Saturday, 5 February 2011
second week...
Monday, 15 March 2010
Volunteeruganda.org/gapyear
Volunteer Diary (ALSO ON volunteeruganda.org/gapyear)The volunteer diary gives you a day by day update on the activities and impressions of the Feb / Mar 2010 group, who are currently in Uganda teaching in schools and contributing other volunteer activities (as well as having fun!)
Different people have contributed to the diary, creating a variety of styles and sometime conflicting accounts of life as a gapper in Kinkizi.
First week, 11 Feb 2010
Day 1: Arrive in Kampala
3 in the morning. Not a time I’m very familiar with. Sometimes I might still be awake; usually you’ll find me fast asleep in bed. Yet, this blog starts with the first of many new experiences—getting up at 3 am.
To be honest this is not an experience I’d want to repeat any time soon! The previous night I’d ended up going to bed sometime after 11, following a stressful day of packing, realising suitcase is too heavy to fit airport regulations, finding new suitcase, repacking, wondering what I’d forgotten (still haven’t discovered, but I’m sure I will!) and then having a last minute haircut and a final Chinese takeaway for 3 months.
So with less than 4 hours sleep under my belt I set off for Heathrow and the first of my trip—a long haul flight. Heathrow at night was more hospitable than its usual self and luckily the woman at check in had mercy on me when one of my bags weighed in at 20.2kg, just over the limit. Having met up with my fellow travellers (Mark, Johnathan, Charlie and Alex), we boarded the flight and got to catch up on a little sleep and watch a couple of movies.
The February 2010 group departing Heathrow
Our transfer at Amsterdam was delayed by snow (something that greatly amused our Ugandan friends!), so we ended up getting to Entebbe airport, at 9:45 at night. Instantly on entering the queue for visas I was sweating from the humidity and insects were buzzing around the ceiling. This was certainly not Heathrow!
Unfortunately, in an undoubted attempt to be more like Heathrow, Mark’s bag had been lost in transit. Thus followed an hour of standing around whilst he tried to ascertain where in the world (all too literally!) his bag had got to. Eventually, the airport staff promised that his bag had just been left behind in Amsterdam and would be with him the next day and we were greeted by Simon, one of the founders of Volunteer Uganda, and Sam, a young Ugandan who is part of the Volunteer Uganda team.
Having met Nicholas, our driver, and dumped our un-lost bags in the bus, we set off on the road to Kampala. The night prevented me from seeing much beyond the side of the road, but even the English road signs could not fool me that I was well and truly in Africa! Cars and vans swerved along the dusty road to avoid oncoming motorbikes, their lights, seemingly brighter than those in Europe, illuminating the night’s insects. I clung to a metal bar in front of me and listened to the radio blurting out the commentary to a football match in some Ugandan dialect. I could not keep the smile off my face. I was finally here - after a year of planning and a very long journey—I was finally in Uganda.
The road continued to wind and gradually became more populated with houses and people. Eventually, Nicholas made a final turn up a steep track and we pulled into the entrance of Backpackers, the hostel on the outskirts of Kampala where we would be staying. In a perfect introduction to the African experience there was a power cut, so I lugged my bags (which must have been a significant proportion of my own weight!) to our room in near enough pitch black, banging them against the narrow corridor.
At this point it was sometime after midnight Ugandan time (3 hours ahead of Greenwich), so I just had time to learn that Arsenal had scored a late goal to beat Liverpool 1-0, before going to bed for white water rafting early the next morning...
Day 2: Rafting on the Nile
I’ll be honest, I was a little apprehensive about white water rafting. Beforehand I had been required to get additional insurance to be covered for the grade 5 rapids (rapids are classified 1-5; 1 being a gentle splash on the side of the boat, 5 being anything from a waterfall to several waves that you’d be unlucky to encounter in a storm at sea) allowing my imagination to ponder what could possibly so much more dangerous than a boda-boda. My fears were not aided by a video of boats being flung in the air, their crew ending up out of shot, and being told about the phenomenon of ‘downtime’ — the possible time spent underwater after one such overturning - which can apparently last up to 10 seconds. 10 SECONDS!
Luckily, the continued jet lag and general numbness of getting up at 3am (British time, 6 in Uganda but I wasn’t accustomed yet!) for the second day running helped me to partially forget my fears during the bus ride to the Nile. A process that was completed by the sudden realisation of the amazing city I had awoken in.
The previous night, the fact that I was in a city had pretty much passed me by, save for some barking dogs and distant music I could hear whilst lying in bed, attempting to acclimatise to the humidity and get some sleep. Now, as the day was dawning, Kampala was starting to come alive. Motorbikes whizzed by with people hurrying to get to work; children marched to schools in their various uniforms, the odd kid even escorted by a guard carrying an old AK-47; giant birds — more officially known as Marabou Storks —were perched in the tree tops and on tin roofs, every so often unfurling their giant wings and swooping to a better vantage point.
Marabou Storks
Everywhere there was colour, whether it be the green of trees and plots of grassland, the dark red African soil and brightly painted buildings lining the roads or the vast blue sky. I had been planning to have a nap on the hour journey to Jinja, but the sudden plunge into an entirely different continent left me staring transfixed out of the window, utterly absorbed in this new culture.
It is difficult to express what precisely makes Kampala so different from the other cities I have visited (all European), but there is something about its vibrant chaos which is invigorating and other cities lack in their morning commutes. From my very short time in Kampala (most of my experiences of it seemed to be in car journeys,) I wished to stay longer and explore the city further, attempting to find some structure to the chaos.
Unfortunately my antidote of sleep-deprivation and Ugandan culture was abruptly stopped 10 minutes down the Nile. Firstly, we practised floating through a grade 1 rapid. Henry, the Ugandan leader of the boat, advised us to leave our arms out in a cross position and just float through the waves. This was all well and good 20 yards away in the boat, but after the first wave left me spluttering and squinting at the fast-approaching and surprising-big-close-up next wave, I decided that an new course of action was require, namely me furiously doggy-paddling whilst attempting to keep my head above the waves.
Having just about overcome the rapid in my unorthodox fashion, Henry decided that we needed to practise capsizing to prepare for inevitable (something I noted that at least one boat going down with us never did). Obvious, I was out of the dinghy the millisecond its side raised above the water, desperately trying to avoid the oncoming boat. This tactic seemed to work, as I avoided most of the commotion and didn’t have any proper ‘downtime’.
Next, we had to re-turn the boat. Here’s where my tactics stopped working. The six of us all swam over to one side of the boat and Henry, standing on the underside of the dinghy, explained that if we pull our side down and go under water for a second then he would flip the boat over our heads. Before I knew it he was counting down: 3 — OK take a deep breath — 2 — you’ll be fine — 1 — actually I don’t fancy this much, I’ll just try to get out of the wa... BANG!
My head was plunged underwater by the underside of the boat. Suddenly trapped, I frantically kicked the water behind me to get out from under the boat, squinting through the murky Nile water to the legs of the others safely the other side of the boat.
Fortunately, going down the rapids turned out to be really fun. Rafting down the Nile is a bit like going on the log-flume at Thope Park, except its 30km long, surrounded by some amazing scenery and wildlife and has the ever-present risk of being chucked head first into the River Nile. Ok, so it’s nothing like Thope Park, but the adrenaline rush is comparable, if not far greater considering extended period of thrill and the additional possibility of finding yourself 100 yards from your boat within a couple of seconds!
The first couple of bigger (grade 3+) rapids were passed without too much incident - if you discount the copious amounts of water unloaded into us and the dinghy, which is( probably) what it feels like to be in a clothes washer (a lot of fun!). Being in a boat with 5 macho, teenage (or thereabouts!) boys, they insisted on telling Henry to go hard into all the rapids, creating a higher chance of being turned. This worked out surprisingly well, with our boat actually surviving several waves that the other two, more tentative crews fell at.
Each big rapid was inventively named things like ’Ribcage’, ‘50:50’ and ‘Silverback’; yet having overcome some of these challenges it to be one of the smaller, grade 3 rapids that was our downfall. Two-thirds of the way through this series of rapids, Henry, egged on by 5 adrenaline junkies, shouted at us to backpedal, causing us to come to a virtual standstill between two waves. Somehow Henry managed to turn the boat around, meaning we faced the wave we had just safely negotiated.
“Who wants to surf the wave?!” roared Henry. “Full paddle!”
Overcome by a new confidence that comes after having survived a couple of grade 5 rapids, I decided that I too would quite enjoy surfing a wave...
Well, I would have done.
Unfortunately, as soon as we paddled into the wave the laws of physics kicked in and the boat’s front was flipped. What happened next was a bit of a watery blur. I’m pretty sure that I spent a couple of seconds in ‘downtime’, came to the surface at the next wave, had another second of ‘downtime’ and then came out the other side to find the oar I had let go of in my hurried exit from the dinghy. I saw Simon resurfacing 10 meters away from me and grabbed a second oar that float past me, evidently forgotten about by someone. A few seconds later one of the safety kayakers was by Simon, and after it collected him on its front I called out a caught a lift hanging on to the back.
Safely back in the boat, we had a flat straight of river to dry-up, soak up the sun (which we all did a little too much despite copious sun cream!), enjoy the landscape and have a lunch of pineapples and biscuits. Now, back in England I was never too keen on the dry, stringy fruit called pineapple, but this Ugandan version is mouth-wateringly good. Saturated with juice and in plentiful supply, I finished mine with relish.
We slowed down ahead of the next rapid to allow another boat to tackle it first. This one was just around a slight corner of quite still water, yet as we slowed down and turned the corner our dinghy made a 180 degree turn, so that we could not see the oncoming rapid. This was probably a good thing.
“Ready?!” screamed Henry, ”Everybody down!”
Next thing I know we’ve fallen 15 feet, are back to a near enough horizontal position and are looking at the waterfall we’ve just gone down backwards. The thrill was brilliant! We then continued to watch the apprehension of the 3rd group as they suddenly realised what they were about to do and then the amazing landing of the dinghy - at one point it seemed to be at right angle!
Next up was a set of violent waves. We were on the last when a particularly big wave rose and knocked the front right side into the air. Simon, in front of me, fell into the water, knocking Mark in with him. I clung on to the rope at the side, determined not be swept away this time. We were going over, I was sure of it. I took a deep breath... Then suddenly, for reasons I’m still not sure of even having seen footage of the incident, the boat swung to the right and remained afloat. The adrenaline rush is hard to parallel.
I looked behind me to see Henry overboard, clasping to the rope at the side of the dinghy, with a manic grin on his face. After a few moments he was back on board and we were searching for Simon and Mark (and Henry’s oar!), who seemed to have been taken further downstream and were being collected by kayaks.
The final rapid of the day was a grade 5 called ‘A Hard Place’, I figure owing to the big rocks at the start of the rapids, which cause us to get out and walk round the first couple of huge waves to start at a safer place. Nevertheless, this was probably the biggest set of rapids we faced and, being a group of boys, we headed right for the epicentre, whilst the other two boats just chose a slightly more tame route.
It was probably a good thing that we never made it to the biggest wave.
We were paddling furiously to get further left and mount this wave when a similarly massive wave came up from the left and knocked everybody on that side clean overboard. Immediately the boat was carried away through some more waves, Henry again clinging on to the rope whilst partially overboard. I triumphantly congratulated myself on having chosen to sit on the right side, whilst watching the unlucky three being carried through a couple of huge rapids to the shore another hundred metres away. White water rafting is amazing fun!
The Nile
Having got out of the Nile and waiting for the van to be loaded to take us back to the hostel above the river, I had my first real experience of poverty. There were four children hanging around in rags, clearly interested by the sight of ‘muzungus’ (white people). They were told to clear off by one of the Ugandan kayakers, but remained the other side of the van. After Simon approached them I followed, impressed with how he engaged with them. I gave one of them the remaining water in my bottle before setting off in the van (which was basically a cattle lorry with benches for us to sit on).
During the journey we past several rural villages and farms, and we were greeted by children waving, screaming and even running to get see us. At first I was unsure of how to react to this; it seemed almost arrogant to wave at these impoverished kids like some kind of monarch. Yet, after seeing others do it and the brilliant smiles of kids who saw their waves returned, I followed suit and enjoyed seeing the children’s reactions.
Most of the adults didn’t wave, they seemed more wary of what must be a daily occurrence of Westerners being driven from the Nile. It must be incredibly antagonising to see rich young Westerners every day and yet it have no real positive impact on the local economy of the village. I settled on the plan to return any waves that came my way, but not to wave at anybody and everybody.
Open to the elements, my eyes were stinging from the red dust by the time we pulled into our hostel for the night. Looking down at my shirt, already dirtied from Nile water, I realised that the half of it that had been by the side of the car was considerably dirtier than the other!
We got our bags that had been separately transported to the site whilst we had been rafting and settled down to a barbecued dinner, enjoying the stunning view over the Nile we had rafted just hours earlier.
Day 3: Back to Kampala
Had a good lie in before having a brunch over the now conquered mighty "White Nile". Picked up by Nicholas in the Volunteer Uganda 4x4 Safari minibus. Head back to Kampala enjoying the varied scenery of forests, farmland and villages. Back in Kampala we played pool, had dinner at backpackers getting to know lots of other young people before heading out to "Iguanas" for a great night out. Everyone dancing to mix of English and American nineties and early 2000’s classics and some local afro beats. Head back to backpackers in the VU 4x4 minibus for bed.
Day 4: In Kampala
Another big lie in and a day to meet other volunteers before heading out early the next morning.
Day 5: To Kinkizi
Off to the supermarket to buy herbs, spices and things like peanut butter, ketchup, and self raising flour; things that just can’t be acquired down in the south west. Then off for a long and bumpy journey to Kinkizi. A couple of hours south west of Kampala we stopped on the equator for photos and a demonstration of the water turning direction. Amazing that only 5 meters either side of the equator a flower spins in the opposite direction; on the equator it doesn’t spin at all! Drove another hour to Mbarara to meet Andrew and his family where we enjoyed a very warm welcome and an opportunity to try local foods and juices before getting back on the road.
From there we drove to Rukunjiri for fuel and dinner - several of us tried goat, Matoke and Ugali. Arrive in Kinkizi soon after dark. Everyone was tired after that road!
Day 6: Induction
One by one the volunteers woke up and discovered a beautiful morning looking out over Kinkizi sub-county’s rolling hills banana plantations, temporary houses, red earth and lush greenery. In turn each excitedly woke the next person to show them. We headed down to the Great Lakes College where the Principal, Jackson gave us a tour. We were amazed by the work done by the Volunteer Uganda charity group and its partners from the USA. There are two new buildings and it was clear to everyone that the dream of getting Great Lakes College to university status is well underway! We also looked at the library and IT facilities where the volunteers are helping out. John gave us a workshop on tourism, exploring how our team can help with his tourism seminars for students of the College.
We stopped in at "Aunt Lucy’s" nursery to touch base and see how they work. There will be a couple of girls helping there in the summer and everyone was jealous as the young children are so adorable. We sung "London Bridge is falling down" and "Heads, shoulders, knees and toes". Amazing to see children who in so many cases are orphaned, but yet so happy. Their excitement at our arrival as they ran toward us was thrilling. Very funny seeing 3-5 year olds run!
After a beef curry for lunch we headed to Kirima parents’ school for a very warm welcome with dancing and singing. Simon and Andrew gave talks about VU’s vision before each member of the group introduced themselves. The children were so excited rushing to shake our hands and all wanting to be our ’best friends’. We had a massive game of football against the school teachers, although a few of their teachers had to be on our side. Fortunately we won 3:2 which isn’t’ that great against a primary school! There was a crowd of about 250 young children cheering excitedly. After the game we went back for dinner with everyone in very high spirits. We are all excited to be here and wowed by the welcome and the obvious need for our effort and support.
The team observed some lessons at prep at Kirima parents’. Over supper we discussed teaching techniques and Andrew demonstrated some of the methods used in primary schools.
Day 7: HIV / AIDS Training
Alex who works closely with us on behalf of the NGO "Youth and Health" / "Mend the Broken Hearts of Uganda" came and gave us a talk on the HIV, malaria, family planning and other challenges that face the country. Everyone was amazed that 1 in 16 people in Uganda have HIV and that rate is even greater in rural areas like here. Other statistics that wowed people were the fertility rate at 7.9 children per woman, the fact that only 5% of population are employed, and that 70% of Uganda’s population live on less than a dollar each day (the highest % in the world). Alex stressed that education and dissemination of info on HIV avoidance and family planning are key to Uganda’s future. The morning session ended with Andrew giving us a Ruchiga (local language) lesson which we were all keen to try out.
In the afternoon Nicholas drove us to the high school where we had another warm welcome and did some preliminary surveying for a engineering project this summer. We played the school team at football and salvaged a 3:2 score despite being totally outplayed. Andrew (our program co-ordinator) wore the most vibrant orange shirt and green sweat pants. Meanwhile Sam wore cycling shorts!!! The both looked hilarious. After an evening assembly with music, dancing, comedy sketches from pupils, and introductions from the whole of our team and longer talks from Andrew and our group leader Simon, we had dinner with the teachers. Everyone was in high spirits as we drove back to Kanungu before watching AC Milan vs Man United at Roger’s bar.
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The diary is normally updated once or twice a week, depending on when the volunteers get the time to access the Internet and update their blogs. Photos are added less often because bandwidth is limited.
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Last changed 10 Mar 2010
Second week, 18 Feb 2010
Day 8: Preparing Lessons
Pancakes for breakfast as its Ash Wednesday? Alex from "Mend the Broken Hearts" came in the morning and we worked on an hour long presentation about HIV avoidance which we will deliver tomorrow at San Jovane Secondary School. We have incorporated some cool games and demonstrations and are looking forward to giving the talk. We going to start by throwing around a paper ball with the commentary "Sam passes it to Charlie, Charlie gives it to Alex, Alex passes to Simon, Simon passes it to Mark, Mark passes it to Andrew, Andrew to Leo, Leo to Elenor"!! at this point we will open up the paper ball to reveal that it says HIV in bold letters. We want to encourage young people to come off the sexual network. We plan to fill a condom up with five litres of water and demonstrate its use on a banana; we know we need to encourage a lot of audience interaction.
In the afternoon we headed to Bishops Mazolidi School where some of the team are teaching. It’s one of the best schools in the district and offers free boarding education. It has an orphanage wing for destitute young children. The children are disciplined, fast learning and very happy. This time we beat them 5:4 at football thanks to a heroic strike from Charlie!! We are all very achey and relieved we don’t have to play football again today. We draw a great crowd though and the matches are hilarious.
Lesson observation again for 2 hours in the evening. Really useful. Practising teaching ourselves tomorrow... SAFARI AT THE WEEKEND!!!!!
Day 9: More Lesson Plans
Thursday morning Andrew allocated each of the volunteers a subject area to teach a half hour lesson to the rest of the group. It was good for everyone to have a bit of a paddle at teaching rather than just be thrown in at the deep end. We gave each other positive criticism and feedback; we have been trying to work on teaching in a familiar style and incorporating games and interactive activities into lessons. One thing that we all need to do is speak clearly is so the children follow well; this means breaking sentences up, projecting our voices and trying to explain things more than once. When Alex did his lesson, for some reason he seemed to talk in a Ugandan accent subconsciously. It actually sounded more Indian and we all waited until the end of his lesson to have a good chuckle at it. We will have to get him to do it again over a beer at some stage. Extremely amusing!
An aside: We have been so busy that I am currently catching up writing this from the balcony of the staff room in the new building that was donated by the Volunteer Uganda charity. It is break time and kids keep calling my name wanting to greet me with a "How are you?" The boys have been playing volley ball with a ball that they bought clubbing together as a dorm by each contributing 20 pence. Primary school break is so fun!
We have been planning our talk on HIV this afternoon. Our approach is an adaptation of the government’s "A,B,C" strategy. This stands for "Abstain", "Be faithful", "Condomise".
We have to come up with a well structured hour-long interactive show. It includes a few skits to demonstrate ways people can protect themselves from HIV. We are also trying to address the issue of stigma whereby people feel ashamed to be HIV+. One skit includes Alex in a dress walking to school with books on his head being distracted by Simon who plays the role of an older man who tries to lead "her’ away from education by plying her with alcohol and bribing her for sex with promises of clothes. This sketch is going to be a hit because Alex is a big lad and dresses don’t come in his size! The message is valuable as cross-generational sex contributes both to HIV spread and to girls dropping out from school and wasting their potential.
Other skits are to make young people aware of the risks attached to drug and alcohol abuse. The focus is on the young people (particularly young women) having sex they did not plan to have and putting themselves at risk of HIV and unplanned pregnancy.
In the evening we went to ’Modern’ which is a bar in Kanungu that is one of the best places for big football matches. After a few Tusker lagers and more wooden but amusing acting we headed back to base for cards and bed.
Day 10: Great Lakes High School
We had a bit of a lie in before heading to Great Lakes High School. We had two objectives. The first was to photograph as many of the non sponsored pupils as possible. For this we had two cameras on the go and brought the children in 4 at a time to take photos of them at their desks. Most of these kids have never been photographed before so we were teaching them to grin at the camera. These pics will be used by the charity group Volunteer Uganda to recruit sponsors for those pupils.
Our other task was to survey the proposed site for a mini hydro electric project that will be installed by some volunteers from Durham University in the summer. To do this we mapped out the site, took photographs and made a micro-documentary on the proposed site. We are sending this to the Durham group so that they can put together their proposal. The project basically involves using momentum of water that is already pumped 15 kms to the site to power a hydroelectric generator which will provide electricity. This will lower the running costs of the school as they currently rely on fuel generator.
We practiced our talk again with Alex from "Youth and Health / Mend the Hearts of Uganda" in preparation for doing it soon. We even had a "dress rehearsal" when Alex got into an African wrap round style number! Our suspicions were confirmed and he looked ridiculous. That’s great because it is exactly the type of thing we need to captivate our audience! He seemed to enjoy it and not taken it off since - sorry Alex! Haha!
In the afternoon we went to another big secondary school (San Giovanni). We each introduced ourselves to the 800 pupils and Simon and Andrew gave introductory talks. None of us imagined we would have the confidence to talk to such a large audience - but we managed and it was really exhilarating. We received a reception of cheers and when Simon introduced a nameless volunteer as .... Rooney the crowd erupted! It was a real thrill and now we feel ready to do our HIV talk and stepping into a class of 30 children will feel less daunting. That night we went for "Pork Barbachuuu" which is seen as an important way of socialising with friends. We had a fair few beers before heading back to base and bed.
Day 11: Safari in Ishasha
We set off at eight and Nicholas (the VU driver drove us to the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National park which is called Ishasha sector. It is the only place in the world where lions climb trees. They typically climb fig trees to relax in their branches during the day then hunting around dusk and dawn. After about an hour and a half of watching warthogs trotting, eagles hunting, antelopes bounding and buffalo looking grumpy, we found an enormous seemingly pregnant lioness stretched out in a tree. We were about 10 meters from her as she looked at us and scanned the savannah for dinner. After about 10 minutes another lion arrived and after having a good look at the tree she too leapt up to another branch about six feet up. After some time the first lion came down and walked with a bit of a skip right across in front of us. After a few yawns from the seemingly pregnant lioness we took our leave and headed down to the River Ishasha to find hippos. They were there keeping cool and snorting away spread out like stepping stones across the river. One massive female and a male came out of the water looking like giant rotund pigs with enormous mouths. It’s amazing to think that they can move so fast!
After our packed lunches, time was getting on and we got on the road to Mweya. En route we saw about 10 elephants, one of whom gave us the trumpet treatment. Three of them crossed the track in front of us! The road took us through some forest that attaches to Kyambura gorge where you can arrange to go chimpanzee tracking. As we emerged from the forest the sky was turning red for a real African sunset. Photos to follow! We continued on to Mweya on what is a pretty tough road. It was worth it though because after 30 minutes we came across a leopard lying beside the road!!! We tried to keep quiet but whispered in awe. It was literally dusk and the leopard walked beside us before climbing up onto an ant hill which made for amazing photographs. We watched it for about 20 minutes before it snuck off into the bush. They call them the "lesser spotted leopard" because people rarely see them although Simon has now seen 3 in Queen Elizabeth so they are definitely there if you keep your fingers crossed and eyes peeled. After about half an hour we arrived in Mweya and moved into our guest house, and went for an ’an all you can eat gourmet buffet’ at Mweya lodge famous for having once entertained Prince Phillip. After an amazing meal we sat around the camp fire overlooking Lake Edward from Mweya peninsula before going to bed in preparation for a full day of game drives tomorrow. Wow, we saw a leopard!!!
Day 12: Mweya Safari & Lake Edward Boat Trip
We set off at 6:30 sharp and had a good day with the windows and roof open. We saw lots of warthogs, bushbucks, antelopes, hippos, collobus monkeys and baboons. One Baboon had big gash on his leg, either fighting with another baboon or perhaps evading a leopard. As the day became really we went back to the guest house for a good lunch with local tilapia fillet and chips. We checked out the Visitors’ Centre which has things like elephant skulls and archaeological artefacts such as Stone Age axe heads as well of lots on information on the animals of the park. At 3:00pm we went on a boat trip which was great and allowed us to get really close to bathing elephants which were using their trunks to wash as well as lots more hippos, loads of birdlife, a few crocodiles and a big monitor lizard. It’s been dry in the park so all the animals were down by the lakes. After an evening game drive we went to the lodge again for another round (four plates for some) of the amazing buffet. Such a luxury after weeks of eating simply, although Efrain (the VU chef) is a great cook and is a dab hand at spag bol! That night everyone was tired after the early start so we bedded down to be ready for another game drive in the morning.
Day 13 Mweya Game Drive
Again we got up really early and went on a game drive, this time along the Crater Lakes. After about an hour of driving we came across 3 young lions with a large lioness that seemed to be their mother. The young lions were learning to hunt and we watched one of them chase and take a mongoose. About 400 meters away we could see a safari vehicle that had stopped so we went to investigate. When we got there we found that there was another mother but this time with 3 cubs. The cubs were playing and nuzzling the lioness and on closer inspection we saw that they were eating what seemed to be the carcass of a young antelope. We watched them for some time before checking out the large lions in the pride including a big burly male with a mane. The adult lions were stalking antelope although the antelope avoided becoming dinner this time.
Time was getting on so we hit the road home and saw various other monkeys, elephants, birds, antelopes, buffalo and plenty more warthogs. After a long drive we left the park and went to the town of Kihihi to go to the bank and the "supermarket" - in fact a tiny corner shops, strangely stocked but which allowed us to stock up on chocolate, frozen sausages, Pringles and even some Nile Perch for an fancy dinner sometime soon. Back at base, Efrain prepared a feast and everyone got down to planning their lessons for the next day.
Leo brought an SLR so his photos are amazing. We really did see a leopard!
Day 14: First lessons
Everyone was in a school today which was exciting. Initially it is a bit daunting and your first lesson will never be your best but it’s exciting to plan and deliver your own lessons. Some volunteers have been teaching Maths and some English. Simon and Andrew spent the day at the different schools helping volunteers arranging their timetables. Each volunteer has been allocated a mentor within the school with whom they looked over the curriculum and developed their lesson plans.
To break the ice and get a bit more comfortable standing up in front of a class, some volunteers have opted to have an informal question and answer session at the start to the lessons. This is a good tactic as it allows you and your pupils to get comfortable. Consequently they don’t get shy and you don’t panic.
Everyone found their first lesson a challenge particularly when the children don’t understand things straight away and the lesson plans has to be adapted mid lesson. We are getting more familiar with this and after all, if children understood everything instantly they would not need teachers! By the second and third lessons the anxiety of standing up in front of 30-40 children vanishes and people feel more comfortable on their feet. The children are enthusiastic and their behaviour is exemplary which means that you can focus on teaching rather than class control.
After school we had a game of football down on the savannah area. Back at base everyone could laugh about what they had done well in their lessons and what they had misjudged.
Third week, 18 Feb 2010
Day 15: “Lions & Impala”
While the volunteers in Bishops Mazolidi Primary got a lie in, the rest of us went to school for to give a lesson each and spend more time as teaching assistants.
Wednesday afternoons at Bishops Mazolidi is allocated for sport. Usually this means about 30 of their 400 pupils playing football while others (particularly the girls) twiddle their thumbs. We decided to mix it up a bit. We introduced a new game called ’Lions and Impala’ otherwise known as British Bulldogs. We had the entire school sprinting back and fourth across the football pitch as ’impala’ attempting to evade the ever rapidly growing population of lions’ in the middle of pitch. We took turns to walk up and down the ranks of Impala motivating them like William Wallace motivating his army. Meanwhile another volunteer would get the ’Lions’(bulldogs) rearing to go until there was a band of children of all ages psyching themselves up by growling and roaring. When the whistle was blown, fantastic organised chaos ensued. The ’impala’ were made up of hundreds of children ranging from cute five year olds to 18 year olds who only now have chance to go to school, running, dodging one another and celebrating triumphantly when they got through. When the ’Lions’ caught someone they roared ferociously The first ’lions’ tended to collect young ’impala’ which in turn made for ’lion cubs’ incapable of catching older pupils. Only when there were enough young ’lions’ to swarm the older ’impala’ were the majority of the older kids caught. ’Lions and Impala’ proved to be a huge hit and our contribution to Wednesday afternoon sport at Mazolidi will become a regular feature.
Barcelona v Stuttgart football match in the evening was a good wind down for a few of us in the evening.
Day 16: Chelsea-Inter
By Thursday everyone was fully into the swing of teaching and spirits are high. Volunteers taught between 1 and 4 lessons dependent on their level of confidence. Those who taught fewer lessons acted as teaching assistants in classes and are becoming more familiar with the material and the teaching style that the children are used to. Simon and Andrew are also supporting lessons and other teachers are giving constructive feedback. Three of the classes opted to sing a song to their volunteer teachers at the end of the lessons! Perhaps the hardest part is over, however we are all pretty tired and with Gorilla trekking for some of the group in the morning, we decided to get an early night.
Day 17: Gorilla Tracking
Next morning alarms went off before the cockerel at a painful 5:30am. After a light breakfast we got on the road to Buhoma on the other side of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest NP. The four who were going Gorilla tracking got off; Leo was relieved that the fee of 50,000 dollars per day for filming didn’t apply to his camcorder. The rest of us headed up to Silverback Lodge which has the best view of the forest with mist hanging in clouds amongst the canopy. We hiked up through the mist and along the tree line through several subsistence farming communities. Although the views are breathtaking we couldn’t help wishing we could get into the forest and sniff out a gorilla or two. We then headed back to Silverback for a few beers, some free popcorn and nuts and the view.
Mid afternoon we picked up the others; they had tracked the ’R’ group (Rushegura which means Darkness) which is the largest of the families with 20ish members and the biggest silverback. They had trekked for six hours and now realise why it is called the ’Impenetrable forest’ and they had each slipped over and been ’thorned’ a number of times. They did however get very close to the Gorillas and the photos (to follow) are breathtaking. That evening we had a big meal at the lodge before taking our leave and avoiding 200 dollars a night for accommodation. The journey back was very bumpy as those roads are in a state of disrepair; somehow Charlie and Alex were shaken to sleep. It was an amazing sleep after a long day.
Day 18: Chelsea vs Man City
Having had a very long day everyone really appreciated a good lie in followed by one of Ephraims now famous pancake breakfasts. People did some lesson planning ahead for their Monday teaching. We had set aside the afternoon to watch football and it did not fail to please. We watched Man City v Chelsea at "Kanungu Inn" The atmosphere was electric and at every display of skill, foul, opportunity or goal there was a uproar of tribal squeals, clicks of tongues, clapping and general ongoing commentary. It is amazing that people can feel so attached to a team so far away despite there being no Ugandan players. Even if you were totally disinterested in football you couldn’t fail to find it both exciting and hilarious. Last weekend on Safari when we stopped at the remote fishing village of Ruwishema to see the catch, as we arrived we heard a sudden cheer rippling across the beach, which turned out to be the news from a wind- up radio that Man United had lost to Everton. It meant so much to the fishermen. Strange, but brilliant!
Day 19: Sports Afternoon
Following the success Wednesday’s ’British Bulldogs’ we had big plans for another games afternoon including lots of kids. After a bit more lesson planning for some and a trip to church with amazing singing for others, we headed to Bishop Mazolidi School. We split the classes off into groups and each got parallel activities going on different part of the sports field. One group were taught the old classic "stuck in the mud", another group did relays including wheelbarrow race among other innovations, another group had a riotous limbo dancing competition and a fourth group has a penalty shoot out. An older group of kids played ’Ultimate Frisbee’ which was a big success. When one group got tired of an activity they moved on to the next. I think Sunday Sports will become another regular fixture for the weeks ahead as it was a real success. Everyone was pleased and we went to Kanungu Inn for a few beers, 15 p sodas and the Carling Cup final. Unfortunately this time Man United came back. Again, the atmosphere was electric.
Day 20: Back in Schools
All the volunteers are back in their schools again and although Simon and Andrew are providing background support, this is less necessary as everybody is feeling more comfortable and integrated with the other teachers. Mark called a little girl "young man" when "she" put her hand up which was a bit embarrassing for him but it really is tough to distinguish between the younger children as they all have shaved heads to avoid spread of knits. The trick is to check if pupils are wearing a skirt or shorts! We are encouraging a bit of a rivalry between the schools now and we are planning to run a big football tournament on Friday between four local schools.
Day 21: School again
By now everyone is sailing in the schools. Leo got told that he could be a salaried maths teacher! In the evening Kirima Parents School had some sports day practice and the volunteers placed there did some coaching for the big tournament on Friday night. Meanwhile we will be doing a big talk on HIV with Youth and Health to San Giovanni secondary school on Friday, Exciting stuff!
Day 22: Wednesday
Charlie’s getting a reputation for his bad chalk board writing as well as his need for a lot of sleep. The lads at Mazolidi School attempted to teach killer Frisbee to a group of 200 children who were too young. Chaos ensued. It seemed to be a case of chase the Frisbee, catch or snatch the Frisbee and then sling it at the sky. To be fair the children loved it and it somehow the game lasted for 40 minutes. Football training the ensued with the girls sitting on the side lines singing. The dynamics in the schools here are really different from back home. Bullying doesn’t seem to exist and children relish every opportunity to sing or dance. Two little boys demonstrated their ability to walk around on their hands. One of them can do it for a couple of minutes at a time. As Jonathan points out walking on ones hands is a useless skill but it kept us entertained.
Today was a really beautiful day and we all caught the sun a bit before Ephraim served us up a sweet pork dinner.