Life in Soroti

I have been here over 5 days now and made a good start with the research. Today I will just give a quick sample of life here and later I will post some information about my work.

I am staying in a basic room, although with the great luxury of a hot shower, a flush toilet, and some gas cooking facilities. The area where we are called Pamba and it’s pretty noisy, chicken rooster and goat cries compete with prolonged loud repetitive singing, recorded music from the drinking joints of various descriptions which abound in this district, children playing or yelling and several sounds I haven’t yet identified. The weather is warm and muggy, it’s hardly rained at all but there was lightning last night and I guess it will rain soon.

I haven't got malaria, and judging by the number of dead insects on my bed, I have an insecticide-treated net.

There are several teenage girl boarders on site and they love to sing worship songs, sometimes with beautiful harmonies, and to play games; they have enjoyed an enormous skipping rope I brought and they are trying to teach me some Ateso language and songs. You always get a greeting when you pass (they call adult men “Uncle”) and an invitation to share any food that is going.

Apart from the drinkers, nearly everyone in Soroti seems very busy working with little leisure time. Scarcely anyone was watching the Uganda World Cup qualifying game on TV (they surprised everyone by managing a draw against Senegal) or the Euro 2012, although quite a number turned out on Sunday morning to watch the local team play Moroto Town FC: another draw, settled on penalties.

Mostly I have been transported on the back of a motorcycle by Michael, centre manager, Tom, research assistant, or Fred, accountant (in ascending order of speed). It’s quite dry and dusty and hardly anyone wears goggles or even helmets so it’s a bit worrying when a car leaves you in a cloud of grit and dust: can the driver see where he is going? Maybe in a while I will feel up to driving myself by bike or car, but probably I will leave it to the locals. I also rode a boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) at night and I walked back to the centre from church on Sunday morning. I hoped to get the use of a pedal bike but this may not be possible. Other people have compiled lists of what you see on the back of a bike but I would like to add a breast-feeding infant.

More news soon!

Tom