Getting this far is a blog post in itself – if you’re interested in things technical…?
Here in Uganda, I’ve had even more IT issues than normal. This w/end, putting in even longer hours than during the working week, I seriously had to question my sanity for even trying to blog at all!
After two years using a free blogging service, and with the imminent launch of the Lonely Planet bloggers’ e-book, I decided to upgrade to purchase my own domain www.muzungubloguganda.com Perhaps it’s here I went wrong! This turned out to be a major amount of work on a slow internet connection (I write this blog in addition to the ‘day job’) … and last week, just when I thought we were good to go, it got hacked!
Luckily Erin, web designer, to the rescue! Without your support, I would have lost the plot by now; I can’t thank you enough for stepping in right at the last minute and rescuing my blog and possibly my sanity!
Keen to promote the e-book as much as I can, I tried to get Twitter set up. It took me countless attempts. I set my account up 2 years ago in the UK but in Uganda, I gave up trying to log in. At first I thought the problem was slow connectivity. I was constantly asked to reset my password, there was no answer to my problem in the FAQs and the support contact form didn’t work … In the end, I asked my sister to log in to my account from the UK and bingo! Twitter now works. (We’ll ignore the fact I’m 2+ years behind the rest of the world in terms of actually knowing how to use it!)
These IT ‘challenges’ as we say in VSO-development speak for PROBLEMS, major setbacks and dealing with impossible people (!) were nothing to the fact that a few weeks ago my laptop ground to a halt, totally. The motherboard completely failed, the on-screen icons melted, I heard a ‘beep’ and amen, it was no more. I was quoted $400 to replace it (I earn that in about two months) with no guarantee it wouldn’t happen again. Thanks HP for manufacturing complete crud.
So, with a serious work deadline looming (final project report to our biggest donor) and the blog mid-transfer, I was forced to work between two tired old PCs, an external hard drive and webmail.
And while all of this was happening, did I mention …. getting dropped from a great height by Possibly The Most Handsome Man I have ever dated, who turned out to just be a Player? (I should have known)…
Did I also mention I caught Malaria? (Don’t panic Ma, I’ve taken the medication!)
So, another day / week / month in paradise!
Days that go from complete euphoria to the other end of the spectrum; but it’s not just me, lots of expats feel the same way too about life in Uganda – life – and our emotional reaction to it – doesn’t leave room for any grey areas.
What’s a “Player”?
A charmer – all charm and no substance. O god don’t get me started! A girl shouldn’t mess with a player; they’re professional charmers – and users 🙁
No worries, that one’s firmly behind me now. Medical attention is helping!! lol lol 😉
I love your wp web template, where did you get a hold of it?
I bought it from http://www.envato.com and it’s called CULT. We customised the colour scheme, added our own widgets etc.
An update on the Hewlett Packard laptop: yes the bloody thing did give up the ghost when I most needed it BUT I took it back to Staples 18 months after I’d bought it and got a brand new replacement! And the old hard drive back with all my data! Had forgotten that “in my old life” I’d bought insurance… so a nice little unexpected gift there 🙂
You are right blogging is a whole lot of hustle in Africa especially in Uganda but we just have to keep doing it for the love and passion that we do have for it. Otherwise the slow internet speeds and power cuts can become a big obstacle to us. Iam also a Ugandan blogger who is currently running my blog on theguptareport.blogspot.com. You Inspire me to keep blogging, Thanks keep up the spirit.
I’ve just come back from two weeks in Kenya. On the coast, the internet wasn’t very reliable but it was half the price of what we pay in Uganda. And Kenyans don’t pay social media tax either! 🙁
To be a successful blogger, you need stamina, that is for sure. Having photos on your blog makes the reading experience far more engaging for your readers. That means you have to take time to optimise photos so you can upload them easily (and they don’t slow down your website).
Although many people read more on Facebook than they do on blogs, that may change. Facebook is constantly changing and something I write on there this week will be invisible in two weeks time. (I mean, who scrolls down and reads old stuff on people’s Facebook pages?) The advantage of having a blog is that old stories are there forever and are far more accessible. Good luck with the blogging