February - School and rainy season begin hallelujah!!

Once again we have found ourselves coming to the end of another fantastic month in Uganda. We are now actually half way through our year which is a very sad and scary thought.. they always say the next half goes the quickest this worries me as the first half went so quickly already!

This month included the end of holidays and going back to school! I was actually really looking forward to going back as I missed all the kids so much! I was also looking forward to getting back into a teaching routine and helping out at the health clinic again. We had our holidays and now it was time to get back to work!
The 2nd of February was the day before school started. You would think everything would be getting very organized for the main day tomorrow but in Uganda this is not how it works. People here can be pretty good at postponing things until the verrrry last minute so all questions Jess and I asked about the start of school were answered with "we shall see on Monday" at first this got a bit stressful as Jess and I felt like the only semi-organized people in the school! But we sat back and let it be and were ready to help out when they realized infact they did need a bit of organization!
They Sunday before school was eerily calm.. the calm before the storm! we spent that day sorting out books, teaching resources that we thought we may need for the new term (bare in mind at this point we didn't even know who or what subjects we would be teaching!) It was only at 11pm that night that it was decided it would probably be a good idea to put the desks into each classrooms. So there we were in the pitch black night using phone torches and moving desks back with Herbert, sara, tallemwa, site, sajay and deo. The compound was also swept so we were all being chocked by the dust up in the air and were having to dodge burning piles of leaves while moving the desks. Finally we had finished and went to bed to prepare ourselves for the storm the next day.

3rd February - the storm had hit! Well actually it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be maybe a fource 4 gale? Anyway we got up bright and early and were greeted by lots and lots of new pupils to be interviewed to deterimine which classes they went into. Jess and I carried out a few of these. Some were so nervous and I sympathized so much with them as I remember I used to hate on the spot tests and ended up failing them so it was quite heartbreaking when I interviewed one kid, I tried to make him feel as comfortable as possible but he really was not getting any of the questions I asked him even with a lot of help so he had to go into p2 when he was previously in p3. It was such a shame as the tears started to roll down his face, I just wanted to give him a big hug and slip him into the p3 class! Although I know its for the best to put him in a class he can manage. He is doing really well now and is a very happy guy (I kept a check on him throughout the week)
Not only did we have new pupils we also had a bunch of new teachers! We now have a new teacher for the new p5 class and a teacher for p4, top and baby. The teacher for p4 sounds identical to Marty zebra in Madagascar (nearly called him marty a number of times) We also have a new head teacher! His name is fred and he is 19 years old.... i was very surprised when he came out with that sentence!
Jess and I also took the responisbilty of registering each kid in the school and giving out jotters to each pupil and pens and pencils. They were all so excited to get new pens and pencils! Then for the rest of the day the kids were left to rome around the school so jess and i decided to make there time worth while and play games with them like tig, sticky willow, british bulldogs etc fair to say we tired them out! We also had a minor awkward situation when joyce the previous p4 teacher came back. Noone was expecting her to come back well actually i don't think they knew if she was or not and the new head teacher fred had moved into her room. It was verrrry awkward when she asked me where fred stayed i was like errr over there somewhere i think! I ended up having to clear out her stuff with her and phone up a boda boda to take her and belongings back to kampala! I have also come to the conclusion that people here are very bad at confrontations and hope that the person will just eventually get the idea!
So now our new neighbor is Fred not Joyce!
The first day at school once the school day had finished we had a teachers meeting to allocated classes/subjects/roles. Jess and I are now the designated P.E teachers, we do P.E with p1,2,3,4 and 5. We also do reading and writing with p2 and 3 and drawing with p1 and this term we are also more involved with the lower classes baby and top as we now do shading and drawing with them.
P.E is so much fun as the kids love to get out of the classroom for once and run around! Its so different to what they are used to and its so rewarding to teach them new games that they love and have so much fun doing! (thankyou mr fraser and jane for all the games in pe they have been very useful!)
In the meeting Vivian one of the teachers then volunteered me to be the secretary of the school. So now i am a secretary! following my mothers footsteps here! Jess and I have also been put in charge of debate and quiz afternoons on a Friday and we also asked if we could start up an art club on a weekly afternoon which they were happy with. So now the teachers include, Jess, me, fred, erinah, moreen, Vivian, Annette, edith, rose and Charles. A very good team i think!

Also in the previous blog i mentioned how we came back to the school being built with bricks! I can now say that it is pretty much completed! With builders coming from Kampala it was finished within a week! All we need now is doors and windows and paint and it will be done! (windows and doors aren't a necessity at the moment with the heat)


Also this month weve had Herbert and Sara who are my age and a bit younger living here ( i think i mentioned them in the previous blog) anyway they are still here and i don't want them to go! I love just sitting outside with them chatting my luganda is getting a lot better with them as Herbert is always teaching me new words. Some nights i will be sitting out with them under the stars playing snake on my phone and learning new words like "sara ofuyay"(v. bad spelling but basically means sara is gassing) which she replys "oh limba!" (your lieing!) "slimba!" (im not lieing!)  its pretty fun to wind her up but i can always reassure her that she my mukwano! (friend)
I've also been taught a word "enyoko" which is apparently a bad word that i cannot say around people under the age of 15.. still don't know what it means though!
In return of Herbert teaching me luganda i decided to teach him Scottish words! So far I've taught him och aye, nae, wee, ta, weisht, bairn, etc the words sound hilarious in his Ugandan accent but he loves Scottish words! I also told him that supercalafragalisticexpealadocious meant great in Scottish... it was a form of torture for him trying to learn it but was so funny, i should probably tell him its not actually true!

This month we also were invited to a wedding in Kampala with Deo! It was very exciting as Deo thought it would be a good idea for us to go and get Gomez's made for the wedding. A gomez is the Buganda traditional dress. I will try explain how to wear one.
First you put on the kichou (not kichoo as i learnt this means a bed bug!) You have this material up to your shoulders like a box then you tie it around you waist and fold the top over itself.
Then you get the gomez and put it on like a coat, button it at the front side and gather the left over material to the side.
This material is then folded in and you tie another bit of material around your waist and let that left over material hand down over it.
Then you get the sash type thing, wrap it around your waist and tie it at the front and voila! you have your gomez!
So for the gomez Jess and I made our way to Mityana to see caroline, deos sister at the market. She then took us to a material shop where we picked out the material we wanted, then we went to go get our kichou and she began to make it! In the next couple of days we came back to find our gomez's had been finished! She then took us into a room and showed us how to put it on (ill tell you its not easy!) everyone at the market said we looked very smart and were very happy to see mzunugus in a gomez!

Before the wedding however we had valentines day! it wasn't that special as we spent the day going to mityana to pick up school uniforms. However i did get proposed to at the rolex stand and invited to go to a mans parents house to be introduced to them, most romantic valentines day ive had. I also got given a branch of a tree for a valentines present..

15th of February- was wedding day! Deo, Jess Site and I headed off early to catch a taxi to Kampala. Deo got off before us to go and collect his suit so we were left with site who had never been to kampala before and ill tell you for a fact it is a lot crazier than the village life we live in kisweera! So we had site grasping onto our hands for dear life while we weaved our way through the hustle and bustle of kampala. We then stopped at a café and we all had a soda and chapatti while waiting for Deo. Deo then finally arrived and we made our way to the old taxi park to get a taxi to the church. Made it to the taxi park after at least 2 close hits by taxis and soon enough we were at the church and under a tree with my top off infront of a busy road and a group of people i had no idea were while an old woman that was one of deos relatives dressed me in my gomez... taxis that drove past were a tad shocked!
We then had some pictures taken with people that wanted a picture and then made our way into the most beautiful church! There were long mosaic windows, huge chandaleirs, flowers everywhere and the bride looked so beautiful! She kinda looked like Janet Jackson! I also saw Julie who was deos neice i think. It was so nice to see her! Then we got piled into a car to make our way to the reception. The reception was very fancily decorated with the colour scheme of gold and red. There were sooo many lights and a huge centre piece. The more tacky the better! We had to wait a while for the bride and groom to come but that was no problem as we were thoroughly entertained by the traditional Buganda dancing and music. It was amazing! I've never seen bums shake so much in my life. It looked seriously tireing though!
Once the bride and groom arrived some speeches and dancing and singing were done. Then it was time for dinner! There was chicken, rice, gnut sauce, and more and of course soda! Once everyone had finished dinner it was time for giving the presents to the bride and groom. We all had our presents and had to dance towards the bride and groom where we were then given a huge hug by them and thanked and we then proceeded to dance to our seats.
Once the wedding was over Jess and I made our way to backpackers where we entered in our gomez's and got a lot of positive comments and shocked expressions!

As i said earlier because we are back at school we are now helping at the medical centre again every market monady (every fortnight) It was so good to be back and see everyone again. We set up our work station once again and started to register new babies and what immunisations they had received that day in the records. Once we had finished this job we asked mercyline if she needed anymore help. To which she replied yes and we were then led through into the injection room. Very oblivious to it all we watched her do an injection upwards into a babies arm. I thought we would probably just help her clean the babies arm before she did the next one but nope. She handed a needle to me i was like "wait your wanting me to inject the baby?!" she was like "yes! you saw me to do it, you know now, you learn from trieing".... i felt my hands start to shake as i walked over to the baby oblivious to what i was about to do to it. Merycline kind of talked me through it by saying now pinch the arm and put the needle into the indent. I pinched it and went for it and stabbed the needle upwards into its arm and quickly injected the liquid to prevent measles before i had registered what i was actually doing! I then stepped back and was like what on earth have i just done?! I then had to dispose of the needle without pricking myself. I then also gave mouth drops to babies to prevent polio which was a hell of a lot less nerve wracking! Then Mercyline did an injection into the babies upper thigh to prevent diphtheria. Once again i found myself with a needle in my hand about to stab a baby in the thigh. That one i found easier and soon i was injecting a few more babies. Bare in mind throughout this Ugandan mothers were watching me doing the injections which did not make it any more easier! Once the injections had finished Jess and I walked out of the clinic and only then did it truly dawn on us what we had just done. I'm not sure how i was trusted with it but mercyline had said next time we could try the bcg one... i think im going to have to draw the line at that one!
After that health clinic session we went back to school where i helped edith draw a billion mud huts into the baby classes books for them to copy.

25th February - first day of rain!!! Rainy season has begun!
you have no idea how happy i was to walk out of the p2 classroom i had just taught and feel the water droplets on my bare arms! I saw deo and shouted "Its raining!!" then i saw Vivian who had an ongoing joke that it would never rain ever so i smugly said "eh Vivian what do you call this?" she laughed a lot then assured me it would stop very soon! Herbert was freezing sheltering under the rain and thought i was crazy for standing in it. I was going to try and put a basin out for water but the water was so dirty as it was washing the roofs from dust and was falling off the gutter brown.

So this month has been pretty hard with it being dry season and having very limited water. Bore hole trips are fun though when its not baking heat. yesterday Herbert, sara and i made our way to the bore hole on the bikes and when we got to the bore hole Herbert was like you are not like any other mzunug ive met! i guess that is a compliment maybe, but he did say this after i showed him my party trick or rolling my eyes so its just white eyeball staring at him. Sara said she was going to have nightmares so now whenever i see them i just flash them my white eyeball and they freak out, its hilarious! Now i think times are going to get easier with the rain, you don't realize how much you love it until its gone!

However with the rain i have today developed a cold.. i did miss the rain but not a classic cold!

ps very sorry i didn't put photos in this one as i forgot my camera but will post another blog sometime with photos of new school etc!