I’ve got sunshine in my bag….
… just in case it’s still raining in the UK. We really have too much sunshine here; crops are withering and there is starvation in some areas especially Teso which was first of all hit with floods and now drought.
I pass the quarry twice a day and never cease to be fascinated by it – it’s like something out of the Russian gulag! Men, women (some with babies strapped to their backs) and children sit by heaps of different sized stones and hit them all day with a hammer to reduce them in size. Across the murram track where traffic and animals pass, without any safety considerations, is a maze of old metal conveyor belts shuffling stones from one place to another – the noise is deafening.
Further along men shovel gravel into trucks with only a basic face mask against the incessant dust and beyond that other men make concrete blocks using a basic ‘box’ which they fill and then close the lid compressing the mixture inside.
The vehicles are ancient and abandoned cabs lie half-buried in the sandy dust! I took photos one Sunday when fewer people were working as generally they don’t like being photographed there – maybe they are illegal immigrants.
It’s been good to have fresh water while I’ve been here as my neighbour has a water filter so I haven’t needed to use the chlorine tablets.
I decided to go to Mabire Forest on Sunday. When I was Uganda the first time in March 2007 there was a demonstration in Kampala against the government’s decision to ‘sell’ some of the forest to the Mehta Corporation for sugar cane cultivation. I’m glad the say the protest was successful altho’ three people were killed during the demonstration.
Unfortunately as the matatu approached the Forest the heavens opened and we had torrential rain. Many drivers pulled over – but not our intrepid driver who bravely went on luckily avoiding both puddle and other vehicles!
As you’re never sure how long rain will last I decided to go on into Jinja. I’d been before but enjoyed buying crafts and seeing again the source of the Nile and eating in my favourite place, Rumours, on the bank of the Nile. I had a rolex – an omelette in a chapatti.
For some reason many Asians settled in Jinja and they were responsible for setting up the Nile Breweries near to Jinja in the 1950s. After most were expelled by Idi Amin in 1972 the town became a bit of a ghost town and the once wide streets and colonnades of shops are looking a bit neglected. But it’s a good place to spend a Sunday afternoon and there are spectacular views of Lake Victoria.
On Friday the children of St Barnabas said goodbye to me with songs and dances. I bought them some biscuits to have with their porridge. At 6pm Labson had an end-of-term staff meeting and presented me with a traditional African carving showing a teacher and three children with ‘To Christina Spinney’ along the top and ‘From St Barnabas School’ engraved along the bottom. It really is very special!
I have really enjoyed my stay here. I needed to confront my nemesis that was St Barnabas school as I didn’t enjoy my time with them when I was here last. But this time it has been great and I’ve felt part of the school. The children’s enthusiasm for books and reading has been inspiring and I will be endeavouring to obtain more in the future and send them out.
Well this is my last day! I have just arranged for Herbert to collect me at 2.00am as my flight leaves Entebbe at 5.10am. Originally I had intended to stay until Saturday but the opportunity to see U2 in Cardiff on that day required me to leave earlier! I’m sure you’d have done the same! Actually this week is a bit of a none-event as school has finished and there is a week’s rest before the holiday programme starts.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog! I will try to put some photos on when I get back home but I’m sure most of you will see them soon anyway!
If anyone is interested in learning more about Hope for Children or sponsoring a child, the website address is: www.hope4c.org It costs about £12 a month (less than a pint of beer a week) to provide education for a child which includes uniform, food, holiday programme activities and pencils and exercise books etc.
Until I see you – take care.
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Thursday, 13 August 2009
‘Good morning, Madam’
This is how I’m greeted! Unlike in England where people only sit next to each other as a last resort, in Uganda people intentionally sit beside you on a matatu and greet you! Those who know my name say, ‘Good morning Madam Chris’ – pronouncing Chris like crease! So to some I am ‘Madam Chris’, to others ‘Teacher’, to my friends ‘Chris’ and to many just ‘Muzungu’.
I was honoured on Monday afternoon – the Executive Director of Studies for the school came to meet me. She had heard about the library I set up last time and my efforts this time so she wanted to see me in person and greet me! We also had the official handing over of the books and laptops and photos were taken! I managed to leave before seven - the mossie witching hour - as I didn’t have any eau de deet with me and bought a couple of chapattis for my tea as I had no time to shop – such is the price of fame!
My typing skills have really been put to the test this week. It’s end-of-term report time and it started with someone asking if I could put their results on their electronic report cards. I agreed and that opened the floodgates! Now they don’t bother to write the comments down – they just dictate to me! T. Justine is classic – she thinks out loud – so I’m not sure if what she’s saying she wants me to write! She’ll say something like ‘Can add and subtract..’ and I’ve just put the full stop and moved down to the next column, when she says, ‘…correctly’! So it’s back up the column…!!
I have suggested to them that Labson might expect everything to be done as quickly next term and I won’t be there! But to be fair the computers are second hand from the senior school and some of the keys stick – probably in large part due to the dust under them – which makes it doubly difficult for them. I bought a couple of kid’s paintbrushes to clean the keyboards which has helped. Only one mouse out of three works so I showed them how to use the arrow keys but we still need to swap the mice around! There is also only one flash drive so again it’s a matter of saving to the desk top and working from that so someone else can save to the flash for Labson to have the info on. What fun!
T. Isaac did his dissertation for College in 2002 and doesn’t have an electronic copy so…….. you can imagine what he asked me to do! Actually it’s about the Nile Breweries Industry and very interesting and not too long!
Still no gas! But I finally remembered to buy a new plug so the kettle now works and I have hot water for tea when I need it!
Just in case you thought I might not be having any fun I want to reassure you that often my neighbour Janet and I get together with Sarah my room-mate when she was here or Mama Jordan who lives with Janet to watch ‘Dr Quinn Medicine Woman’! Janet has the boxed set and they all seem to have a thing about Sully – the meaningful looks heavy with unspoken passion, the fleeting touches – you know the sort of thing if you’ve ever seen the programme! We sit drinking tea or sometimes wine!
It’s lucky I can bring two bags back with KLM as I have so many beads and crafts and dried fruits etc. I just hope they arrive in Bristol the same time as I do!
Tomorrow is my last day at school and I’m sure they’ve got something planned! To find out what – check my next (and last) blog early next week.
Have a fun weekend.
This is how I’m greeted! Unlike in England where people only sit next to each other as a last resort, in Uganda people intentionally sit beside you on a matatu and greet you! Those who know my name say, ‘Good morning Madam Chris’ – pronouncing Chris like crease! So to some I am ‘Madam Chris’, to others ‘Teacher’, to my friends ‘Chris’ and to many just ‘Muzungu’.
I was honoured on Monday afternoon – the Executive Director of Studies for the school came to meet me. She had heard about the library I set up last time and my efforts this time so she wanted to see me in person and greet me! We also had the official handing over of the books and laptops and photos were taken! I managed to leave before seven - the mossie witching hour - as I didn’t have any eau de deet with me and bought a couple of chapattis for my tea as I had no time to shop – such is the price of fame!
My typing skills have really been put to the test this week. It’s end-of-term report time and it started with someone asking if I could put their results on their electronic report cards. I agreed and that opened the floodgates! Now they don’t bother to write the comments down – they just dictate to me! T. Justine is classic – she thinks out loud – so I’m not sure if what she’s saying she wants me to write! She’ll say something like ‘Can add and subtract..’ and I’ve just put the full stop and moved down to the next column, when she says, ‘…correctly’! So it’s back up the column…!!
I have suggested to them that Labson might expect everything to be done as quickly next term and I won’t be there! But to be fair the computers are second hand from the senior school and some of the keys stick – probably in large part due to the dust under them – which makes it doubly difficult for them. I bought a couple of kid’s paintbrushes to clean the keyboards which has helped. Only one mouse out of three works so I showed them how to use the arrow keys but we still need to swap the mice around! There is also only one flash drive so again it’s a matter of saving to the desk top and working from that so someone else can save to the flash for Labson to have the info on. What fun!
T. Isaac did his dissertation for College in 2002 and doesn’t have an electronic copy so…….. you can imagine what he asked me to do! Actually it’s about the Nile Breweries Industry and very interesting and not too long!
Still no gas! But I finally remembered to buy a new plug so the kettle now works and I have hot water for tea when I need it!
Just in case you thought I might not be having any fun I want to reassure you that often my neighbour Janet and I get together with Sarah my room-mate when she was here or Mama Jordan who lives with Janet to watch ‘Dr Quinn Medicine Woman’! Janet has the boxed set and they all seem to have a thing about Sully – the meaningful looks heavy with unspoken passion, the fleeting touches – you know the sort of thing if you’ve ever seen the programme! We sit drinking tea or sometimes wine!
It’s lucky I can bring two bags back with KLM as I have so many beads and crafts and dried fruits etc. I just hope they arrive in Bristol the same time as I do!
Tomorrow is my last day at school and I’m sure they’ve got something planned! To find out what – check my next (and last) blog early next week.
Have a fun weekend.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
‘Poverty makes you have what you don’t want’
This is Monica’s definition of poverty. She’s twenty nine and has a fifteen year old daughter. The eldest of seven children, she was brought up by her grandparents as her mother was still at school when she had Monica. When her mother and her new husband had six more children, her mother thought Monica would have a better life if she married. So at the age of thirteen Monica was married to a man she had never met and had her daughter when she was just fourteen and a half.
When the relationship ended, Monica, who had been living in Lira in N Uganda moved to Kampala to begin a new life. Her daughter attends school and Monica funds this with a variety of part-time jobs. She never attended primary school herself but has recently started adult literacy classes and in a few weeks has exams. She attends for two and a half hours on four evenings a week and would like to do a dress-making or computer course so she can get a better job.
Although she often refers to God’s role in her life she realises that she has to make her own way and that everything that has happened to her is a stepping stone to a better life.
To return to her definition of poverty: She and her daughter live in one room and have to share a pit latrine with fifteen other people including children who shall we say are not always fastidious when it comes to squatting and hitting the hole and who don’t clean up after themselves – so she doesn’t want a dirty latrine but she has no choice. As well as getting wages where she works she sometimes also gets money to buy some bread for breakfast. Without this she would have to eat greens which are really animal foodstuff but which are eaten by people when there is nothing else.
Although she told me she didn’t have much money and she will struggle with her daughter’s senior school fees, I feel she is very proud of her achievements and gets great satisfaction from them. I have the greatest respect for her.
Now you know why I eat my posho!
Both boys and girls at St Barnabas school have to have their heads shaved regularly unless they belong to a tribe that plaits and beads the hair or are Asian. Children whose hair is considered to be too long are sent home from school until they get it shaved. This means they probably won’t get any food all day and will just hang around the slum as their parents are away working. A visit to the salon costs just 500/- for a small child and 1,000/- for an older one, but an increasing number of families are unable to afford this amount. 500/- is the cost of my matatu ride to school; it will buy an avocado, but a loaf of bread costs 1,500/- ,2kg of rice is 6,600/-, a pineapple is 2,000/-, a banana costs 200/- and a band aid costs 100/-. A large jerry can of water costs 200/-. The women who are making beads are getting 500/- an hour and most people in Africa exist on just $1.25 a day, which is 2,500/-. Most households are headed by lone women and seem to have at least three children, so there is not a lot of money to spare.
After a discussion with Labson and having seen a couple of children who had been sent home and the surroundings they were in, I have decided to spend the last of Carl and Beccy’s money on buying a shaver for the school so that children need never be sent home again!
Another important purchase will be a long-armed stapler so that Margaret can mend the library books when the middle pages come loose and a box of drawing pins for Teacher Eddie who hasn’t got any! We put a ‘flu poster up the other day and within two minutes, three of the drawing pins had been removed!
As well as arranging the setting up the bead-making project I have been buying necklaces and bracelets to bring back with me to sell. The women are very creative and all make different designs so I have bought from four different women. Joyce told me the other day that one of the women bought a basket to carry on her head and some bananas to sell with the money I had paid her!! That is wonderful and what it’s all about! – I just wish I could bump into her and buy a couple of bananas!
I was teaching P1 last week as their teacher was off sick. They were doing exams but I also did maths and literacy with them. The latter involved their copying a poem from the board (luckily I brought some with me) and drawing a picture. There are NO resources in the classroom but I brought crayons with me and the children get soooooooo excited but they can’t share! They hold them in their hands, put them on their laps and even hide them in their socks. This is where they keep their pencils (some just an inch long!) and I had to check their socks and any other peculiar bumps in their clothing before they left the room at lunchtime and home time. This together with constant calls of ‘Teacher!’, ‘Teacher!’ and a never-ending number of pencils needing sharpening, especially as they chew the leads, made for a challenging week!! I was correcting maths on Thursday afternoon and explaining to a child how to do the sum when I looked up and half the class was missing! I went and told T. Justine who just laughed! It seems that the other classes were having some post-exam down-time and were out playing and my class had joined them! Luckily their teacher was back the next day!
So I spent Friday entering exam results onto individual report cards on the computer – a nice change and it helped the teachers some of whom are not very quick on computers. Not surprisingly my ‘special’ readers were at the bottom of the class! If you can’t read the exam paper you can’t answer the questions! As a result I have suggested to Joyce that they do some extra reading during the holiday programme.
Another funny from the paper for you: A 54 year-old accountant leaves a note for his wife. ‘Dear Wife. I am 54 years old and need a change. By the time you read this I will be in the Sunny Bay hotel with my 18 year-old secretary.’ When he got there, he found a note from his wife. ‘Dear Husband. I am also 54 and by the time you read this I will be in Pleasure Motel with my 18 year-old toy boy. As you are an accountant you don’t need me to tell you that 18 goes into 54 more times than 54 goes into 18’!!
Had a relaxing weekend and went for a swim! Ready now for my last full week!
Take care.
This is Monica’s definition of poverty. She’s twenty nine and has a fifteen year old daughter. The eldest of seven children, she was brought up by her grandparents as her mother was still at school when she had Monica. When her mother and her new husband had six more children, her mother thought Monica would have a better life if she married. So at the age of thirteen Monica was married to a man she had never met and had her daughter when she was just fourteen and a half.
When the relationship ended, Monica, who had been living in Lira in N Uganda moved to Kampala to begin a new life. Her daughter attends school and Monica funds this with a variety of part-time jobs. She never attended primary school herself but has recently started adult literacy classes and in a few weeks has exams. She attends for two and a half hours on four evenings a week and would like to do a dress-making or computer course so she can get a better job.
Although she often refers to God’s role in her life she realises that she has to make her own way and that everything that has happened to her is a stepping stone to a better life.
To return to her definition of poverty: She and her daughter live in one room and have to share a pit latrine with fifteen other people including children who shall we say are not always fastidious when it comes to squatting and hitting the hole and who don’t clean up after themselves – so she doesn’t want a dirty latrine but she has no choice. As well as getting wages where she works she sometimes also gets money to buy some bread for breakfast. Without this she would have to eat greens which are really animal foodstuff but which are eaten by people when there is nothing else.
Although she told me she didn’t have much money and she will struggle with her daughter’s senior school fees, I feel she is very proud of her achievements and gets great satisfaction from them. I have the greatest respect for her.
Now you know why I eat my posho!
Both boys and girls at St Barnabas school have to have their heads shaved regularly unless they belong to a tribe that plaits and beads the hair or are Asian. Children whose hair is considered to be too long are sent home from school until they get it shaved. This means they probably won’t get any food all day and will just hang around the slum as their parents are away working. A visit to the salon costs just 500/- for a small child and 1,000/- for an older one, but an increasing number of families are unable to afford this amount. 500/- is the cost of my matatu ride to school; it will buy an avocado, but a loaf of bread costs 1,500/- ,2kg of rice is 6,600/-, a pineapple is 2,000/-, a banana costs 200/- and a band aid costs 100/-. A large jerry can of water costs 200/-. The women who are making beads are getting 500/- an hour and most people in Africa exist on just $1.25 a day, which is 2,500/-. Most households are headed by lone women and seem to have at least three children, so there is not a lot of money to spare.
After a discussion with Labson and having seen a couple of children who had been sent home and the surroundings they were in, I have decided to spend the last of Carl and Beccy’s money on buying a shaver for the school so that children need never be sent home again!
Another important purchase will be a long-armed stapler so that Margaret can mend the library books when the middle pages come loose and a box of drawing pins for Teacher Eddie who hasn’t got any! We put a ‘flu poster up the other day and within two minutes, three of the drawing pins had been removed!
As well as arranging the setting up the bead-making project I have been buying necklaces and bracelets to bring back with me to sell. The women are very creative and all make different designs so I have bought from four different women. Joyce told me the other day that one of the women bought a basket to carry on her head and some bananas to sell with the money I had paid her!! That is wonderful and what it’s all about! – I just wish I could bump into her and buy a couple of bananas!
I was teaching P1 last week as their teacher was off sick. They were doing exams but I also did maths and literacy with them. The latter involved their copying a poem from the board (luckily I brought some with me) and drawing a picture. There are NO resources in the classroom but I brought crayons with me and the children get soooooooo excited but they can’t share! They hold them in their hands, put them on their laps and even hide them in their socks. This is where they keep their pencils (some just an inch long!) and I had to check their socks and any other peculiar bumps in their clothing before they left the room at lunchtime and home time. This together with constant calls of ‘Teacher!’, ‘Teacher!’ and a never-ending number of pencils needing sharpening, especially as they chew the leads, made for a challenging week!! I was correcting maths on Thursday afternoon and explaining to a child how to do the sum when I looked up and half the class was missing! I went and told T. Justine who just laughed! It seems that the other classes were having some post-exam down-time and were out playing and my class had joined them! Luckily their teacher was back the next day!
So I spent Friday entering exam results onto individual report cards on the computer – a nice change and it helped the teachers some of whom are not very quick on computers. Not surprisingly my ‘special’ readers were at the bottom of the class! If you can’t read the exam paper you can’t answer the questions! As a result I have suggested to Joyce that they do some extra reading during the holiday programme.
Another funny from the paper for you: A 54 year-old accountant leaves a note for his wife. ‘Dear Wife. I am 54 years old and need a change. By the time you read this I will be in the Sunny Bay hotel with my 18 year-old secretary.’ When he got there, he found a note from his wife. ‘Dear Husband. I am also 54 and by the time you read this I will be in Pleasure Motel with my 18 year-old toy boy. As you are an accountant you don’t need me to tell you that 18 goes into 54 more times than 54 goes into 18’!!
Had a relaxing weekend and went for a swim! Ready now for my last full week!
Take care.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
The Rwenzori Mountains
The Rwenzori Mountains are really beautiful and the safari was amazing! We set off from Kampala on Friday morning about half past eight and it took us about eight hours to get there with a couple of stops. There were the other nine volunteers, myself, Immaculate and Joyce who are the development workers employed by Hope 4 Children and the two drivers, Denis and Josh.
I had met some of the volunteers before who are/were all UK university students and who had each raised £2,500 in order to volunteer for a couple of months in Uganda. They are all great fun and from a variety of backgrounds: one lives in Kinshasha in DRC where her father works for Dept. of International Development; another has lived in Tanzania; another was Somali; one was from Australia and another from New Mexico!! So we had some interesting discussions over bottles of Nile beer as you can imagine!
We stayed in Simba Safari Camp which has only been open for six months. There was solar power for lights and hot water in the lodges but not in the dining/bar area where we ate by hurricane lamp on Saturday due to a power failure!
I wondered how the visit to the Queen Elizabeth National Park would compare to my visit to Murchison Falls and to be fair the land safari wasn’t as good – there weren’t the number of animals and there were no giraffe and not as many types of antelope. However we did see a lioness with her three cubs watching from behind a mound of earth – they will probably be just a blob of brown on the photo!!
But the water safari was wonderful! We sailed along the Kazinga Channel which links Lake Edward and Lake George. There was an incredible number of hippos quite close to the boat – some on the shore and some in the water and some with herds of water buffalo; there was a small herd of elephant playing and splashing in the shallows and chasing off a lone buffalo and a couple of young crocodiles.
There are eleven fishing villages along the channel and each gets a share of the proceeds from the trips to encourage conservation. On the edge of one village was a spit of sand reaching into the channel which was full of birds and a bit further along an elephant coming down to drink! There are over 600 species of bird within the national park and most are very distinctive and/or colourful and some are quite large. I took lots of photos as you can imagine and also tried to record a movie on the camera – so fingers crossed.
We crossed the equator many times as we went from the camp to the National Park and at one point were only 37 Km from the Congo border. Before leaving to return we drove to a high vantage point to see the Great Rift Valley spread out below us where we had spent the last 36 hours. The photos will not do it justice – it was incredible!
I had thought I might visit Fort Portal and see the Mountains and crater lakes this time so this was a great trip for me. The Rwenzori Mountains are amazing and some are supposed to be snow-capped – the wind blowing off those shrouded in mist certainly felt cold enough for snow. The crater lakes are used to obtain salt and the salt pans were clearly seen from where we were standing at a height above them. Altogether amazing or awesome as my American friends would say!
I was half way through cooking my courgette omelette on Thursday night when the gas cylinder ran out! I contacted one of the local boda drivers who strapped the empty cylinder on the back of his bike and went off to get another one. Not so easy!! Not to worry as I was going away for the weekend but I asked him to keep a lookout for one. As Africa’s telecommunication industry has skipped land lines and gone straight to mobiles, there are no ‘yellow pages’ to refer to!
When I got back there was a message to say he’d found some small ones, so off he went again only to return as they wouldn’t take a large cylinder in exchange for a small one! I’ll have to contact Dawn and see what she wants me to do about this! Meanwhile Janet kindly fills my flask in the evening so I can have a cup of tea in the morning!
Reading continues to develop. Today I borrowed 100 reading scheme books from the library to use with P2 classes at school and hopefully arranged for Ray of Hope school children to visit the library next week. This is the school where I set up the reading scheme last time I was here and which was continued and developed by Dawn when I returned home.
A ‘funny’ from the local paper to end on: A man lay on his death bed surrounded by his wife and four children. Three of the children were tall and good-looking; the youngest however was short and quite ugly – the runt of the family. ‘Tell me wife,’ said the man, ‘are you sure the youngest child is really mine?’ ‘Yes dear’, she replied. He smiled and died a happy man. ‘Thank goodness he didn’t ask about the other three’, she thought to herself .. …. and smiled!
Keep smiling! Ugandans are always smiling and it’s catching!
The Rwenzori Mountains are really beautiful and the safari was amazing! We set off from Kampala on Friday morning about half past eight and it took us about eight hours to get there with a couple of stops. There were the other nine volunteers, myself, Immaculate and Joyce who are the development workers employed by Hope 4 Children and the two drivers, Denis and Josh.
I had met some of the volunteers before who are/were all UK university students and who had each raised £2,500 in order to volunteer for a couple of months in Uganda. They are all great fun and from a variety of backgrounds: one lives in Kinshasha in DRC where her father works for Dept. of International Development; another has lived in Tanzania; another was Somali; one was from Australia and another from New Mexico!! So we had some interesting discussions over bottles of Nile beer as you can imagine!
We stayed in Simba Safari Camp which has only been open for six months. There was solar power for lights and hot water in the lodges but not in the dining/bar area where we ate by hurricane lamp on Saturday due to a power failure!
I wondered how the visit to the Queen Elizabeth National Park would compare to my visit to Murchison Falls and to be fair the land safari wasn’t as good – there weren’t the number of animals and there were no giraffe and not as many types of antelope. However we did see a lioness with her three cubs watching from behind a mound of earth – they will probably be just a blob of brown on the photo!!
But the water safari was wonderful! We sailed along the Kazinga Channel which links Lake Edward and Lake George. There was an incredible number of hippos quite close to the boat – some on the shore and some in the water and some with herds of water buffalo; there was a small herd of elephant playing and splashing in the shallows and chasing off a lone buffalo and a couple of young crocodiles.
There are eleven fishing villages along the channel and each gets a share of the proceeds from the trips to encourage conservation. On the edge of one village was a spit of sand reaching into the channel which was full of birds and a bit further along an elephant coming down to drink! There are over 600 species of bird within the national park and most are very distinctive and/or colourful and some are quite large. I took lots of photos as you can imagine and also tried to record a movie on the camera – so fingers crossed.
We crossed the equator many times as we went from the camp to the National Park and at one point were only 37 Km from the Congo border. Before leaving to return we drove to a high vantage point to see the Great Rift Valley spread out below us where we had spent the last 36 hours. The photos will not do it justice – it was incredible!
I had thought I might visit Fort Portal and see the Mountains and crater lakes this time so this was a great trip for me. The Rwenzori Mountains are amazing and some are supposed to be snow-capped – the wind blowing off those shrouded in mist certainly felt cold enough for snow. The crater lakes are used to obtain salt and the salt pans were clearly seen from where we were standing at a height above them. Altogether amazing or awesome as my American friends would say!
I was half way through cooking my courgette omelette on Thursday night when the gas cylinder ran out! I contacted one of the local boda drivers who strapped the empty cylinder on the back of his bike and went off to get another one. Not so easy!! Not to worry as I was going away for the weekend but I asked him to keep a lookout for one. As Africa’s telecommunication industry has skipped land lines and gone straight to mobiles, there are no ‘yellow pages’ to refer to!
When I got back there was a message to say he’d found some small ones, so off he went again only to return as they wouldn’t take a large cylinder in exchange for a small one! I’ll have to contact Dawn and see what she wants me to do about this! Meanwhile Janet kindly fills my flask in the evening so I can have a cup of tea in the morning!
Reading continues to develop. Today I borrowed 100 reading scheme books from the library to use with P2 classes at school and hopefully arranged for Ray of Hope school children to visit the library next week. This is the school where I set up the reading scheme last time I was here and which was continued and developed by Dawn when I returned home.
A ‘funny’ from the local paper to end on: A man lay on his death bed surrounded by his wife and four children. Three of the children were tall and good-looking; the youngest however was short and quite ugly – the runt of the family. ‘Tell me wife,’ said the man, ‘are you sure the youngest child is really mine?’ ‘Yes dear’, she replied. He smiled and died a happy man. ‘Thank goodness he didn’t ask about the other three’, she thought to herself .. …. and smiled!
Keep smiling! Ugandans are always smiling and it’s catching!
Thursday, 30 July 2009
The dream has been realised!
Wednesday July 29th 2009
Today for the first time children from Namuwongo slum have visited the library and taken a book home to read! This morning I took P4 class down to the library and this afternoon it was P5’s turn. When I established the library last year we appointed Ritah as librarian, but she soon got a job using her IT degree and a new librarian Margaret was employed. I met her last Saturday for the first time when I went to Saturday reading club. She is great! The library is in good hands! She is very enthusiastic about books and reading and really wants the project to succeed.
She is already working with groups of disadvantaged children from the community who are not enrolled in school and tomorrow begins classes for six women who have got micro0finance grants and need to improve their basic literacy and numeracy skills to improve their businesses.
Next week my aim is to get the slum school where I worked last time into the library! I’m visiting tomorrow and will not leave until we fix a day and time!
The books at St Barnabas are already looking dusty and well-used - which they are. Every lunch time the children come for books and sit in small plastic chairs on the veranda reading – often there isn’t a book left on the shelves!
On Tuesday I went into the community with Joyce to meet some women who make beads out of paper with a view to buying lots and bringing them home to sell. Joyce is keen to expand opportunities for these women who are HIV+ (the correct term being ‘women living with AIDS’) to establish a business with a guaranteed market. We discussed the funding and agreed that 400,000/- was needed to set up the project: 100,000/- to buy varnish, strings, elastic and fasteners etc; 120,000/- for a guillotine to cut the papers and 180,000/- for a month’s wages for each of ten women. This is 1,500/- per day; they will work three days a week for three hours each day. We also discussed paying them even well they are not well enough to work, as they still need nutritious food to enhance the effectiveness of the ARV drugs they take.
I am going to use the money raised and donated by Beccy and Carl who did a sponsored bike ride riding a tandem for 22 miles, coping with a puncture and numb bums!!!! So a big ‘THANK YOU’ to them. I will give Joyce the money and she will buy what is needed so the project can begin at the beginning of September. Prior to that, she is involved in a holiday project for the sponsored children at St Barnabas. Development workers never rest – they are amazing! Hopefully she will send the necklaces, bracelets to me via the BA pilots and I will be able to sell them with your help and send the money directly to Joyce so the project is sustainable and the women have some self-respect and a much-needed income.
The school day at St Barnabas is long but somehow quite relaxed. Classes start at 7.00am with an hour of ‘extra study’ (this is not for P1 and P2). The other ‘extra study’ period is from 4.30-5.30 and children only need to attend one of them. (This is when I do my extra reading support session). The ‘normal’ day is from 8.00-4.00pm and at 4.00-4.30 the children clean the classrooms! There is a half hour break in the morning when sweet ginger tea and a samosa is provided for the teachers (the tea is served in a battered metal kettle!) and there is an hour for lunch which is also provided.
Teachers seem to have quite a few free periods during the day but as they all either walk to school or come by boda-boda they use this time for preparation and marking as there is no way they could take work home with them. The craze in the staffroom at the moment is Scrabble and they often play over lunch-time! Children move freely in and out of the staffroom – remember it is also the library - but generally children are welcomed and tolerated and possibly as a result they are not ‘in your face’ as much as British children seem to be.
Well I’ve been invited to go the Queen Elizabeth National Park this weekend with Immaculate and Joyce and nine other volunteers from UK – so that should be fun! Hopefully will see the Rwenzori mountains, a few crater lakes and possibly tree-climbing lions – I’ll let you know!
Answer to puzzle – only vowel used is ‘a’ and all consonants are followed by an ‘a’. I’m sure you all got it!
In the meanwhile – keep reading – you don’t know how lucky you are! And if you come across any children’s books you don’t need any more or at car boot sales etc – remember there are some very keen children at St Barnabas who would just love them!
Wednesday July 29th 2009
Today for the first time children from Namuwongo slum have visited the library and taken a book home to read! This morning I took P4 class down to the library and this afternoon it was P5’s turn. When I established the library last year we appointed Ritah as librarian, but she soon got a job using her IT degree and a new librarian Margaret was employed. I met her last Saturday for the first time when I went to Saturday reading club. She is great! The library is in good hands! She is very enthusiastic about books and reading and really wants the project to succeed.
She is already working with groups of disadvantaged children from the community who are not enrolled in school and tomorrow begins classes for six women who have got micro0finance grants and need to improve their basic literacy and numeracy skills to improve their businesses.
Next week my aim is to get the slum school where I worked last time into the library! I’m visiting tomorrow and will not leave until we fix a day and time!
The books at St Barnabas are already looking dusty and well-used - which they are. Every lunch time the children come for books and sit in small plastic chairs on the veranda reading – often there isn’t a book left on the shelves!
On Tuesday I went into the community with Joyce to meet some women who make beads out of paper with a view to buying lots and bringing them home to sell. Joyce is keen to expand opportunities for these women who are HIV+ (the correct term being ‘women living with AIDS’) to establish a business with a guaranteed market. We discussed the funding and agreed that 400,000/- was needed to set up the project: 100,000/- to buy varnish, strings, elastic and fasteners etc; 120,000/- for a guillotine to cut the papers and 180,000/- for a month’s wages for each of ten women. This is 1,500/- per day; they will work three days a week for three hours each day. We also discussed paying them even well they are not well enough to work, as they still need nutritious food to enhance the effectiveness of the ARV drugs they take.
I am going to use the money raised and donated by Beccy and Carl who did a sponsored bike ride riding a tandem for 22 miles, coping with a puncture and numb bums!!!! So a big ‘THANK YOU’ to them. I will give Joyce the money and she will buy what is needed so the project can begin at the beginning of September. Prior to that, she is involved in a holiday project for the sponsored children at St Barnabas. Development workers never rest – they are amazing! Hopefully she will send the necklaces, bracelets to me via the BA pilots and I will be able to sell them with your help and send the money directly to Joyce so the project is sustainable and the women have some self-respect and a much-needed income.
The school day at St Barnabas is long but somehow quite relaxed. Classes start at 7.00am with an hour of ‘extra study’ (this is not for P1 and P2). The other ‘extra study’ period is from 4.30-5.30 and children only need to attend one of them. (This is when I do my extra reading support session). The ‘normal’ day is from 8.00-4.00pm and at 4.00-4.30 the children clean the classrooms! There is a half hour break in the morning when sweet ginger tea and a samosa is provided for the teachers (the tea is served in a battered metal kettle!) and there is an hour for lunch which is also provided.
Teachers seem to have quite a few free periods during the day but as they all either walk to school or come by boda-boda they use this time for preparation and marking as there is no way they could take work home with them. The craze in the staffroom at the moment is Scrabble and they often play over lunch-time! Children move freely in and out of the staffroom – remember it is also the library - but generally children are welcomed and tolerated and possibly as a result they are not ‘in your face’ as much as British children seem to be.
Well I’ve been invited to go the Queen Elizabeth National Park this weekend with Immaculate and Joyce and nine other volunteers from UK – so that should be fun! Hopefully will see the Rwenzori mountains, a few crater lakes and possibly tree-climbing lions – I’ll let you know!
Answer to puzzle – only vowel used is ‘a’ and all consonants are followed by an ‘a’. I’m sure you all got it!
In the meanwhile – keep reading – you don’t know how lucky you are! And if you come across any children’s books you don’t need any more or at car boot sales etc – remember there are some very keen children at St Barnabas who would just love them!
Sunday, 26 July 2009
It’s great to be back in Kampala!
Not withstanding the fact that when I arrived in Entebbe my luggage courtesy of Kenyan Airlines was still in Amsterdam and it seemed to take forever to get my new UK mobile unlocked to take a Ugandan SIM card – it’s great to be back here!
I’m house-sitting for Dawn whom I met when I was here last time. She arrived in October last year to volunteer at Ray of Hope slum school, but decided to stay longer in Uganda. She now has a job for two years teaching music at an International school in Kampala starting at the end of August so she’s gone back to London to spend a month with her family and friends and lent me her house. It’s lovely! One of six in a compound with views of Lake Victoria from one side of the compound. It’s further out along the same road where I was staying before past the quarry. The fact that it hasn’t rained for months and the quarry itself makes everything very, VERY dusty.
I have to admit that Dawn has a cleaner so I don’t need to do my own washing and I seem to get lunch at school, so not much cooking required either! Every day we have my favourite – posho! and rice, matoke, a bit of cabbage and either two one inch cube pieces of beef, g-nut sauce or beans.
I am going to spend all my time here working at St Barnabas school where I only spent one morning last time. Labson the headmaster and I discussed converting half of the staff room into a library/reading room and on Tuesday we achieved the impossible! Some pupils and I cleared out the junk, they swept and mopped the floor while I went to Barclays to change Dollars into Ugandan shillings, then Teacher Doreen and I went shopping! I’d been to Nsambya with Matthew last time I was here to buy library furniture so knew where to go and how to bargain! The only thing was we had to go on a boda-boda (scarey!) but we came back in the pick-up with the bookcase, tables and bench. Once again Rog gave me money for library furniture – so a BIG thank you to him from all the teachers and children!
Well it’s now Friday – the week has flown!! I’ve got a ‘room-mate’ for a couple of weeks! My neighbour, Janet, who’s an engineer from USA has a friend staying and doesn’t have a spare bedroom. As they’re visiting various projects in different parts of Uganda I won’t be seeing much of her.
The reading programme is already well established! I’ve heard over 70 children read this week and in the main the older ones are very good readers; there are only about ten of those I’ve heard who need some individual help. But the younger ones still need a lot of teaching. The number of children who manage to squeeze into the library corner during break and lunchtimes has to be seen to be believed. ‘Madam I want book!’ is the usual plea!
A couple of times whole classes (50+) have been and chosen a book for a ‘reading lesson’ and I’ve gone and listened to some of them read. At other times I’ve had small groups from classes for about half an hour at a time. About twenty of the older ones have taken books home for the weekend, which has involved writing their names in an exercise book as the books aren’t catalogued like the ones I did for the library I set up last time. I’m going to see it next week, so hope all is well with it!
I’m keeping myself amused with a crossword book – very challenging – thanks Beccy and a book of code word puzzles. So here’s one for you! What links Kabalagala and taramasalata? Answer next time!
There’s a small Internet place about 5 mins walk from where I’m staying which is good for sending e-mails – I only hope it will cope with flash drives and blogs! Here’s hoping! If not you won’t be reading this – lets hope you are!! Until next time – take care and have fun.
Not withstanding the fact that when I arrived in Entebbe my luggage courtesy of Kenyan Airlines was still in Amsterdam and it seemed to take forever to get my new UK mobile unlocked to take a Ugandan SIM card – it’s great to be back here!
I’m house-sitting for Dawn whom I met when I was here last time. She arrived in October last year to volunteer at Ray of Hope slum school, but decided to stay longer in Uganda. She now has a job for two years teaching music at an International school in Kampala starting at the end of August so she’s gone back to London to spend a month with her family and friends and lent me her house. It’s lovely! One of six in a compound with views of Lake Victoria from one side of the compound. It’s further out along the same road where I was staying before past the quarry. The fact that it hasn’t rained for months and the quarry itself makes everything very, VERY dusty.
I have to admit that Dawn has a cleaner so I don’t need to do my own washing and I seem to get lunch at school, so not much cooking required either! Every day we have my favourite – posho! and rice, matoke, a bit of cabbage and either two one inch cube pieces of beef, g-nut sauce or beans.
I am going to spend all my time here working at St Barnabas school where I only spent one morning last time. Labson the headmaster and I discussed converting half of the staff room into a library/reading room and on Tuesday we achieved the impossible! Some pupils and I cleared out the junk, they swept and mopped the floor while I went to Barclays to change Dollars into Ugandan shillings, then Teacher Doreen and I went shopping! I’d been to Nsambya with Matthew last time I was here to buy library furniture so knew where to go and how to bargain! The only thing was we had to go on a boda-boda (scarey!) but we came back in the pick-up with the bookcase, tables and bench. Once again Rog gave me money for library furniture – so a BIG thank you to him from all the teachers and children!
Well it’s now Friday – the week has flown!! I’ve got a ‘room-mate’ for a couple of weeks! My neighbour, Janet, who’s an engineer from USA has a friend staying and doesn’t have a spare bedroom. As they’re visiting various projects in different parts of Uganda I won’t be seeing much of her.
The reading programme is already well established! I’ve heard over 70 children read this week and in the main the older ones are very good readers; there are only about ten of those I’ve heard who need some individual help. But the younger ones still need a lot of teaching. The number of children who manage to squeeze into the library corner during break and lunchtimes has to be seen to be believed. ‘Madam I want book!’ is the usual plea!
A couple of times whole classes (50+) have been and chosen a book for a ‘reading lesson’ and I’ve gone and listened to some of them read. At other times I’ve had small groups from classes for about half an hour at a time. About twenty of the older ones have taken books home for the weekend, which has involved writing their names in an exercise book as the books aren’t catalogued like the ones I did for the library I set up last time. I’m going to see it next week, so hope all is well with it!
I’m keeping myself amused with a crossword book – very challenging – thanks Beccy and a book of code word puzzles. So here’s one for you! What links Kabalagala and taramasalata? Answer next time!
There’s a small Internet place about 5 mins walk from where I’m staying which is good for sending e-mails – I only hope it will cope with flash drives and blogs! Here’s hoping! If not you won’t be reading this – lets hope you are!! Until next time – take care and have fun.
Saturday, 22 November 2008
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!
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, 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.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Pray and toil
This is the motto of St Barnabas School and is written across the back of their school T-shirts. Under this is one of four different animals; yellow shirts have a zebra; red ones a rhino; green ones a lion and blue ones an elephant. The children also wear blue shorts with piping down the side and across the pockets to match the T-shirt – very smart.
When I got to St Barnabas last Friday I expected a day very similar to the previous week – but that’s the beauty of life in Uganda – it’s never what you expect! The school was nearing the end of the mid-term tests. Imagine the situation: banana class has 52 children, the majority boys. I mention this because most of you will realise that boys have an innate talent for mischief and being boisterous that girls don’t have! Girls tend to hop and skip out of the classroom to go for ‘soo soo’ (a pee); boys go like a bullet from a gun and return in a tumble with their friends.
The 52 children are in three groups, ‘baby’, ‘middle’ and ‘top’. Each child needs to do four tests: writing, drawing, maths and an oral to check their understanding of simple instruction, such as ‘Touch your nose’, ‘Jump five times’ and of simple questions, such as, ‘How many toes do you have?’, ‘Do you like posho and beans?’ (Oh Yes!!!) So that’s over 200 pieces of paper in three different ability levels. Tr Doreen had done most of them already, but I helped the baby group with their drawing. Three children at a time came and stood at the desk and copied a simple object and then coloured in another one. The middle group had to do their writing test and one boy had to do his maths test. Eventually they had finished, but just to be sure, Tr Doreen called out names of the children who had completed a particular test and they went outside and then she called the names for a different test and they came back in. This was done twice! Refer above to how they move in and out and you will appreciate why we both had headaches by 1.00pm!
After lunch I went to the slum school for reading. Generally Fridays are quiet as only P3 return for afternoon school – but today a medical team were there checking the children’s health, so the place was crowded! Not only the children from the school but their siblings which they had brought along with them. It is a brilliant idea, as children often have worms or sores or are malnourished and need vitamins etc and parents don’t have the money to pay. On Saturday the team were returning to hold a clinic for the community generally.
But for me Saturday meant reading club! Again it went well and was more structured as the cook came to do the porridge and consequently the children had it earlier and we were able to do more reading with them.
Afterwards I went to town intending to go to the theatre, but altho’ it was advertised as ‘The Heart Trick’ it was in Luganda! So I spent time and money in the bookshop and then went for a late lunch of chicken and cashew nuts with rice to the Great Wall and sat overlooking the dual carriageway on Kampala Road.
Public transport in Uganda is amazing. Only a very few people have cars and these tend to be 4WDs which do even more damage to the already pot-holed roads. The majority travel on matatus (minibus taxis), which are designed for fourteen passengers; two in front with the driver and twelve in the bus itself, in three rows of four. The thing is the end seats of each row are fold down ones so that people at the back can get off. Often up to four people have to systematically get off the matatu before a backseat passenger can alight and then they have to get on again! The bus boy sits on the fold up seat nearest the door and ideally he should be the only person on that seat, but for maximum income and minimum safety he often virtually sits on a passenger’s lap! This is of course illegal, so he needs to keep a look out for the traffic police! Not only does the bus boy take the fares, he also spots prospective customers, by the way they are walking along the road or approaching down a lane from a nearby settlement. This is accompanied by constant peeping of the horn as the driver is also keeping a look out on the other side of the road while driving along and attracting the attention of any likely passengers. But the most important role of the bus boy is ensuring a quick exit from the taxi park often by blocking the way of another matatu and directing traffic at the exit when necessary. All this coupled with a chaotic road system makes for an exciting journey!
Boda-bodas (unlicensed motor bikes) are a cheaper and quicker way to get around. They weave in and out of the traffic but the vast majority of A & E victims are boda-boda riders or passengers. Not wanting to add to the casualty list I have no qualms about resisting ‘Mazungu, we go?’ You have to admire the nerve of some people tho’ who balance on the back of a boda-boda with a TV under their arm or their two children in front of them and the baby on their lap!
It’s your worst nightmare – a mossie inside the net with you, unwilling to get out. I saw one before I went to bed last night and thought I’d got it out, but the devious little bugger lay in wait! It whined past my head at 2.30am. Out of bed! Light on! Eventually I flattened it between my hand and mobile phone and was relieved to see that the splat wasn’t red! It obviously hadn’t had a midnight feast at my expense! This was the first, and hopefully the last, time this has happened.
I’m away for the weekend- more about where I’m going in the next posting. Suffice to say – remember to pray and toil!
This is the motto of St Barnabas School and is written across the back of their school T-shirts. Under this is one of four different animals; yellow shirts have a zebra; red ones a rhino; green ones a lion and blue ones an elephant. The children also wear blue shorts with piping down the side and across the pockets to match the T-shirt – very smart.
When I got to St Barnabas last Friday I expected a day very similar to the previous week – but that’s the beauty of life in Uganda – it’s never what you expect! The school was nearing the end of the mid-term tests. Imagine the situation: banana class has 52 children, the majority boys. I mention this because most of you will realise that boys have an innate talent for mischief and being boisterous that girls don’t have! Girls tend to hop and skip out of the classroom to go for ‘soo soo’ (a pee); boys go like a bullet from a gun and return in a tumble with their friends.
The 52 children are in three groups, ‘baby’, ‘middle’ and ‘top’. Each child needs to do four tests: writing, drawing, maths and an oral to check their understanding of simple instruction, such as ‘Touch your nose’, ‘Jump five times’ and of simple questions, such as, ‘How many toes do you have?’, ‘Do you like posho and beans?’ (Oh Yes!!!) So that’s over 200 pieces of paper in three different ability levels. Tr Doreen had done most of them already, but I helped the baby group with their drawing. Three children at a time came and stood at the desk and copied a simple object and then coloured in another one. The middle group had to do their writing test and one boy had to do his maths test. Eventually they had finished, but just to be sure, Tr Doreen called out names of the children who had completed a particular test and they went outside and then she called the names for a different test and they came back in. This was done twice! Refer above to how they move in and out and you will appreciate why we both had headaches by 1.00pm!
After lunch I went to the slum school for reading. Generally Fridays are quiet as only P3 return for afternoon school – but today a medical team were there checking the children’s health, so the place was crowded! Not only the children from the school but their siblings which they had brought along with them. It is a brilliant idea, as children often have worms or sores or are malnourished and need vitamins etc and parents don’t have the money to pay. On Saturday the team were returning to hold a clinic for the community generally.
But for me Saturday meant reading club! Again it went well and was more structured as the cook came to do the porridge and consequently the children had it earlier and we were able to do more reading with them.
Afterwards I went to town intending to go to the theatre, but altho’ it was advertised as ‘The Heart Trick’ it was in Luganda! So I spent time and money in the bookshop and then went for a late lunch of chicken and cashew nuts with rice to the Great Wall and sat overlooking the dual carriageway on Kampala Road.
Public transport in Uganda is amazing. Only a very few people have cars and these tend to be 4WDs which do even more damage to the already pot-holed roads. The majority travel on matatus (minibus taxis), which are designed for fourteen passengers; two in front with the driver and twelve in the bus itself, in three rows of four. The thing is the end seats of each row are fold down ones so that people at the back can get off. Often up to four people have to systematically get off the matatu before a backseat passenger can alight and then they have to get on again! The bus boy sits on the fold up seat nearest the door and ideally he should be the only person on that seat, but for maximum income and minimum safety he often virtually sits on a passenger’s lap! This is of course illegal, so he needs to keep a look out for the traffic police! Not only does the bus boy take the fares, he also spots prospective customers, by the way they are walking along the road or approaching down a lane from a nearby settlement. This is accompanied by constant peeping of the horn as the driver is also keeping a look out on the other side of the road while driving along and attracting the attention of any likely passengers. But the most important role of the bus boy is ensuring a quick exit from the taxi park often by blocking the way of another matatu and directing traffic at the exit when necessary. All this coupled with a chaotic road system makes for an exciting journey!
Boda-bodas (unlicensed motor bikes) are a cheaper and quicker way to get around. They weave in and out of the traffic but the vast majority of A & E victims are boda-boda riders or passengers. Not wanting to add to the casualty list I have no qualms about resisting ‘Mazungu, we go?’ You have to admire the nerve of some people tho’ who balance on the back of a boda-boda with a TV under their arm or their two children in front of them and the baby on their lap!
It’s your worst nightmare – a mossie inside the net with you, unwilling to get out. I saw one before I went to bed last night and thought I’d got it out, but the devious little bugger lay in wait! It whined past my head at 2.30am. Out of bed! Light on! Eventually I flattened it between my hand and mobile phone and was relieved to see that the splat wasn’t red! It obviously hadn’t had a midnight feast at my expense! This was the first, and hopefully the last, time this has happened.
I’m away for the weekend- more about where I’m going in the next posting. Suffice to say – remember to pray and toil!
Thursday, 23 October 2008
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!
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!
Friday, 17 October 2008
Books, books and more books!
When I came to Uganda this time I brought an extra bag full of books for the reading sessions I was intending to do at the slum school and some story books for the reading club. The school where my sister works in Leeds donated the reading scheme books and the others were what friends had given me. In addition I have four big boxes of books at home waiting to be shipped out! I have been waiting two years now, although BA pilots have offered, no-one seems to have got round to the finer details. These books are for ‘the library’!
The library will be a community resource and not attached to a particular school. Just because the people in the slum are refugees from troubled areas of Uganda and surrounding countries, doesn’t mean to say they’re uneducated. If you had to flee in danger of your life with your children, would you really stop to pack books? Even though I love my books, I certainly wouldn’t. The thought that parents and children could enjoy the books together appealed to me.
After discussions with Joe, the project leader at the Nursery, we decided to buy a container, put in windows and a door, electricity and equip it with shelves etc and put it where the parents would be able to use it and any children who needed somewhere to do their homework. If the librarian could also support them in this and in the future, with a few computers teach the parents the basics of word processing ……………… the dream of a community resource is slowly taking form!
The container we bought last week in the rain was delivered on Monday afternoon, so when I arrived on Tuesday morning, there it was, but in the wrong place! Not an easy job to move it I thought and get it on the wheel rims, but lo and behold, by Wednesday morning it was in position! Evidently the movers had to be paid extra, the gates of the Nursery had to be removed I order to swing it round the corner ……… but it is now ready for Nathan to clean and begin to paint and the door and windows may be fitted over the weekend! Great!
Mamma Betty has been in touch and has offered to cook me lunch and supper! This is a bit difficult as I usually eat with my colleagues at lunch-time and don’t always want two meals in a day. However she wants to cook for me at her home, so I went to see where it is. It’s actually nearer to where I’m staying than anywhere else I go to in Namuwongo, so I can collect supper in a plastic container from her on my way home and eat it with my glass of wine. For my first meal I ordered rice and g-nut sauce – I’d forgotten how good it tasted! (G-nut is ground nut, what we call peanuts!) Tonight I’ve had deep fried tilapia (local fish) and sweet potatoes – delicious!
Reading has gone really well his week. Between us, Melissa, Juliette and I have heard over 100 primary children read and have managed to sort them into different levels; some children can read reasonably well, but some still don’t really know their letter sounds and have problems remembering words – so it will be a challenge. We have made lots of resources and will try to get the use of a blackboard next week. The children are very enthusiastic and even those who aren’t in afternoon school come back after lunch and wait a couple of hours until the lessons are nearly over and then sneak in and sit avidly reading!!
Unfortunately some of the Nursery children have been ill this week with malaria. They are still brought to Nursery as their parents have to work, so we lay them on inflated mattresses and let them sleep. They are very lethargic and have no appetite.
Some of the others have been really naughty – maybe it’s the atmosphere – very thundery at the moment with short, heavy downpours. Or it may just be that as some are now 5years old, they are ready for ‘big school’ in January (the new school years starts in January in the southern hemisphere).
Newspapers are delivered to the guest house each morning about 7.00am, so I usually have time to read at least one of them before I leave for the Nursery at about 7.30am. They have limited international news except for football of course, but are a source of great amusement. One job advert recently required, among other things, for the applicant ‘to be saved and a member of a church’. I’m not sure how the former could be satisfied unless God could send an e-mail confirming that a place had been reserved in heaven!
Remember new thoughts are good for you and a sense of humour helps!
When I came to Uganda this time I brought an extra bag full of books for the reading sessions I was intending to do at the slum school and some story books for the reading club. The school where my sister works in Leeds donated the reading scheme books and the others were what friends had given me. In addition I have four big boxes of books at home waiting to be shipped out! I have been waiting two years now, although BA pilots have offered, no-one seems to have got round to the finer details. These books are for ‘the library’!
The library will be a community resource and not attached to a particular school. Just because the people in the slum are refugees from troubled areas of Uganda and surrounding countries, doesn’t mean to say they’re uneducated. If you had to flee in danger of your life with your children, would you really stop to pack books? Even though I love my books, I certainly wouldn’t. The thought that parents and children could enjoy the books together appealed to me.
After discussions with Joe, the project leader at the Nursery, we decided to buy a container, put in windows and a door, electricity and equip it with shelves etc and put it where the parents would be able to use it and any children who needed somewhere to do their homework. If the librarian could also support them in this and in the future, with a few computers teach the parents the basics of word processing ……………… the dream of a community resource is slowly taking form!
The container we bought last week in the rain was delivered on Monday afternoon, so when I arrived on Tuesday morning, there it was, but in the wrong place! Not an easy job to move it I thought and get it on the wheel rims, but lo and behold, by Wednesday morning it was in position! Evidently the movers had to be paid extra, the gates of the Nursery had to be removed I order to swing it round the corner ……… but it is now ready for Nathan to clean and begin to paint and the door and windows may be fitted over the weekend! Great!
Mamma Betty has been in touch and has offered to cook me lunch and supper! This is a bit difficult as I usually eat with my colleagues at lunch-time and don’t always want two meals in a day. However she wants to cook for me at her home, so I went to see where it is. It’s actually nearer to where I’m staying than anywhere else I go to in Namuwongo, so I can collect supper in a plastic container from her on my way home and eat it with my glass of wine. For my first meal I ordered rice and g-nut sauce – I’d forgotten how good it tasted! (G-nut is ground nut, what we call peanuts!) Tonight I’ve had deep fried tilapia (local fish) and sweet potatoes – delicious!
Reading has gone really well his week. Between us, Melissa, Juliette and I have heard over 100 primary children read and have managed to sort them into different levels; some children can read reasonably well, but some still don’t really know their letter sounds and have problems remembering words – so it will be a challenge. We have made lots of resources and will try to get the use of a blackboard next week. The children are very enthusiastic and even those who aren’t in afternoon school come back after lunch and wait a couple of hours until the lessons are nearly over and then sneak in and sit avidly reading!!
Unfortunately some of the Nursery children have been ill this week with malaria. They are still brought to Nursery as their parents have to work, so we lay them on inflated mattresses and let them sleep. They are very lethargic and have no appetite.
Some of the others have been really naughty – maybe it’s the atmosphere – very thundery at the moment with short, heavy downpours. Or it may just be that as some are now 5years old, they are ready for ‘big school’ in January (the new school years starts in January in the southern hemisphere).
Newspapers are delivered to the guest house each morning about 7.00am, so I usually have time to read at least one of them before I leave for the Nursery at about 7.30am. They have limited international news except for football of course, but are a source of great amusement. One job advert recently required, among other things, for the applicant ‘to be saved and a member of a church’. I’m not sure how the former could be satisfied unless God could send an e-mail confirming that a place had been reserved in heaven!
Remember new thoughts are good for you and a sense of humour helps!
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Rwanda – land of a thousand hills
Flew to Rwanda for the weekend in a little Dash 8 – 100 plane. Extravagant, I know – but the alternative is a 10-12 hour bus journey and flight didn’t cost as much as my malaria tablets for the two months. Rwanda is a lovely country with beautiful scenery and clean streets. In 2005, the country banned plastic bags, so unlike Uganda which is littered with the ubiquitous black bag in various stages of disintegration, there is no rubbish anywhere. Most roads are tar with NO potholes. As Rwanda was colonised by the Belgian they drive on the right side of the road, but the traffic is controlled by traffic lights and zebra crossings and there are road signs and roundabouts planted with shrubs and flowers and even fountains!
I chose Hotel Okapi as it has views over the city and is near the minibus-taxi (not matatus as in Uganda) park and the genocide memorial. However little did I realise that I would have to climb quite a few of those thousand hills to reach the hotel! It was worth it – the views were stunning! After lunch and a ‘small rains’ delay I set off for the genocide memorial Halfway down the hill I’d just climbed, along a bit and then up a few more hills on the other side of the valley.
There are no words to describe the feelings you get when you visit the memorial. The display is in a small building, which also houses an education centre and a research library and which is surrounded by memorial gardens. The rose garden is especially dedicated to the children who were slaughtered. A quarter of a million men, women and children were killed in Kigali and they are now buried in eight concrete crypts. The coffins do not necessarily contain whole people or even parts of the same person, as identification was often impossible, but are a symbol of the dignity afforded them. Bodies continue to be found in shallow graves around Kigali; they are exhumed and reburied at the genocide memorial.
Sunday I headed for the town centre and especially the book shops. Unfortunately not many places were open – Kampala is heaving on a Sunday and I expected Kigali to be the same. Maybe it’s because it is a predominantly Catholic country that shops are closed. However the bookshop was open, altho’ the VISA machine wasn’t working due to lack of computer links and the bank ATMs weren’t working for the same reason. I finally found a Forex that was open and changed my ‘emergency’ 20 euros in order to buy a book on the genocide memorial – strangely there were no books or leaflets at the memorial itself. On my way back I saw Hotel des Mille Collines, which is know as Hotel Rwanda in the film of the same name and St Famille Church where people sheltered from the interhamwe; in most cases unsuccessfully. In total about one million people in the whole country were killed in just a hundred days.
On a lighter note – I had goat skewer on Sunday night. I always imagined goat would taste something like lamb, but it is more like beef. It was a bit tough, but then it was ‘goat’ and not ‘kid’! The tilapia (fish) skewer I had the previous night was delicious!
I returned to Uganda on Monday and was glad to be back! Rwandans deserve our respect and admiration for the way they have survived, are dealing with the aftermath of the genocide and have turned their country around, but I can’t say I felt as relaxed as I do in Uganda and the people overall aren’t as friendly and welcoming. Altho’ maybe that’s to be expected.
We are in the short rainy season and twice last week I was caught in torrential rain with thunder and lightning over the lunchtime. The first time I was in a container – more later – and the second time Melissa and I were making our way up from the school to the office for lunch. We took shelter under the corrugated roof of a shop, but the wind was blowing so we still got pretty wet. Everything stops when it rains! So the chap we were meeting to talk about containers stayed in his office and so then we had to waste even more time waiting for him to arrive on a boda-boda (motor-bike – so you can see why he didn’t come in the rain!). When Melissa and I finally got to the office we found that the person who was waiting for us to order lunch had fallen asleep! Mind you I got my ‘meat’, altho’ it was tilapia the local fish. I’ve always had either whole fish or fillets before – this was a steak and the bones are like darning needles! Also had cassava for the first time – it looks like parsnips but isn’t sweet and tastes more starchy. However there was so much rain in half an hour that the way back to the school was impassable, so reading lessons didn’t really happen.
Our first proper reading session was on Friday and it went really well. Some children are good readers and others don’t even know the letter sounds. So we have a dual task - keeping the readers challenged and the non-readers interested!
Hope you are all well!
Flew to Rwanda for the weekend in a little Dash 8 – 100 plane. Extravagant, I know – but the alternative is a 10-12 hour bus journey and flight didn’t cost as much as my malaria tablets for the two months. Rwanda is a lovely country with beautiful scenery and clean streets. In 2005, the country banned plastic bags, so unlike Uganda which is littered with the ubiquitous black bag in various stages of disintegration, there is no rubbish anywhere. Most roads are tar with NO potholes. As Rwanda was colonised by the Belgian they drive on the right side of the road, but the traffic is controlled by traffic lights and zebra crossings and there are road signs and roundabouts planted with shrubs and flowers and even fountains!
I chose Hotel Okapi as it has views over the city and is near the minibus-taxi (not matatus as in Uganda) park and the genocide memorial. However little did I realise that I would have to climb quite a few of those thousand hills to reach the hotel! It was worth it – the views were stunning! After lunch and a ‘small rains’ delay I set off for the genocide memorial Halfway down the hill I’d just climbed, along a bit and then up a few more hills on the other side of the valley.
There are no words to describe the feelings you get when you visit the memorial. The display is in a small building, which also houses an education centre and a research library and which is surrounded by memorial gardens. The rose garden is especially dedicated to the children who were slaughtered. A quarter of a million men, women and children were killed in Kigali and they are now buried in eight concrete crypts. The coffins do not necessarily contain whole people or even parts of the same person, as identification was often impossible, but are a symbol of the dignity afforded them. Bodies continue to be found in shallow graves around Kigali; they are exhumed and reburied at the genocide memorial.
Sunday I headed for the town centre and especially the book shops. Unfortunately not many places were open – Kampala is heaving on a Sunday and I expected Kigali to be the same. Maybe it’s because it is a predominantly Catholic country that shops are closed. However the bookshop was open, altho’ the VISA machine wasn’t working due to lack of computer links and the bank ATMs weren’t working for the same reason. I finally found a Forex that was open and changed my ‘emergency’ 20 euros in order to buy a book on the genocide memorial – strangely there were no books or leaflets at the memorial itself. On my way back I saw Hotel des Mille Collines, which is know as Hotel Rwanda in the film of the same name and St Famille Church where people sheltered from the interhamwe; in most cases unsuccessfully. In total about one million people in the whole country were killed in just a hundred days.
On a lighter note – I had goat skewer on Sunday night. I always imagined goat would taste something like lamb, but it is more like beef. It was a bit tough, but then it was ‘goat’ and not ‘kid’! The tilapia (fish) skewer I had the previous night was delicious!
I returned to Uganda on Monday and was glad to be back! Rwandans deserve our respect and admiration for the way they have survived, are dealing with the aftermath of the genocide and have turned their country around, but I can’t say I felt as relaxed as I do in Uganda and the people overall aren’t as friendly and welcoming. Altho’ maybe that’s to be expected.
We are in the short rainy season and twice last week I was caught in torrential rain with thunder and lightning over the lunchtime. The first time I was in a container – more later – and the second time Melissa and I were making our way up from the school to the office for lunch. We took shelter under the corrugated roof of a shop, but the wind was blowing so we still got pretty wet. Everything stops when it rains! So the chap we were meeting to talk about containers stayed in his office and so then we had to waste even more time waiting for him to arrive on a boda-boda (motor-bike – so you can see why he didn’t come in the rain!). When Melissa and I finally got to the office we found that the person who was waiting for us to order lunch had fallen asleep! Mind you I got my ‘meat’, altho’ it was tilapia the local fish. I’ve always had either whole fish or fillets before – this was a steak and the bones are like darning needles! Also had cassava for the first time – it looks like parsnips but isn’t sweet and tastes more starchy. However there was so much rain in half an hour that the way back to the school was impassable, so reading lessons didn’t really happen.
Our first proper reading session was on Friday and it went really well. Some children are good readers and others don’t even know the letter sounds. So we have a dual task - keeping the readers challenged and the non-readers interested!
Hope you are all well!
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
How are you? I am fine!
How are you? I am fine! The traditional greeting – but you must say it in a sing-song voice with the emphasis on the last word each time.
Got here OK – pretty shattered as didn’t seem to sleep on the plane and spent the rest of Monday unpacking and settling in to Banda Inns! It is a very friendly place! The owners live on the premises and have a 2-year old, Hector, who is around all the time and a couple of dogs. There is a UK woman who lives in Sapin who has adopted two little boys, both 2 years old, Mark and Luke. Luke was one of the babies I looked after in Sanyu when I cam 18 months ago – small world! There are other volunteers who are here for different lengths of time so it’s an interesting place to be.
What a difference six months has made! Mamma Betty has moved on as she couldn’t afford her rent. So it’s lunch at the nursery with the children and other workers. We have rice and posho (like wallpaper paste made from maize flour!) on alternate days with spicy beans, but they were clean out of beans on Tuesday so we had well-boiled shredded cabbage with rice!
The Nursery (note to avoid confusion – this Nursery will start with N; the nursery class at the school will be nursery!) has grown from 10 children to 45! Beatrice the teacher I worked with last time has also moved on. Aidah, who started work at the nursery while I was here last time, is now in charge assisted by a new teacher, Mary. They are both great! The children have lessons in English but if they don’t understand, Aidah and Mary explain it to them in Luganda. The children’s English has really improved tho’ since I was last here – it’s really good to see them again, hey have all made lots of progress!
After lunch on Tuesday I went into the slum with Violet, who lives there, to meet some of the local families. She is a local representative on the council whose interest is environmental issues. Among other things, she is trying to get them to put all their rubbish in specific places so it can be burnt. We visited families who live in one small room, where there isn’t enough room for them all to lie down and where the streams of rubbish flow by their doorsteps. One grandmother who is looking after her grandchildren as their parents are dead sells charcoal to make a living – you can imagine the colour of her hands and feet as she stands among it using her hands to measure it in a plastic bowl.
The reading books I brought with me are going to be used at the slum school, there are already some reading books at the Nursery. There are 210 children enrolled: 50 in the nursery; 55 in Primary 1 (P1); 60 in P2 and 45 in P3 – big classes! James, the teacher of P3 and I have worked out a provisional timetable. I’m to have 4 children at a time for about half an hour every afternoon from 2.00pm until 4.30pm. On three afternoons, I’ll have children from P2 and those from P3 on the other afternoons. This means I should see every child once a week! If other people help we’ll see them more often. Melissa another volunteer form USA and Martha a local social worker are also keen to help – adds variety to their day I guess!!
On Wednesdays and Friday I will be at the school all day so will have lunch there, which holds out the hope of meat as Martha checked I wasn’t a vegetarian! I’ll have to pay for it tho’. Win some, lose some!
In addition I’ll work with the nursery children and those in P1 on a couple of mornings a week. The other three mornings I will be at the Nursery and let’s not forget ‘reading club’ on Saturday mornings! People work hard in Uganda! School opens at 8.00am and teachers (not me!) are expected to be there at 7.15am and they work through until 4.30pm.
I’ve discovered an oasis round a couple of corners from where I’m staying. It’s got a couple of outdoor pools and a gym. As I’m doing PE every morning with the children I might give the gym a miss. Did intend to go for a swim on Saturday afternoon, but guess what? It’s cloudy!
Rained all Saturday night and it’s a bit damp this morning so I’m finishing this off and hopefully it will be fine later. Keep smiling – I am!!
Got here OK – pretty shattered as didn’t seem to sleep on the plane and spent the rest of Monday unpacking and settling in to Banda Inns! It is a very friendly place! The owners live on the premises and have a 2-year old, Hector, who is around all the time and a couple of dogs. There is a UK woman who lives in Sapin who has adopted two little boys, both 2 years old, Mark and Luke. Luke was one of the babies I looked after in Sanyu when I cam 18 months ago – small world! There are other volunteers who are here for different lengths of time so it’s an interesting place to be.
What a difference six months has made! Mamma Betty has moved on as she couldn’t afford her rent. So it’s lunch at the nursery with the children and other workers. We have rice and posho (like wallpaper paste made from maize flour!) on alternate days with spicy beans, but they were clean out of beans on Tuesday so we had well-boiled shredded cabbage with rice!
The Nursery (note to avoid confusion – this Nursery will start with N; the nursery class at the school will be nursery!) has grown from 10 children to 45! Beatrice the teacher I worked with last time has also moved on. Aidah, who started work at the nursery while I was here last time, is now in charge assisted by a new teacher, Mary. They are both great! The children have lessons in English but if they don’t understand, Aidah and Mary explain it to them in Luganda. The children’s English has really improved tho’ since I was last here – it’s really good to see them again, hey have all made lots of progress!
After lunch on Tuesday I went into the slum with Violet, who lives there, to meet some of the local families. She is a local representative on the council whose interest is environmental issues. Among other things, she is trying to get them to put all their rubbish in specific places so it can be burnt. We visited families who live in one small room, where there isn’t enough room for them all to lie down and where the streams of rubbish flow by their doorsteps. One grandmother who is looking after her grandchildren as their parents are dead sells charcoal to make a living – you can imagine the colour of her hands and feet as she stands among it using her hands to measure it in a plastic bowl.
The reading books I brought with me are going to be used at the slum school, there are already some reading books at the Nursery. There are 210 children enrolled: 50 in the nursery; 55 in Primary 1 (P1); 60 in P2 and 45 in P3 – big classes! James, the teacher of P3 and I have worked out a provisional timetable. I’m to have 4 children at a time for about half an hour every afternoon from 2.00pm until 4.30pm. On three afternoons, I’ll have children from P2 and those from P3 on the other afternoons. This means I should see every child once a week! If other people help we’ll see them more often. Melissa another volunteer form USA and Martha a local social worker are also keen to help – adds variety to their day I guess!!
On Wednesdays and Friday I will be at the school all day so will have lunch there, which holds out the hope of meat as Martha checked I wasn’t a vegetarian! I’ll have to pay for it tho’. Win some, lose some!
In addition I’ll work with the nursery children and those in P1 on a couple of mornings a week. The other three mornings I will be at the Nursery and let’s not forget ‘reading club’ on Saturday mornings! People work hard in Uganda! School opens at 8.00am and teachers (not me!) are expected to be there at 7.15am and they work through until 4.30pm.
I’ve discovered an oasis round a couple of corners from where I’m staying. It’s got a couple of outdoor pools and a gym. As I’m doing PE every morning with the children I might give the gym a miss. Did intend to go for a swim on Saturday afternoon, but guess what? It’s cloudy!
Rained all Saturday night and it’s a bit damp this morning so I’m finishing this off and hopefully it will be fine later. Keep smiling – I am!!
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Today I have created my first blog. This is so I can keep you all up-to-date with happenings in the slum school in Namuwongo where I am going to work for 8 weeks in October and November 2008. The school has about 200 children and very few resources, so I will be taking as many reading books as I can carry in 'excess' luggage to work with the children to develop their reading skills.
I will also be doing 'the tourist' bit at weekends and visiting some old favourites, such as the source of the Nile at Jinja and exploring some new haunts, such as Mabira Forest and Murchison Falls.
I leave UK on September 28th, so log in after that date to see how I'm getting on!
I will also be doing 'the tourist' bit at weekends and visiting some old favourites, such as the source of the Nile at Jinja and exploring some new haunts, such as Mabira Forest and Murchison Falls.
I leave UK on September 28th, so log in after that date to see how I'm getting on!
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