March- a month spent teaching baby class...

Well March has been a month in Uganda spent fully teaching. Although at the start of this term we were teaching PE to all the classes "MAKE A CIRCLE!" they reply "A BIG CIRCLE!!" After a parents afternoon it was decided that it would be better for us to be more focused on the younger classes to improve their english from the start. Jess and I were happy to help in any way we could so agreed to it, its also nice to have a change every now and again, we have now taught all classes in the school at some point in our time here!
As the kids in baby class' english is not very good at all we have to use our luganda phrases in the classroom like "Tulla wansi"- sit down and "silika!"- keep quiet and "Webake" which means go to sleep, you would be suprised on how helpful that phrase is when they are running riot! Usually however we have the class teacher in with us to help and we act as class room assistants. The baby classes are split into two because there were so many of them, baby blue and baby green. Baby blue is definitly a lot younger and arent as good at the work as baby green. Vivian teaches baby green so i usually help Edith with baby blue as they are the ones that need it the most. I either fill in work into all the kids books the day before as before edith would do it during class time which would take away time from her teaching them and all the kids would just get really restless. So now classes tend to run more smoother as the work is allready filled in ready to be completed. I spent my afternoons drawing a billion cows, mud huts, old people, razor blades, etc for them to match, colour in, or comlete. I will defintily be a pro at drawing dangerous objects by the end of this year! Last week i was drawing insects like cockroaches, mosquitoes etc for them to colour in!
I also help dish out the books and pencils to the kids and then help the ones struggling with the work. Most of the kids understand what to do when i do an example for them and go over it with them but there are some that just seem too young to even be at school! There is one girl called nabakooza who is way too young to be in school let alone matching insects to one another! 
Some days edith or vivian either need to go to the hospital or do some errands so Jess and I are left to teach the class on our own. This is the most hectic thing I've ever had to do! Obviously because we dont beat and verbal warnings dont exactly work with babies who dont know much english they have the tendancy to go absaloutly crazy! I find myself thinking back to nanny 901 and think what did she do with all those mental spoilt kids?! We have kids like Wasswa climbing up the walls (weve realized now that when we peel them off the wall they treat it like some game so we have to ignore them) we have a sea of kids sticking to you when you ask one person to come and draw something on the board. We have 2 girls called Peace in our class and you find yourself shouting "PEACE STOP!" when shes clambering all over everything and everyone (it feels quite wrong shouting the word peace angrily) We also have Lubega who is soo cheeky, the other day he was biting other kids and going mental in general but jess luckily managed to put him to sleep by stroking his forehead (works a treat that one) we also have tamale who is constantly running out of the classroom, as the classroom doesnt actually have a door its pretty hard to control who comes in or out!
Once we have finnished the days work we have "webake time" where the majority of them fall asleep due to exhaustion of running riot, im not going to lie a couple of times i have joined them in this sleep time as your usually shattered by the end of it!
There was one time when Edith and Vivian had gone to do something so jess and i took one classroom each. Usually when there is two of us one of us can be at the front while the other is at the back stopping them from beating each other up but when your on your own it can be extremly difficult to do both things! While i was in one classroom i heard jess shout "WHO PUT THE SEED IN CONGO'S MOUTH?!" i had to ask her about this afterwards, the story goes that one kid had shoved a huge mangoe seed into congo's mouth, to which it got trapped and he started panicking and jess had to fish it out and comfort him! That is just some of the eventful things that happen in baby class!
In baby class when edith is teaching she does beat the kids when they get something wrong several times or arent listening or fighting. It can be quite hard to sit there while she does it and i find myself going up to comfort them afterwards. Teachers here know we think its wrong and that they shouldnt do it, we do make it plainly obvious but because theyve grown up with it and its such a common thing they dont see it as a big deal. It breaks my heart though when she beats a kid for getting something wrong as i think thats not going to make them understand! Like a girl called sanyu the other day was crying so much after getting beat that she couldnt even hold her pencil, after calming her down she was still shaking so she couldnt draw a straight line so i helped guide her pencil and finnish the work so she could go outside for break. Jess and I have told other teachers and the head teachers our opinions and that there are other ways of punishment but because everyone does it here and its just a fact of education here its hard to get them to change their ways sadly.

This month we have stayed mostly in our village, one of the main bits of news from our village was that there was a guy going round stealing peoples boda bodas by killing the drivers then taking the bikes. So a bunch of boda boda drivers found him and hunted him down it was so close to our house that they killed the guy and jess and I were on a boda boda and asked ashlav what is that they're burning? as we drove through the smoke he replied thats the man they killed... we couldnt beleive we had just driven past a burning body and he seemed so casual about it!!
I also mentioned in my last blog about how we have a new head master called Fred who is our neighbour. We chill with him most nights the other night i was outside waiting for the kettle to boil under the stars and he came over to sit beside me and sang me christian songs until it was boiled! It was very relaxing! Its very strange thinking that Jess and I helped him a Ugandan settle in, showed him round, told him about things here and what to do , where to get stuff etc. I think that there shows just how long weve been here! It feels good though to not be the new ones were seen as the regulars which i love! Fred and Charles another teacher say whenever they go to myanzi its like were famous as everyone knows us! a couple of weeks ago the water ran out of the tank so i went to the bore hole. It was the time of kids going back home from school so I walked there with kids that lived on route to the bore hole or further. Tonny one of the kids gave me his books to carry and in return he bought me a banana pancake which i shared with everyone else. I love walking to the bore hole, its so nice when the kids shout "HEllo madame abiiii!" and parents recognise you and greet you, you feel really at home!

This month we also went to go and visit our friend Kabiito Robert who goes to a boarding school in Fort Portal. We know him from the home again orphanage that we visit in the holidays. We told him we were coming to see him but i dont think he actually knew that we would be coming so it was a bit of a suprise!
The boarding school is situated in such a beautiful place, right beside the crater lakes! The best bit of it all though is that the school was founded by a scottish man so all the boys have to wear kilts! (although theyre not tartan they still have a sporan!) it was amazing!
We arrived there and all the pupils were like whhaaat who are the mzunugus coming for?! we then managed to find robert and the smile on his face was priceless when he saw us! It was sooo nice to see him and just chill with him for the afternoon on the grass. We brought sodas and chocolate for him and his friends as well which they loved. Unfortunatly the time went by soo quickly and we soon had to leave to get back home. It was so sad saying goodbye, although we promised we would visit him in the holidays at home again. It was so sad walking away as he looked close to tears! It hit me then how unbearably sad its going to be to say bye for real to everyone here. Im dreading the day...

As I've said in previous blogs that weve been helping out at the medical centre in Myanzi. Beforehand we had been talking to Deo about whether he knew if many of the kids were HIV positive. He had no idea and was saying how it would be so good to get them tested but its things like funds, organising it, who to ask etc that never made it come about. Jess and I then decided to take it into our own hands as we now have good friends at the health center. We asked phiona there and she said no problem it would cost 80,000 for the whole school to be tested , 267 kids! that is only 20 pounds!! so 10 pounds each jess and i were happy to spend. On the 27th of March Phiona and matovu came to the school and set up a little desk in the office. Beforehand jess and i had wrote down all the kids names so that we could just call them out of class to be tested. The test was a simple prick of the finger which was then dabbed onto a testing paper to indicate whether they were positive or not. If they were, they then did another test and if that 2nd test counteracted the first one then a 3rd one would take place to be the tiebreaker.
We started off in baby class. Of course there was a lot of crying and freak outs but soon enough they were finnished we then moved onto Top and then p1, 2, 3,4, and 5. As the classes got older it got easier as we knew everyones names and they were more cooperative! It took the whole day and all the teachers were very suprised and happy we had gotten everyone tested in one day. We even had time for some of the teachers to be tested. There were even people from the village wandering over and asking if they could be tested (we had to draw the line at that one)
Overall the results turned out to be extremly good with only one child being positive from baby class, The health centre knew of her all ready and she is getting treatment for it and her parents are also aware of it.
However this was still such good news with only 1 out of 267 kids being positive. We were thrilled with the results as everyone thought it was going to be alot higher.
Over the next couple of days phiona brought soap for Jess and I to hand out to each child that got tested. As part of the package. Each child got half a bar of soap. You would be quite suprisied on how excited the kids got over a half bar of soap!

More news of the village was that there was a graduation for our neighbour Gita's son and daughter. RIght outside our house was transformed into a venue for it with marques, chairs, an alter(?) and more! We had 3 volunteers from masaka over for the weekend so we thought we would join the celebrations! of course because we are white we got front row seats (im going to find it odd not getting special treatment like that when i get back home!) We also had to dance up infront of everyone to the graduates to congratualte them (kids from our school that were there found this hillarious) and stand in the baking heat while Gita gave a speach about each graduate i was like come onnnn gita rap it up! After we dashed back into the shade and it was time for food! Function food is the best with meat, rice, matoke, soda etc
That night the music was soo loud that parts of our wall crumbled off!

In mityana where we go for nice vegetables etc there is an indian run supermarket that we go to which is so good. We have made friends with Palel who runs it, she made us these really tasty spicy prawn crackers and said she wants to cook us a dinner which we are looking forward too!
Also fred and charles after school were sitting to us chatting and we found out that charles has 2 wives!! Hes only 21 as well! We were gobsmacked, we didnt even know he had one let alone two! We were telling him how he would be called a "ladies man" back in the uk. Fred then told us how his wife in myanzi was very dangerous and if she saw us walking with him she would get very angry and chase after us... so ive declined every offer charles gives to come and meet his wife! I asked him do they not get jealous? he was like no because i love them equally! allright then charlie..
There is also this woman called Patricia who i randomly met outside our house. She asked for my number so i gave it to her, i now get daily phonecalls from her telling me to have a good lunch,dinner etc. She is very sweet though as when we were walking back from the health centre she came running out her house to meet me and asked "abi do you like fruit?" "yeah i do! why?" she runs off and comes back out of her house with a jackfruit for me! so kind of her. We were walking back with edith that day as she was at the health centre getting treatment for malaria so i gave it to her to take back to alice and her family along with my water so she could take her pills, she was very happy and told me she has a present for me in return, who knows what it will be!

So thats been my march here in Uganda. I usually leave this place realizing ive forgotten to put something in!
A few weeks ago we got an email confirming our flights home for the 9th of August...... this means we only have 4 months left!!! its crazy! i keep on having nightmares about saying bye to people here , im trying not to think about it too much though and just enjoy the time i have left here and make the most of everything that comes my way.

So i guess ill see you all in 4 months time!
Nansamba Abi.

pictures!

                                        
                                                 Juliet, Joseph and tony under the salvation community family tree

                                                                   Benedee

                                                                  zaina "abi take a picture of meeee!"

                                                            Told our headmaster fred to smile when a photo is taken
                                                           he is very excited about the fact all my family and friends
                                                           in scotland will see a picture of him so fred says hi!

                                                                    benita looking cute and innocent and not mischievous!

                                                                zaina and I

                                                        drawing cows and goats for baby class!

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!

January the second month of our holidays and preparing for going back to school!

Okay so I stupidly forgot to bring my diary into Mityana today so I'm going to try write this blog from memory!
We decided that the best way to get around Uganda without being seriously delayed and more importantly a more safer option would be to rent out a car and make our way round the places we wanted to see in Uganda. We started off in Kampala, trying to describe what driving is like in Kampala would be hard! Its crazy, hectic is an understatement for it! Steph who was the driver out of the group hadnt driven in 4 months and got plunged straight into the deep end! Getting out of Kampala was a releif and we were soon making our way to Sipi falls through Jinja. It took us around about a day to get there. It was such a beautiful drive though as we got higher up and at points could see right to the border of Uganda to Kenya! We finally arrived at crows nest where we would be staying at sipi falls which had cute wooden shacks perched on a hill facing the falls. The next morning george who worked at crows nest took us on a day walk to the 4 falls. It was so cool getting able to go under and behind the waterfalls and in the caves. It was boiling hot that day so the water from the falls was bliss! George was a very good guide and told us all about the history of the village and all about the falls.
After Sipi falls we set off early again to make our way to murchison falls via Gulu. As it took the whole day we had to stop that night in packwach (dont know how to spell it i arrived their in the dark and left early in the dark so didnt see any signs!) Anyway this turned out to be a night of hell as two girls got taken down by the sipi water we drank yes i know very stupid of us but dehydration took its toll on the walk and the water looked so clean! very deceiving though and i thank achiltibuie for my cast iron stomach as i didnt get any side effects...yet. Anyway the next morning we set off earlyish to get to the national park in Murchison. Just driving to Red Chili where we were going to be staying we saw so many animals including elephants! It was surreal as we got so close to them! I kept on forgetting that they were infact in the wild! After nearly hitting a waterbuck (a big hairy deer like thing) we made it to red chili. I made the very very very stupid mistake of only taking 8,000 in to a national park with me which is 2 pounds... so 2 of the girls went on the boat safari trip while Lauren and I stayed at the red chili chatting with the staff who were super friendly and gave us free bananas and shared their biscuits with us (may have been out of pity since we couldnt afford anything) They then took Lauren and I on a drive to the village in the national park. They told us about how many people had been eaten by lions by going to the toilet at night etc. It was an eventful drive!
The next day we did a game drive. We first had to cross a river with the car as more animals were on the other side of the river. We then charles who was our guide for the day. He first took us down many tracks, i think it would have been impossible to do it without a guide! We saw so many animals so close up like warthogs, kobs, herds of buffalo, waterbucks, elephants, we actually saw a huge elephant with ginormous tusks, it was so close to us and just stared straight at us! We also saw girraffes which were incredible! I knew they were always big but you dont realize just how big they are when they are right beside you! When they run they look like they are running in slow motion it was the best thing i had ever seen. We also saw wildabeasts bathing in the mud, it all felt like david attenborough should have been speaking over it all!
After the game drive we headed back to the campsite and had dinner. When it got dark we then went out on a night game drive with one of the staff members Ivan and a guy from zimbabwe. we didnt see much and im quite suprised we didnt get lost! I got quite a few scratches on me though from haning out the window while we drove past thorn bushes. When we got back Backa one of the staff memebers came up to us and said wanna see a hippo? bare in mind this is the most dangerous animal in Uganda we decided why not? He then took us to the humungous hippo that was actually taller than me! It was happily munching away and didnt seem to dangerous! although backa said do not shine your torch in its eyes and dont stand between it and the river as you will get flattened.. also turns out the hippo was right outside mine and Laurens tent! We also werent aloud any toothpaste, shampoo, facewipes anything that had a scent in our tents otherwise the warthogs would rip open our tent! So that night we went to sleep to the sound of the hippo munching grass right beside me! best night sleep yet.

The next day we left red chili reluctantly and made our way down to Fort Portal where we would first stop of at Kihura where some of the girls lived then go jungle treking in a park in Fort Portal. After the worst roads known in history we stepped out of the car in Kihura looking like we had a bad fake tan from the orange dust we got washed up at the girls house and went back out to the car to find that it wouldnt start! We got robert who studied mechanics to look at it and it turned out to be some techincal plug thing that had come away. Although it was very annoying that we had to cut our trip short it was still soo lucky that it broke down then as if it had broken down when we took a wrong turn and came over the horizon to find lake albert and broke down there we would have been screwed!

So that was our road trip! It was so much fun and definitely an experience to remember!
After our roadtrip we then spent a few more days in Kihura which were also eventful as when we were at Home again the Roberts casually mentioned to us that they had 2 puppies! They took us to a ditch where they had put a metal sheet over them and under were the 2 cutest little puppies ive ever seen! they were petrified of us at first and you could see that they were crawling with fleas. We decided the best thing for them would be for us to take them back to villa maria and get them cleaned up and healthy again.
Walking through Kihura village with two puppies seemed to attract alot of attention! But soon we were at villla maria where we gave them some eggs and bread and tried to shave/cut off as much fur as possible. After this whole ordeal they were not scared of us at all and were so happy to see us each morning! i dont think Home again will be getting them back anytime soon....

After Kihura Jess and I decided it was time to go to home sweet home! It was soo nice to go back to our little old village. We got alot of "kuli kyo's" to which we reply "nvoodayo!" not how you spell it at all but basically meanning welcome back then im back! We also got greeted by lots of hugs from our crew of kids that play outside our house.
We also came back home to the biggest suprise ever, the foundations of a brick school!! I got such a suprise when i went around the corner to find this! It is such an amazing step for the school as it actually looks like one now and looks so smart and propper compared to the broken papyrus school building. Everyone in the village is so happy about it as well and as they are passing by they come to take a look at it. So it is very big news not only for us but the whole village! Me and the head nursery teacher Annette would just stand and stare at it in disbeleif that it was actually happening! So all is very exciting here with builders coming in from Kampala to finnish it all up. Jess and I have also been very busy with painting the outside of the new tin school. Its looking really good so far although were still in the process of finishing it. People walking past stop and watch us so we usually have a good sized audience while we do it!
We have also been helping with the building of the school by measuring, cutting and holding the tin for another part of the school and loading bricks into wheelbarrows for the brick building.

It is also dry season at the moment so it is hotter than usual and it also means that the water tanks are empty! This means that we have to once again go and fetch our water from the bore hole in the blistering heat! Except it is alot easier when we manage to get hold of a bike to tie the jerry cans to. Also because of the building even more water is needed to be fetched to help make the cement. So i spent a few of my days helping sara and tallemwa go and fetch water from the bore hole. Sara and I mastered the technique of me cycling with the jerry cans tied on the back then she would run along beside me then jump onto the back! You would hardly feel her jump on so it worked very well! I only fell off once! (appologies to sara)
However now unfortunately the closest bore hole has broken so we now have to travel to the further away one which is also harder to pump so there has to be 2 of us pumping it at the same time! very tireing. There is also usually a huge que of jerry cans waiting to be filled as everyone now has to go to this one to get water! You usually get some interesting conversations while waiting though.

Sara also asked me to "escort her to the garden" so after collecting water we headed down to their garden which is even further away than the 2nd bore hole. There they have coffee trees, pumpkin, casava, sugar cane and more. We then filled huge bags of pumpkins and loaded them onto the bike to take them back home. I did get a pumpkin out of it though!

This month we also met a mzunug in the posta in Mityana. It was such a suprise as Jess and I literally thought we were the only ones! I think they must hide in the daytime... Anyway they very kindly invited us over for lunch at their house. Of course Jess and I did not refuse a lunch date where American food would be made! She picked us up in her air conditioned car ( i have not felt cold air for a while!) and we headed to her beautiful house (even nicer than my house in scotland!) It was so strange being there they had 2 sausage dogs.They cooked us chicken fajitas which were amazing!! I have not had chicken in 5 months and it was so good having meat that didnt have bones sticking out of it! They were so nice and it was lovely to be invited to their house.

Before school started we also decided to show rose herbert and edith and everyone else how to make mzunugu pancakes! In return they showed us how to make banana pancakes which were suprisingly easy! We made pancakes for everyone including all the builders who all enjoyed them very much as well! I think the end vote was that mzunug pancakes won! Before we started cooking Herbert had said that i couldnt cook but by the end his mind was changed, he said "I'm never eating banana pancakes again!"

So the first month of 2014 has been pretty hectic but so much fun! I cant wait to start teaching in the new buildings and everything else that will come in the next month! Including another wedding we have been invited to with Deo. We are getting gomez's made for us as well for the wedding which is going to be fun! (they are the traditional dress for the women here with huge pointy shoulders lots of material hanging everywhere, it will be interesting to say the least!)

                                                                    Murchison falls national park

Crater lake in Fort Portal

                                                             Christmas tree decorating at home again

Crater lake

                                                                  The puppies!

sorry tried to upload more photos but internet is extremely slow!

A not so wintery December in Uganda

I think I should start this blog with merry Christmas and a happy new year! Sorry I'm a little late, it's currently holiday time so it's harder to get time to sit down and write a bog entry. 

As I said were in holiday time and what better way to kick of the holidays by water rafting down the Nile! (Sorry mum) but it was seriously the funnest thing I've done! We first got picked up by the rafting organisation and taken to their centre where we signed some forms and afterwards had breakfast there. After breakfast it was time to head to the Nile! We were all suited with life jackets and helmets and put into the back of an open top truck. Soon enough we had made it to the Nile and were separated into our two groups. Our team leader was Ashlav who was brilliant. We first went over the safety tips and soon enough we were paddling towards our first rapid which was a force 5 (grade 6 is the highest!) I was second from the front so got a pretty good view of the humongous rapid we were paddling towards! With Ashlav shouting over the waves "hard forward!" We literally had to paddle straight into the waves then "get down!" We all had to crouch down while the waves crashed over us! It was sooo much fun!! Our boat was close to tipping over several times. We could not stop laughing when we emerged from the rapid, it was brilliant. The next rapid was like a waterfall so the boat dropped from a ledge and smashed into the water rapid, that was a good one! After a few more rapids we reached a long stetch if calm water where Ashlav decided to push some of us in which I did not complain about as it was so hot and was amazing to just float around in the cool water. We also got chatti g to some of the safety kayakers, turned out one was called Moses, what a coincidence!  After a nice swim we went for lunch in a really beautiful spot over looking the Nile. After a few more smaller rapids we got back onto dry land and had some beers on the way home in the open top truck. It was such a fun day and who knows I may do it again since I've got my next time half price...

We have also been travelling around each others projects in Uganda which is such a fun way of travelling as you get to meet so many people and see places tourists wouldn't usually get to see. We went to a place called Mukono where there are two volunteers. Their host cooked for us all which we ate around a bonfire. I got chatting to a boy called Marvin who asked me to tell him stories and In return sang me songs he was hilarious and told me "abi you look like your father" I was like how do you know what my dad looks like? He then replied "I've dreamt of him" all right Marvin! 

As we had been in Uganda for 3 months we decided to treat ourselves to a spontaneous trip to the ssese islands! We got a ferry from entebbe to the biggest island on lake Victoria. The ferry trip was 3 hours long but didn't feel like too long as soon we had stepped of the ferry and were making our way to the hornbill campsite where we would be staying. We walked alongside a beautiful white sand beach and reached the campsite which was so hippy with wooden cabins with all sorts of colourful paintings all over them. So that night we decided to have a relaxing night around the bonfire (we seem to chill around a bonfire alot!) 

The next morning we were awoken by the German woman who owned the campsite banging on our door. We answered it to her hysterically telling us that her husband had been arrested and that 30 men were standing outside with sledge hammers and crow bars waiting to bulldoze the whole place down!! Half asleep and so confused we all packed out bags on a mad rush and sure enough when we went outside were greeted by 30 men about to demolish the campsite. Without hesitation they smashed down where we had just come out of and within 10minutes where we had slept that night was now piles of wood and rubble. It was so shocking to see as they moved on to the next building destroying the artwork the German lady and her husband had spent 20 years on. What was even worse was they were laughing while doing it while the German lady was crying beside us. We then cleared out the woman's house and put all her belongings outside to then stand beside her and watch her watch her own home being destroyed. It was heartbreaking. We then decided to save at least one of the pieces of artwork from the cabin so we each took a plank of wood and took it to the neighbouring campsite. They were so appreciative of the small gesture we could manage to do. 

Then within a couple of hours the whole campsite was destroyed, it was so shocking to see and after staying with the German woman for a while we then had to move to the next campsite. This whole day was also one of the girls birthday so we decided to make it better by going out for dinner that night.  The next couple if days on the ssese islands was otherwise very relaxing, lying on the beach, and even bathing in lake Victoria (not sure how clean I would have actually gotten but desperate times call for desperate measures!) 

So that was our trip to the ssese islands! Not what we expected but I guess nothing is here! 

In the holidays we also ent back to our project as after being on the phone to deo we realized just how much we missed it! while we were there we visited an orphanage in the next village to mityana. We met up with Ian who is the manager of it who then showed us around the village, including some crazy old woman who claimed us as our daughters and dragged us to her house and kept on doing the Simba thing with get thumb on our heads.. After finally being released from her grips we went to the speach day the orphans were performing at,again we got front row seats and pictures taken of us with all the staff, we then got shown around the orphanage and shown the coffee project they have started to help the kids get jobs as coffee farmers in the future. 

At our project there were also a lot of new people about as family relatives come for the festive period. 

We also handed out everyone's Christmas presents. We got deo a diary, pen and chocolate bar which he loved! It was also so lovely watching tallemwa opening her present as we had gotten her trousers which she had told me how much she wanted, she was do excited it was adorable! We also got benedee, yibula, benita and others toy cars which they didn't stop playing with, we also had a bag of mars bars which we dished out to everyone in the village, they all live mars bars now! It was so nice to see everyone again even though we had only been away for a couple of weeks. 

After being home for a couple of days we went kihura for Christmas! While we were in kihura we decided to go to one of the crater lakes in fort portal. We got quite a long boda ride on a dirt track road to the most beautiful wooden lodge on stilts overlooking an amazing blue crater lake. It was like something out if a movie! After looking around and feeling very scruffy and out of place we decided to walk down to the crater lake for a swim. After hundreds and hundreds of steps through tropical foliage we made it to the jetty going into the lake. It was the best swim I've had in Uganda to date! Definitely will be going back there. 

In kihura we've also been spending a lot of time at home again. We've got a lot of friends there now so me and Lauren one morning went to see the boys digging which did not involve us digging but us being the dj for them, they are surprisingly good at dancing while digging! It also envolved us throwing balls of dirt at Robert (don't worry we missed a lot of the times!) we also went tree climbing with them where I relived the days of climbing up grampas tree! 

Christmas Day!! - this day really did creep up on us all as its getting hotter it really does not feel like Christmas time! We woke up and opened the presents we had given to each other and put into our home made stockings made out of a ripped bed sheet.(Cheers dad and Jen for the hilarious Scottish presents!) deo did enjoy the shortbread! I think he may think that that's all Scottish people eat.. After opening our presents we started on the breakfast. We managed to find bacon from fort portal which was amazing! Man I've missed it. We also had scrambled eggs and tomatoes! It was brilliant. Then we headed over to home again to start sports day. On the way I phoned home and kept up the tradition of waking up everyone in the house! 

When we arrived at home again they were eating lunch so we ate with them which included rice, millet, spaghetti, pork, chapatis, cabbage and potatoes. The toddlers were loving it! After lunch we began to set up the games, we had sacks so we did a sack race around the baby house they went crazy for it! Whoever won got a sweet which they also loved. We also did a tug of war until the rope snapped, think we underestimated their strength! That morning we had also prepared many water balloons do we did a balloon toss that ended in a water fight in the baking heat! How Christmassy! 

After the games we went to faiths for dinner, we managed to make an amazing meal of meatballs, beans and carrots, potatoes, bread sauce (courtesy of mum) stuffing (courtesy of jess mum) and gravy it was sooo good! I was so full afterwards. Overall it was such a nice day we even managed to watch elf on Kate's laptop! It was so different but so much fun spent with the best people in the sun playing games definitely a Christmas to remember!

Boxing Day was then spent up a mango tree! 

On New Year's Eve there was a football match in the village so we watched it with the Roberts and enok. After the game we went to Kate's for lunch and then got some drinks and fruit to make a punch for New Year's Eve after a seriously good but spicy curry made by Jodie we counted down to New Years and midnight mass next door went crazy with the drums it was hilarious! It was So sad to think we will be going home this year, Tried very hard  to block that thought out of my head! 

So now it's officially 2014! How crazy I've been in Uganda for four months now, we spent our first day of 2014 at the football pitch for the final where me and steph and Lauren got asked to be in the winning teams picture with the trophies! So funny. We then went to faiths house for dinner and after dinner me jodie and steph went to the village "club" which is basically just people dancing outside under the stars! It was so fun , we found the Roberts and enok as well who had sneaked out of home again to dance! It was so much fun and such a brilliant way to spend our first night in 2014!  

So 2013 was awesome with finishing school, having a good summer with friends, flyin out to Uganda and being here for 4 months but I think 2014 will be a lot better and I'm soo excited for it! 

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and new year as well.

Oh I also got myself a ritoro pet name, abwoli! It means forever young and I got a Luganda name nsamba!

November- starting our secondary project, project trust visit,final exams, end of school and the start of holidays equals a very busy month!

November has been a jam packed month and there is only one place to start this month blog by starting off with the toilet launch we went to at St Noahs, the local High school. I didnt know quite what to expect but it exceeded my expectations on what a toilet launch would be! When me Jess and Deo got there we were escorted right to the front where we were also given a formal introduction to everyone in the crowd (getting used to these) Then pupils from St Noahs came out and danced and sang so many catchy songs with the classic dodgy keyboard backing soundtrack as accompaniment. There were also several speeches made in Lugandan, a man sat beside me thankfully translated the majority of them to me! After some more dances and certificates given out for who knows why we were all piled into classrooms and served rice, matoke, beef and ground nut sauce. By the way i think i have mastered the technique of eating things with my hands! Rice is especially hard but once you get that claw action perfected its a piece of cake! Once we had finnished eating we had a very muddy walk home, it was very muddy at the start of November, Joseph reccomended me and Jess to buy ourselves some gum boots (wellies) which we did! In mityana we bought ourselves a pair for only 3.50! absaloute bargain. Something Ive noticed about the rain is that everyone loves it here including me! (never thought i would say that) its because it is so useful and helpful as rain means water in the tanks, jiggers washed away, growth of crops, washing of buildings and water can be collected in our basins for washing of clothes and dishes! While on the other hand rain in the UK is just a nuseance as it doesnt serve much purpose!
We have also attended a funeral at the start of the month along with the whole school. I still dont know whos funeral it actually was.. i did ask madrine and others but even they didnt know! There were so many people there, Kisweera was the busiest id ever seen it! However it started to rain half way through the service so everyone ran home!

                                                                  my wellies!

November has also been the month me and Jess have started up our secondary project! I am so happy we've actually managed to do it and so excited to getting fully into it! Every second Monday (market monday) we are going to be helping out at the local medical centre in Myanzi. All we had to do to start it up was go and visit them and ask if we could help out, as simple as that! So that coming Monday we were plunged straight into work there. Our work that day consisted of filing what immunisations babies had been given that day. We also registered new born babies into the clinic. I have never seen so many babies in one day than i did that day! We also sorted out medication for patients that the doctor Maska dished out straight away! I thought if i get this wrong that is their medication messed up! It was quite a big responisbility but i loved it. We also met soooo many people there which was really good. It was also really interesting as Maska would tell us all about what medication would do what etc. I am really looking forward helping out more at the medical centre and hopefully do more days at it.

This month also meant a visit from our desk officer Jen from Project Trust. It was at lunch time that Jen came while we were outside eating casava and beans with the teachers and suddenly Jen appeared in a car out of nowhere! It was so nice to see her. All the kids swarmed round her so curious on another mzungu! They kept on asking me if she was my sister, i think they think any mzungu they see with me is my sister or brother... So we showed Jen around the project and then she took us off to Mubende for lunch where we had individual interviews with her to ask any questions etc.
We then travelled with Jen to Kihura to the other girls projects where me and Jess got our hair braided at the salon there by Ruth. I've currently got blue, purple, pink fake hair braided through my own all around my head! While we were in Kihura we also went to the music extravaganza that the Kihura Parents school (secondary school) put on. Me and steph went earlier than the rest and met up with Grace a pupil at the school. We were once again ascorted right to the front to sit beside the MP! The kids did so many amazing traditional african dances and plays about witch doctors etc. Robert and Enok who we have met previously were in the dances as well and were so good! My favourite was the one where the boys had shakers attached to their ankles so jamp around constantly to keep a beat while the girls had straw skirts and shaked to the beat, with african drums in the backround it was amazing! We were all very impressed. Then at the end of the music extravaganza it was announced which house in the school did the best dances, turns out it was Roberts house which won! They were all soooo happy! Ive never seen teenagers so happy! So we all celebrated with them by dancing in the moonlight with them all! It was so much fun and we were all on such a high afterwards! It was brilliant.

On the 20th November it was International Childrens Day which we celebrated by a end of school concert put on by the kids at our school. The previous days me and Jess managed to hunt down a piece of material by finding deos sister in the market who made us follow her friend to some small material place! Then we took the material back home and painted 'Welcome to Salvation Community School' with the teachers. So the morning of the concert we hung up the banner and tied balloons, paper chains, and all decorations we had! (thank you so much to maureen, and everyone else who sent us out these decorations!) The kids were amazed by them! The teachers were also so happy with them and told us we had truely made it! It was also so funny as when i first blew up a balloon all the kids ran away from me as they had never seen it before and were so scared! I had to reasure them it was menat to do that and wouldnt hurt them! We had also bought loads and loads of sweets for the kids to give to them once they had finnished preforming which they went mental for! In Uganda if a school puts on an event its a must for there to be piles of food served to everyone. So beside maria and josephs house in the trees there were the biggest pots ive ever seen all set up ready to cook meat, potatoes, matoke, beans etc it was quite a sight! I helped peel potatoes, vivian said i was very slow when i lost a race with her so i got demoted to peeling matoke bananas... their was so much food being cooked for the occasion including pork! We also had 2 american women come to the concert as they help fund things like the building of the water tanks etc so it was really nice to have them there! We also painted all of the kids faces for the concert which they loved! It was pretty funny at the start when they had no idea what we were trying to do as they had never had their faces painted before! But soon we had a huge swarm around us wanting their whole faces painted! Soon parents/guardians began to appear where we guided them to some seats to wait for the concert to start. We also had speakers delivered that were run by a generator and crates and crates of sodas for everyone.
As we are on african time the concert started later than expected but was set of with the Ugandan National anthem and then the Slavation Community song. Then each class preformed their sets of songs they had been preparing for ages! They had worked so hard and you could totally tell. Its a comman thing for people in the crowd to go up and give money to the kids sinnging. I went up to give steven in p3 some money as he may not be the best singer but he tries so hard and is the best dancer! Once all classes had finnished their sets we started to serve out the food. We made sure all the kids had been served first with a soda each which they were ecstatic about! then all the parents were served and then ourselves. It was so tastey! After dinner we had awards where kids were given either cups, plates or pencil sets if they had done particulary well in their exams, behaviour, english speaking etc. It was so so lovely to see the kids that work so hard to get awards for their hard work. Then we cut the cake that the american girls had made especially for the school which was handed out to everyone. All the teachers were also given I Heart NY shirts from them!
Overall it was such a great way to celebrate the efforts that the kids put into their school work and behavior and they were all on such a high afterwards, which made us all so happy as well! I dont think anyone of us wanted the day to end!

On the 22nd of November it was our last day at school. This day was also the first day of exams I was monitoring the p4's english exam. Looking over it i actually think they have improved from the last one thank god! Then once that was finished i monitored the p2's read and write exam which also included them having to say sentences to me in which i had to mark whether they pronounced it correctly or not. P2 is quite a big class so this did take quite a while! Plus i had to pack as well to head to jinja so it was all very rushed! I didnt actually get to say goodbye to alot of the people which i was sad about but I guess i will see them once we go back to school! So soon enough we were heading off to kampala to get to Jinja to meet up with all the project trust volunteers and Eugene and Ian who are our over seas representatives and Jen.

So this month has been so much fun with so many high moments! 3 months in Uganda and im still loving every second of it. I am still so thankful i got picked for this country, its honestly the best country and i would not want to be in any other place right now!
I am now currently on my holidays and next stop is ssese islands! My next blog update will be telling you about the festive period although its getting hotter here and im eating more mangoes than roast dinners!
thanks for reading! Abi

                                                                  "See you!"

Side note: we have upgraded our washing basin from the black small basin that we washed our dishes in to a baby bath! luxury!
we also seem to still get into deep meaningful conversations with our boda boda drivers.. we ended up giving Ashlav a counseling session and saying how he should make sure he has a stable environment before bringing a baby into the world etc. We also had Freddie where we got into the discussion that money isnt everything and where he told us money could not buy friends like us! I think i may have agreed to getting christened into his church however... 

My October in Uganda!

Hello again everyone! ill try not start every blog with my amazement of how fast time goes here but i am really in shock that i have been here for 2 months already! October has been a crazy action packed month and i am so excited to tell you all about it!
We are still very busy with teaching at the moment which is still so much fun! the kids are very comfortable with us which is a plus as they are not scared to ask questions anymore if they need help (this was quite a big problem as they didnt ask any questions in any classes!) We also created an attendance and behaviour award chart which is working wonders! one of our main problems with classroom management is violence. My god they love to fight with each other! Im pretty sure the majority of the kids in our school are immune to full on blows to the face. But when i say "hey deo if i see you punch gloria one more time you will not get a tally mark so no sticker!" and he suddenly stops mid punch! If i am totally honest i dont blame them for being so violent as the teachers at our school cane the kids when they do something like coming late to school, talking in class, not cutting their fingernails the list goes on. So the kids are brought up with violence being acceptable. What really got me confused was that another teacher would come into class and cane the kids for hitting each other... it doesn't really make sense at all! When the school is all together to sing songs, etc the p4s are given twigs to patrol around the rest of the kids and are allowed to whip them if they are misbehaving. When im in charge i tell them not to, trying my hardest to break the violent cycle!
Ive also introduced stuck in the mud at break/lunch times they love being taught new games! they got quite a surprised when i played with them and darted under their legs to set them free! I also taught the p2s the hockey kockey in my read and write class, it was such a hot day and i felt i needed to give them a break! (to be fair it was educational as the story was to do with a boys right and left hand that i made up) as there are quite a few of them it got a bit crazy but was so much fun.
Jess and I are also currently in the process of teaching the p4s they hey arthur! theme song. Its going very well and they always sing it to us at break times. When we were teaching it to them they demanded me to dance while they sang so now they all know a couple of my fantastic dance moves that they like to practice at lunch times!
In Uganda dry season is slowly creeping up on us, it gets so hot here! This also means no more water in the water tanks! Im not looking forward to the walks to the bore hole in the blistering heat dieing for some water. Dry season also means the grass is going to be growing faster which means there will be an increase in malaria in the school unfortunately. Deo is also wanting to organise an organisation to come to our school to test the kids for HIV. I think this would be a great idea and me and jess are looking into places that would help us out with that.
We are also hoping to set up a library here as the resources here are so limited. The children love to read but have no books to do so. We give them some books to read some time and they love it so i think i library would be a great thing for the kids here as it would also improve their english.
We are also hoping to start up a secondary project in the hospital in Myanzi, we havnt organized anything with them just yet but the work will probably most likely be measuring kids, filing information, sorting out drugs for patients etc.

During our October we had a week of exams. it was pretty odd being on the other side of exams, it doesnt feel like long ago since i sat my own exams. All classes have exams, even baby and top class! although the exams for baby class are to draw a woman carrying a jerry can on her head. They get it wrong if they dont draw something vital like her legs.
Marking exams was actually weirdly fun! you come across some cracking answers like 'he beat her with a snake' and 'when he goes home he bathes his women' the list goes on! Its also quite frustrating having to mark something wrong when they are so close to the right answer or have not read the question correctly... oh god im sounding like my teachers! I ended up having to mark a lot of exams as i told joyce i would mark her exams and ended up with a humongous pile! i didnt mind though although i found myself having to down my porridge in a oner and nearly missing lunches due to marking exams!
The exams were really helpful however with showing us just what the kids needed to improve on. Reading and understanding what the question actually asked was a big problem as they knew the answer but just didnt know what the question was asking for. It was a shame but were all determined for them to improve.

Another thing i have noticed about the school textbooks that teachers use as a guideline for what the kids should know are very heavily based on death, abuse and diseases. As a lot of the stories for p3's are written about things like a childs mother being very sick and how the chld has to care for them but then they die and they are so upset. this story here is a fill in the blank story! Alot different to the happy, stories there are for the kids back in the uk! Its quite sad though as they use stories like this so the child can learn easily as they can relate to the stories. They also have to learn about malaria and child abuse very early on. One break time i was sitting outside with the kids and one of them wrote on the bench in chalk "what is child abuse?" i didnt quite know how to reply! But it just makes me realize how much they must go through at such a young age. I admire all the kids here for how they just get on with life and still seem so happy! Alot of the kids parents have passed away so live with a distant relative and after school and before school have to do numerous errands and look after their siblings. Cissy has to take in her younger siblings in every now and again and when we are teaching we will just be passed a crying child (that peed all over me once while i was teaching!) teaching and trying to calm down a hysteric baby is quite a challenge, trust me! The kids also have to collect water from the bore hole and one story in the textbook was about how a child spilt a lot of the water on the way back from the bore hole so her mother didnt give her any dinner and the moral of the story was that she would never disobey her mother again. Its quite shocking reading these stories and i usually make up my own stories for them instead. ontop of all of this a lot of the kids have to walk very far to get to school so the fact they have to do their chores after this huge walk amazes me. I honestly dont know how they do it.

During classes i still get many suprises! the other day i was teaching my p4 class and i looked up from the board and was face to face with a huge rat! In the p3 class i was also marking Becams work when he causally whipped out the biggest bug you have ever seen and just started stroking it! I got the fright of my life! Lawrence also is making sure im fed by providing me with mangoes every day! hes brilliant. Ive gotten so close to my p4s, i dont want to say goodbye to them when they move to st noahs for p5!
All of the kids english is actually dramatically improving! im so proud of them all. There are some phrases that are sticking with them that dont make much sense like;
extend-move
touch- meaning take so "touch my book!"
assist me with the - can i have the..
so sweet!- when something tastes nice even when its savoury.
the pen is over- the pen has run out
i actually find myself using these phrases as well!

Our cooking is still questionable.. Yesterday night i had stones in my rice.. no idea how that happened! I think it was allready in it when we bought it in the market in Mityana. Edith comes round to visit us alot and taught us how to make rolex's! they were very succesful so we shared them out with everyone and sent edith home with some for alice and others. We ended that night taking out the wind up radio and all dancing to it in the moonlight! how ugandan of us.

This month i also have to tell you about Justuce and Mariams wedding! Basically Jess and I were the photographers for the wedding which meant we got the best view in the church! I was all up and close during the exchange of the rings, signing of the papers everything! We even got pictures of Mariam getting her hair done, her nails done and when she had just put the dress on. She looked amazing! The other fort portal volunteers were all the bridesmaids in their lilac dresses with a gold sash around the waste. Mariams sister lippy was also a bridesmaid who i love! she is hillarious! (she said we all have to go to kampala to experiece a crazy night dancing! haha) anyway once mariam had gotten ready we all got piled into different cars. I was put in with a bunch of family members, they were all very nice! we then made it to the church, a couple of hours late but hey were on african time now! we then all crammed into this church for the ceremnoy to begin! it was so nice to see even if it was through a camera! after the ceremony we all got piled into different cars again. This time i was with mariams mother who was so sweet! I was finding it hard not to speak luganda to her as they all speak ritoro there! we then headed to faiths mums house for a meal and speaches and of course dancing!! The dancing was hillarious, at one point we were having a dance off with the preacher, one thing to cross off the list of things to do! However dancing here your guranteed to look around and see a 5 year old dancing better than you.. one of the hardships of living in uganda! Then after a lot of hugs and "god bless you!" and "you were sent by angels!" we headed back home. It was such an amazing event to be invited to and we have now not only been invited to a wedding here but been photographers at a wedding!

Myanzi our nearest village still makes me so happy every time we walk there! We are welcomed by david shouting ABIIIIIII (he has confirmed us as being his friends) we also get greeted by gerald the guy who sells bananas who says were his daughters... we also have all our street food guys, my god the street food is good! meat on a stick is my personal favourite. its like a big communal family myanzi is!

So overall this month has been awesome, ive still not had a bad day yet! ( i phoned home the other day for the first time as apparently i was weird for not) i thought it may make me homesick but it didnt at all! i think im not homesick because everyone here is like a family to me. Its pretty amazing.

thanks for reading!
Abi