This Is Africa!

I have had many friends asking me all about my experiences and wanting to know more about Uganda? So, here is some information for you….

What do people eat?

Central and Southern Uganda are very fertile and produce a wide variety and plentiful crops. Fruits such as pineapple, papaya, guava, avocado, passion fruit, watermelon, bananas to name a few are widely grown. Vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, potatos, sweet potatos, kidney beans, corn, courgette and tomatoes are also produced.

The staple diet for many Ugandans includes posho and beans, matoke, rice ground nut sauce, potatoes, meat and chapattis. Posho is corn that is ground to flour and mixed with water for porridge in the mornings. In the evenings it is mixed with less water and it becomes thick enough to slice and beans are put on top of it. Matoke is a type of banana that is pealed, steamed and eaten with the Posho. It can also be mashed. Ground nut sauce is like a gravy sauce made out of peanuts and can be poured over posho, rice or matoke. Chapatis are a fried flat bread, similar to a tortilla but more greasy! The food in Uganda is good but can be bland.

How do you buy things?

There is rarely a fixed price in Uganda unless you are in a supermarket. Almost every price is negotiable and most of the trade particularly in the markets is done by bartering. It is common to be charged a ‘Muzungu’ price so it is wise to have an idea of what you should be paying before you go shopping.

How do people live?

Living conditions are very different between the rural areas and the city. In the rural areas the poorest people may be lucky enough to live in a mud hut and hand dig their own gardens to try and produce enough to live on. There is an emerging middle class who are folks who have jobs and live in hand made brick houses. Not many people will own their own vehicle. The upper class live in and around Kampala in beautiful homes. The gap between the rich and the poor is wide.

What is the Language spoken?

There are many different languages spoken depending on what area of Uganda you are in. There will be a variety of languages and dialects in each place. Children all learn English in schools and the government have made English Ugandan’s official language,. However, older generations will not have any English and we will rely on children and young people to interpret for them. In Jinja, the language spoken is Luganda. Here are a few greetings that I am learning and trying to use each day;

Webalae - Thank you

Wasuze otya  - Good Morning (literally 'how was your night?')

Kali - OK

Mpolampola – Slowly (mainly used when trying to get a boda driver to slow down!)

Mujjanjabi - Nurse

Nnyabo/Ssabo - man/woman. Always put at the end of a greeting (to an adult) as a sign of respect

I will be having language lessons every Thursday evening with Teacher Pele at the GSF school.

What is the Population?

Children make up 66% of the population in Uganda.

75% of the population is under 30 years old and 50% are under 15 years old.

Life expectancy 52.17 years

Scary Statistics.

Over 1,900,000 Ugandan Children have lost at least one parent to AIDS. With numbers ranging from 1.2 million to 1.7 million, Uganda currently has of the highest population of orphans in the world.