So … now I must pack!
Well I think I’ve achieved quite a lot! The younger Nursery children will be performing the nativity play; the costumes look really good and I think they finally know the words to ‘Little Donkey’ and other carols. The older children are going to do various sketches related to Christmas, like children meeting and talking to Father Christmas. All the children all have a headband and a star to take home and the parents who come will be offered biscuits!
Most of the slum school children can read more than they could a couple of months ago. Some haven’t made as much progress as I would have liked as they have been absent a lot. The books, flash cards and sound strips etc are there for Melissa and anyone else to use. Hopefully the teachers will encourage reading to continue and may even get involved themselves.
The Library is finished! Matt and I went shopping for electrical bits and furniture last Monday. We bought three bookshelves, a desk for Ritah and a table and came back with them all piled up in the back of a pickup! The Reading Club resources are in the library and there is a world map and also one of Africa on the wall.
The Saturday Reading Club has been set up and is in good hands. There is a good selection of reading scheme books and other general interest books, that they use, as well as puzzles, spelling exercises and colouring activities. Ritah will be in the library showing the children how to use the books and encouraging them to borrow one for a week (when they finally arrive – that is!). Even the children who are good readers don’t have books at home, so it will be great that they can enjoy books all week and not just on Saturday mornings.
Ritah has also duplicated all the reading resources I made for the slum school, so they also will be available for the helpers to use at Reading Club. She will also be around during the holidays when there is a holiday programme run by Immaculate, the Development Worker and Joyce, so the children will again be able to use the library.
The library will hopefully serve the wider community, as a homework resource for the children from Namuwongo who are sponsored to attend St Barnabas School. Many of the parents can’t read and write themselves, so are not able to help their children with homework.
I’ve had an emotional couple of days. On Thursday the Nursery children sang to me, presented me with a big card with all their handprints on and a group photo and we had a cake! On Friday the children of St Barnabas sang to me, gave me lots of little letters and a framed picture that they had all contributed to. In addition some of the mothers of the children in the slum school came to say goodbye and gave me necklaces of beads they make themselves out of paper. I felt more appreciated in two months here, than in years at my ‘previous place of employment’! In addition I’ve had meals with different people and so now I must pack!
Thank you for your interest in my exploits in Namuwongo. I’m sure I’ll be back – so watch this space!
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Saturday, 15 November 2008
One week to go!
Well most of the costumes are sorted – just need to make head and arm holes in the stripy pillow cases for Joseph and the cow herd. Rita and I have made almost 50 stars for the children to wave during Twinkle, twinkle little star; King Herod has a green shiny crown with buttons for jewels; the headbands have sparkly squiggles on them and I’m sick of singing ‘Little Donkey’! I’m collecting empty marmalade and jam tins from the guest house to make shakers and we’ve made a tambourine from wire and bottle tops – I’m so glad I watched all those episodes of Blue Peter!!
Oh and we must find a doll – at the moment we are using a large Zippy wrapped in a sheet, but as ‘Mary’ keeps unwrapping him……….! Mary, the class teacher is planning a dress rehearsal next week so I can see the play before I leave for UK. I’m going to buy some biscuits for the children; they are really good, especially the star, who solemnly leads the Wise Men and cow herd to the stable! I’ll take some photos!
Hopefully by the time you read this, the library will have glass in the windows and then we’ll be able to buy the bookcases. No news of the books yet!
Travelling around the country a bit, I think the relative poverty of a district can be ascertained by the quality of its market. Not the produce as that’s pretty standard, but the way it’s displayed. In the market in Namuwongo the vegetables, which are mainly sweet and Irish potatoes, matoke (cooking bananas), onions and other dull-coloured vegetables, are on the ground and goats graze on the discarded stalks from ‘the greens’ that are sold. Even some of the clothes and shoes are on plastic sheets on the ground. In other markets the produce is on bamboo tables and the whole thing is very colourful, with tomatoes, jackfruit etc.
Africa has really discovered luggage, furniture and shoes in a big way. Walking around Kampala, there are lots of shops selling these things. Some shoe traders just have piles of shoes on the pavement; others, in the markets, display them on curious stands which resemble shoe trees [sic].
On Sunday night, Gabrielle, from Dublin, who has volunteered for 2 years as Project Manager at the Nursery and her friend and I went to see traditional dancing, singing and drumming at the Ndere centre just on the outskirts of Kampala. It was great! There were women dancers, who also sang and male drummers who also danced. As well as Ugandan dances including one where the dancers balanced stacks of pots on their heads, there was also a Rwandan Intore dance, featuring peace baskets and warriors! At one point we ended up dancing on the stage along with other members of the audience!
Mon-Thurs when I go to the Nursery first thing in the morning , I go the scenic route with very little traffic, but on Fridays when I go to St Barnabas School I take my life in my hands and go down St Barnabas Road. It is a two lane road, with no pavements, only gullies and speed bumps, 4WDs, boda-bodas and pedestrians. Today, to add to the chaos on the road, suddenly I came upon a line of young men, naked from the waist up, wielding big wooden sticks and jogging down the road. You could be forgiven for thinking we were being invaded by Kony’s army – but no! These were just the latest cohort of Falcon Guards being put through their paces, urged on by a manic sergeant! Most supermarkets and forex bureaux have an armed guard outside and most guest houses have a guard, usually just overnight. We have one at Banda Inns who sits in a corrugated shelter all night and emerges muffled like Captain Oates at 7.00am in the morning. It is he who brings me the newspaper.
On Thursday night we had a BBQ at the guest house, primarily because there were 6 Norwegian women staying and Steven, who owns it, is Norwegian-Ugandan. We all really enjoyed it; it was interesting to talk to them for longer than just a quick chat over breakfast. The kebabs were delicious and we had a big fire – incongruous tho’ to think that on Monday there was no wood at the slum school so the cook couldn’t make porridge for the children and here we were burning probably a week’s supply of wood just for fun!
Good news! All the Nursery children were tested for HIV on Friday and none of them tested positive! I’m reassured as I’ve been dressing lots of sores on their arms and legs and using disposable gloves, just in case!
This morning we had reading club. Someone else organised it and did it totally differently. A bit too formal and school-like in my opinion, but the format can be discussed and agreed. Hopefully, Ritah, the librarian will take a more active role in the organisation, as she is the only person who will be there every week.
Observations on people’s confidence in the Health Service: Opposite Mulago Hospital, the biggest in Kampala, there are two businesses offering ‘Coffins for sale’.
On the way back from Masindi, we passed St Jude’s Health Centre. As far as I remember, St Jude is the patron saint of lost causes! Very reassuring!
Tonight I’m going for an Ethiopian buffet at a restaurant down Kabalagala with Joe, the Project Director, Matt, a volunteer from Canada and Gabrielle. The last time I was here I had an Ethiopian meal at a different restaurant and didn’t really enjoy my choice; tonight I’ll be able to try lots of different dishes!
Bon appetite (or whatever they say in Ethiopia)!
Well most of the costumes are sorted – just need to make head and arm holes in the stripy pillow cases for Joseph and the cow herd. Rita and I have made almost 50 stars for the children to wave during Twinkle, twinkle little star; King Herod has a green shiny crown with buttons for jewels; the headbands have sparkly squiggles on them and I’m sick of singing ‘Little Donkey’! I’m collecting empty marmalade and jam tins from the guest house to make shakers and we’ve made a tambourine from wire and bottle tops – I’m so glad I watched all those episodes of Blue Peter!!
Oh and we must find a doll – at the moment we are using a large Zippy wrapped in a sheet, but as ‘Mary’ keeps unwrapping him……….! Mary, the class teacher is planning a dress rehearsal next week so I can see the play before I leave for UK. I’m going to buy some biscuits for the children; they are really good, especially the star, who solemnly leads the Wise Men and cow herd to the stable! I’ll take some photos!
Hopefully by the time you read this, the library will have glass in the windows and then we’ll be able to buy the bookcases. No news of the books yet!
Travelling around the country a bit, I think the relative poverty of a district can be ascertained by the quality of its market. Not the produce as that’s pretty standard, but the way it’s displayed. In the market in Namuwongo the vegetables, which are mainly sweet and Irish potatoes, matoke (cooking bananas), onions and other dull-coloured vegetables, are on the ground and goats graze on the discarded stalks from ‘the greens’ that are sold. Even some of the clothes and shoes are on plastic sheets on the ground. In other markets the produce is on bamboo tables and the whole thing is very colourful, with tomatoes, jackfruit etc.
Africa has really discovered luggage, furniture and shoes in a big way. Walking around Kampala, there are lots of shops selling these things. Some shoe traders just have piles of shoes on the pavement; others, in the markets, display them on curious stands which resemble shoe trees [sic].
On Sunday night, Gabrielle, from Dublin, who has volunteered for 2 years as Project Manager at the Nursery and her friend and I went to see traditional dancing, singing and drumming at the Ndere centre just on the outskirts of Kampala. It was great! There were women dancers, who also sang and male drummers who also danced. As well as Ugandan dances including one where the dancers balanced stacks of pots on their heads, there was also a Rwandan Intore dance, featuring peace baskets and warriors! At one point we ended up dancing on the stage along with other members of the audience!
Mon-Thurs when I go to the Nursery first thing in the morning , I go the scenic route with very little traffic, but on Fridays when I go to St Barnabas School I take my life in my hands and go down St Barnabas Road. It is a two lane road, with no pavements, only gullies and speed bumps, 4WDs, boda-bodas and pedestrians. Today, to add to the chaos on the road, suddenly I came upon a line of young men, naked from the waist up, wielding big wooden sticks and jogging down the road. You could be forgiven for thinking we were being invaded by Kony’s army – but no! These were just the latest cohort of Falcon Guards being put through their paces, urged on by a manic sergeant! Most supermarkets and forex bureaux have an armed guard outside and most guest houses have a guard, usually just overnight. We have one at Banda Inns who sits in a corrugated shelter all night and emerges muffled like Captain Oates at 7.00am in the morning. It is he who brings me the newspaper.
On Thursday night we had a BBQ at the guest house, primarily because there were 6 Norwegian women staying and Steven, who owns it, is Norwegian-Ugandan. We all really enjoyed it; it was interesting to talk to them for longer than just a quick chat over breakfast. The kebabs were delicious and we had a big fire – incongruous tho’ to think that on Monday there was no wood at the slum school so the cook couldn’t make porridge for the children and here we were burning probably a week’s supply of wood just for fun!
Good news! All the Nursery children were tested for HIV on Friday and none of them tested positive! I’m reassured as I’ve been dressing lots of sores on their arms and legs and using disposable gloves, just in case!
This morning we had reading club. Someone else organised it and did it totally differently. A bit too formal and school-like in my opinion, but the format can be discussed and agreed. Hopefully, Ritah, the librarian will take a more active role in the organisation, as she is the only person who will be there every week.
Observations on people’s confidence in the Health Service: Opposite Mulago Hospital, the biggest in Kampala, there are two businesses offering ‘Coffins for sale’.
On the way back from Masindi, we passed St Jude’s Health Centre. As far as I remember, St Jude is the patron saint of lost causes! Very reassuring!
Tonight I’m going for an Ethiopian buffet at a restaurant down Kabalagala with Joe, the Project Director, Matt, a volunteer from Canada and Gabrielle. The last time I was here I had an Ethiopian meal at a different restaurant and didn’t really enjoy my choice; tonight I’ll be able to try lots of different dishes!
Bon appetite (or whatever they say in Ethiopia)!
One week to go!
Well most of the costumes are sorted – just need to make head and arm holes in the stripy pillow cases for Joseph and the cow herd. Rita and I have made almost 50 stars for the children to wave during Twinkle, twinkle little star; King Herod has a green shiny crown with buttons for jewels; the headbands have sparkly squiggles on them and I’m sick of singing ‘Little Donkey’! I’m collecting empty marmalade and jam tins from the guest house to make shakers and we’ve made a tambourine from wire and bottle tops – I’m so glad I watched all those episodes of Blue Peter!!
Oh and we must find a doll – at the moment we are using a large Zippy wrapped in a sheet, but as ‘Mary’ keeps unwrapping him……….! Mary, the class teacher is planning a dress rehearsal next week so I can see the play before I leave for UK. I’m going to buy some biscuits for the children; they are really good, especially the star, who solemnly leads the Wise Men and cow herd to the stable! I’ll take some photos!
Hopefully by the time you read this, the library will have glass in the windows and then we’ll be able to buy the bookcases. No news of the books yet!
Travelling around the country a bit, I think the relative poverty of a district can be ascertained by the quality of its market. Not the produce as that’s pretty standard, but the way it’s displayed. In the market in Namuwongo the vegetables, which are mainly sweet and Irish potatoes, matoke (cooking bananas), onions and other dull-coloured vegetables, are on the ground and goats graze on the discarded stalks from ‘the greens’ that are sold. Even some of the clothes and shoes are on plastic sheets on the ground. In other markets the produce is on bamboo tables and the whole thing is very colourful, with tomatoes, jackfruit etc.
Africa has really discovered luggage, furniture and shoes in a big way. Walking around Kampala, there are lots of shops selling these things. Some shoe traders just have piles of shoes on the pavement; others, in the markets, display them on curious stands which resemble shoe trees [sic].
On Sunday night, Gabrielle, from Dublin, who has volunteered for 2 years as Project Manager at the Nursery and her friend and I went to see traditional dancing, singing and drumming at the Ndere centre just on the outskirts of Kampala. It was great! There were women dancers, who also sang and male drummers who also danced. As well as Ugandan dances including one where the dancers balanced stacks of pots on their heads, there was also a Rwandan Intore dance, featuring peace baskets and warriors! At one point we ended up dancing on the stage along with other members of the audience!
Mon-Thurs when I go to the Nursery first thing in the morning , I go the scenic route with very little traffic, but on Fridays when I go to St Barnabas School I take my life in my hands and go down St Barnabas Road. It is a two lane road, with no pavements, only gullies and speed bumps, 4WDs, boda-bodas and pedestrians. Today, to add to the chaos on the road, suddenly I came upon a line of young men, naked from the waist up, wielding big wooden sticks and jogging down the road. You could be forgiven for thinking we were being invaded by Kony’s army – but no! These were just the latest cohort of Falcon Guards being put through their paces, urged on by a manic sergeant! Most supermarkets and forex bureaux have an armed guard outside and most guest houses have a guard, usually just overnight. We have one at Banda Inns who sits in a corrugated shelter all night and emerges muffled like Captain Oates at 7.00am in the morning. It is he who brings me the newspaper.
On Thursday night we had a BBQ at the guest house, primarily because there were 6 Norwegian women staying and Steven, who owns it, is Norwegian-Ugandan. We all really enjoyed it; it was interesting to talk to them for longer than just a quick chat over breakfast. The kebabs were delicious and we had a big fire – incongruous tho’ to think that on Monday there was no wood at the slum school so the cook couldn’t make porridge for the children and here we were burning probably a week’s supply of wood just for fun!
Good news! All the Nursery children were tested for HIV on Friday and none of them tested positive! I’m reassured as I’ve been dressing lots of sores on their arms and legs and using disposable gloves, just in case!
This morning we had reading club. Someone else organised it and did it totally differently. A bit too formal and school-like in my opinion, but the format can be discussed and agreed. Hopefully, Ritah, the librarian will take a more active role in the organisation, as she is the only person who will be there every week.
Observations on people’s confidence in the Health Service: Opposite Mulago Hospital, the biggest in Kampala, there are two businesses offering ‘Coffins for sale’.
On the way back from Masindi, we passed St Jude’s Health Centre. As far as I remember, St Jude is the patron saint of lost causes! Very reassuring!
Tonight I’m going for an Ethiopian buffet at a restaurant down Kabalagala with Joe, the Project Director, Matt, a volunteer from Canada and Gabrielle. The last time I was here I had an Ethiopian meal at a different restaurant and didn’t really enjoy my choice; tonight I’ll be able to try lots of different dishes!
Bon appetite (or whatever they say in Ethiopia)!
Well most of the costumes are sorted – just need to make head and arm holes in the stripy pillow cases for Joseph and the cow herd. Rita and I have made almost 50 stars for the children to wave during Twinkle, twinkle little star; King Herod has a green shiny crown with buttons for jewels; the headbands have sparkly squiggles on them and I’m sick of singing ‘Little Donkey’! I’m collecting empty marmalade and jam tins from the guest house to make shakers and we’ve made a tambourine from wire and bottle tops – I’m so glad I watched all those episodes of Blue Peter!!
Oh and we must find a doll – at the moment we are using a large Zippy wrapped in a sheet, but as ‘Mary’ keeps unwrapping him……….! Mary, the class teacher is planning a dress rehearsal next week so I can see the play before I leave for UK. I’m going to buy some biscuits for the children; they are really good, especially the star, who solemnly leads the Wise Men and cow herd to the stable! I’ll take some photos!
Hopefully by the time you read this, the library will have glass in the windows and then we’ll be able to buy the bookcases. No news of the books yet!
Travelling around the country a bit, I think the relative poverty of a district can be ascertained by the quality of its market. Not the produce as that’s pretty standard, but the way it’s displayed. In the market in Namuwongo the vegetables, which are mainly sweet and Irish potatoes, matoke (cooking bananas), onions and other dull-coloured vegetables, are on the ground and goats graze on the discarded stalks from ‘the greens’ that are sold. Even some of the clothes and shoes are on plastic sheets on the ground. In other markets the produce is on bamboo tables and the whole thing is very colourful, with tomatoes, jackfruit etc.
Africa has really discovered luggage, furniture and shoes in a big way. Walking around Kampala, there are lots of shops selling these things. Some shoe traders just have piles of shoes on the pavement; others, in the markets, display them on curious stands which resemble shoe trees [sic].
On Sunday night, Gabrielle, from Dublin, who has volunteered for 2 years as Project Manager at the Nursery and her friend and I went to see traditional dancing, singing and drumming at the Ndere centre just on the outskirts of Kampala. It was great! There were women dancers, who also sang and male drummers who also danced. As well as Ugandan dances including one where the dancers balanced stacks of pots on their heads, there was also a Rwandan Intore dance, featuring peace baskets and warriors! At one point we ended up dancing on the stage along with other members of the audience!
Mon-Thurs when I go to the Nursery first thing in the morning , I go the scenic route with very little traffic, but on Fridays when I go to St Barnabas School I take my life in my hands and go down St Barnabas Road. It is a two lane road, with no pavements, only gullies and speed bumps, 4WDs, boda-bodas and pedestrians. Today, to add to the chaos on the road, suddenly I came upon a line of young men, naked from the waist up, wielding big wooden sticks and jogging down the road. You could be forgiven for thinking we were being invaded by Kony’s army – but no! These were just the latest cohort of Falcon Guards being put through their paces, urged on by a manic sergeant! Most supermarkets and forex bureaux have an armed guard outside and most guest houses have a guard, usually just overnight. We have one at Banda Inns who sits in a corrugated shelter all night and emerges muffled like Captain Oates at 7.00am in the morning. It is he who brings me the newspaper.
On Thursday night we had a BBQ at the guest house, primarily because there were 6 Norwegian women staying and Steven, who owns it, is Norwegian-Ugandan. We all really enjoyed it; it was interesting to talk to them for longer than just a quick chat over breakfast. The kebabs were delicious and we had a big fire – incongruous tho’ to think that on Monday there was no wood at the slum school so the cook couldn’t make porridge for the children and here we were burning probably a week’s supply of wood just for fun!
Good news! All the Nursery children were tested for HIV on Friday and none of them tested positive! I’m reassured as I’ve been dressing lots of sores on their arms and legs and using disposable gloves, just in case!
This morning we had reading club. Someone else organised it and did it totally differently. A bit too formal and school-like in my opinion, but the format can be discussed and agreed. Hopefully, Ritah, the librarian will take a more active role in the organisation, as she is the only person who will be there every week.
Observations on people’s confidence in the Health Service: Opposite Mulago Hospital, the biggest in Kampala, there are two businesses offering ‘Coffins for sale’.
On the way back from Masindi, we passed St Jude’s Health Centre. As far as I remember, St Jude is the patron saint of lost causes! Very reassuring!
Tonight I’m going for an Ethiopian buffet at a restaurant down Kabalagala with Joe, the Project Director, Matt, a volunteer from Canada and Gabrielle. The last time I was here I had an Ethiopian meal at a different restaurant and didn’t really enjoy my choice; tonight I’ll be able to try lots of different dishes!
Bon appetite (or whatever they say in Ethiopia)!
Friday, 7 November 2008
7 weeks and counting……
Seven weeks and counting until Christmas and along with most nurseries and primary schools, ‘preparations’ have started in the Nursery. But while most nurseries and schools in the UK are knee-deep in toilet roll middles, cotton wool, green tissue paper and glitter, no such creative activities are planned for the Namuwongo children!
However Mary, the teacher of the younger children, is planning a Nativity play and the children are being informally auditioned on their ability to say, ‘Mary, Mary, Mary, you are going to have a baby!’ and other traditional lines. They are learning Christmas songs – I am teaching them ‘Little donkey’. We learnt the first verse today and in the absence of the usual coconut shells to simulate the clopping of the donkey’s hooves, I used two wooden blocks and then the children clapped their hands! They will also be singing ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’, so Rita and I are making 50 stars which we will put on unsharpened pencils (H&S – we don’t want any eyes poked out!) so they can have one in each hand and wave them about. Limited resources mean we will have to use the cardboard covers of colouring books covered in cooking foil (thanks, Mark!) now we have used all the silver card we could find. Hopefully dark blue card with silver and gold stars on will look suitably impressive and add to the general over-all effect! Finding and/or making suitable costumes is next week’s challenge!
Dawn, a volunteer from London, who is here for a year to do music at the slum school, is busy forming a choir and teaching them Christmas songs. Today her class were washing, hammering flat and then making holes in bottle tops ready to make tambourines. She is also making shakers in the tried-and-tested way of rice in plastic water bottles. I suggested she bring the choir to perform for the Nursery children. I’m just sad I won’t be here to see it all! Hopefully someone will take some photos and e-mail them to me.
As the roof is in place and the inside is painted in white gloss – I guess it could now legitimately be called a library and not a container! The whole area where the library is will be roofed over so that the latrines and potties will be undercover and guttering will take the water, that up-to-now has dripped off the roof and made its way in to Mary’s teaching room, to the drain.
Rita is our librarian and started work on Nov 1st doing the Saturday reading club when I was away in Murchison. She has a degree in Social Work, but hasn’t been able to get a job in that field, but I’m sure, along with everyone else, she will get involved with the wider community. Rita will be involved with the Saturday reading club as well as the library, but at the moment, she is helping me with Christmas stars and costumes etc. Today she came to the slum school and, although appalled by the general state of the place, enjoyed the experience of working with the children. Melissa was back as well, so there were three of us and we had more time with the children. I had written lots of words from the L1 books on pieces of card and the children were using them to make sentence, which was a bit of a challenge for some of them.
I need to initiate Rita into the vagaries of my book cataloguing system when we get time, electric and a computer all at the same time. Library books are now bar-coded and the whole system is computerised, but I needed to revert to the old-fashioned system of library cards (which can only be bought from one supplier – and I only found them with the help of Nicky, a great College librarian!), and a date stamp etc. I brought the database out with me and a sample book and since I’ve been here I have bought some books produced in Uganda about HIV/AIDS prevention for the library, which will need cataloguing.
Everyone I saw on Wednesday had a big smile on their face following the Obama win! In the guest house we all had breakfast in front of the TV and watched the news at 7.00am and saw the result declared. I saw McCain’s speech but missed Obama’s as I had to go to work. An interesting comment in the paper stated that a satirical newspaper in the US, The Onion, had the headline ‘Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job!’ They’ve probably got a point considering the high hopes Africa and especially Kenya has for the impact he will have on the continent. You get a very different perspective when you read the Daily Nation, an East African paper published in Nairobi.
Well it’s reading club again tomorrow and then on Sunday evening some of us volunteers are going to have a meal and see a show of traditional dancing and drumming. It’s an outside venue, so we’ll have to apply lots of eau de Deet and wear long socks under our dresses – very glam!
I understand it’s been quite cold in UK – so just to cheer you, it’s quite chilly here in a morning, I need to wear a cardigan when having breakfast on the veranda!!
Seven weeks and counting until Christmas and along with most nurseries and primary schools, ‘preparations’ have started in the Nursery. But while most nurseries and schools in the UK are knee-deep in toilet roll middles, cotton wool, green tissue paper and glitter, no such creative activities are planned for the Namuwongo children!
However Mary, the teacher of the younger children, is planning a Nativity play and the children are being informally auditioned on their ability to say, ‘Mary, Mary, Mary, you are going to have a baby!’ and other traditional lines. They are learning Christmas songs – I am teaching them ‘Little donkey’. We learnt the first verse today and in the absence of the usual coconut shells to simulate the clopping of the donkey’s hooves, I used two wooden blocks and then the children clapped their hands! They will also be singing ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’, so Rita and I are making 50 stars which we will put on unsharpened pencils (H&S – we don’t want any eyes poked out!) so they can have one in each hand and wave them about. Limited resources mean we will have to use the cardboard covers of colouring books covered in cooking foil (thanks, Mark!) now we have used all the silver card we could find. Hopefully dark blue card with silver and gold stars on will look suitably impressive and add to the general over-all effect! Finding and/or making suitable costumes is next week’s challenge!
Dawn, a volunteer from London, who is here for a year to do music at the slum school, is busy forming a choir and teaching them Christmas songs. Today her class were washing, hammering flat and then making holes in bottle tops ready to make tambourines. She is also making shakers in the tried-and-tested way of rice in plastic water bottles. I suggested she bring the choir to perform for the Nursery children. I’m just sad I won’t be here to see it all! Hopefully someone will take some photos and e-mail them to me.
As the roof is in place and the inside is painted in white gloss – I guess it could now legitimately be called a library and not a container! The whole area where the library is will be roofed over so that the latrines and potties will be undercover and guttering will take the water, that up-to-now has dripped off the roof and made its way in to Mary’s teaching room, to the drain.
Rita is our librarian and started work on Nov 1st doing the Saturday reading club when I was away in Murchison. She has a degree in Social Work, but hasn’t been able to get a job in that field, but I’m sure, along with everyone else, she will get involved with the wider community. Rita will be involved with the Saturday reading club as well as the library, but at the moment, she is helping me with Christmas stars and costumes etc. Today she came to the slum school and, although appalled by the general state of the place, enjoyed the experience of working with the children. Melissa was back as well, so there were three of us and we had more time with the children. I had written lots of words from the L1 books on pieces of card and the children were using them to make sentence, which was a bit of a challenge for some of them.
I need to initiate Rita into the vagaries of my book cataloguing system when we get time, electric and a computer all at the same time. Library books are now bar-coded and the whole system is computerised, but I needed to revert to the old-fashioned system of library cards (which can only be bought from one supplier – and I only found them with the help of Nicky, a great College librarian!), and a date stamp etc. I brought the database out with me and a sample book and since I’ve been here I have bought some books produced in Uganda about HIV/AIDS prevention for the library, which will need cataloguing.
Everyone I saw on Wednesday had a big smile on their face following the Obama win! In the guest house we all had breakfast in front of the TV and watched the news at 7.00am and saw the result declared. I saw McCain’s speech but missed Obama’s as I had to go to work. An interesting comment in the paper stated that a satirical newspaper in the US, The Onion, had the headline ‘Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job!’ They’ve probably got a point considering the high hopes Africa and especially Kenya has for the impact he will have on the continent. You get a very different perspective when you read the Daily Nation, an East African paper published in Nairobi.
Well it’s reading club again tomorrow and then on Sunday evening some of us volunteers are going to have a meal and see a show of traditional dancing and drumming. It’s an outside venue, so we’ll have to apply lots of eau de Deet and wear long socks under our dresses – very glam!
I understand it’s been quite cold in UK – so just to cheer you, it’s quite chilly here in a morning, I need to wear a cardigan when having breakfast on the veranda!!
Monday, 3 November 2008
Birthday safari – almost!
Tomorrow is my birthday and as a birthday treat I went on safari to Murchison Falls at the weekend. I arrived at Red Chilli Backpackers on Friday morning about 8.00am to pay for the trip. While waiting to leave, a big old dog shambled in and stood by my chair. I greeted him and patted his head. In response he attempted to offer his paw for shaking, but due to age or infirmity, it dropped on my leg. He tried again, unsuccessfully. So having left muddy paw prints on my clean trousers – he lumbered off to lie down in someone else’s way! There were 8 of us all together on the trip – 4 volunteers from Germany, the guy did something in computers at Mulago Hospital and the 3 girls were nurses; 2 sisters, who were on holiday; Dave who was in HR (say no more!) and me. Altogether the journey took 9 hours, but we stopped in Masindi for lunch and then at the top of Murchison Falls.
Once we entered the national park area there were baboons along the track and tsetse flies, so we needed to keep the windows closed. Tsetse flies no longer carry sleeping sickness (I’m not sure how they got rid of it – need to look it up), but if they bite it is still painful and may swell up.
There are actually 2 falls – Yoweri (named after the President!) and Murchison. An explorer called Baker discovered in 1864 that the Victoria Nile flows over the Falls and into Lake Albert. When it flows out of the Lake, it is known as the Albert Nile. Baker named the Falls after Murchison, an eminent member of the Royal Geographic Society.
A colossal amount of water falls 45m through a narrow gorge, about 6m wide. The spray formed rainbows in the sunlight – spectacular- and cooled us after our journey and walk to the top of the Falls.
We arrived at Red Chilli Rest Camp on the south bank of the Nile and immediately headed for the bar for a Nile beer (appropriately enough!) and to order supper. There was the most amazing electrical storm which lit up the sky for about an hour, then it was time for a cold shower and bed. I fell asleep to the sound of the resident wart hogs raiding the bins and the rain gently falling on the roof of the tent.
6.30am start on Saturday so ordered packed breakfast the night before to eat on the way. 5 minutes down the road we caught the Paraa ferry to the north bank of the Nile and then went on a game safari around the Nile Delta area for four and a half hours! The top of the minibus opened up so we could stand and see everything and what a lot there was to see! The whole landscape is immense and so beautiful with Lake Albert in the distance and beyond that, the blue mountains of DR Congo. We saw many different types of antelope – topi, kob, Jackson hartebeest; baboons; elephant in the long grass under a sausage tree; lots of giraffe – 26 in one group alone; buffalo and a lioness just lying o the track ahead of us. We inched closer and closer for photos and then reversed back so as not to disturb her!
Everything in Africa is big! The butterflies are striking colours and the dragonflies are everywhere! Some resemble bi-planes – their wings seem fixed and have dramatic black and white markings, but they never stay still long enough to see properly. Some of the birds are huge, easily spotted in a tall tree from a distance, especially the sea eagles, crested cranes, heron and hornbills. Some have very descriptive names – white-faced whistling duck and red-throated bee eater (which have dull green feathers) – it’s a twitchers’ paradise!
We returned to the Rest Camp during the hottest part of the day and had an early lunch – we were hungry after our early start! Back down the landing stage at 2.30pm for the Nile cruise! Having cleaned off the morning’s suncream and mossie repellent, not to mention the dust from the bush, and reapplied some more, it started to rain within minutes of getting on the boat!
Turer, a guy from Norway, and I struck lucky – they needed a couple of people to make up the numbers on another boat, which had families with children. The beauty of it was, there were only 4 of us who wanted to take photos, compared to the dozen or so on the original boat! Unbelievably, Turer was a Manchester City fan and regularly flew over from Norway with Ryanair to Liverpool to watch City’s home games!
Again we saw lots of birds and the guides we had with us on both trips really knew their stuff and pointed out everything of interest, cutting the engine of the boat so we could hear them and letting it drift nearer so we could take photos. Drifting near birds is one thing – drifting near schools of hippos is quite another! But wow it was amazing! They are big and appear lazy, but when disturbed can swim very fast, considering their size and can outrun a man on land! Generally only their ears are visible unless they want a better look at you and it’s a bit disconcerting – to say the least- when they suddenly disappear under the water. Visions of them surfacing under the boat flash before your eyes – but it’s all too exciting to think about that for long!
Further down stream we saw a couple of elephant feeding at the waters’ edge and lots of water buffalo. Elephant need 300-400kg of food and over 200litres of water each day. We got quite close to the buffalo as they are more afraid of us, than we need to be of them. In fact at one point the boat became beached and the guides needed to go ashore and push it clear; the buffalo ran off.
Luckily the rain didn’t last long, but the sun didn’t shine either, which made for a cool cruise. Unfortunately crocodiles like basking in the sun under their favourite tree – but not today. All we saw were a couple of juveniles playing the shadows; one minute you think you’ve seen a snout, the next there’s just a splash of water!
Onwards to the bottom of the Falls and believe it or not, out of the boat onto a rock in the middle of the swirling waters to take photos! Fantastic!!! Did you know Hemingway’s plane crashed near the base of the Falls and he had to wait 3 days to be rescued? No neither did I, but I’ve seen the spot with my own eyes!
As we’d had to have two shore stops for ‘short calls’ and we’d all asked lots of questions and taken lots of photos, we were far behind our friends’ boat, so Turer and I walked back to camp from the ferry, for – you’ve guessed it - a Nile beer and supper.
Woke early on Sunday and got up for a cup of tea and to watch the sunrise. After breakfast we drove 70km south of Masindi to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and went rhino tracking through head-high grass and undergrowth before lunch! There are no indigenous rhino left in Uganda; the last one was seen in 1982. They were poached to extinction for their horns, which were used for sword handles, medicines and aphrodisiacs. In the Sanctuary, there are currently 6 White rhino; 4 from Kenya and 2 from Disney Animal Kingdom in Florida. Altho’ they are in a protected area, they are wild – it’s not like a zoo. They hope to introduce some more and also some Black rhino to set up a breeding programme and eventually release them in to the Game Park, where we had been the day before, provided they can be protected.
A little-known fact – White and Black rhinos are the same colour! They differ in size and feeding habits; the White are grazers, the Black browsers. Originally the White were known as ‘widj’, a Dutch word meaning ‘wide’, due to the fact they have a square mouth, but this got corrupted to ‘White’.
We saw all 6 of them and got really close for photos. Ugandans are very polite – even to rhinos. When Hassani started shuffling towards us, the ranger said, “Go back, Hassani! Please, Hassani, go back!” Hassani feigned disinterest, stopped shuffling and resumed grazing. Needless to say, we had all started shuffling backwards albeit very SLOWLY as we’d been told that rhino are short-sighted and only charge something that’s moving quickly!
A tropical downpour accompanied lunch - freshly-baked bread, egg, cheese, pineapple and coffee – delicious. Then it was back to Banda Inns for a hot shower and the biggest avocado you’ve ever seen for about 30p – it’s taken a week to ripen!
This has got to be one of the BEST weekends EVER!
Bought Smarties for the Nursery children as it’s my birthday – the first chocolate I’ve had since I’ve been here! And I’m sure I’ll have a glass of wine later!
Love to you all – remember you can comment on the blog (after all it is my birthday!). Thanks to Tracey and Sarah for their comments.
Tomorrow is my birthday and as a birthday treat I went on safari to Murchison Falls at the weekend. I arrived at Red Chilli Backpackers on Friday morning about 8.00am to pay for the trip. While waiting to leave, a big old dog shambled in and stood by my chair. I greeted him and patted his head. In response he attempted to offer his paw for shaking, but due to age or infirmity, it dropped on my leg. He tried again, unsuccessfully. So having left muddy paw prints on my clean trousers – he lumbered off to lie down in someone else’s way! There were 8 of us all together on the trip – 4 volunteers from Germany, the guy did something in computers at Mulago Hospital and the 3 girls were nurses; 2 sisters, who were on holiday; Dave who was in HR (say no more!) and me. Altogether the journey took 9 hours, but we stopped in Masindi for lunch and then at the top of Murchison Falls.
Once we entered the national park area there were baboons along the track and tsetse flies, so we needed to keep the windows closed. Tsetse flies no longer carry sleeping sickness (I’m not sure how they got rid of it – need to look it up), but if they bite it is still painful and may swell up.
There are actually 2 falls – Yoweri (named after the President!) and Murchison. An explorer called Baker discovered in 1864 that the Victoria Nile flows over the Falls and into Lake Albert. When it flows out of the Lake, it is known as the Albert Nile. Baker named the Falls after Murchison, an eminent member of the Royal Geographic Society.
A colossal amount of water falls 45m through a narrow gorge, about 6m wide. The spray formed rainbows in the sunlight – spectacular- and cooled us after our journey and walk to the top of the Falls.
We arrived at Red Chilli Rest Camp on the south bank of the Nile and immediately headed for the bar for a Nile beer (appropriately enough!) and to order supper. There was the most amazing electrical storm which lit up the sky for about an hour, then it was time for a cold shower and bed. I fell asleep to the sound of the resident wart hogs raiding the bins and the rain gently falling on the roof of the tent.
6.30am start on Saturday so ordered packed breakfast the night before to eat on the way. 5 minutes down the road we caught the Paraa ferry to the north bank of the Nile and then went on a game safari around the Nile Delta area for four and a half hours! The top of the minibus opened up so we could stand and see everything and what a lot there was to see! The whole landscape is immense and so beautiful with Lake Albert in the distance and beyond that, the blue mountains of DR Congo. We saw many different types of antelope – topi, kob, Jackson hartebeest; baboons; elephant in the long grass under a sausage tree; lots of giraffe – 26 in one group alone; buffalo and a lioness just lying o the track ahead of us. We inched closer and closer for photos and then reversed back so as not to disturb her!
Everything in Africa is big! The butterflies are striking colours and the dragonflies are everywhere! Some resemble bi-planes – their wings seem fixed and have dramatic black and white markings, but they never stay still long enough to see properly. Some of the birds are huge, easily spotted in a tall tree from a distance, especially the sea eagles, crested cranes, heron and hornbills. Some have very descriptive names – white-faced whistling duck and red-throated bee eater (which have dull green feathers) – it’s a twitchers’ paradise!
We returned to the Rest Camp during the hottest part of the day and had an early lunch – we were hungry after our early start! Back down the landing stage at 2.30pm for the Nile cruise! Having cleaned off the morning’s suncream and mossie repellent, not to mention the dust from the bush, and reapplied some more, it started to rain within minutes of getting on the boat!
Turer, a guy from Norway, and I struck lucky – they needed a couple of people to make up the numbers on another boat, which had families with children. The beauty of it was, there were only 4 of us who wanted to take photos, compared to the dozen or so on the original boat! Unbelievably, Turer was a Manchester City fan and regularly flew over from Norway with Ryanair to Liverpool to watch City’s home games!
Again we saw lots of birds and the guides we had with us on both trips really knew their stuff and pointed out everything of interest, cutting the engine of the boat so we could hear them and letting it drift nearer so we could take photos. Drifting near birds is one thing – drifting near schools of hippos is quite another! But wow it was amazing! They are big and appear lazy, but when disturbed can swim very fast, considering their size and can outrun a man on land! Generally only their ears are visible unless they want a better look at you and it’s a bit disconcerting – to say the least- when they suddenly disappear under the water. Visions of them surfacing under the boat flash before your eyes – but it’s all too exciting to think about that for long!
Further down stream we saw a couple of elephant feeding at the waters’ edge and lots of water buffalo. Elephant need 300-400kg of food and over 200litres of water each day. We got quite close to the buffalo as they are more afraid of us, than we need to be of them. In fact at one point the boat became beached and the guides needed to go ashore and push it clear; the buffalo ran off.
Luckily the rain didn’t last long, but the sun didn’t shine either, which made for a cool cruise. Unfortunately crocodiles like basking in the sun under their favourite tree – but not today. All we saw were a couple of juveniles playing the shadows; one minute you think you’ve seen a snout, the next there’s just a splash of water!
Onwards to the bottom of the Falls and believe it or not, out of the boat onto a rock in the middle of the swirling waters to take photos! Fantastic!!! Did you know Hemingway’s plane crashed near the base of the Falls and he had to wait 3 days to be rescued? No neither did I, but I’ve seen the spot with my own eyes!
As we’d had to have two shore stops for ‘short calls’ and we’d all asked lots of questions and taken lots of photos, we were far behind our friends’ boat, so Turer and I walked back to camp from the ferry, for – you’ve guessed it - a Nile beer and supper.
Woke early on Sunday and got up for a cup of tea and to watch the sunrise. After breakfast we drove 70km south of Masindi to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and went rhino tracking through head-high grass and undergrowth before lunch! There are no indigenous rhino left in Uganda; the last one was seen in 1982. They were poached to extinction for their horns, which were used for sword handles, medicines and aphrodisiacs. In the Sanctuary, there are currently 6 White rhino; 4 from Kenya and 2 from Disney Animal Kingdom in Florida. Altho’ they are in a protected area, they are wild – it’s not like a zoo. They hope to introduce some more and also some Black rhino to set up a breeding programme and eventually release them in to the Game Park, where we had been the day before, provided they can be protected.
A little-known fact – White and Black rhinos are the same colour! They differ in size and feeding habits; the White are grazers, the Black browsers. Originally the White were known as ‘widj’, a Dutch word meaning ‘wide’, due to the fact they have a square mouth, but this got corrupted to ‘White’.
We saw all 6 of them and got really close for photos. Ugandans are very polite – even to rhinos. When Hassani started shuffling towards us, the ranger said, “Go back, Hassani! Please, Hassani, go back!” Hassani feigned disinterest, stopped shuffling and resumed grazing. Needless to say, we had all started shuffling backwards albeit very SLOWLY as we’d been told that rhino are short-sighted and only charge something that’s moving quickly!
A tropical downpour accompanied lunch - freshly-baked bread, egg, cheese, pineapple and coffee – delicious. Then it was back to Banda Inns for a hot shower and the biggest avocado you’ve ever seen for about 30p – it’s taken a week to ripen!
This has got to be one of the BEST weekends EVER!
Bought Smarties for the Nursery children as it’s my birthday – the first chocolate I’ve had since I’ve been here! And I’m sure I’ll have a glass of wine later!
Love to you all – remember you can comment on the blog (after all it is my birthday!). Thanks to Tracey and Sarah for their comments.
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