Facts and Figures from my West African Experience

Facts and Figures from my East African Experience

22^nd February 2007
In the continuing tradition of repeating stuff that has come before, I present some facts and figures from my East African experience. The equivalent Philippines list can be found here, and Eest Africa's here.

Total Days Stayed: 169
20 days shorter than the Philippines, 95 days longer than East Africa
Pictures Taken: 1949
... or about 12 a day. Way, way down on the Philippines at forty a day. I guess the situation in the Philippines was completely new to me. New country, new people, poverty I'd never seen before and I culture that fascinated me.

Uganda, while no doubt different, was quite so new. I had seen many such things before. So I guess I wasn't quite as excited and fascinated, hence my picture count being way down.
Cameras Used: Just the one this time
After my camera was stolen in Ghana, I was very paranoid about it. Anytime I went out I had the camera in its case, and the case firmly glued to my side.

I also had my i-pod in the case and was equally paranoid. The one time I wasn't so paranoid was the time my i-pod got stolen...
Cell Phones Used: Two
Some free advice: Take extra good care of your cellphone when you are in the long-drop toilets of the Mukono guest house.
Kisses Received: None. Nadda. Zip. Non-Applicable
I did have the odd African female^* hitting on me. Nothing nearly as over-the-top as the Philippines, but the try-and-snag-a-white-guy mentality was present.

A typical personal ad in the newspaper reads something like this:

Single HIV+ African lady, 22, seeks a god-fearing white man from America, England or Holland with a view to a long term relationship. Must be financially independent and 40+.

I qualify for the "white man" bit, but that's about it.

The HIV+ (or HIV-) statement in just about all of the personal ads gives you some idea of how bad the AIDS epidemic is over there.
Most Expensive Item Lost: My i-pod
See above. I was pretty gutted when I had my i-pod stolen. Not only does it give you your own personal space in the oh-so-crowded public transport, but it also served as a great backup for all my computer files and photos.

My one decadent purchase in New Zealand will be a new i-pod. If nothing else, it will provide me with a useful way to take my 19gb worth of data to Korea.

And no receipt, means no insurance...
Most treasured Acquisition: The pants I am wearing in this photo
I just love 'em. They're super. One friend suggested that I sell such pants on GrassRootsUganda.com as he wanted some!

I did get the odd parting gift (most of it food from GrassRootsUganda.com ladies), but nothing on the same scale as what I got from the Philippines.
Dollars spent per week: $163, or about $23 a day
Not sure how I managed it, but that was actually more than the very cheap Ghana which comes in at $29 a day.

My trip to West Africa came it at a massive $62 a day.

Bring back the Philippines!, where it was only $14 a day, including a camera and numerous trips.

Update: Oops. Despite doing honor level maths papers at University, I still struggle to add. Uganda comes in at $NZ35 a day
Kilograms lost: fifteen
I weighed 95kg when I left New Zealand, 85kg when I left Ghana, and 80kg when I arrived back in New Zealand. Malaria was responsible for 10kg.

^* And let's me honest here, the only female that would ever hit on me would have to be odd...

Do you like the work that I am doing?

Wanna help in a real and tangible way?

Then visit GrassRootsUganda.com and purchase some crafts made by Ugandan ladies. 100% of the profits are returned to the ladies

Questions? Comments? Try contacting me.
Wanna receive an email whenever this site gets updated? Click here.

(c) 2005, 2006 and 2007 Malcolm Trevena.
All the stuff on this site is written by me, Malcolm Trevena. Feel free to link to this page. Heck, you can even copy stuff from here if you want. Just make sure you sight me as a reference.