My Neighbourhood....

 

 

Last week I moved into the flat, which is going to be my home for the foreseeable future. I was sad to say goodbye to Felista, who works at the guest house and her 3 year old daughter, Jocelyn, but definitely pleased to have moved somewhere with hot water, no bunk beds and far fewer mosquitos...

 

So, for those that are interested, I thought I would do a quick post of some photos of my flat (with apologies to anyone who has already seen these - it was probably dull enough the first time round!) and of my neighbourhood..

 

I'm still living in Namuwongo, a short walk from the office, in a block of  flats. I've already met most of the neighbours and have, I think, offered to cook dinner for the two Kenyan women that live next door to me... We have a night guard keeping watch every night. He has a bow and arrow. 





 

 

 

The kitchen!

 

 

Bedroom!

Very nice spare room - for any visitors...!

The lounge

 

The lounge again.

 

I live a  short distance from two local bars. The Bali Bali bar (busy when I took this photo as I think Liverpool were playing Chelsea...) -

 



 

 

and the Neighbour's pub. I'm yet to try this one out (you'll see it's strapline is "the glamour of polished folk". I'm not entirely sure what that means but will go at some point and find out...) - 

 

 

 

I live just off Namuwongo Road -

There is a fantastic fruit and veg market every day. I am really enjoying eating all the fresh pineapple, mangoes, avocadoes, bananas etc.

 

 

Some other pics from the area -

One of the local supermarkets

Early every morning people gather to read the newspaper headlines:

 

One of the local butchers (this is actually nearer to where I was living before, but I like the name so thought I would include it!)

I'm not sure the pictures, though, quite capture the atmosphere of the area; the friendliness, the noise, the smells, the dust and the general 24-hour a day non-stop activity. There always seems to be  people around and something going on (I'm fairly sure some of my neighbours were moving a fridge into a van at 4am this morning, but I may have been dreaming...). There's always sounds - dogs barking, birds squawking, goats, traffic horns, people shouting, talking, praying (I hear a call to prayer every morning at around 5am) and every bar and house seems to continually play either premiership football or, if there's not a game on, dodgy British pop music (current favourites are any slow tracks by the Spice Girls, Will Young and Phil Collins! Just what I like...).

I am really enjoy living here so far and love all the busyness.

 

There's a nice track going up a short hill from us (away from the hustle and bustle of Namuwongo Road) -

This leads to Muyenga, a slightly better off area, where quite a few NGOs (e.g. Oxfam, VSO) are based. There's a good coffee shop (Coffee Kawa - see here), a craft shop (run by Joe, the director of Hands for Hope and his partner, Daphne), an Italian supermarket, a wine shop and some cheap and cheerful restaurants (I tried out the Coconut Shack last night, the local Indian). In some ways it's a contrast to Namuwongo, and it's good to have both on my doorstep!