'Tis almost the season to be jolly

It’s hard for me to grasp that Christmas is just a month away when it’s 28°C and shops are still playing Shakira’s Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), rather than White Christmas. Luckily, though, there are some festive events cropping up in Kampala to get me in the mood. At KMS, we - Kampala Symphony Orchestra and Kampala Singers - are rehearsing for a Christmas concert in 2 weeks time, with a programme of Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise, and carols. The brass section of the orchestra is made up of MLISADA boys (see post ‘Music to the Rescue’) who have been practising their opening theme so much, that it seems half of Kampala is humming their part. Last week we rehearsed in the concert venue of St. Pauls Catherdral in Namirembe, which proved to be a really magical place, with breath-taking views to match (best I’ve seen yet actually – annoying didn’t think to take camera!)

I have also been rehearsing with KMS vocal group Sauti Ya Africa (Voice of Africa), for their Christmas concert. Not only do they sound brilliant - think Il Divo meets Take 6 - but they are inherently great dancers/ movers, and they perform with such infectious energy. When Sarah from the BBC came to record the KMS radio programme a couple of weeks back, she was particularly blown away by these guys and hopes to make them a demo to pass around the BBC.

Sauti Ya Africa - Francis, Ben, George, and Charles

Last week I moved house again! I’m now living with a lovely Ugandan midwife in Namuwongo (not to be confused with Namugongo, near my previous home), which is just 5 minutes journey from the centre of town. It’s a very interesting area of extreme contrast. We are situated in the middle of Namuwongo, in neutral ground if you like. To the left of our little house is Kampala’s International Hospital, pricey restaurants, and an expat-population overflow from the neighbouring affluent area of Muyenga. Yet, just to our right are 3 of Kampala’s largest slums, home to approximately 10,000 people in each slum (and only 2 proper toilets!) Other mentionable points regarding my new gaff include:

1. I can just see Lake Victoria from my window (!)
2. There are considerable amounts of goats wandering our street

Beatrice, my housemate, took me out for the day on Saturday. We visited the Parliamentary Building and Palace of the Kabaka (King) of Buganda. No, my hand didn’t just slip and hit the ‘B’ key by mistake - Buganda is the Kingdom of Central Uganda, which includes Kampala.

The Kabaka's Palace

This hilltop palace was once the pride of Buganda but it was ruined by Idi Amin in 1966 (on Obote’s orders). Today’s replica palace is just a shell, so it is not being used by the present Kabaka. As you can see from my photograph, the palace and gardens are really very beautiful, but the site is somewhat desolate, tainted by its history... During Idi Amin and his soldiers’ terror reign, underground torture and execution chambers were built here. My guide book states that these cells are not officially open to visitors, but I was immediately offered a tour on arrival. 

Entrance to Idi Amin's underground torture chambers

The torture chambers were unbelievably haunting, especially when accompanied by some far-from-delightful tales from my tour guide, plus wall writings describing some of the horrors enacted!

On our way back from the Kabaka’s Palace, Beatrice took me to Nakasero food market  - another one of those annoying places you want to take loads of photographs, but know it’s totally not a good idea to get the camera out. The ground was completely covered in colourful fresh fruit and vegetables, neatly stacked up to the sky. This is one of the cheapest places to buy fresh produce (huge avocados at about 12p each), but it is a market that is understandably avoided by many.

On Sunday, I joined a group of friends for a day-trip to the beach to celebrate the birthday of Dorothy (pink mask in photo below). It was such a lovely day out! We filled a taxi/ matatu to Entebbe and relaxed on the white-sand beach of Lake Victoria - sun-bathing, swimming, and volleyball-ing.

Entebbe beach, Lake Victoria

P.s. Apologies for the quality of my photographs these days – my camera is rather cumbersome so I tend to leave it at home and just snap away on my phone instead.

Kampala Music School goes viral

So the good intentions of updating this blog weekly have already slipped - Work is suddenly very busy here!

In addition to the lessons I am giving to 17 Ugandans at KMS (mostly adults and some of whom are also teachers at the school), 2 outreach projects, 2 orchestras, choir, and various other small-ensemble rehearsals, I’ve now also started teaching violin at St. Mary Kevin Orphanage Motherhood. SMKOM, situated in the village of Kijaansi just outside Kampala, is home to 150 orphans but also provides quality primary education for 300 ‘day scholars’. SMKOM became one of the first schools to defy social barriers in Africa by successfully integrating orphans in the school's population; within the classroom environment, it is impossible to distinguish between an orphan and a day scholar.  This has turned out to be one of my favourite places to teach - the children are unbelievably keen and diligent.

Perfecting bow holds at SMKOM

There has been a hype of activity at KMS in the past couple of weeks, with 2 special visitors from the media. Wbs TvUganda – a Ugandan TV channel - came to make a short documentary (watch it here), which has gone viral in the Kampala facebook world. Also, a radio producer from the BBC spent the week with us, recording a programme for BBC Radio 4. It will be aired on 14^th, 15^th and 17^th of December, so be sure to tune in! Sarah, the producer was overwhelmed with the teachers’ personal stories and all the work going on here, so it promises to be an interesting programme. 

Sarah from BBC interviews KMS Head of Keyboard, Paul

In other news:

• I have moved house (or ‘shifted’ as they say here). After 6 weeks of kindly being hosted by the KMS director and his family, I’m now renting a little room in a house with 3 other lovely volunteers. The house is slightly further out than I remember from my initial visit, which means a longer commute, but I no longer have to battle through downtown at least! Amongst other missing furniture, there is no fridge, which means having to buy fresh produce from the market each day.
• My cello playing is getting pretty good if I may say so! Don’t expect to see me performing a concerto at The Royal Albert Hall anytime soon, but just to let you know, I have now mastered ‘A Sad Dream’ and ‘A Happy Rambler’.
• There was a rare 'hybrid' solar exlipse the other day. I watched it from a cafe roof terrace with a group of friends. I was totally unprepared (as were most of us) but luckily one of the guys, Alasdair, rocked up with a special paper/ foil/ binocular contraption which allowed us all to view the eclipse safely.