Pen pals in Uganda

The equator runs straight through Uganda, yet if your pen pal lives in Kampala they may tell you the evenings can be cool enough for a jumper. Much of the country sits on a high plateau, so altitude softens the heat you might picture, and the year is measured less by summer and winter than by rain. Across much of the south there are two rainy seasons, the long rains from roughly March to May and the shorter rains from about September to November, while the north tends to have one longer wet season. A letter mentioning "the rains" is telling you about the calendar, the roads and the harvest all at once.

The school year follows the calendar

Ugandan schools run three terms that start in early February and finish in early December, with a few weeks' break between each. If you are writing from Europe or North America, your pen pal's new school year arrives just as you settle into the middle of yours, and their long holiday falls over Christmas and New Year. Ask which term they are in: it tells you whether they are starting fresh, preparing for exams or about to go home.

Many languages, often in one day

English and Swahili are the official languages, and English is the main language of schooling, so many pen pals will write to you comfortably in it. Day to day, though, Uganda has more than forty languages. Luganda, spoken in the central region around Kampala, is the most widely used, and depending on where your pen pal grew up you might hear Runyankole, Lusoga, Acholi or many others. A friendly Luganda opener is Oli otya? ("How are you?"), but ask what your pen pal speaks at home before assuming; it is often different from what they speak at school.

Moments in the year

• Uganda Martyrs Day, 3 June. A public holiday remembering Catholic and Anglican converts killed in the 1880s. Huge numbers of pilgrims gather at the shrine at Namugongo, near Kampala, many walking there over the days before.
• Independence Day, 9 October. It marks independence in 1962, with flags, speeches and a day off.
• Christmas and the two Eids. Uganda has both Christian and Muslim communities, and Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are public holidays. Their dates follow the Islamic lunar calendar and move earlier each year.

Food is an easy way in. In the central and southern regions matooke, steamed and mashed green plantain, is a staple, while a "rolex" (an omelette rolled in a chapati) is a much-loved street snack.

Good first questions

• What do you eat on an ordinary school day, and what do you eat to celebrate?
• How do you get around your town: motorbike taxi, minibus, on foot?
• Which languages do you use with your family, your friends and your teachers?
• What changes in your area when the rains come?

One misconception worth setting aside is that a single pen pal can speak for the whole country. Life in Kampala, a farming village in the west and a town in the north can be very different, so let your pen pal show you their corner rather than asking them to explain Uganda. International post can be slow, and many pen pals stay digital, keeping postcards for special occasions. For more on asking good questions, see our guide to learning about a country.