April already
on Thea's Blog (Uganda), 31/Mar/2011 15:16, 34 days ago
February and March have whizzed past while January was still getting its coat on. I’m kind of disarmed by the insane speed with which my VSO experience has shot by. I have never in my life before known time to pass so quickly. I guess it’s because I’m having such a good time. I really, actually am. Love the job, love the place, love the people…So why then am I leaving? It’s a good question, and one I have been asking myself fairly regularly since accepting a job in West Africa. But more of that later…Meanwhile…lots of rain since the beginning of March. Pretty cold here in FP although KLA as sticky as ever. Trying to do a zillion things at once – finalise MMU’s ten year strategic plan, get life skills/career guidance off the ground, goad my hopeless unit in to becoming something vaguely passable, start up a fundraising short course, coax students in to taking over termly magazine, develop a grand plan for solving the university’s financial woes. Kind of semi-succeeding with some things and miserably failing with others. Usual story. Meanwhile shamelessly neglecting my smallholding. Vegetablepatch has been reclaimed by the jungle. Abwooli the hen came to a sad end when she tried to befriend a pussy cat (curiousity killed the chicken in this case). Atenyi and Atooki are once more on egg strike (perhaps because I usually only remember to feed them every third day). Glad there’s no suchthing as the RSPCA in this country.And all of a sudden I have only 6 weeks left to go.It’s all a bit of a wrench. I feel I could very happily continue bumbling along here indefinitely. But this irritating, naggy little voice keeps whispering things like: you’ve been a volunteer for two years, it’s frankly ridiculous at your age, it’s time to stop farting about and get a properjob. Humpf. Unfortunately I can't really argue with these home truths. So no extension for me after all. Instead I’m off to the rust- and mould-inducing heat of Sierra Leone. It's all happening a bit too fast for my liking. Slow down, slow down. This is Africa after all.