It rained the mother of all storms on Sunday night and Monday morning. I lay in bed wondering about the people who we know whose homes are made of little more than mud and corregated iron, how do they cope with such an onslaught of water? For the majority of the time the sorching sun beats down with no relief. But then their homes and their lives dissolve each time it rains, their meagre shelters only provide minimal protection and yet they survive. Life here is often a matter of survival, the balance between life and death seems such a thin line, easily crossed and with no return.
By late Sunday night we were packed and ready to leave so Monday morning we headed of to Lungujja for last goodbyes. I also planned to take a few photographs of the schools new sportswear which The Kabanda Trust had paid for and which as yet is still in bags unused. A quick discussion with Pastor Steven about it and all of a sudden 200 children are crowding around him shouting, clapping and laughing with delight. He has told them about the sportswear (and the 150 pairs of pumps/plimsolls we brought with us) and that Friday will be sportsday. The children formed orderly lines and the bright new red, yellow, green and blus T-shirts were distributed. Each child held a t-shirt against himself and the excitment was tangible - their happy smiling faces thrilled by the new garments again brought tears to my eyes. It seems that something so simple can just lift their joy to another plain.
So hard to tear myself away. It feels as though this time I have made so many friends. From the lovely ladies, to Edward still smiling as he grasps my hand. Florence invites me to visit her home to say goodbye. There is bright sunlight outside and inside she proudly shows of the tiny, neat but dark home in which she brought up 10 children! Winter's small shed like dwelling is locked and empty - she has gone and Lovincer her neighbour, one of the teachers, hugs me like she will never let me go. Finally, after a tearful prayer and many goodbyes we head off up the muddy, bumpy (understatement!!) potholed track, back to life as we know it.
Wednesday 9 August 2006
Malaria is a terrible disease
Our last week at Nansana has been focused on Health. Each of the classes studied one of four themes - Water & Hygiene, Healthy Diet, Malaria and HIV/AIDs. Emily prepared some colouring /worksheets for each theme, she and Bex worked with 6 classes teaching songs and supporting the teachers with their work on the themes. I rewrote the popular childrens ditty about vegetables "Cauliflowers fluffy & cabbages green" to fit in with the fruit & veg available here and taught it to 2 classes. Jayne & Kate worked with the older classes on HIV/AIDs which brought a number of unexpected challenges and issues to light. Kate concernedly followed some of these up by contacting some NGO's and making introductions for the school with organisations such as Hope after Rape, (connected to Save the Children) who hopefully will come in and provide some teaching and counselling for the children.
So on Friday afternoon we sat in the shade of a large ugly fruit tree whilst the children all performed the songs, plays, morals and stories that they had learnt. It was really encouraging to see and hear what they had taken in and entertaining to listen to what they had written. "Malaria is a terrible disease, we should sleep under a treated moquito net to prevent malaria" was one of the catchy numbers, talk to me nicely and I'll hum it too you :)
As we sat a storm brewed and by two & half hours into the performance (they like to string it out with lots of singing and dancing) we rushed to the relative safety of what passes for the school hall. Wooden stake walls with a corregated iron roof give very little protection from tumultous rain and when the noise of the lashing rain on the tin became so loud that we couldnt hear ourselves think, we handed out bananas and water melon to the excitement of the children.
But that was only a rehersal for Sunday. At 2pm we dutifully arrived to lead a Health Seminar. Gordon was chilled whihc was just as well because although we had recieved frantic phone calls from Charles the headteacher to find out where we were, at 2.30 they were only just putting up the marquee (dont know how else to describe the structure) and by 3.00 some of the invited audiance of parents had arrived! Eventully we started and Gordon used the childrens wonderful performances and presentation as a basis for talking about the range of health issues. There's nothing like learning from your children. I did my Debbie McGee bit, a sort of walk on part providing entertainment and illustrations! whihc included teaching the parents to sing "The Wise Man built his house upon the rock..... and the rain came tumbling down" !! Our new friend Baker the Netman (from who we had purchased 100 mosquito nets) joined us and explained the use of the nets and helped to dispell some misapprenshions about them. It goes like this, on average a person will suffer from 5-6 bouts of malaria in a year. The treatment for this is expensive - 5000 shillings a bout meaning that they could pay out 30,000 shillings (£10) per person per year. Bearing in mind that a teacher at Nansana earns £40 a months that is a large expence. Sleeping under a treated mosquito net reduces the number of bouts they suffer to 1 or 2. A net cost 11,000 shillings (£3.70) - the maths was not lost on them!! After the show, we sold nets bought from Baker using a large donation from Woolstanton Rotary Club for 5000 shillings each (£1.60) and the schools health project will use the income this will generate for them to provide water for handwashing and medicines to treat malaria.
At the end we were presented with certificates from the schools management committee in appreciation of our work and then Gordon started again witha group of women who had many questions about Family Spacing (contraception to you and me!)
Finally we were ready to leave by about 8pm and then it rained again...... it is after all the rainy season. We caught a taxi back driven by Larry who it turns out had been an illegal immigrant in the UK and had worked in homebase! Still it meant that he was able to entertain us on the life threatening journey home through muddy swamps and lakes of dirty red water.... scarey trip, no-one seems to know the rules of the road, if indeed there are any! We counted our blessings when we returned in one piece to the guest house.
So on Friday afternoon we sat in the shade of a large ugly fruit tree whilst the children all performed the songs, plays, morals and stories that they had learnt. It was really encouraging to see and hear what they had taken in and entertaining to listen to what they had written. "Malaria is a terrible disease, we should sleep under a treated moquito net to prevent malaria" was one of the catchy numbers, talk to me nicely and I'll hum it too you :)
As we sat a storm brewed and by two & half hours into the performance (they like to string it out with lots of singing and dancing) we rushed to the relative safety of what passes for the school hall. Wooden stake walls with a corregated iron roof give very little protection from tumultous rain and when the noise of the lashing rain on the tin became so loud that we couldnt hear ourselves think, we handed out bananas and water melon to the excitement of the children.
But that was only a rehersal for Sunday. At 2pm we dutifully arrived to lead a Health Seminar. Gordon was chilled whihc was just as well because although we had recieved frantic phone calls from Charles the headteacher to find out where we were, at 2.30 they were only just putting up the marquee (dont know how else to describe the structure) and by 3.00 some of the invited audiance of parents had arrived! Eventully we started and Gordon used the childrens wonderful performances and presentation as a basis for talking about the range of health issues. There's nothing like learning from your children. I did my Debbie McGee bit, a sort of walk on part providing entertainment and illustrations! whihc included teaching the parents to sing "The Wise Man built his house upon the rock..... and the rain came tumbling down" !! Our new friend Baker the Netman (from who we had purchased 100 mosquito nets) joined us and explained the use of the nets and helped to dispell some misapprenshions about them. It goes like this, on average a person will suffer from 5-6 bouts of malaria in a year. The treatment for this is expensive - 5000 shillings a bout meaning that they could pay out 30,000 shillings (£10) per person per year. Bearing in mind that a teacher at Nansana earns £40 a months that is a large expence. Sleeping under a treated mosquito net reduces the number of bouts they suffer to 1 or 2. A net cost 11,000 shillings (£3.70) - the maths was not lost on them!! After the show, we sold nets bought from Baker using a large donation from Woolstanton Rotary Club for 5000 shillings each (£1.60) and the schools health project will use the income this will generate for them to provide water for handwashing and medicines to treat malaria.
At the end we were presented with certificates from the schools management committee in appreciation of our work and then Gordon started again witha group of women who had many questions about Family Spacing (contraception to you and me!)
Finally we were ready to leave by about 8pm and then it rained again...... it is after all the rainy season. We caught a taxi back driven by Larry who it turns out had been an illegal immigrant in the UK and had worked in homebase! Still it meant that he was able to entertain us on the life threatening journey home through muddy swamps and lakes of dirty red water.... scarey trip, no-one seems to know the rules of the road, if indeed there are any! We counted our blessings when we returned in one piece to the guest house.
Tuesday 8 August 2006
Gloria & Ronnies wedding
Gloria is Stella sister. She and Ronnie were married on Saturday at Kampala Pentecostal Church which seats 2000. We arrived on time at 11 with the bride. By 11:30 there were about 50 guests and so the service began. Amazing - not time to tell it here but if you get the opportunity to go to a wedding in Uganda take it. Two hours later by the end of the service there were over 500 people present. The 'smal'l reception for 400 on the shore of Lake Victoria was wonderful..... all the parents get to say something (interesteing idea) and it was a thrill to hear them speak and to share their delight at the marriage of thier offspring who both proudly told us all that they had "kept themselves pure" and that they wanted all their friends present to know how much Jesus loved them and cared for them..... get me to tell you about it sometime.
Winters tale
The Ubumama group was amazing - it was such a joy and a blessing to work with these wonderful women. We had a regular group of 30 who came for 5 days. Here time is very loose - for example 10am might mean sometime today. "Starting at 3pm" for the first session meant that by 5.30 everybody had arrived and so I was somewhat shocked to find for the last four days that if I was later than 3pm, such was the enthusiam of the group that many of them had already arrived, set out the tables and were ready complaining that the Muzungu (white person) was keeping Ugandan time!
Anyway, their stories were incredible - sad and moving tales of difficult births, of illness, of loss of their children, of unsupportive and abusive husbands, of terrible treatment at the hospitals (the nurses hit women in labour to stop them making a noise!! can you believe it?) and yet, through all the difficulties these were some of the warmest, most positive, delightful, encouraging and supportive group of women it has ever been my privilige to get to know. We had a fantastic fime sharing our stories and thinking about their issues, which ranged from malaria whilst pregnant, bad diet, poor transport to the clinics, lack of education - many didnt know how they had become pregnant the first time, fear of the delivery and others including lack of family planning. This is a major issue. Many of the women only wanted 2 or 3 children but most had 4 + with several having 8, 9 or 10 children!!! The men see it as a sign of their virility if they have large nos of kids and will not accept the use of contraceptives whilst the women fear refusing their husbands, loosing their lives in childbirth, the difficulty of delivery and having more mouths to feed on their meagre incomes.
From our story telling sessions everybody designed and embroidered a piece of fabric to symbolise their tale. The results were amazing and they were all so proud of what they achieved. Watch out for this project - I am hoping to repeat it when I come home with a group of willing women..... when Gordon had arrived this week he lead a Health Seminar which the group came to and where we tried to provide some health education to support them. Becaouse of the generosity of a local rotary club we were able to give all the lovely ladies a mosquito net - to their great delight.
Winter came to three sessions and to the health seminar. She had become pregnant last Feb aged 15 and baby Susan who came with her is now 8 months old. At the time she did not know she was pregnant and was surprised when she went into labour (!?) her parents threw her out and her 23 yr old "husband" Peter had taken her in. Now 5 months pregnant with her second child she was a lively, enthusiastic girl keen to learn how to sew, proud of her beautiful daughter and determined only to have 2 children. At the health seminar she bravely stood and asked questions about contraception and was excited to think she might be able to have some control over this. The next day she wasnt at the group! During the night Peter had beaten her up - he was angry that his "wife" had been coming to church, had been learning to sew and had been learning other things as well!! At the group we discussed at length how the women might support Winter and sadly shared their own issues that her dramatic story had brought to light. I visited Winter and she showed me her bruises, Gordon gave her some excercises to do stretch her bruised muscles and we gave her some painkillers to give her some relief. Boldly, she decided she would like to carry on sewing and I took her fabric and some threads to her house along with a mosquito net. I have never seen such thrill as hers when she recieved them. Yesterday they told me she had gone - there had been more abuse and she had left.
I cant describe how sad I have felt about this and other things they have shared with me and yet thier courage, strength and an unswerving faith in a Father God who loves them and cares about all their needs is a lesson in trust that I never expected to learn. I am thrilled that they have decided to continue to meet each week, they will start to think about what they would like a nurse to do for their children - the Kabanda Trust plans to employ a nurse in Lungujja - soon, they will continue to sew, share and support each other and who knows what they will develop.
Last night Pastor Steven and his wife Gladys came for supper at the guest house where we are staying. Gladys brought with her a beautiful woven basket a gift from the women and a letter "we cannot give you much, but we can give you to God and ask him to care for you" I was moved to tears as I am now as I write...... my sisters in Uganda are amazing, courageous women.
Anyway, their stories were incredible - sad and moving tales of difficult births, of illness, of loss of their children, of unsupportive and abusive husbands, of terrible treatment at the hospitals (the nurses hit women in labour to stop them making a noise!! can you believe it?) and yet, through all the difficulties these were some of the warmest, most positive, delightful, encouraging and supportive group of women it has ever been my privilige to get to know. We had a fantastic fime sharing our stories and thinking about their issues, which ranged from malaria whilst pregnant, bad diet, poor transport to the clinics, lack of education - many didnt know how they had become pregnant the first time, fear of the delivery and others including lack of family planning. This is a major issue. Many of the women only wanted 2 or 3 children but most had 4 + with several having 8, 9 or 10 children!!! The men see it as a sign of their virility if they have large nos of kids and will not accept the use of contraceptives whilst the women fear refusing their husbands, loosing their lives in childbirth, the difficulty of delivery and having more mouths to feed on their meagre incomes.
From our story telling sessions everybody designed and embroidered a piece of fabric to symbolise their tale. The results were amazing and they were all so proud of what they achieved. Watch out for this project - I am hoping to repeat it when I come home with a group of willing women..... when Gordon had arrived this week he lead a Health Seminar which the group came to and where we tried to provide some health education to support them. Becaouse of the generosity of a local rotary club we were able to give all the lovely ladies a mosquito net - to their great delight.
Winter came to three sessions and to the health seminar. She had become pregnant last Feb aged 15 and baby Susan who came with her is now 8 months old. At the time she did not know she was pregnant and was surprised when she went into labour (!?) her parents threw her out and her 23 yr old "husband" Peter had taken her in. Now 5 months pregnant with her second child she was a lively, enthusiastic girl keen to learn how to sew, proud of her beautiful daughter and determined only to have 2 children. At the health seminar she bravely stood and asked questions about contraception and was excited to think she might be able to have some control over this. The next day she wasnt at the group! During the night Peter had beaten her up - he was angry that his "wife" had been coming to church, had been learning to sew and had been learning other things as well!! At the group we discussed at length how the women might support Winter and sadly shared their own issues that her dramatic story had brought to light. I visited Winter and she showed me her bruises, Gordon gave her some excercises to do stretch her bruised muscles and we gave her some painkillers to give her some relief. Boldly, she decided she would like to carry on sewing and I took her fabric and some threads to her house along with a mosquito net. I have never seen such thrill as hers when she recieved them. Yesterday they told me she had gone - there had been more abuse and she had left.
I cant describe how sad I have felt about this and other things they have shared with me and yet thier courage, strength and an unswerving faith in a Father God who loves them and cares about all their needs is a lesson in trust that I never expected to learn. I am thrilled that they have decided to continue to meet each week, they will start to think about what they would like a nurse to do for their children - the Kabanda Trust plans to employ a nurse in Lungujja - soon, they will continue to sew, share and support each other and who knows what they will develop.
Last night Pastor Steven and his wife Gladys came for supper at the guest house where we are staying. Gladys brought with her a beautiful woven basket a gift from the women and a letter "we cannot give you much, but we can give you to God and ask him to care for you" I was moved to tears as I am now as I write...... my sisters in Uganda are amazing, courageous women.
Wednesday 2 August 2006
Standing and smiling
When we arrived several weeks ago one of the most poignant and touching stories was of Edward. A child of about 7 years his deformed and narled body seemed more like that of a 70 year old. The story was that Edward has TB of the bones and probably HIV, that his father was dying of AIDs at home sleeping on the floor adn that his stepmother was not caring for him. I spoke to the Mildmay Clinic - specialising in working with people who are HIV +ve and who run a free hospice for children who are dying from AIDS. They agreed to take him and give hime end of life care if we got him tested and if his test was +ve and that was what it seemed he needed. So i arranged for him to be tested and we awaited the outcome.
Yesterday a small smiling, upright child greeted me by touching me on the arm and saying "Mama Liz" (thats my name here) I have been to the clinic I have TB." he was transformed - I told him I knew his test was negative and we hugged. His obvious joy and relief that he didnt have HIV was a delight - he was no longer stooping and dragging himself along, but more upright and so happy!! Pastor Steven was as amazed as I was at the transformation, we cannot do much to help his TB but we seem to have given him back his hope for a future and therefore his life! i have never seen such an amazing change - Praise God!! 10,000 shilllings was all it cost (3 pounds) for a test that brought such good news and gives a small child hope for the future.
Yesterday a small smiling, upright child greeted me by touching me on the arm and saying "Mama Liz" (thats my name here) I have been to the clinic I have TB." he was transformed - I told him I knew his test was negative and we hugged. His obvious joy and relief that he didnt have HIV was a delight - he was no longer stooping and dragging himself along, but more upright and so happy!! Pastor Steven was as amazed as I was at the transformation, we cannot do much to help his TB but we seem to have given him back his hope for a future and therefore his life! i have never seen such an amazing change - Praise God!! 10,000 shilllings was all it cost (3 pounds) for a test that brought such good news and gives a small child hope for the future.
Sunday 30 July 2006
I have a song to sing
Woke this morning with the song "Lord you have my heart, I will search for yours" singing in my head. We headed of to Lungujja for church and Pastor Steven preached on Isaiah 6 - Here am I send me. The song absolutely fitted with what he had said so.... when he had finished (and he didnt know) having first got Gordon up to the front for a tumultous welcome, he nodded to me to join him as well. Sister, he said, do you ahve a song! So off we went.... although i have a sore throat i managed to teach them the words and the tune and it was beautiful.... their african voices are wonderful, the harmonies and sounds of their voices are moving and as the last line of the song says "we saw His glory here" - amazing. Afterwards one of the other girls on the team came and said that she had been singing it to herself all week and had wanted to teach it to the church.... it was a real blessing.
Then i helped cook lunch, sat on the floor outside in the searing heat I rolled out chapatis and chatted with the other women. A delicious lunch followed and then following long discussions on health and lots of other stuff ( we are planning a health seminar for tomorrow) we headed back to our guest house. Bex and Ems have gone back to lungujja for the night - Ems is having her hair braided whihc apparently will take 6-7hours and tomorrow she is going out with Juliette who is an Environmental health inspector, to visit latrines .... um, rather her than me and fortunately her camera does not have smellovision !!!
Then i helped cook lunch, sat on the floor outside in the searing heat I rolled out chapatis and chatted with the other women. A delicious lunch followed and then following long discussions on health and lots of other stuff ( we are planning a health seminar for tomorrow) we headed back to our guest house. Bex and Ems have gone back to lungujja for the night - Ems is having her hair braided whihc apparently will take 6-7hours and tomorrow she is going out with Juliette who is an Environmental health inspector, to visit latrines .... um, rather her than me and fortunately her camera does not have smellovision !!!
Saturday 29 July 2006
Its not what you know, but who you know
Last night we met up with our friend Aaron. He is the Provincial Secretrary of the Church of Uganda - that means he is in charge of the running of the church and answers to the archibishop. he is also a director of the main hospital here. so he is arranging for gordon to visit and meet with a range of drs who he wants to meet. Aaron also introduced us to sue - she is the secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury and is hear planning the next Lambeth conference. A lovely lady, we shared a nice breakfast together and she has gieven us lots of useful contacts for helping with our projects. Anyway, tomorrow we are off to lungujja to see the new door and plastered walls paid for by st marys church uttoxeter via emily and no doubt a loud and excited celebration!
by the way, I have been invited to come back next august/september to speak at a christian confernence for 1000 women. I think i may have accepted by not actually saying 'no'..... however, I have been praying about it and have in mind to bring a team of several women who can help lead a mission here. If you think you might be one of them, please pray about it and get in touch.... you will know who you are!!!
by the way, I have been invited to come back next august/september to speak at a christian confernence for 1000 women. I think i may have accepted by not actually saying 'no'..... however, I have been praying about it and have in mind to bring a team of several women who can help lead a mission here. If you think you might be one of them, please pray about it and get in touch.... you will know who you are!!!
Its not what you know, but who you know
Last night we met up with our friend Aaron. He is the Provincial Secretrary of the Church of Uganda - that means he is in charge of the running of the church and answers to the archibishop. he is also a director of the main hospital here. so he is arranging for gordon to visit and meet with a range of drs who he wants to meet. Aaron also introduced us to sue - she is the secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury and is hear planning the next Lambeth conference. A lovely lady, we shared a nice breakfast together and she has gieven us lots of useful contacts for helping with our projects. Anyway, tomorrow we are off to lungujja to see the new door and plastered walls paid for by st marys church uttoxeter via emily and no doubt a loud and excited celebration!
by the way, I have been invited to come back next august/september to speak at a christian confernence for 1000 women. I think i may have accepted by not actually saying 'no'..... however, I have been praying about it and have in mind to bring a team of several women who can help lead a mission here. If you think you might be one of them, please pray about it and get in touch.... you will know who you are!!!
by the way, I have been invited to come back next august/september to speak at a christian confernence for 1000 women. I think i may have accepted by not actually saying 'no'..... however, I have been praying about it and have in mind to bring a team of several women who can help lead a mission here. If you think you might be one of them, please pray about it and get in touch.... you will know who you are!!!
Ubumama
You may know that in April Gordon and I went to Chicago to an arts and health conference. at the confence i went ot a workshop sponsored by the WHO about a project which is trying to address the issues effecting maternal mortality . In sub-saharan africa 1 in 15 women die in childbirth, in the uk this figure is probably less than 1 per 2000 births. (guestimate) In Uganda last year 6000 women died giving birth. the project called ubuamama is encouraging women to talk together share their stories and together to try and address some of the local issues which effect this dreadful statistic.
So, i have brought ubumama to uganda. In lungujja Pastor Steven allowed me to speak at all the church services and to encourage women to come.... i reminded them of psalm 139 where we are told that God knows us when we are formed in our mothers wombs and so as well as each child being important, so are mothers. Genisis 3 v 16 tells us that God told women that childbirth would be painful but not that they would die.... and so we began.....on Thursday and Friday afternoon over 30 women with their children came and together we shared our stories of childbirth. From our stories we have designed and are now creating individual embroideries which celebrate the birth of our children..... a real arts for health workshop!!! I provided the materials and the wonderful women who it is a privilige to work with are sharing their stories. It is one of the most moving things i have ever done.... it is unusual for women to talk in the way they are beginging to and so we are coaxing their stories out of them, some of them so sad and difficult it is hard not to be moved. In the short term we may not be able to find solutions but my long term hope and prayer for these dear sisters is that they may continue to meet to sew, share and trust each other with both their difficult issues and their celebrations. One woman is expecting a baby any day, her 6th, so please pray for her safety and that of her child.... I will update you when we know.
So, i have brought ubumama to uganda. In lungujja Pastor Steven allowed me to speak at all the church services and to encourage women to come.... i reminded them of psalm 139 where we are told that God knows us when we are formed in our mothers wombs and so as well as each child being important, so are mothers. Genisis 3 v 16 tells us that God told women that childbirth would be painful but not that they would die.... and so we began.....on Thursday and Friday afternoon over 30 women with their children came and together we shared our stories of childbirth. From our stories we have designed and are now creating individual embroideries which celebrate the birth of our children..... a real arts for health workshop!!! I provided the materials and the wonderful women who it is a privilige to work with are sharing their stories. It is one of the most moving things i have ever done.... it is unusual for women to talk in the way they are beginging to and so we are coaxing their stories out of them, some of them so sad and difficult it is hard not to be moved. In the short term we may not be able to find solutions but my long term hope and prayer for these dear sisters is that they may continue to meet to sew, share and trust each other with both their difficult issues and their celebrations. One woman is expecting a baby any day, her 6th, so please pray for her safety and that of her child.... I will update you when we know.
Cows, chickens and computers
My time in the last two weeks has been completely filled. In retrospect its hard to describe exactly what i have done but a quick summary would cover inspecting all the projects The Kabanda Trust has funded. this has involved spending a lot of time (!!!!) going over the intracies of each with both Charles the headteacher at Nanasana and Pastor Steven at Rock of Joy school run by his church. We have also started to do some forward planning and thinking rather than facing issues as they rise, hopefully this will enable us to be more organised in the future. Our discusssions have ranged from the purchase of cows and milk production (Fliss the cow who my neice funded last year by raising money at her school in gloucester and now has calf named Bell and is producing vast amounts of milk) and Ann who TKT funded earlier this year. On Tuesday we are going to buy the next cow to be housed in the impressive shed mentioned earlier......
My knowledge and expertise on broilers (chickens you feed up to sell to eat) versus layers (lay eggs .... obviously) is now second to none and the purchase of a computer for one of the schools is proving quite a challenge! They have a bench with 6 computers lined up on it which all look as though they came out of the ark. Only 1 of them is functional and as no-one in the school knows how to use it, it just sits with the others literally gathering dust. the teachers very enthusiatically explained to me how these computers could be used to teach the children to type !!! no comment........ anyway, we have just arranged for two teachers to take a computer course so that they can in turn,w ith the help of Topi our administrator here who is a computer wizz, teach the other teachers and then we have planned a programe of teaching which will introduce the children to a computer whihc actually works.... PRAISE GOD!
At the weekend we ventured to jinjja for a two day break where Gordon joined us. He and Ems then risked life and limb whitewater rafting - it was definitely a once in a life time experiance for me. The others and i went and watched at Bugugali falls a grade 4 rapid and i remembered why i was never doing it again. Although i do have to admit to an adrenalin rush as i watched my nearesst and dearest enjoying the thrill..........
My knowledge and expertise on broilers (chickens you feed up to sell to eat) versus layers (lay eggs .... obviously) is now second to none and the purchase of a computer for one of the schools is proving quite a challenge! They have a bench with 6 computers lined up on it which all look as though they came out of the ark. Only 1 of them is functional and as no-one in the school knows how to use it, it just sits with the others literally gathering dust. the teachers very enthusiatically explained to me how these computers could be used to teach the children to type !!! no comment........ anyway, we have just arranged for two teachers to take a computer course so that they can in turn,w ith the help of Topi our administrator here who is a computer wizz, teach the other teachers and then we have planned a programe of teaching which will introduce the children to a computer whihc actually works.... PRAISE GOD!
At the weekend we ventured to jinjja for a two day break where Gordon joined us. He and Ems then risked life and limb whitewater rafting - it was definitely a once in a life time experiance for me. The others and i went and watched at Bugugali falls a grade 4 rapid and i remembered why i was never doing it again. Although i do have to admit to an adrenalin rush as i watched my nearesst and dearest enjoying the thrill..........
Water, water everywhere......
Two weeks later... thank you to all you lovely people who have been reading my blog and feeding back. Today is the first time that i have been able to access my blog to update it. this is mostly because of the vaguearies of the electricity supply here. Any time i have managed to get to an internet cafe my priority has been to keep up with the work i am doing here and not to chat... so SORRY.... if you would like to catch up do look at Bex's blog (link from mine) as she has been writing more regularly.
Anyway, just to entertain you water is also an intermitant luxury. One day last week I got up at 7 for a shower to find that the water was off. the day continued and returning to my room hot and sticky from a long hard day at school overseeing the projects and struggling to keep up with the language, i undressed (no dont think about it) and rushed enthusiastically into the shower room ( well ..... there were a few tiles on the walls) only to find i had left the tap turned on and there was water everywhere. Undaunted i turned the tap off adn proceeded to clean up a bit..... then i turned the tap back on and guess what, YES, in that 5 min the water had gone off again!!!!
so, now we have moved to other accomodation for the second part of our stay and the water supply is less intermitant but is always cold. So i am learning in all things to be grateful.... at least we have water... sometimes!
Anyway, just to entertain you water is also an intermitant luxury. One day last week I got up at 7 for a shower to find that the water was off. the day continued and returning to my room hot and sticky from a long hard day at school overseeing the projects and struggling to keep up with the language, i undressed (no dont think about it) and rushed enthusiastically into the shower room ( well ..... there were a few tiles on the walls) only to find i had left the tap turned on and there was water everywhere. Undaunted i turned the tap off adn proceeded to clean up a bit..... then i turned the tap back on and guess what, YES, in that 5 min the water had gone off again!!!!
so, now we have moved to other accomodation for the second part of our stay and the water supply is less intermitant but is always cold. So i am learning in all things to be grateful.... at least we have water... sometimes!
Friday 14 July 2006
Rock of Joy
It feels like its been a busy day and yet we havent done that much! This morning we all (bex, ems, jayne, kate & I) got a taxi to Lungujja to visit the Rock of Joy School. What a welcome!! Smiling, shouting, orange school uniform clad children everywhere absolutely beside themselves with excitment at our arrival. The whole site has so changed - with money donated through our Kabanda Trust by churches, schools and individuals at home they have been able to extend the school buildings and build new classrooms, put a fence around the site, and have now taken over another building next door to provide sleeping accommodation for some children
Eventually we managed to peel ourselves from the children and went into the house for excited greetings from Pastor Steven, his wife Gladys and all the friends and family- my first task as doctors wife was too run the morning clinic! The first patient was my daughter Lizzie and Amy who have bad tummy upsets - they need some antibiotics and sweet drinks with salt. Next was the sadest story of a little girl Carol aged 8 who has been left with her aunt and the aunt beats her. The poor child had the most appalling swollen infected lip whihc was clearly agony for her - a quick consultation over the phone to the real doctor and she had antibiotics and ibuprofen... such a sad sad thing and it is accepted as the norm by most people.
Then a very excited Pastor Steven showed us round - and well he might be excited. God is so blessing what they are doing - from 15 children two years ago they now have 240 children for whom they provide free school. The money some of you generous people have donated is so gratefully recieved - they have desks and benches for the children to sit at, black boards, uniforms, sportswear and text books and the teachers are so encouraged to know that people are supporting them. the excitment and enthusiam of everyone was tangible and the way they are develoing the school is amazing.
Lizzie and 10 of her friends from Bristol University Cu have been there for nearly three weeks and they have been working so hard. Recently Pastor Steven has been able to rent a building behind the school and the girls have been working to turn it into a boarding house.
Thursday 13 July 2006
Smiling faces and dust
I had forgotten that one of the first things that grabs you when you arrive in Uganda are the smiling faces - everybody is so friendly and because we are white wants to try and help us or speak to us or just practice their English. The second thing I had forgotten is the dust, a rich, thick red dust that gets everywhere, consequently i have a really sore throat this evening, but hey...
I am here with four others, Bex my daughter, Emily who is 17 and studying for her A levels before going to do medicine, Jayne who is a childrens worker with north staff youth for Christ and Kate a friend of jaynes who is an actress. We arrived late last night after a long journey via Dubai and Addis Ababababa as the captain said (if he cant get it right who can?) and were all fairly exhausted. Today we headed into Kampala to get orientated, on a matatu which is a public minibus whihc should seat 12 but takes as many as they can pile in - for the equivalent of 20p you travel quite a long distance. Money changing and some lunch followed after which we all headed to Nansana Royal Primary School.
An exciting experiance for Jayne, Kate and Ems who were feeling a bit lost and disorientated as the children just won their hearts - their happy smiling faces and pure pleasure at seeing us was a real joy. We toured the building, admired the new cow shed with its concrete storage tanks for manure and urine (ummm not sure that much detail was necessary) and stood under a tree whilst the children seranaded us with a song welcoming us to their school.
Next week the work at the school starts. The girls are gonig to do a whole series of craft and teaching sessions based on noahs ark. Kate is going to do some music and singing with a couple of classes and I am going to meet with staff and head teacher to review and plan things with the trust.
We have come up the hill to a guest house for supper and emails.... so, having read my emails, I'm going for my supper! Tomorrow we are planing to visit Lungujja and have a first look at Rock of Joy school -more smiling faces no doubt!
I am here with four others, Bex my daughter, Emily who is 17 and studying for her A levels before going to do medicine, Jayne who is a childrens worker with north staff youth for Christ and Kate a friend of jaynes who is an actress. We arrived late last night after a long journey via Dubai and Addis Ababababa as the captain said (if he cant get it right who can?) and were all fairly exhausted. Today we headed into Kampala to get orientated, on a matatu which is a public minibus whihc should seat 12 but takes as many as they can pile in - for the equivalent of 20p you travel quite a long distance. Money changing and some lunch followed after which we all headed to Nansana Royal Primary School.
An exciting experiance for Jayne, Kate and Ems who were feeling a bit lost and disorientated as the children just won their hearts - their happy smiling faces and pure pleasure at seeing us was a real joy. We toured the building, admired the new cow shed with its concrete storage tanks for manure and urine (ummm not sure that much detail was necessary) and stood under a tree whilst the children seranaded us with a song welcoming us to their school.
Next week the work at the school starts. The girls are gonig to do a whole series of craft and teaching sessions based on noahs ark. Kate is going to do some music and singing with a couple of classes and I am going to meet with staff and head teacher to review and plan things with the trust.
We have come up the hill to a guest house for supper and emails.... so, having read my emails, I'm going for my supper! Tomorrow we are planing to visit Lungujja and have a first look at Rock of Joy school -more smiling faces no doubt!
Monday 10 July 2006
Planes, pumps and roast magpie
We fly tomorrow afternoon at 2.00pm from Birm to Dubai then an 8 hour wait (umm...) before onwards via Addis Ababa to Entebbe. Bex & Emily Wilson who is coming with us (daughter of Jules and Trish for those who know them) have just spent a happy hour cramming 140 pairs of plimsolls into a bag for the flight - an interesting experiance!
Yesterday our appreciation of wimbledon was somewhat interupted by a bird in the back of our gas fire. A call to the gas board today enlightened me that this was an emergency. Within 25 mins a the gas man called, somewhat dauntedly removed gas fire and a dead magpie!! just as well we didnt need the fire on - has anyone ever tasted roast magpie?
Yesterday our appreciation of wimbledon was somewhat interupted by a bird in the back of our gas fire. A call to the gas board today enlightened me that this was an emergency. Within 25 mins a the gas man called, somewhat dauntedly removed gas fire and a dead magpie!! just as well we didnt need the fire on - has anyone ever tasted roast magpie?
Thursday 6 July 2006
A New Discovery
Yesterday I spent an interesting 45 mins with James from BBC Radio Stoke talking about what we have been developing in Uganda and learning how to use a digitial voice recorder which the BBC have lent me! The plan is that I am going to make an audio diary of our up and coming visit to be used on one of their programmes.... so listen for this space :)
And so the idea of blogging.... James's suggestion.... apparently means I dont have to email and I can transfer bits of my journal, recordings (if I dare share them) and photos so that you can see them! So here I am having a go. Bex has got me started and been inspired to do her own blog so have a read and get her view on it all as well!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
