Some random observations

Don’t judge by appearances. A cook who is 5ft nothing and cook-shaped may surprise you by wielding a huge axe to cut firewood. A boy who looks contented may tell you he sometimes wants to cut his arm off when he gets tormented by other kids about his disability. (Don't let him have the axe!)

You miss the ones you love when you are parted.

People say termites are nice to eat. How did they find out?

Other people’s cultural norms seem strange, even wrong; our own seem perfectly natural. The more I understand gender norms here, the more I see them as problematic.

It feels strange when a girl or woman kneels or curtseys when greeting you, especially if that woman is wearing a guard’s uniform and carrying a rifle.

People of faith may not always be aware when they are applying social norms in the name of their God. Whichever country they are in.

Mothers are mostly amazing in what they do for their children. Fathers can be too but some treat this as optional.

English is not a single language. Although much of the vocabulary is the same, and the pronunciation can usually be deciphered, usage and grammar here in Uganda are very different. I guess the latter is based on the grammar of indigenous languages. For example I am much more easily understood when asking a question if I adopt the local usage: “We put the bike here?” rather than “Shall we put the bike here?”. This is fun if you like learning languages. It also creates interesting questions when transcribing interviews. I think it is clear we should report the words people say without “correcting” grammar to UK English, but I found myself uncertain how to write words that are pronounced differently. The most obvious is the “th” sound, almost universally pronounced as “d” here. Should I write “Dey failed to send me to school”? I feel this is more respectful of the source but would others see it like that? There is a lot more to learn about this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugandan_English