On Saturday November 29th it was finally time to say good-bye to our friends and families. Me and my colleagues were off to our new venture as development workers in East Africa. Our first stop before we were sent to our final destination was the regional office for East Africa in Kampala.
90 kg of moving luggage
It was a very early morning flight from Düsseldorf. I had slept at my friend’s house. The pre check in the night before hadn’t worked and now the security line was endless. I had been at the airport 3 hours and still had to ask my way up further to the front in the line. Time was running…. This didn’t look like a good start. Luckily all went well just in time. I was able to meet my Austrian colleagues in Amsterdam and then jointly take the flight to Kampala.
We arrived in Kampala on Saturday evening. We were accommodated at the Mill Hill Missionary Guesthouse. A friendly guest with but clean rooms run by the Mill Hill brothers. It is in a nice large garden setting and comes with full board. The food is delicious and homemade.
Rainbow over Lake Victoria
One week off In-country training with at the regional head office and together with old and new colleagues lie ahead of us. But first we were to explore Kampala and its beautiful surroundings.
Fried grasshoppers
November marks rainy season in Uganda and the right time to try one of the local delicacies:”fried grasshoppers” called Nsenene. They are prepared with garlic, onions and salt and deep fried. After my 2nd in a lifetime trial of eating an insect (the first where lemon ants in Australia) I can say they do indeed taste like chips.
We spend the evening of our first day with a team dinner on the shores of Lake Victoria. The only dish on the menu “Catch of the Day” Nile tilapia.
Dinner at the shores of Lake Victoria
A fisherman returns with his catch – Lake Victoria
A Marabu storch with his “Catch of the Day”
Catch of the day – Nile Tilapia
After a fantastic first day on African grounds we were excited to start our In country training on Monday. On the schedule where meeting and introduction of the regional HQ staff, administrative processes, a visit to the regional office of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). Highlight was a full day security training conducted by the Ugandan police.
Security training by the traffic police
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