The Kampala "Marathon"

This weekend, one of Uganda's largest mobile phone companies, MTN, sponsored a marathon to raise money for two worthy causes, as quoted on their website below:

1. To reduce exposure of school children to cancer caused by carcinogens in asbestos roofing of public schools.
2. To improve maternal health through providing better facilities in Kiswa and Komamboga health care centres.

A few of us from MAF Uganda joined together as a team to take part in the fun! There were options to run 21km, 42km- or 10km.

Most of us on the MAF team only opted for the 10km run... along with THOUSANDS of other participants!!!

To get an idea of how many people we were, there are some great photos on a local newspaper's website- follow this link:

https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1465961/pictures-thousands-grace-mtn-kampala-marathon

It was 6am when I set off with our night guard to walk the short but dark distance to a nearby garage to meet up with some of our fellow MAF-team runners.

As the sun came up, we climbed into a friend's minibus and set off to the race starting point in town:

We were dropped off by another friend and walked to the Kololo airstrip where an impressively organised venue had been set up for the race start and finish.

There was time for some group pictures as we congregated:

A few of us ladies also took time to make a quick visit to the less-than-desirable toilets! We took turns to hold the doors of the long-drop loos for one another whilst trying not to pass out from the stink that emanated from the general area!

Soon all the 10 km race runners were being called to order by booming voices bursting from loud- speakers on one of the giant stages.

We made our way into the throng of runners- and I mean throng!  It was not easy to stay together. We often had to grab each other's hands to stop ourselves being swallowed up in the thousands which made up our crowd of participants.

Suddenly...
... we were off!!! However, with so many thousands of runners it was a slow start, as we struggled to find space to move independently!!

We were immersed in a SEA of yellow and blue, as all runners had been kitted out in MTN yellow running tops and caps. 

However, we MAF-ers ditched the MTN caps and wore MAF hats!

Once we were able to get going, I tucked away my phone and therefore my camera and we set off for 10 km of running, up and down Kampala's hills. It was already getting hot by 7:30am! Thankfully, there were a couple of water stations en route where bottled water was handed out- WONDERFUL relief!!

It was around an hour later when some of us crossed the finish line. We found our speedier team-mates already relaxing on a grassy patch of  Kololo airstrip, enjoying the shade of a tree! 

We joined them for some victory photos, but those pictures really are so terribly unflattering (with our red, shiny, sweaty faces!!)  that I will not be posting them here- because of my own vanity and out of respect for my team-mates!!

However, just to prove that we were still smiling at the end of the race, here is a photo from our ride home!

Our new baby!!!

Yesterday, an 8 Week Old joined our family....

Meet Harry- our new hairy friend!! We went as a family to collect him and bring him home across town in our car on Saturday morning:

Harry is our first ever dog as a family. We will be learning about how to raise a dog as Harry settles in!

Silver, our cat, is not overly impressed- when they first met he seemed to think that Harry was just passing through...

It's a bit of a shock to his system that Harry is here to stay!

UPDATE

It's been rather a long time since I have updated this blog. Time seems to slip by more quickly in Kampala: life has become busier and busier. This appears to be one of the natural consequences of living as a family in a large city.

Another significant demand on my time has been my decision to enrol on a TEFL course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). This course has been divided into two sections.

First of all, I have been completing an online grammar course. This course saw me refreshing my knowledge of, or even adding to, my knowledge of English grammar.

What a complicated language we native English speakers have! I have had my brain challenged by modal verbs, gerunds, transient and intransient verbs, participles, compound nouns and adverbial phrases, not to mention the thirteen tenses of the English language!

The second part of my course was a classroom-based, intensive course. This took place during the recent half-term week in October. For this section of my TEFL course I travelled from Kampala all the way to Scotland's Edinburgh!

In Edinbugh's Glasshouse Hotel I joined a group of other TEFL students. where an excellent tutor took us through several days of theory, grammar practice and practical skills. It was time well spent! It was a brilliant course, with plenty of time for us to engage in activities, plan and deliver English lessons to our fellow students and to give and receive invaluable feedback.

Edinburgh's Glasshouse Hotel conference room: a world away from the heat and chaos of Kampala!

Admittedly, Edinburgh was a lot colder than Kampala- but it was rather fun to wear a different wardrobe! Fun to wrap up in a toasty coat and don a colourful scarf, to wear furry boots and long jeans!
 I had the privilege of being able to stay with good friends from University- although as we met up we found it hard to believe that it is 25 years since we first met at Nottingham University! I don't feel old enough to have a history like that!

Here is a Monday morning selfie at a breezy 7 a.m.- I prepare to take the bus into town, as Fiona kindly gets up early to make breakfast for me and accompany me to the bus-stop for the first day of my course:

I got very excited on the bus into town because I discovered that Edinburgh buses offer free wi-fi to their passengers! This may not seem particularly exciting to some of you readers, but for me, living in Kampala, it seemed like an ultra-modern perk! In Kampala, it's always a bonus to actually arrive safely at our destination on the local motorbikes or mini-bus taxis, let alone have the comfort of wi-fi !!

The bus carried me through the streets of Edinburgh, with plenty of time to admire the Autumn vistas afforded by my front seat on the top deck of the bus:

 

Since returning home to Kampala, I have been able to fully complete my TEFL requirements. Two weeks ago I officially received my certificate! Horray! 

Each Tuesday, I now volunteer at a local education centre for refugees where I teach English to students who come from several African countries. It is wonderful to have interaction with these willing learners and to be able to put into practise what I have recently learnt on my course. I am still learning how to effectively teach English, but with each lesson I teach comes more awareness- and I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge!