Rain, rain, go away – my tan is fading!

Busy morning on Saturday. The welder arrived to put the door and windows in the container; 30 white plastic chairs were delivered about 10.00am and thirty one children turned up for reading club, some of whom were already there when I arrived at 8.30am. We let them in about 9.00am and they spent the next hour and a half doing jigsaw puzzles! Great pre-reading activity. They then did some colouring and looked at books while the porridge cooked. I actually mixed the maize flour with water and cooked it on the charcoal stove. Those of you who have been paying attention will realise that these are the same ingredients as for posho – you just use less flour for porridge! Actually it tastes quite good, especially if you put a bit of sugar in it! I read them stories while they had bread and porridge and then the children washed up and swept and tidied and went home. It was a really enjoyable morning and we’re going to do it all again next Saturday with a different group of kids!

Kampala is built on hills – originally 7 now 20 as the city has grown. Luckily they are not as steep as those in Rwanda! Where I am staying about half way up a hill and so I walk down to Nursery. From there I walk down to the project school crossing the railway line. On one side of the railway housing is legitimate and the government takes responsibility for services; if you pay, rubbish is collected and there are cess pits and water is piped to taps etc.

The land on the other side of the railway line is not recognised by the government and the people are effectively squatters. There are very few facilities. When it rains heavily, rain runs down the hillside, over the railway line and right into the huts, some of which don’t have doors, only curtains to afford some privacy. The area where the school is built is also swamp land, so when it rains, water runs down and comes up – a double whammy – which makes the school inaccessible and if you’re not careful and escape in time, you could be cut off for a while!

This is why on Monday we ran back to the offices, which are on the right side of the tracks, before the heavy rains came. Some children came as well for reading. Juliet and Melissa are both sick at the moment and Melissa has to rest for 2 weeks, so it’s just me for reading!

It has rained every day this week, usually just over lunchtime, but that has made the way to the slum school very slippery! Thing is it probably isn’t just mud (I’ll leave it to your imagination!).

The head teacher at the slum school is James, who has been there for 14 years and must be close to retirement age. The teachers who have classes in the afternoon go home for lunch and are supposed to return at 2.00pm. A couple of times I have been waiting nearly half an hour for James as he has the key to the office where the books are kept. Today he had misplaced the key and hoped I wouldn’t turn up as it was raining! To be honest he was really embarrassed and I felt sorry for him.

However when reading does happen, I think the children are making progress. Some of them struggle with phonics, but they enjoy the books and when they move up a level and get a star they beam! James is fascinated. He stood watching them the other day and said proudly ‘My pupils are reading!’ I just need to convince him or someone to carry on when I have left!

Another gem from the local press: A certain district in Uganda was trying to encourage the community to build pit latrines. Women were being urged to withhold sex so that the ensuing discomfort would encourage their men to get building (as if!) and what’s more any woman disobeying would be arrested! I kid you not!

I’m going to the theatre on Saturday afternoon – can’t beat a bit of culture! Just hope it’s in English and not Luganda. Bye for now!