The grasshoppers arrive...

Grasshoppers swarming

Friday (26th November) I again, in disbelief awoke to noise, this time at 4am and 2 chaps praying loudly in the next room. I squeezed the earplugs further into my head until it became a dull drone.

It was a relaxing day after a busy and as evening drew in, we made our way to meet the new Kisoro recruits.

They were congregated at the bus station with an equally big group of Ugandans stuck in some sort of stand off.
After a couple of minutes we'd got the gist of the misunderstanding. It seems they'd agreed 15,000 shillings per head for 4 people to travel in the car, with the understanding the driver wouldn't pick up anymore passengers on route. The normal rate would be 12,000 shillings per head, so they'd paid extra for leg room. By the time they'd arrived in Kisoro the car was overloaded, not what they'd agreed, yet the driver was still demanding the same fee. After 30 minutes a compromise was reached and we all went to the 'Supreme Cafe' to have dinner. I got to know many more of the Americans, all of whom had been placed randomly throughout Uganda through Peace Corps.

The Peace Corps is very close to our VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) and they had all made a commitment to do 2 years service. This meant they were finding houses out here and integrating into the community. None of them would return home until August 2012.

On our walk home we had an incite into how the grasshoppers are caught out here, it's pretty simple. You turn on a big halogen lamp and they start to swarm, then someone with a t-shirt wrapped round his head starts grabbing them. The next morning they're on mats in the street being salted ready for purchase by the bag full.