Expensive Diversions

Expensive Diversions

I never really realised how expensive my running pastime was until I restricted myself to a very limited budget.  I run.  I'm training for a marathon.  I assumed that after covering the biggest training expense, the shoes, running would be pretty cheap.  

One word:  hydration.

I blew 9,700 shillings today on rehydration/refueling alone.  Then there was the expense of getting from the ending point of my 21km run back home.  I did public transport, took a taxi, and that cost me an additional 1,000.  So just over 10,000 shillings, my maximum daily budget, was spent before midday today.

This really got me thinking.  If I'm spending this much money on simply keeping myself healthily hydrated, how is the average teacher in Uganda able to keep a healthy diet?  There is a BIG difference between filling one's belly and being properly nourished.

In only the four days I've been conducting this experiment, I've caught myself cutting back on or skipping meals entirely in order to keep my daily expenses low.  I'm discovering that it is exceptionally difficult, if not next to impossible, to eat adequately on the salary that the teachers are currently earning.

So, it's been reported in the paper that "the government, beginning tomorrow, will use its head teachers to roll-call all its teacher" and that absent teacher are to be punished.  But who's going to roll-call the head teachers?  From my own experience, I'd expect it to be more likely to not encounter a head teacher at school than there be absent teachers.  I worked at a school where the deputy head teacher pretty much only showed up on the first day of school and never appeared again, yet he still drew his salary every month.  There was another school I worked with where the head mistress missed 13 out of 20 school days, repeatedly.  I won't deny absenteeism of teachers also being a problem.  However, many times when I'd discover the whereabouts of teachers who was not at school, I'd find them digging in a garden.  Hmmm...  I wonder why?

I must be honest and confess that I splurged tonight.  My friend, Barbarah, is in town from Malawi.  I've not seen her in over a year.  Another friend from Uganda who lives in the US is also in town, so we all got together at Katja's Kitchen in Bugolobi.  How could we not, right?  Yeah, my budget for the next week is ruined.  I spent 25,000 on my meal and drinks.  Yikes!

A summary of today's expenses:

9,700 UGX for hydration
1,000 UGX towards transportation
25,000 UGX for dinner splurge
6,300 UGX for milk and tomatoes

Total:  42,000 UGX

Remaining with 214,600 UGX

Tip for those low on cash flow:  stay away from restaurants of any form.

Day Three, with Failure in Sight

Day Three, with Failure in Sight

Day three of my little experiment has left me less-than optimistic about it's outcome.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to fail to get through this month on the 300,000 shilling budget I gave myself, and that might be a good thing.  I'm thinking that might be what I intended to prove in the first place.

While staying on a tight budget is proving to be very difficult to me, my determination has led me to be a bit more creative with my Saturday activities.  Staying at home would be too simple, and, let's face it, dull.  So free activities I found myself doing today:

• visiting Afriart Gallery and drooling over new works of art by Ronex;
• visiting Ivuka Arts and narrowing down my search for an Anwar painting to three;
• and a book orgy at Isha's.

Babs has arrived in KLA and is as gorgeous and fabulous as ever.

A summary of today's expenses:

5,000 UGX for beverages with a friend
20,000 UGX towards tranportation

Total:  25,000

Remaining with 256,600 UGX

I'm going to end this post with a clip from Maurice's show last night.

I'm afraid I'm gonna need an angel to carry me through the rest of this month.

Tip for those low on cash flow:  adopt the mantra, Free is for me!

Maurice's Night

Maurice's Night

Completely spent and exhausted after only two full days with the kids back at school, I went home to catch a quick disco nap before the Maurice Kirya concert at the Serena Hotel tonight.  (No, I've not fallen off the 300k wagon; I've had my ticket to the show for weeks now.)  Over the years, I've seen Maurice perform several times and in various venues.  Maurice is a gifted live performer; his talent and the energy from his shows has not yet been captured in his recorded music.  His has always been a fantastic show to catch, and tonight was no exception.

madandcrazy did a live blog of the build up to the show and then the show itself.

If you were not one of the fortunate ones who attended the show last night, head on over to madandcrazy for a periodic breakdown of the evening.

At one point in the show, Maurice channelled Chris Kattan's SNL Antonio Banderas.

Yes, when the performance hall was boiling, Maurice threatened to unbutton his jacked... and. then. he. did.  Too sexy!  Too sexy!

I've also got to mention that when the bodas came on stage during the performance of, you guessed it, Boda Boda, I was taken to the arrival of Maureen Johnson to the 11th street lot during a live performance of Rent (at 5:30 in this clip).

The only thing to do is jump over the moon.

In order to continue with my experiment, I skipped any and all after-partying and came home.

A summary of today's expenses:

3,000 UGX for lunch

6,000 UGX for beverage at venue

Total:  9,000

Remaining with 281,600 UGX

Tip for those low on cash flow:  make friends who know people.  

1st September

1st September

3,000 UGX for lunch
4,000 UGX for transportation
2,400 UGX for water and milk

Total:  9,400 for the day.

Remaining with 290,600 UGX

Tip for those low on cash flow:  learn where the free stuff is.  I spent the evening at an art exhibition where there was an open bar and finger foods came around quite regularly.

300K Challenge

300K Challenge

I can blame this wild hair on expressive and modern dance revolutionary, Isadora Duncan. She's the one who said, "What one has not experienced, one will never understand in print." Perhaps some of the blame goes to Break Away. If they would have left that damn Benjamin Franklin beer quote on the ABCs' t-shirts back in 2001, Isadora's quote might never have come to my mind.

Ok, so the plight of Ugandan school teachers has been getting a lot of press lately. With the soaring cost of living, they are finding it hard to live on the meagre monthly pittance they receive, some as low as 273,000 Uganda shillings (approximately $98 US). Being an educator myself, and having worked closely with primary schools in Uganda as a Peace Corps Volunteer (2002-2005), the cause of Uganda's school teachers is near and dear to my heart. Sadly, even as a Peace Corps Volunteer working in rural Hoima more than 9 years ago, I received about 100,000 shillings more per month than what teachers are earning today. Even more sadly, inflation in Uganda is a bit OOC these days and is currently around 21.4 percent. Ouch.

I left volunteer life over six years ago, got me a bit more education and experience and now have a pretty good position at an amazing international school in Kampala. I'm not going to specifically reveal my current income status, but I will indicate that it is well over 20 times that of a teacher in a government funded UPE school in Uganda.

So here's the challenge: live on 300,000 Uganda shillings in Kampala during the month of September. Why? I want to better understand what I read about in the Monitor, what the teachers are going through.

I'm not so naive that I believe it will be the same thing. There's no way. My rent (already paid through November) is more than triple the school teacher's monthly salary. I refuse to un-employ my housekeeper just because Isadora Duncan inspires an experiential learning experiment, and there is no way I could pay her on 300,000k if that's what I really earned, so her salary is not included in that. However, all utility bills, food, transportation and entertainment will be.

My goal is to blog each day about my experience and give a breakdown of my expenses.

Are you ready?

I'm not sure if I am.

First a month a fasting, now a month on 300k. October better be decadent.

The President of Ramadan?

The President of Ramadan?

So Ramadan has ended, and many people in Kampala (and the world) celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr today. One of my favourite activities to observe on this day are the Muslim families dressed in their flowing clothes walking together to prayers in the morning. The colour scheme includes a lot of black and white, but it is mingled with rainbows of colour with sparkly sequins thrown in for good measure.

Apparently, there are some significant health benefits to fasting, so I decided to get in on the fasting action during Ramadan this year. Plus, I was curious and just wanted to share the experience with some of my Muslim friends and colleagues, to know what they physically go through during the 29-30 days of this month. I was raised Mormon, and my family fasted the first weekend of every month, so fasting was nothing unfamiliar to me. What was unfamiliar to me was fasting for multiple, consecutive days.

Oh, and have I mentioned that I'm training for the Nairobi Marathon in October? Fasting. Long-distance running. Not a great combination. And I'm not the wisest person, so I put them together anyway. When a friend of a friend heard about what I was doing, he insisted that I could not (not should not, but could not) fast and keep training. On that particular day, I was feeling very Will & Grace-ish and I asked, "Who made Ali the President of Ramadan?"

My level of maturity astounds me sometimes.

Over the past month, I became obsessed with two activities: fasting and running. What was originally intended to be a one-day experiment turned into 20 days of the 29. I know, crazy, right?

Luckily, for most of Ramadan, I was on holiday from work, so I could spend many hours lying on a bed, watching dvds. But all convenient things come to an end, and returning to work was a true test of my stubbornness, or will power; call it what you like. I honestly do not know where the energy came from. Obviously not from glucose.

Well, today marked the end of Ramadan and the beginning of a new month. Families went together and prayed. I went to a coffee shop and had a hamburger. Ok, later I was invited to a Muslim friend's home for 'pilawo'. I truly felt honoured as this was the first time I'd ever been invited to share in Eid-ul-Fitr festivities. One of my favourite parts of sharing food on the rooftop deck of his house: seeing the neighbour's cows eating out of an old bathtub.

I think my heart's more likely to benefit from my regular running than from my sporadic fasting, but my time fasting (and being tired and a bit weak) did give me time to reflect on many areas of my life (some I'd intentional avoided reflecting upon in the past) and to also appreciate how fortunate I am to be able to make the choice to not eat a meal or two. I was hoping to be humbled and shed a bit of pride. Maybe I did, but I still find myself too easily provoked and ready to quarrel with security guards that want to scan me with a metal detector wand even when I'm in my skimpy running clothes. Where the hell am I gonna hide anything?

Stimulation

Stimulation

I recently finished reading The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.

I'll make my review in four words.

Best. Coffee. Advert. Ever.

...but not as sweet as

...but not as sweet as

Long before the Orlando set of The All New Mickey Mouse Club was graced by the divine presence of Ms. Britney Spears, there were DeeDee, Tiffini, Chase, Damon and Albert, who later evolved into The Party--Hollywood Records' premiere recording act. One of the singles (I think the third) from their debut album, The Party, was Sugar Is Sweet, as ballad as sugary sweet as its title suggests.

The song compares the sweetness of sugar to the sweetness of honey, but we all know that pound for pound, honey is sweeter, literally and figuratively. Consider, when sugar cane is processed to produce sugar,

"the organic acids, protein, nitrogen elements, fats, enzymes and vitamins are extracted or destroyed; on the other hand, hydrochloric, phosphoric and sulphuric acids, lime and other foreign substances are added. While honey is Nature's own sweet, untouched by human art, sugar is a concentrated, denatured and polluted substitute, a produce, as a rule, of sugar-cane, robbed by superheating of most of its natural and valuable constituents. Honey and other simple or natural sugars, like that in dates, figs, raisins, etc., are live physiological sugars which contain the germs of life, while industrial sugars are anti-physiological, dead or, as a matter of fact, murdered sweets."

It's a mistake to lump sugar into the category of "food" because it has no nutritive value. In fact, the current misuse (shall I say abuse?) of sugar can be referred to as a modern nutritional disaster. While one might feel disappointed to not be able to plunk 4 spoons of sugar in his/her cup of tea, or a parent may whine and complain that his/her child will not drink milk or whatever without added sugar (I worked with a woman whose child refused to drink water!!! unless it was laced with juice or some sweetener), it is absolutely not necessary for one's survival. The reality is that too much sugar can make one's life a bit less pleasant. Diabetes, anyone?

I mention honey because it is a realistic substitute for sugar. Bee keeping has been practised in Uganda for over 200 years, and some pretty fantastic honey is produced; my favourite is from Kisoro. Not only does it have a higher nutritive value and anti-microbial qualities than sugar, frankly, it tastes better in a cup of tea. In addition to honey, Uganda is blessed with so many natural sugar alternatives, that lowering the cost of table sugar should not be enough motive to destroy old-growth forest.

As B put it yesterday:

"Cheaper sugar or save Mabira Forest? Let's save Mabira Forest!"

Oh, and by the way, not only did The Party's DeeDee make an amazing Nessa in Wicked,

she clock quite a few performances (to put it modestly) as Kim in Miss Saigon.

Oh, What's Love [of Sugar] Got To Do With It?

Oh, What's Love [of Sugar] Got To Do With It?

Perhaps it is a little bit tacky to attempt to link the tune and question posed by Ms. Tina Turner in 1984 to the sugar/Mabira Forest controversy of 2011, but that's what's stuck in my head. It's like a far inferior remix. But the other day when I was on one of my marathon-training runs, my training partner kept asking the question: What's sugar got to do with it? Tacky is what tacky does, so there it is; I did it.

From yesterday's headlines: Mabira must go, Museveni tells district officials. (I acknowledge that the Press Secretary has claimed the President was misquoted, but as a commenter on the article put it, "We all know what the president said...") Misquoted or not, Mabira Forest is once again in danger. I knew this was coming. As soon as Museveni rushed to the sugar plantations after the price of sugar went up, I knew that Mabira Forest would soon be on the chopping block again.

(Insert flashback to 2007 here: receiving SMSes advising a boycott of Lugazi sugar; school children writing letters to the editors, local and national leaders, pleading with them to save the forest and giving them reasons to do so; a peaceful protest-turned violent in Kampala which lead to the death of three.)

"Ugandans can survive without sugar, but they can't survive without oxygen or a green environment."

Museveni's rapid and, in my opinion, extreme response to the sugar price increase leads me to ask, why? Sugar is not necessary for people's survival, and 4 spoons of sugar in a cup of tea should be considered a luxury. In contrast, the response to the rising costs of necessary commodities (staple foods and fuel) was lackadaisical at best. According to past logic regarding food prices ("When the food prices go up, the farmers are very happy. If prices have gone up, this is good."), this increase in sugar prices is a "good" thing and should be making people happy. Right? Why, then, the need for the destruction/giveaway of Mabira Forest?

And to say that the riots of 2007 were "led by Beatrice Anywar" is slanderous. The case against Beatrice Anywar for her involvement in the terribly, sad and unfortunate 2007 incident was withdrawn by the Director of Public Prosecution late last year, and according to a BBC news report, the riots were sparked off a little differently: "People were demonstrating peacefully when there was a misunderstanding with police. All of a sudden they opened fire." "They" being the police, as they are the ones with the guns. Disagreeing with political actions and campaigning to save a forest do not equate to inciting violence. But there is a movement to equate political opposition to terrorism.

The timing of and the events surrounding the Mabira Forest giveaway lead me to believe that someone (or multiple someones) is (are) manipulating the current economic frustrations for personal financial gain. If I were an investigative reporter worth my weight in salt, or sugar, I'd be sniffing out a whistle-blowing story.

"You can't degazette and gazette a natural tropical forest at will. They take hundreds of years to grow... Mabira is not a maize shamba."

...nothing personal

...nothing personal

I write what's on my mind, usually it's bullshit and doesn't mean anything. When life gets real and the bullshit disappears, I don't have a lot to share. When things get too personal the façade goes up; when things get too personal, I don't want to share anymore. Call me selfish, selfish in a way, but respectful of privacy in another. 100% moody.

Happenings. My greatest commitment as of late is to marathon training. 30th October is the Standard Charter Nairobi Marathon, and I will be running in it. Beginning marathon training is always difficult because I know what's in store and how much time it will require, but once I get into the groove, I love it. Primarily, I love what it does to my body and mind.

Last weekend, I was able to integrate the Buganda Road Race into my marathon training schedule. Last Sunday was a beautiful, not-too-hot-not-too-cold day. It was a wonderful morning for a good 10km run.

As my holiday is coming to an end, I'm hoping that I may be able to focus my mind beyond the personal and, let me honest, emotional. Hopefully that will equate with more frequent blog posts.

Have a fabulous day!

Poolside with Anderson Cooper

Poolside with Anderson Cooper

I know it's a little late, but I finally got my hands on Anderson Cooper's Dispatches from the Edge. I couldn't put it down; it was worth the wait. Most of the reading was done poolside at Royal Suites, which appears to have turned into my new reading nook. But what better place to have a date with Andy? Ugandan weather is hard to beat, and the blue skies and sunshine of the past two days have been perfect for sunbathing and getting lost in the pages of a good book.

As if it were an example written to make a point in The Glamour of Grammar, Anderson's use of short, powerful sentences is masterful. I also appreciate his honesty in story telling and the way he weaves his life experiences into the fabric of catastrophic world events that have taken place over the past two decades. He does this without getting preachy or sounding self-righteous, which I find many writers fail to do.

There were so many parts I wanted to highlight and refer to in this post, but reading poolside left me no marking tools, so I'll refer to my favourite section towards the end of the book since it's still fresh in my memory. In the hardback edition, it begins halfway down pager 189. Anderson describes a night out at the Deja Vu strip club that opens back up in New Orleans less than four weeks after Katrina's destruction. Dead bodies are still left rotting in the streets and elsewhere.

...Beneath some colored lights, a handful of girls bump and grind on the bar, rubbing their breasts in patrons' faces. The place is filled with the storm's flotsam and jetsam: cops and soldiers, National Guard, Border Patrol, Customs--you name it; they're all here, their badges and guns badly concealed. They're clutching dollar bills, horny as hell and twice as bored.

Another favourite moment: Anderson referring to Kelis and her song Milkshake, not just mentioning it, but including some of its lyrics.

I'm a product of the Channel One era. I remember having the news programme beamed into my high school classroom each morning. I cannot say I remember Anderson Cooper from those days, but I do remember Michelle Ruiz and the turtle necks she always wore (we'd jokingly say she was hiding hickeys; we were only 15) and Lisa Ling. In case you're like me and do not remember Andy from way back when, Oprah, in her own magical way, dug some footage out of storage for us.

Bridesmaids (aka Grace Adler: The Milwaukee Years)

Bridesmaids (aka Grace Adler: The Milwaukee Years)

I had a great time with Angela, Wendy and Jonan on Saturday night. The four of us went to watch the Amy Wiig comedy, Bridesmaids, at the new Cineplex at Oaisis Mall. After being flipped off by one of Kampala's worst drivers (saying a lot; she was stopped in the oncoming traffic lane on her cell phone) and entering the cinema hall fifteen minutes late, I was stressed because I hate missing the first few minutes of a film. Alas, I was a little early; the projector operators finally got the focus correct for a half-hour late start of the film.

Bridesmaids is laugh-out-loud hilarious and has been compared to The Hangover, which I've never seen, so I cannot confirm or deny that. It starts off very raunchy, in fact the couple seated beside me got up and left after the first five minutes. I, on the other had, love a little raunch. As I mentioned, I found the film to be funny; however, original it wasn't. It had Will & Grace written all over it.

These three events had me leaning over Jonan (who unfortunately got the seat between Angela and I) multiples times during the screening to whisper to Angela: This is so Will & Grace.

There is a scene near the beginning of the film where Annie and Lillian are stealing exercise in the park. In season 6, Grace Adler does this in Me and Mr. Jones (episode 3) when she does not want to pay for exercise classes that will help her tone up for her sex life.

Annie's mother attends AA meeting, but she's not an alcoholic. She likes the people she meets there; it's like a group therapy session. In One Gay at a Time (season 7, episode 3), Grace Alder attends AA for the free food and free therapy, which she says for Jews is "like winning the lottery."

Then there's the tennis match scene. An annoyed Annie takes out her frustration on rival, Helen, by blasting her with a tennis ball every chance that she gets in the match. That's exactly what Karen Walker does to Grace's (at the time) husband, Leo, when Grace brings him along (uninvited) to the tennis club in episode three of season 6, Home Court Disadvantage.

Grace Alder is the comedic prototype of the approaching/just past 40 neurotic single woman looking for love, longing to be married. It seems like she inspired writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo in more than one way as they scripted Bridesmaids. I propose credit be given to Grace Alder and the various Will & Grace writers by giving Bridesmaids an alternate title, Grace Adler: The Milwaukee Years.

"What Kind of F*ckery is This?"

"What Kind of F*ckery is This?"

As flawed and imperfect as I am, and as many mistakes as I make on a daily basis, I cannot help but to notice and be immediately attracted to the errors of others.

Monday was a day of big-time editing mistakes, and I'm loving it!

My favourite comes from Nation Media's The East African. This is an accompanying photo to the article entitled "Will Tenager South Sudan Rebel Against Daddy Museveni?" in it's print publication:

Take notice of the caption below the photo.

Now, I have a hard time accepting that this 'gaffe' was not intentional. I have a feeling that someone was willing to make the apology that will indubitably be forthcoming and just did it.

Then there's the Today Show. When reporting on the death of Amy Winehouse, someone, "...sleepless peon or tasteless commedian?...", made this bungle.

Dancing On My Own

Dancing On My Own

Not everyone can pull it off.

By 'it', I mean carry a music video while dancing solo.

Janet did it in 1987.

Britney did it in 2000.

Robyn is doing now.

Phenomenal women doing it phenomenally.

They remind me of the amazingly choreographed solo dance performances that take place almost daily in my living room.

Amazing.

The Republic of South Sudan

The Republic of South Sudan

9th July 2011

Michael Kiwanuka

Michael Kiwanuka

Michael Kiwanuka opened for Adele last night at the iTunes Festival London 2011. I wasn't able to watch the show because the speed of the internet provided by my Orange stick in Kampala was not fast enough to accomplish the stream. I did manage to download his EP, Tell Me a Tale (The Isle of Wright Sessions), from iTunes and watch a couple of his videos on youtube.

If you are interested in more of his music, his myspace page is pretty good, a bit of free music.

I Will Sing=California King Bed. Credit Given?

I Will Sing=California King Bed.

Credit Given?

In case you missed the interview/conversation with Maurice Kirya on Sanyu FM yesterday, I've got to share with you this interesting tidbit.

First listen to the acoustic guitar intro to Maruice's song, I Will Sing, from his album Misubbaawa, released 14th December 2009.

Now have a listen to the acoustic guitar intro to Rihanna's California King Bed, from her album Loud, released 12th November 2010, almost a year later.

Coincidence? Hmmm...

But where would The Runners, Priscilla Renae and Alex Delicata, the 'writers' of California King Bed, have had the opportunity to hear Maurice's music before penning the song for Rihanna? Have you heard of iTunes, where his album Misubbaawa is available for purchase? Or the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas, where Maurice performed in March of 2010?

Someone is getting paid for that music. California King Bed is not just the sixth single from Loud, but it is also being featured in Nivea's '100 Years of Skin Care' add campaign.

Like I said, someone is getting paid for that music; let's hope our friend, Maurice, is getting a cut.

The Power

The Power

Today's Monitor headline: Firms Cut Power Over Government Debts

Today's New Vision headline: Power Plants Switch Off in Protest

Text message from UMEME (the main electric company in Uganda): "Dear Customer, we regret to inform you that UETCL has informed us of a generation shortfall of 50MW day and 120MW peak resulting into both day and night emergency load-shedding."

Gee! That sounds like fun!

The source of the problem for all of us who work hard to pay our power bills on time? No, it's not being blamed on drought and a low water level of Lake Victoria this time. Oh... the government only owes around 300 billions shillings to the supplemental electricity suppliers.

It is predicted that the load-shedding will cost about $400 million in business and services. So it looks like the February elections just got a bit more expensive to the Ugandan people. Factoring this in, how much will the MPs allowance increases and those fancy new cars actually cost the Ugandan workers and tax payers?

These days in Uganda, if it's not one power crisis, it's another. This time the power happens to be electricity. And you remember what President Museveni had to say about electricity during an interview in April: "When a country has no electricity that's a sign of bad governance."

Ok then.

There, he said it.

I don't need to add any more.

No Hope

No Hope

Last Saturday was the Kampala Hash House Harriers' annual Kampala-Jinja Relay. I once again ran with the No Hope team. This was my fourth relay with the hashers and as a No Hoper. It was great fun to be reunited with my teammates and get to know some new faces during our cross-country trek.

The Jinja Relay is by far my favourite hash event of the year; it's been one of the highlights of the year since 2007. (Unfortunately, I missed last year's run because it was held later in July, and I'd already flown to the US.) One day, someone had the brilliant idea of finding a route through village, sugar cane plantation, forest and eventually over the Nile river from Kampala to Jinja and dividing the almost-90km distance into 17 segments. Then it was decided that teams of 9 would take turns and relay run the course, with the non-runners going by caravan to the next check point.

It was a beautiful day. It was a HOT day. The latter made the run quite a challenge, but like Elle Woods, I like a good challenge. And my masochistic tendencies drive to taking pleasure from the pain of going that extra mile and making it up that last hill.

Potential Toll of a Bell

Potential Toll of a Bell

I can only write this post in a light-hearted manner today because the potential disaster was fortunately averted.

One of today's headlines in the Monitor was:

Kasese School Uses Bomb as Bell

When I read that, I thought some over-zealous chemistry teacher of some mischievous science geeks decided to play a practical joke on some school goers. Well, that wasn't the case. Turns out, as the headline says, a school was using a bomb as a school bell.

If you've ever visited schools in Uganda, you may have noticed that many reuse old iron wheel rims as their school bells. They beat them with iron rods to indicate the beginning and end the school day, class sessions, lunch, etc... They are hung at the schools like the one in this photo.

Well, I guess someone found a piece of iron in the ground that looked like it could serve the same purpose, and hey, it was free. In a place where cash is a very limited resource, it would make sense to try and reuse what must have been viewed as a rather useless hunk of junk.

Little did they know it was an unexploded bomb. Imagine teachers and students, day in and day out during the school year, beating on this metal bomb hung in the school yard to call school to order?

I wonder how long they used it before it was recognised for it's actual purpose. Fortunately, no one dealt it a strong enough blow to detonate it, and a happy ending can be written: it's been removed from the school and will soon be disposed of.