Mac Cool's Uganda Letter

My name is Mac Cool and I'm orignally from Dublin, Ireland. When I first developed this site I was living in Kampala, Uganda with my then fiancé and now husband FX. It's the usual story of boy meets girl, girl journeys to a new land to be with boy and so on so forth.

I first came to Uganda with Project Trust in 1999 where I volunteered as a primary and secondary school teacher in the village of Bulenga. I now live in a suburb of Kampala. Uganda is in my blood now. Once someone has visited they can’t shake the place from their hearts.

I am a graduate of Communication Studies from Dublin City University and for two years I have been working at Uganda Crafts 2000. I was a coordinator of a training project called Suubi (hope) and I also did a lot of product development with the artisans, which I love (Uganda Crafts 2000 Limited specializes in exporting baskets but the shop has a wide range of crafts). I’m the creative type having worked for a period in the Irish film industry and in 2004/5 working with AF to create a museum in the Atholl Palace Hotel, Pitlochry, Scotland.

You may be curious as to what drives me to write and take photographs for this website. These are my Ugandan letters home that will hopefully let my friends and family know why I love Uganda so much. I’m also crazy about culture and exploring what makes it tick and documenting how it is different to my own so as to be better able to reflect on it and understand it. I get a real buzz from learning about the idiosyncrasies of these wonderful cultures and sub cultures. If my ramblings help others to understand and appreciate then I’ll be very happy.

I'm now living in Liverpool while FX is studying but I continue to write about our experiences, about life in Uganda and how I compare this life in Liverpool with that in Kampala. I'm still away from Ireland writing home.

Enjoy your visit to Uganda Letter.com Regards, M Mac Cool.