better than YOGA....

jeha, our newest terrace favourite and most fun weekend & party activity: (tittie) TWISTER. i ve uploaded some on my flicker site

post conflict in Northern Uganda

signs of the old conflict in Northern Uganda, originally uploaded by inainchina.

the times of insecurity are not long ago, and people slowly resettle into that area from their internal displaced camps (IDP) into their former villages and towns.

travelling in the very northern -east area you are stumbelling over some memories of the 20 years of Lord Resistance Army fightings.
the old petrol station signpost has really some charm (resemmbeling of america), but if you look closer you can see bullet holes inside.

now, the recent peace talks with the LRA failed, and some military movements into the North are observed, but we all hope that the fragile reconcilliation will hold on.

european cup

spending time abroad, it is typical under expats to stay within your country peer groups. so the germans with the germans, the italians with the italians and so on and on.
but there are this kind of events where nations mix and same time are stricly defined: football cups. in front of the TV and the screens in the local pubs.
so another football cup time i spend outside germany (2002 and 2006 in china), and here we are a much smaller community than in beijing, and it seems that everyone knows each other. so it is such fun then to watch football together in an international atmosphere. ugandans dress in german outfits, swedish suddenly screaming for croatia, the dutch now beeing even more proud than usual. the only obscure thing is, that there are hardly any english people to be found around, i dont know where they hide of embarrassement...

no its real fun, if you are not the team losing and getting all the blame from the others...
okay, tonight, big time against austria!
friends installed a big screen in their even bigger garden, and the german embassy is sponsoring the food & drinks. and therefore the whole german community s going to be there (guess we are about 100 in Kampala), the german supporters, and those ones in for the free food.
Now the german camp is a happy camp

Boniface

Boniface , originally uploaded by inainchina.

this is Boniface Epoku, one of my wonderful peer educators for water sanitation and health in soroti. a previous teacher, he is sooo motivated to teach, educate, contribute and motivate about the topic. he is a lovely old man, that made my ecosan- workshop running so well.

my expat life

huch, 2 posts at the same day. probably cause it is monday and raining, and country director out of country, and tomworrow is another public holiday....

so, a little bit how i spend my time here in Kampala. when i am not in the office working. yap, i start to do more sports , not a lot lot and irregular, but fitness and yoga and pilates helps to maintain the weight, so that i can feel less embarressed going to the swimming pools (there is one nice & Big one, and one small one at a friends appartment complex, incl a jakuzzi). tennis i have to re-start though... then i spend a lot time on my terrace reading TAZ and books. weekend comes, and then the entertainment programm for the young german clique starts. going out also sometimes, but the music is sooo bad, that i always get into such a bad mood after 1 hour. this wont work.
But Alice, my housemate, is taking her role as "entertainer" for us DED colleagues, the german trainess and volunteers very pationate. we are right now a bunch of 5 girls, plus visists from upcountry, plus steady overnight guests in the guest room, and there will be dinner , BBQ (just purchased a grill from the beer bottle deposit collected), brunch, coffee and on sunday evenings TATORT!! at 20.15 sharp! all at our place.
thanks god we have no TV (yet) otherwise we would announce to be the offical host for watching the european football cup....
pictures from our 13 people brunch last sunday

ein kunterbuntes haus.... a colourful housing

uganda is surely a developing country with all aspects, represented by a corrupt government, lot of international NGOs, a very rich capital and a poor backland (here called "upcountry"). the social and economic division is huge. yet, there is one sector that is booming, even among poor households everywhere: the mobile phone. and amazing phenomena with even the remotes farmer owing a phone. but at the same time it is not, cause it is a status symbol, fullfills a human basic need of communication, and with a prepaid system and good connection better to handle than expensive landlines.
so, ICT and especially mobile phone business becomes a lucrative one, with 4 big companies competing the market. they are sponsoring p.e. big concerts for the big crowd in kampala (UB 40 and Akon as such). Additionally they have an interesting marketing concept for rural areas: Painting the houses. by the odd stone houses suddenly shine in bright yellow (MTN) or red (CELTEL) or blue (UTL) oder red-white (WARID),which makes the towns at least look colourful, despite the annoying advertisments. And while driving through the smalltowns, i spend my spare time counting the colours and determin the winner in the housing competition.