Nearly There… July 17, 2011

Two weeks left in Mbale is all that I have. Seems like still such a long time but I know it’s going to shoot by so trying to savour every moment. Thankfully work is so near to being finished that I’ll be able to relax and just have fun. The adult literacy curriculum has been completed except for a few resources, branding and then printing. Can’t believe how close I am to holding it in my hand and passing it to other people to use. Really has been a mammoth task and one I’m not sure I would have taken on if I’d known how much work it would be! So the highlights of the past couple of weeks…

Visitors came to visit Beersheba including our new COuntry Director and my old youth work tutor, Jeremy. They were really impressed with Beersheba and what we were up to which is nice when you’re coming to the end of a placement. It was also great being able to listen to the wisdom of Jeremy when I asked multiple questions about theology and UK church life.

I spent yesterday afternoon at the home of my friends Dennis and Nicole. Dennis is our Adult Literacy teacher and he’s been married for 4 months. Their home is a 1 room place in Musoto that they separate by a curtain into sleeping area and living room. In standard Ugandan fashion there was lots of food and laughter while watching the tv! Very strange watching English news, realise how out of touch I am with the rest of the world. After we had eaten Dennis started saying the sweetest things about how I had helped him develop. He called me his mentor and said that my time in Africa was well spent and absolutely not a waste. His teaching abilities have improved beyond recognition but I’m not sure I can take the credit! His wife is expecting already which is exciting and it’s nice to see how happy they are as a couple. I also realise that when Dennis thanked Nicole for cooking it was the first time I had ever seen a man thank his wife for doing something. I’d been told men don’t thank their wives as it may make them lazy but instead it seems that it actually helps their relationship – shocking!

The past few weeks have also been taken up with trying to finish the banda at Beersheba. Somehow nothing here is straight forward but there are now doors and windows are apparently on the way. The floor and veranda are not quite in place yet which is a shame as the team from my old church in the UK arrive in about an hour and are expecting to begin painting on Tuesday! Sure it will all work out somehow although I’m not sure how!

The last couple of weeks have been really busy but as I sit here to write about them I can’t seem to remember any of what went on! Perhaps all I did was write lesson plans and health proposals. It is nice to have a few hours to myself before 12 Mzungus turn up in Mbale to work at Beerhsbea. One of them works for Oasis in Kampala and she’s doing my debrief which makes me wonder if I should be thinking anything deep as the UK also want to chat to me to check my brain isn’t on the point of explosion. I think I’m doing ok although I do have a moment of frantic sobbing every so often just to release pent up emotions that I have not realised are building. I think the next couple of weeks are going to be so hectic that I’m not really going to have time to think about the enormity of moving continent but very much hoping I don’t completely crash when I get back to the UK. Everyone keeps telling me to relax my last few weeks and enjoy it but I think I’m going to be too busy!!! It will be nice having Orpington folk here though and as my mentor pointed out if there are people who have seen everything then they can help to process when I’m back home. I seem to have been the most visited Mzungu ever at Beersheba with parents twice, best friend and old youth group I feel quite popular!

Right, my next set of visitors must be nearly upon me so I ought to go and think about putting on the kettle and maybe finding a jumper as it’s about to rain and so it’s cold and under 30 degrees! Perhaps this is part of my reintroduction to the UK…

Winding Down… July 6, 2011

It is a very strange thing to leave a country and not be entirely sure of the next thing you are going to. Work has suddenly become very quiet as all my tasks have been handed over except for a few final things and so my e-mail account is unusually silent. This week and next week have visitors arriving and there are bits of things to do but it is very strange to suddenly have time on my hands and to have to begin the process of leaving. One things that has helped to look forward is a job offer from CMS which is a complete surprise as I was so convinced I would never be offered it I accepted the interview seeing it as a good chance to practice my interview skills (albeit by skype) in preparation for any future job that I thought I might have a slim chance of getting! Getting an interview was also a bit of a surprise as again being totally convinced I would not ever be what they were looking for once they saw my background I spent the shortest time possible on applications and interview prep!!! Clearly though the relaxed attitude I went into it with paid off and actually as the interview progressed the job became more and more attractive even if it is not at all what I thought would be next for me. So the upshot is I’m moving to Oxford to work for people I currently know very little about! I have a cuppa planned with the CMS couple who live in Mbale so they’re going to fill me in before I finally say yes to the lady tomorrow.

So apart from starting to wind down and say goodbyes my main activity has been the adult literacy curriculum which now stands at 85% complete! I have ropped in others who will take it off me when my work is done and add their views and thoughts before it is then trialled out by various folks well after I am gone. Eventually it will be properly branded and hopefully sold to other NGOs so that Oasis Uganda can make some money! To get to that stage will be a long time and won’t be my problem but hopefully I have done enough to make it easy for others to continue. It is at this point that I am glad one of my greatest joys is seeing people develop and that handing things over does not affect my self-esteem! Even when there are new plans being dreamed up I am finding I am ok with them not involving me and instead I am looking forward to hearing how everyone else gets on. There is a massive part of me that sort of wishes I could stay in Uganda forever just because the people I work with as so awesome but I know it’s time to come home and at least this is a great holiday destination! One of my friends said they were only releasing me to return to the UK on the condition I found a job and saved for the airfare to come straight back and visit. At least I know I am leaving Beersheba in a very healthy place, in fact I think it is one of the healthiest projects/programmes I have ever seen and I think great things are in store for it.

So in 4 weeks time I will be waking up in Haddenham probably wondering whether the last 2 years have been a dream. I have been advised to savour every moment of the everyday boring things of life which sum up Africa which I am trying to do before many many folk arrive from the UK in my final two weeks and keep me busy! I think they’re coming at the right time though as I’ll be able to show them around and explain what I’ve been up to which will hopefully help me process as well. Right now all I can do to sum up Africa is say that I’m a very lucky girl to have been able to have such an experience and be taught so much by some truly wonderful people. They would probably say I was a blessing to them but I know that the benefits I have received far outweigh what I have given. Truly a great couple of years and I can’t believe I have only a month left, where did all that time go…