last 3months, as I was in Uganda and they were in Perth. Then we made our way by train to Haifa and got settled into our next hotel room, which would be our home for the next 9days.
Once we got off the train, we had to walk to our accommodation because no taxi could be bothered driving us down 2streets. So 7am we walked through Haifa, no idea where exactly we were going and finally arrived all with our big suitcases. Our accommodation was St. Charles Hospice, run by a group of nuns, but it was nice and cosy. It was here in haifa where the Bahai World Centre is and where we would have 9days of the biggest spiritual journey ever.(more details of this to come)
Then we left Haifa and had to spend one night in Tel Aviv, we hadn’t booked this hotel before we left and ended up booking at Dan Panorama, a 4star hotel. So we arrived by about 9pm, I was so tired and not looking forward to leaving the family, but had to sleep as I had to leave at 5am the next morning. Reg and I shared a room here, and mum and dad had one across the hall. I didn’t get to explore any of the features of this hotel as I left at 5am, but was told there was a big pool, gym, and HUGE buffet breakfast.
So I said my goodbyes and left Tel Aviv. In Tel Aviv airport they had trouble believing my passport photo but eventually decided it was me but also decided that they would search my bags and everyone of my shoes(i had an excess of shoes because mum brought over the ones i had left at home) but im a good girl and had nothing to hide so got through it all.
Once again arriving in Ethiopia and having to have another 24hour stopover. As already doing this before I was confident it would all be fine and went down and did the same process. Except this time(only 2weeks later) the lady at the desk decided I could’ve left the next day and got direct connections and was not going to pay for my accommodation(even though I had a hotel voucher). But I insisted and told them how they had originally stuffed up all my plans, so she finally accepted but decided to put me in the cheapest hotel room available. So I was expecting the worse and pretty much got it, but I cant complain because at least it was a bed I guess. But after a long journey and busy 9days in Haifa, the last thing I wanted to be was in transit so I think it made the experience even worse. So the beds sloped as soon as you sat on them, and the tv remote didn’t properly work, but I just tried to sleep as much as possible. Also there was a mosque just opposite the hotel so for the whole evening I heard praying, I had become used to this slightly because in Uganda you hear the morning prayer bells but I was not used to it going all night. Because of the emotional rollercoaster i was not feeling the best and even became sick at dinner (NOT a pretty site). And after what seemed like a never ending night, morning came and I left for the airport(once again having to wait for over 1hour for the transfer bus). The staff were still very friendly but the overall appearance and upkeep of the hotel was not the best, but i guess for a secure bed and own bathroom it wasnt that bad(and also my own state of being didnt help in the enjoyment of this 24hours)
Then at the airport the plane was delayed by 2hours so I was left sitting for even longer. Ended up speaking to some random Ugandan guy who was trying to convince me he came from Australia, even though he had the biggest Ugandan accent and knew nothing of Aus…some people will do anything to make friends. But eventually we did take off and I arrived safely in Entebbe, Uganda. And it really felt like i was back home.

Back Home

So i was meant to be in Uganda until Dec/Jan but as we really have no idea wat can happen in our lives my trip was cut short in September with only a weeks notice that i was leaving and coming back home.
I have since been home for just over a month and am slowly readjusting to the fact that im in Perth and not still in Uganda.
Alot has happned over the last year and because i was so busy i was not able to take it all in and think about it, so that is wat i am now doing and sharing some of my experiences and learnings with you all.
For those who dont really know me,
My name is Aves Middleton
I am 19years of age
I was born and live in Perth, Western Australia
I am a Bahai and grew up with Bahai morals and values
hmm if you want to know anymore feel free to ask

2006...

So it is now October and many of you are aware of what happened in the beggining of this year but alot happened since i stoped sending my weekly emails, so this is just a brief of what i have been up to.
So where have i been...
Uganda, Africa for 7months
Perth, Australia (my hometown)
Haifa, Isreal (for 9days prilgrimage)
Ethiopia, Africa (for two 24hour plane stopovers)

As time goes by i will give accounts of all these places and share my experiences with you so keep checking back here to see what is new in the year that is 2006...