So the first month has been jam packed which means that this blog could be quite long but I'll try not to bore you all!
I have officially started teaching! It is so much fun and all the kids are so eager to learn! The other day they were pleading me to give them homework, still cant get my head around that one! I teach mainly p3s and p4s. I teach p3s maths and p4 english. I also teach p2s read and write which youve got to have a lot of energy for as Ive learnt the best way to keep them engaged is to keep them active, they thought it was great when i acted out a fat and thin person and then someone being sick. (very glad a teacher didn't walk past when i was taking this role) Teaching in itself is very different to what it is at home. especially the classrooms! As we are in the rainfall season classes are called off pretty much as the papyrus does not do too much for shelter and when i write on the chalkboard the rain just washes it right off! Animals are also regular visitors as chickens and ducks stroll in and even the cheeky baby goat. Avacados will also occasionally roll to the front as kids in the class go to the toilet and then on their way back pick up an avacado and stash it for later. Kids have also started to give us loads and loads of fruits while were teaching so we end up with big pile beside the chalk board at the end of the class! I also love how enthusiastic they all are about everything, when you walk in their clapping and beating their tables and when you leave they thank you for teaching and ask you not to go! Jess and I also introduced stars when marking work and now they beg for you to draw them a star after marking every question! In our first week i also had a go at teaching the p1's but it turned out to be quite hard as they didnt have much english so had no idea what i was saying at all and spent most of the time stroking my arms and hair when i was trying to explain something to them!
However all the kids in each year are so keen to get their work marked and to see their smiles when they get something right makes it so enjoyable! I havnt really had to introduce a disciplinary that much as they all want us to praise them and not get annoyed at them (hopefully this doesnt ware off!) But as teaching goes on i get to know each child individually and get to know how they learn and what is better for them.
Not only are we getting to know the kids all a lot more were also getting to know everyone in the village really well. Gita who lives opposite us is brilliant and david in myanzi helps us get a good taxi or boda whenever we go somewhere. Kids are also starting to call us by our names rather than mzungu which is a great achievement!
The school provides us with break time food which is porridge and lunch which is either beans and posho, matooke or casava.
The school days are actually really long it starts at 8 and ends at 5. I dont know how theyre still running about the place at the end of the day! But at the end of the day at 4 there are extra curicular things like music, which is basically deo banging the drum and all the kids dancing and singing, its so fun to watch and everyone gets so in to and cant help but jump up and dance as well. They also have hand work which is basically the girls weaving baskets and the boys making brooms. There is also sport but its not organised at all as they just run about or play with a ball. Some girls do play netball but i dont think they know the actual rules so will definitely relive my glory netball days with them!
Weve also seem to have started to become the local medical clinic as weve had to bandage up and diagnose a lot of infected cuts and burst toe nails, im definitely getting less squeamish about blood!
The teachers in the school are also really nice and helpful. Madrine who teaches p1 is only 17 and loved seeing all our photos, she said that she likes the way i talk as well which is a first! Vivianne is also lovely and teaches top class, she is practically the mother to all the kids and always has a kid clinging to her. And Annette who teaches baby class is brilliant. You can tell she is teaching as you hear her from a mile off! She is also hilarious and has the best hair, so tempted to get mine the same, braided and dyed!
The other night we witnessed a boda boda drivers wedding! It was dark and we heard screaming, shouting and roaring coming down our peaceful road so of course the whole village had to come out and see what was going on, and suddenly tons of bodas flew past lighting up the whole place! They had branches and leaves all over their bodas and were standing on their bodas and screaming and throwing gun powder things on the ground to make small explosions! It was hilarious! I think its fair to say boda boda drivers know how to throw a wedding.
We also have gone on a few trips on our weekends. We went to Fort Portal to visit other volunteers. It is a 4 hour taxi ride from Myanzi so a bit of a trek but the journey is so nice as we passed so many rolling hills that were covered in tea plantations. We also came across many other mzungus which was actually pretty weird, i think im getting to used to being the only ones! In Fort Portal we went to the orphanage which was lovely, the kids were so sweet and clung to you like limpets! It was quite sad to say bye however as they all burst into tears, i felt a bit sorry for the people working at the orphanage that had to calm them down once we had left! We then went to visit Justice and Miriam who run the orphanage, they were so lovely and welcoming and invited us to their born again church the next day.
The born again church was amazing!! Although it took 4 hours it was not boring in the slightest! there was so much singing and dancing even though we didnt know the songs it was impossible not to stand up with everyone else and dance! Kids were on the stage doing the best dance routines youve seen and were singing along with 2 men who were doing the service, it was brilliant! There would also be outbursts of clapping and "Praise God!" and "Hallelujah!" and at one point the 2 men doing the service got everyone singing and then to jump up and down, i literally felt like i was in a crowd at a festival! no mosh pits though. During the service the project trust volunteers were taken up to the stage to introduce ourselves to the fully packed church. Then women from the audience had to run up to us and pick one of us to take us back to our seat (after giving us a full embrace) The service also turned into a matchmaking service at one point as all the single men had to go to the front then all the single women where they were then given hope by married couples who went up and prayed for them. People were asking if i was married or not but luckily i had a kid on my lap from the orphanage so didnt have to go up! Near the end of the service an old man was also taken up to the front, he had just been out of hospital and was made to kneel down at the front where 5 other people layed their hands on him and prayed very intensely. He was then given a new jacket and new shoes as a sign of renewal. there was also times where we had to point and one side of the church and shout and scream and then the other side, i didnt really know what we were doing there but i just copied everyone else!
We are also now invited to Justice and Mariams wedding on the 19th of October! I am so excited to attend a traditional Ugandan wedding! We have the roles of being the photographers! Maybe a new career is awaiting for me..
The past week I have been helping to build 2 new water tanks that will collect rain from roofs and then will fill up which means no more walks to the bore hole! Even though i was quite enjoying a good old cycle to the bore hole! But it will be a lot easier and resourceful! So i spent afternoons shoveling cement and placing bricks to make a foundation for it. Before long they were up and functioning! We filled our first jerry can with rain water the other night it was a very proud moment.
I still cant get over the night sky here! Every night the sky has hundreds and hundreds of stars! On my way to the long drop at night (lovely i know) I end up star gazing with deo for hours until i realize im bursting for the toilet and have to go! Weve also witnessed an amazing moon rise! It was incredible and lit up all the banana trees around our home. Weve also found out there will be a lunar eclipse soon which im pretty excited about! The lightning here is still incredible to me, they all laugh when i get so excited over it! The rainfall season also apparently hasn't hit its worse so still more rain to come!
Maria, tallemwa, seeta and sajay also took us to their church the other weekend. It was a very long walk to get there up a huge hill and where we finaly reached a banged up tiny tin hut which was their church! We were then greeted by people in white cloaks. We were then asked to take off our shoes and walk round to the back where there were mats to kneel on. The whole 4 hour service was in Luganda, I had no clue what was going on! I dont even know what religoun it was, i think it was a new one though.. At the end of the service everyone suddenly started giving us gifts such as sugar cane, peanuts, avacados, papya etc I still dont know why and at one point edith told me to give some peanuts to the people in the white cloaks. So i had to kneel down and hand them a bag of peanuts. They loved it so i guess i did it okay!
Our cooking is also improving thankfully. We are becoming more adventurous which sometimes is not always good.. We made a cake for maria and deo and everyone else and they loved it! The builder also tried some and was so appreciative of it he came the next day with a huge papya for us! Seeta and Tallemwa also love our creations, we made a banan syrup which they loved and couldnt get enough of! I think its a nice change from beans and casava for them. One night when i was over at their house they whipped out a bag of white ants.. They did not look appetising and were kind of squidgy to touch but seeta and tallemwa popped a couple in their mouth and insisted i tried some, i could not refuse them and they were not bad at all! Maria then fryed up some in salt and oh my gosh they were so good! If you get a wing stuck in your teeth its a bit weird but otherwise its just like eating peanuts!
We have also taken a trip to Kampala to meet up with other volunteers. There is a lot of security around kampala at the moment especially around supermarkets which was quite reasuring in a way! In kampala we went to Owino market which was Huge!! It was incredible. So many stalls crammed up so cloesly to one another. When you walked through the cooking section of the market it suddenly got so hot as there was no chance for air to get in our out! The clothes sections were also hillarious as people would whip you with their clothes to get your attention, interesting marketing technique! There were also lots of camera phones shoved at me to get photos of me which was a bit odd. Some marriage proposals were thrown in as well, not as romantic as you think it was basically them shouting "Marry me!" I find that a good sense of humour goes a long way here!
After Owino Market we went to the African craft market which had so many amazing things in it. It was very typical africa stuff and was quite different to owino market!
The next day before leaving Kampala we decided to take a trip to the tombs in Kampala. Although the actual tomb was burnt down in 2010 it was still so interesting! The tour guide was an actual prince (his uncle was the king) it was also so interesting to find out more about the royal ugandan culture. There was a hut full of drums which were specifically beaten to whatever the king was feeling. There was one for when he was hungry, standing up, tired, happy, pretty much one for every feeling!
So overall this first month in Uganda has been the best month so far! I've gotten to know so many people and feel like ive really made some amazing friends! All the kids have warmed to us so much and i feel like i have 30 odd brothers and sisters here!
I cannot wait for what the next month will bring and look forward to telling you all about it!
Untill next time, Abi
