We’ve been following the Uganda general election online via The Monitor and New Vision newspapers, and it looks like things went as peacefully as could be expected.
It seems there were allegations of pre-ticked ballot papers, candidates’ names being missed off, people mispronouncing candidates’ names - to those who presumably do not read? - so they didn’t know who to vote for.
Anyway, I hope things are OK over there for those of you who are in Uganda.
We also watched a TV programme this week called ‘The world’s worst place to be gay is Uganda’.
A gay BBC Radio 1 DJ went over there recently to find out what life is like as a gay person in Uganda.
It was interesting to watch; firstly because it was great to see pictures of what we felt was ‘home’; secondly to see how a visitor to Uganda views the country; and thirdly because once you look past what he found and think about how it all came about, the factors and influences in the country over time, it made for some interesting conversation.
Although we missed having a TV when we were in Uganda, now that we have one again - even though there are about 3 million channels here - we find we very rarely watch it.
What we have noticed though is that the UK TV personalities look 15 years older than when we last saw them!
Kira has decided that the two of us have a Girly Night every week. It’s great and I look forward to it.
Sometimes we soak our feet and give each other a foot massage. Then we climb into my bed in our pyjamas early in the evening with a drink, a big bar of chocolate each and a DVD. She stays in the bed, while Jon is banished to her bedroom.
Jon and Jordan however have a Boys’ Night. They eat biscuits and watch a boys’ DVD in the living room. The living room is below our bedroom and we can hear the sound of explosions, crashes and fights coming from the DVD player!
We’ve had a pretty quiet month doing the usual stuff - school, seeing family, working etc. I’m spending a lot of time organising a Ladies’ Lifestyle Fair (http://www.chrysalisforwomen.com/ladies-lifestyle-fair.html) which is in May.
I also attended a training course on LinkedIn. It’s amazing what a powerful tool it can be. If you are on LinkedIn, you can connect via http://uk.linkedin.com/in/kimchamberlain
Jon is involved in the local LUG (Linux Users Group) - similar to the one he helped set up in Jinja. They meet weekly in Blackpool and yesterday went to Manchester for a gathering of the LUG clans.
Earlier in the month I went to a fundraising event for a local hospice - a Ladies’ Posh Bingo night! It was good fun, and though most people had never played bingo before, it’s easy enough to pick up. There were some great prizes and we raised £500 for the hospice. The event was held in a new, permanent marquee at the Villa hotel, which is where I’m holding the Ladies’ Lifestyle Fair. It’s very beautiful.
One highlight of the month was when my Mum called me to tell me that one of the local stores was having a 10p sale. There were supermarket trolleys and boxes full of goods for 10p! Kira and I spent ages there and bought about 30 items - hats, gloves, shoes, socks, ear muffs, underwear, windscreen wiper blades, craft paper...
Crikey, life here is such an excitement I really do wonder how I manage.
One thing that Jordan’s cannot understand is why anyone would want to buy a
Smart car! In case you haven’t come across them, they are tiny, two-seater cars that you can probably park sideways as they are so small.
“Look at that!” he cries out whenever he sees one “who would be seen dead driving one
of them?”
Anyway we were in a supermarket car park one time, when one started reversing out of the car park space towards me.
He pushed me out of the way - not, as he told me later, to particularly save me - but to avoid the total embarrassment of having to tell people his mum was run over by a Smart car!
And talking of children, we have had children for almost 15 years now. This is the first time we have lived in the UK with them and have registered for, and now receive, Child Benefit.
This is a benefit you receive when you have children.
Never having received maternity pay or money for having children, I find it quite incredible that the government give you free money for simply possessing some offspring! Crikey!
This catalogue came through our letter box.
I'm intrigued to know why on earth you would need a little stand to rest your finger on while you were applying nail polish!
On a sad note our neighbour in NZ, Shirley, who took on our two cats let us know recently that one of them, Freddie had died. He was around 12 years old. Those of you who know Freddie, know that he was a very nervous cat, and found it hard to let people near him. His brother Frankie was apparently very upset when he found him in the garden next door.
Thank you Shirley and family for looking after both of them so well.
And on another sad note, the husband of one of the mothers at Kira’s school was knocked off his bike a number of weeks ago. He broke his neck, damaged his spinal cord and has lost the use of the upper part of his body.
They do not know how much he will recover, but have said he will always be ‘incomplete’.
It’s terrible to think that one minute he was fine, and the next partly paralysed.
So, on a lighter note, these are some photos we took when we went for a day out in a place called Knott End.
The land formations were really interesting, not ones I’ve seen before.
The water was frozen, which is why we used the sticks to break up the ice.
For those of you in NZ, I’ll be there for the first two weeks in July, hopefully bringing Kira with me. Hope to catch up with you then!
And finally I’ll leave you with a word that Kira made up.
Jordan was doing his usual - ie talking a lot.
Kira looked at him and said “Jordan, stop blibbering!”
