Random Photos

Since we arrived here we have been constantly amazed at what can be transported on a bicycle. Up to 8 folded foam mattresses, nine crates of soda, 7 bunches of matoke, an uncountable number of empty plastic jerry cans and several large sacks of charcoal to mention but a few. Here is Joseph's bed on his bike when he moved to a new job!
Rob also took some photos of the opening of the new classroom. Here I am, 'Madam Janice' in smart suit checking out the learning areas!
We were invited to St. Lawrences schools and colleges for their show and installation of the Vice President of Uganda as Chancellor. The 1,400 students put on a marching display, each school or campus has a 'Guard' and we sang many anthems! They started two hours late but the speeches were fairly short which was good and we were given a cake and a bottle of soda. Another new experience for us. The schools and the University are all private and very expensive, a very different environment compared to some of the schools I have visited. The difference between those who have and those who do not, is huge!

Model Classroom

After visiting classrooms in schools where students were on teaching practice I was concerned at how 'learner unfriendly' they were. I was aware that many classrooms were little better than 'cattle sheds' with little or nothing to encourage learning, with very few learning aids. I felt that if our students were to be prepared to teach in better schools or at least to set an example in schools, they needed to see what a 'good classroom' looked like!
This room was available so I wrote a proposal with a request for just over 300,000Ug shillings (about £100) to create a 'model classroom'. Windows were replaced and it was painted.

The building began to look like a proper classroom! The inside was painted and the task was to prepare it in time for Graduation....a week away!
We set up learning areas including a music corner with instruments made of plastic containers, empty coffee tins and a biscuit tin!

The art department had produced a 'papier mache' giraffe and the communication and technology department had charts showing fish made with earth and digestive systems made with crushed chalk and sand. There was a 'man' made with banana fibres and some science 'big books' donated by a UK charity. With a nature table and a flannel board made with an old towel bordered with shells , the science area was ready!
A reading tree and books made by students plus professionally produced books, puppets and story cards with mats made using local materials......a reading corner to encourage children to enjoy books!

It was hard work getting the room ready but with the help of the students I hope we have an ongoing resource that all can learn from. I hope our student teachers will take the ideas out to their schools and so improve the learning environment for many children.

Busy days!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy for Rob with preparations for another charity art exhibition to raise funds for Uganda Conservation at the end of the month in Kampala, and for me preparing for Graduation at college!
We spent two weekends at the rugby 7's with Rob, now a qualified referees coach watching and advising the referees. It is the rainy season and one Saturday we drove down the dual carriageway to the rugby club down a raging torrent like a river to reach the flooded pitch. As we waited in the car for the rain to ease up enough to make a dash for the club verandah there was much shouting and leaping about by the players already there and the next thing was a snake of over one metre long being hit with sticks and flung back into the water! We waited in the car until the water receded enough to see where we were were walking before we ventured across the car park!!!



Watcing them clear the water from the pitch was entertaining. These boys were using a huge piece of sponge from an old goal post pad. They carried it to the edge of the pitch and wrung out the water. Table tops from the clubhouse were also used to great effect!

After about two hours two men went out to repaint the pitch markings and only two and a half hours late they kicked off!

Some areas of the pitch were pretty wet and not being used to playing in such conditions the handling was pretty dodgy but a couple of tries scored in the lake under the posts causing a wave of water and spray were cheered enthusiastically by the crowd. The mud and water were very much like home!

To our delight the Ugandan ladies 7's team qualified for the World Cup next year in Dubai!

Then this weekend was Graduation. The second one we have attended. Last time we had just arrived in Kampala. Around 1500 were awarded certificates and diplomas. There was a mass followed by the reading of all the names with singing, dancing and great excitement. Huge numbers of parents, guardians and students packed the sports field for the colourful event. I was able to open the model classroom in time to show the visitors! (I will put photos and a report about it in another post .)

Excited Graduands dancing as the choir sing and drum.
The college tutors in their gowns with the visiting Archbishop of Mauritius and the Seychelles (a Ugandan on holiday!) processing to the ceremony with the choir and dancers.

The other interesting event was the arrival of a new parish priest at the church attatched to the college. Historic, I was told because it is the first time for nineteen years and he is 'just an ordinary priest', the previous belonged to some branch of the royal family! Parishoners, a brass band, school children and our college students with the college chaplain, waited to greet him and then packed out the huge church to celebrate his first service. Another example of crowds of enthusiastic Ugandans!

Tracy's Story

This is the story of a thirteen year old girl in Uganda. My short experience in this developing country suggests it is by no means unique. Tracy lived in Dokolo District in Northern Uganda. The north of the country has been terrorised by rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony for many years. Tracy’s father was a headteacher, in July 2002 the family were captured by the rebels at their home. At 5am it would have still been dark when rebels stormed their home and took Tracy, her mother and father. Other residents fled from the village. The family were made to walk with the rebels as they searched for other civilians and army personnel, carrying their property for 70 – 100 kms. Tracy became tired and exhausted and was severely kicked and beaten so that she could not walk. The rebels left her behind telling her to go back and that her parents would return later. It is not confirmed but it is thought they were killed possibly over the border in Sudan. Tracy was stranded in the bush with no idea where home was and unable to walk. She was about 8 or 9 years old. People in the area found her hungry, almost naked and with swollen legs. They took her to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Pader district. It seems she was looked after by a number of families but no one took responsibility for her as they were afraid there would be problems if they were keeping her illegally. She had by this time been taken to another IDP camp at Abim in the next district. There was apparently an article written in the local paper about her ordeal. (I am still trying to find a copy.) She was quoted as saying that she may spend the night outside since her ‘Uncle’ had evicted her. When asked about her parents she replied with tears since she could not tell their whereabouts.
I met Samuel at the college when he came to upgrade his teaching qualifications. It is he who told me this story. Tracy’s father was his best teacher in primary school in Dokolo district. He heard about the difficult situation for Tracy. She had by now been taken back to a camp in Dokolo district by the area Member of Parliament who had recognised her in Abim camp. Sam went to see Tracy and sought permission to take Tracy to Kampala where he was living so that he and his brother could educate her. He took her to see her Grandparents in the camps and then enrolled her in a primary school in 2003. It amazes me that she worked hard and with help from Samuel was top of her class and passed her Primary Leaving Exams in 2007. Her results were good so she was offered a place at a good secondary school in Kampala. Although the government in Uganda is committed to providing free education, the numbers of children and the lack of trained teachers mean that many of the better schools are private and fees must be paid. This is the situation Sam found himself in. Not yet thirty and paying fees from his small teacher’s salary to continue his own education, he had to find Tracy’s fees, books, uniform……..quite a task! He says, ‘I begun seeing stars, darkness because I never had a single coin to assist paying off Tracy’s tuition fees……it was big for me as personally I was taking up my studies.'
Family back in the UK gave us money to help students so we were able to give Samuel some help towards fees for Tracy to start her first term. In spite of starting several weeks late she completed the term in third position in her class. During her second term we were also able to help and Sam writes that Tracy was able to go back to school, happy with her studies. We are hoping to continue to help Tracy even after we leave Uganda. Students and families here struggle to find fees and yet the belief is very strong that education is the way out of poverty. We are asked to help with school or college fees on a daily basis and will, with friends and family have helped six student teachers complete their qualifications by the time we leave. Tracy’s story is a bit different and I am astounded that she can do so well after such trials. I am hoping to find some longer term support for Tracy so that Samuel can continue with his studies (he hopes to go on to take a degree course after he completes his Diploma).

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!