Friday, 12 April 2013

Reflections



It’s April, well into April, and I can’t believe I’ve been here for 3 months. This week has been a bit of a time for reflection. For the first time since arriving I’ve started to miss the variety and complexity of life in the UK. When I first arrived in Kiwangala, I loved the simple, basic way of living here.
With all of my things fitting easily into one room, with little clutter.
With the village just outside our front door, where there are little shops selling vegetables and oil and sugar, and flour and eggs and rice, and chapattis. All there, ready to be brought home to be cooked on our little gas stove, in our outside kitchen, (or our oven!) where we have just enough to cook with and eat with, but nothing extra to get in the way.
With almost everyone I know in the whole country, living within 200m from our house, calling on us, to chat and drink tea and laugh.
With limited electricity, and no TV or internet to waste hours in front of.
With our living room, an outside shelter with a big table to sit around.
With the weekly market in Kiwangala selling everything a Kiwangalan could need, and bustling, well into the dark every Saturday.
With my three small classes of students in school, consisting of 13 students who I am getting to know better each day.
And I still do love all of these things. In so many ways life here is more satisfying or something similar. But, I would kill for a good theatre performance, or a proper coffee in an interesting art gallery, or good bacon butty wrapped up on a comfy sofa, or a canoe on lake Coniston. Or a hot bath on a cold day or a good shopping trip. And of course, I miss all the people I could do these things with.
I have a feeling that, if I’d come home before this week, I wouldn’t have appreciated all of these things any more than I did before I left, because I hadn’t yet missed them. But the people who live here will never experience many of these things that, back home I just completely took for granted. They won’t ever have the chance to miss them, because, to them, these things don’t really exist. That’s what is making me realise just how lucky I am with my life in England. With the traffic, and the rain and the too many people everywhere and the thousands of shops, all trying to get you to spend your money. I miss the vastness and the unlimited opportunities.


Of course, one of the opportunities made available to me was to come here, and have this experience, to taste this life, and I’m determined to soak up every moment.
Enough.

8 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos and reflections. It seems the simplicity of your life at the moment and the lack of clutter, business and distractions is giving you clarity of thought. I guess volunteers opting to return to the UK is stimulating your reflections. Love the way you are appreciating your life in UK and also your experience in Uganda. It seems they have in abundance something that is hard to find here, a real sense of community. Love you, Mum.

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    1. You're completely right, the sense of community here is phenomenal. Last night a man was shining a bright torch through my window, and after Calum went outside to scare him away, all of our neighbors came out of their houses to argue with this intruder! neighborhood watch is amazing!
      love you too

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  2. Wise words and beautifully articulated Kate. Love A. Laraine x

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  3. Wonderful to read you are enjoying the minimalist life style. I think that is the way we as the human race are designed to live, without the excesses of modern life. It has certainly given you a new perspective on life that will stand you in good stead for the rest of your life.

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  4. My dear Kate (Kisakye),
    Well,what a lot to catch up with, you've certainly had a lot of unforgettable experiences,while I have been away. And it sounds as though you have also been experiencing a bit of home sickness lately, too. Very understandable considering the contrast between where you are and your normal home environment. But what you are also realising is, that we have to be away from home to fully appreciate what we normally just take for granted. It is true what they say, you don't know what you've until it's gone.
    How lovely that your new family have given you a new name, it must make you feel even more included - and what a lovely and very appropriate one it is too.
    The photos you have taken are really great (as I knew they would be) and certainly help us to visualise the sort of life you are living out there. I love the sunset, I bet you must see some really spectacular ones. I see Liz agrees with me that they are National Geographic standard.
    You are certainly experiencing all aspects of life & death out there. The wedding and the funeral you attended must have been real eye openers, and the little boy who was attacked by the pig sounded horrendous, poor little chap, how old was he? That must have been very upsetting for you. He will probably be scarred for life now.
    Strange to see another photo of you in a wedding dress, I think mine suited you better!!
    I was impressed by the photo of Matia's house, it looks very ornate, are there many like that?

    So what did you think of Michelle's news? It's really great isn't it? They came down to see me for Easter, and it is lovely to see them both so happy together. It has certainly been a whirlwind romance, but one that is definitely working. I am so happy for them. It is really nice that Jean is so easy to get on with and that he has slipped effortlessly into the family and made himself at home.

    Our holiday in the Caribbean seems a long way away now, but was very enjoyable, and it was great to be able to soak up the Caribbean sun while it was snowing back home! We visited some very interesting places, one of the most memorable was Blackbeards castle. As you probably know he was one of the most famous pirates and the scariest, as he was 6ft 7in tall and when attacking would set fire to plaits in his beard. There was a life size statue of him, in fact this place had the largest collection of pirate statues in the world and the one that really took us by surprise was one of Jack Sparrow! Did you know he was an actual pirate and not a Disney invention? We didn't, and Johnny Depp had him down to a T, also the film turns out to be fairly factual, his ship was called the Black Pearl and he had a great interest in the supernatural and his ultimate ambition was to achieve immortality and sail the seven seas as a legendary pirate for eternity.

    Well, Kate I have probably taken up enough of your time so will finish now and look forward to reading your next report.

    love you lots Grandma xxx

    P.S. What is Matoke?

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  5. Just want to say a big thankyou for writing your blog for us all. They are amazing and will ofcourse be very special for you to keep.

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  6. Hello Kisakye! Fantastic to read your vivid accounts of your experiences as always:) its a shame it's been pretty hard to keep in good touch, hasn't helped with us rocking around the Southern Hemisphere, I suppose! We're just off the phone from Calums Dad who is flying out to Mombasa or Nairobi and wants to get in touch with you to find out if you're going to join them there as he wants to try to arrange flights for you and Calum between Mombasa and Nairobi. (Kenya...we think!) I better send this now and hope you can get in touch with him soon. Lots of love, Liz xx PS We brought the New Zealand weather home with us! Same temperature here as NZ at the moment, about 16 degrees. We're experiencing a high front! Sounds like you're going to have another amazing experience on your travels, Kate! Enjoy! Xxxxx

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  7. Did you like the chocolate Mummy sent? Love Jack xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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