Mabira Forest

We spent the weekend at the Rainforest Lodge in Mabira Forest

The cabin was lovely, right in the forest. I lay in bed watching red-tailed monkeys playing in the trees outside.

Not long after we arrived in Kampala there were some riots about the Kinyara Sugar Corporation buying parts of the forest to plant sugar cane. Mabira is the largest area of indigenous forest in central Uganda but it is being cleared at an alarming rate. The riots resulted in three deaths and the arrest and imprisonment of Members of Parliament! People here are aware of global warming, climate change and understand the importance of forests. We had a visit to the forest on our list of places to visit before we leave and there was an unexpected long weekend with a public holiday for the death of the traditional King (Kabazinga) of the Busoga region of Uganda. We stayed in a cabin overlooking the trees and walked in the forest with a guide which brought my bird list to over 120 since coming to Uganda! It was quiet and cool and it rained....it is a rainforest after all!

Dubai

We are back in Kampala after a week in Dubai catching up with Edward and Alice on their way back to Melbourne. Dubai was probably not on our list of 'places to see before we die' but it is a direct flight from Entebbe and somewhere different. Our lasting impression was that it was HOT!! I think we thought that after acclimatising to constant temperatures of 25+ here we were used to warmer places but the wall of heat that hit you as you came out of the air conditioned airport was amazing! It was mostly around 45 dgrees C and you certainly needed the air con. It restricted our site seeing as our usual way of exploring would be on foot! However we did lots and saw the tourist places suggested! We did a bus tour of the gold and spice souks (markets), the museum was interesting, in the reconstructed old fort. We went to the beach where you can see the 7 star hotel that looks like a huge yacht sailing out to sea. We swam lots in the rooftop pool in very warm water although they said the pool was chilled and we had a dip in the Arabian Gulf one evening. The whole place has lots of building construction, I cannot imagine how the workers on the sites can work in those temperatures! There are enormous skyscrapers. The tallest tower on the left of the photo above is 600 metres and once it is completed it will be 800 metres. They are also building a metro which will take trains to the airport and then Abu Dhabi which is raised above the main motorway through the city and seems to fly over the city. The bus stops are air conditioned!

We went 'Dune bashing' in a four wheel drive. It was pretty exciting coming to the top of a dune like a wall in front of you then careering down the other side with sand spraying out like water. Staying on the side of the dunes was an art but when Ed asked our young driver if he enjoyed his job the answer was a definite 'Yes!' There were lots of cars doing the evening trip and this one got well and truly stuck. The drivers tried to dig it out and tow it out but eventually had to abandon it and put the occupants in another car. Apparently it was left there to be collected the next day with a broken front axle!

You could see how easy it would be to get lost as every direction looked the same and our driver told us that the dunes are constantly changing. We went to a Bedouin Camp and sat on carpets for a traditional meal. Alice had a ride on a camel and there was a belly dancer. Ed was excellent when he was asked to join in! You could have a go at smoking a 'hookah' and we watched the baker cooking nan bread in a clay oven and then ate it hot-delicious!

We did lots of shopping! It was cool in the malls. We went to the biggest mall in the world 'Emirates Mall' with over 2,000 shops and restaurants from everywhere and a ski slope??!! We did manage the 15 minute walk to the mall nearest to our appartment. We shared some good meals out. Alcohol is only available in licenced hotels so none to buy in the shops and none in most eating places! The photo of the four of us is one evening we went to the Sheraton which was near to the appartment and did serve alcohol. We also went on a Dhow dinner cruise down Dubai creek which was lovely as the creek was full of boats all lit up like this one!

This view from the boat made us smile! This is where you can buy the most expensive watch in the world! The missing lights will remind us of street traders trying to sell 'top brand name' handbags, watches everywhere and at one point after saying 'No, thank you,' yet again Rob said any minute now they will offer me a Mont Blanc pen and immediately a man came towards us ....'Mont Blanc pen sir?'

It was good to be somewhere that had good roads (no potholes!) and traffic that flowed well with people obeying the traffic rules! Pavements that were there, quick service and a good choice of shops and goods, but we missed the smiling friendly greetings that you always get here and although service in Uganda is sometimes unbelievably slow and sometimes you get entirely the wrong thing, it is always done with good humour and apologies. At one fairly up-market safari lodge the waiter came with the sad news that, 'the red wine is over' and when we enquired if there was any white he said, 'I will have to go and check.'!!!! We ended up with one warm and one cold beer which we mixed!! It was great to spend time with Edward and Alice and a change for us.

School Visit

I was invited by one of the lecturers at college to visit the school outside Kampala that he owns along with his brother who is the Headteacher. They are keen to improve the school and the methods of teaching. They wanted some in-service workshops and observations of the school as a learning environment. The first visit was a bit scary as he had just suggested that maybe I could do some teacher training workshops and arranged for me to visit. We arrived and I should have realised straight away that this was not just a preliminary visit! I was shown around the school and as you can see they are busy constructing some more permanent classrooms. The wooden 'shed' in the second picture behind the Head wih Primary One class still acts as the staffroom! Lunch was served - including the usual posho, beans and matooke but also meat, a mixed salad with avocado and sodas.....this meant that I was being welcomed as something more than a casual visitor! Lunch finished, the staff were given notebooks and I was introduced as the presenter of the first workshop! No planning, no notes, no teaching aids....aaarrgh!!! I talked to them about my experiences of teaching and learning in Uganda, good and not so good student lesson observations and gave them the lecture on learning styles I give to the students to show that 'chalk and talk' alone is not the best way to teach. Then I asked them what would be the most helpful topics to cover in future sessions....... I think I managed OK! I have been invited back twice and when I asked for evaluations they were not bad. I planned a demonstration lesson on the sun and shadows and took them outside for a short practical session for workshop 2 and in the last workshop we looked at some of the models and learning aids the students in college make. They still want me to go back again.

I also gave the children in Primary 1 and 2 some of the pencils sent by kind friends back home which always causes great excitement. It is great to see their faces and I always get a round of applause.

These photos were taken at lunchtime. The first shows the cook peeling the matooke ready for steaming. Then the children waiting at the 'canteen' they queued with great good humour for ages. You can see into the canteen and the last shot shows how the food is cooked for over 400 pupils!

It is a real privilege to be asked to help a group of teachers who are trying so hard to give the best education they can with so few resources. The enthusiasm of the children, who really want to be in school and think education is important, is wonderful!

End of Term?

On July 29th we celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary! Who would have thought we would be celebrating 35 and 36 in Uganda!! We spent the evening having a lovely meal at the Japanese restaurant just over the road.

This is my 20 minute walk to get the matatu down to college each day. The water in the distance is Lake Victoria.








Sometimes I meet cows being taken for grazing on pieces of waste ground. They are also seen on the busy Ggaba Road some mornings!

These are the little 'shops' just down the lane.








We buy fruit and vegetables here and now do not pay 'Muzungu' prices. They charge us reasonable prices. A big hand of about 20 bananas are usually about 65p and a huge pineapple about the same!

Term dates said the end of term was August the 22nd. Exams were to be the week before but on Friday (1st Aug.) I was teaching the last lesson when the Dean of Students came to say exams had been postponed until the beginning of next term and the students were all to go home this weekend! A bit sudden! The reason I am told is that the college has run out of money and so cannot afford to buy any more posho and beans to feed the students for the final three weeks of term. Tutors have not been paid for two months and a notice went up on the staffroom notice board to inform us that our salaries had not been credited to our accounts and we would be paid 'when the college had the money'! We all said we wondered if that would be Christmas! I gather that this is not an unusual state of affairs and schools often close early becuase they cannot feed their boarders. I feel really sorry for the tutors as they have rent and school fees to pay for their own children. We are all hopeful that the large numbers of in-service teachers arriving on 25th August will pay sufficient fees to pay us all.

Visiting the parish

I helped our college Chaplain, Father Jude to successfully bid to a UK charity called Signpost for money to set up a poultry unit to support disadvantaged families in the parish. Last week I went with him to visit some of these people who live near the college.

This house is lived in by a very old lady. Her daughter told us that she was 70 and although they did not know how old her Mother is she must be around 90! The house is typical, made of mud bricks, rendered with mud and a corrugated tin roof. The view of the 'kitchen' through the window amazed me.

A friend had sent me some lovely little girls dresses which we took to the families we visited. They were so grateful although the children seemed a bit confused as Father dressed them for a photo!

Father Jude dressed this little one. I am not sure she quite knw what to make of it all!

Here are three generations, Grandmother, daughter and grandaughter

This girl in yellow, who was a bit older put her dress on quickly and posed for me! Many of the families are affected by HIV/Aids and it was sad to see how many children were not at school. Even though the government schools offer free education to the first four children, families have to provide uniforms, books, pencils and money for food at school. With families having six or more children it is not possible to send all of them to school. There are in fact nowhere near enough schools so many try to raise the fees for 'private' schools of which there are many. Class numbers are still often approaching 100!

It was an interesting and eye-opening experience. This girl looks after her grandfather who explained the loss of feeling in his feet due to his illness as 'his toes not being in the right order any more'.

New Special Needs Classroom

The school next to the college has a Special Needs class with around seven children with a range of disabilities. Their classroom was very dark and cramped so it was great news that a container company (Maersk Uganda) was donating two containers for new classrooms! I was very unsure about classes in containers but the conversions were great with a roof and windows and some paint they are a great improvement on the previous room. On Saturday we sat around for a couple of hours waiting for the guest of honour who had got lost to arrive so the containers could be officially opened! The choir sang and some trees were planted and after many speeches, a bottle of soda and samosas it was finished!

Rugby!

We have spent many weekends at either Kyadondo or Kampala Rugby Club watching all sorts of matches. Internationals between Uganda and Namibia and also Kenya both won by Uganda so great atmosphere, sevens and womens rugby! These photos were taken this weekend at the semi-finals between the Heathens and Kobs (top division teams) for the Uganda Cup. It was great fun with Kobs winning convincingly 20-16, not the expected result! All the yellow advertising shirts, horns and balloons are supporting the Heathens sponsored by the mobile phone company MTN! As you can see from the photos there was a band, acrobats and cheerleaders not to mention the scantily clad disco dancers with male dancers looking 'cool' in hoodies! Not really what we are used to at Saltash!! Our treat is pork 'muchumo' barbequed pork on a stick and Nile Special beer. It still seems odd to be watching rugby in hot sun in a t-shirt. Rob has joined the referee society and now has a Ugandan IRB qualification for training referees, so he observes them at matches and writes reports. They at least now use the decent metal 'Acme Thunderer' whistles we brought back for them in the new year rather than the awful plastic ones they were using! The support is always very enthusiastic and good humoured with the girls from the Uganda womens team the loudest, often with rude comments to their male counterparts but very knowledgable! They do a 'knockout' countdown whenever anyone is injured!

It is something I did not think we would be doing here!