Computers, Guttering and Kyambogo University

The last time I posted was Monday night and to be honest, I don't specifically know when I've done what this week, so I just make the following comments.

I know that Tuesday was a public holiday, so I had free rein to do whatever I wanted. I wanted to get the guttering done, so headed off to a supplier to get a length of plastic fascia board (5.8mt), a length of downpipe (4 mt) and a length of guttering (5.8 mt). To save money, I had it toed together, put it on my shoulder and headed back to Wakisa on a motorbike. There were two outdoor roofs that needed doing and it all went pretty well, once I finished getting one of the roofs level. Henry and Tested it out by pouring a bucket of water on the roof and it all worked just fine.





The computer shop was supposed to ring on Tuesday but what a surprise, they didn't, even though they were open. When I rang on Wednesday, I could tell they hadn't started the laptops but I told them I would be there in 30 minutes to collect them. Long story short, I picked them up, brought them back and found that they had not included the flash drives and had installed the wrong virus protection! Back again to get it all corrected. That night I also spent 3 hours updating the virus protection - 1 hour per machine.

Thursday morning I ran a new 20 mt Ethernet cable from the router in Vivian's office, across the hall and into the office and Suzan's PC - that fixed the problem on her machine. More work getting everyone onto Google calendar and docs and all of a sudden, it was lunchtime and I needed to get off to Kyambogo University to deliver the laptops to Christine, Winny and Peace. They were all so excited & grateful for these tools which will make their study & research easier and save them considerable expense. I recorded interviews with them to give to their sponsors when I get back.

They all then wanted to take me to see when they lived so off we plodded. This photo is of when Peace lives with a friend. The single room is about 3.5 mt square and, as you can see, has two beds in it. It costs about 400,000 Ugandan Shillings a month (A$170) and they also have to pay for a little electricity and buy water in jerrycans. Sometimes they have to be at uni by 7 am to attend their first lecture. So they don't have it that easy. The good thing is that they are all passing well - their published results should be out next week for 2nd semester of Year 1.

After seeing Winy's place, I just happened to look at the time and was horrified to see that it was 5 pm - I had agreed to meet with Francis (the builder who is rebuilding the dormitory) for dinner and didn't get back till 6 pm - thankfully he was very gracious and we chatted till 8.30 pm.

Today (Friday) I finished off as much of the guttering as I could and then did some drawings of the water tank stand and cupboard base. The welder came at lunchtime and he promised to give Henry a quote on Monday morning. Hopefully he'll have the water tank stand finished by the time I get back from South Sudan (flying to Juba tomorrow morning). In the afternoon, I had a good chat with Vivian about Kisoro and also did some updating of her two computers.

I may not have internet connectivity in South Sudan, so if you don't see a post till mid next week, that's why!