Home again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQuqE69kzgk

Please click the above link to watch a poignant video about fundraising to help Buseese Primary school

I arrived home on Sunday at 10:30.  Helen, my wife, picked me up at the airport in Birmingham.  I worked out that since I had got up on Saturday at 8:30, I had been on the go for 40 hours!  The only sleep I had to my name were little power naps along the way!  I had been worried about culture shock of arriving in Uganda but truth be known, I actually feel more culture shock now in that I must adjust back to a society where on the whole, we have everything on tap!  I am sitting at home looking at an impressive horde of gifts that I have been presented with from a variety of amazing people.

I have had an incredible time and have learn lots about Ugandan culture, school and society.  I wish to thank everyone who has been involved in my trip.  Mary, Maria, Jimmy and Andrew in Uganda for making me so welcome and giving me the most incredible time ever, Sue and the staff at Priory for allowing me to go on this adventure of a lifetime, my followers of this blog for showing a keen interest and Helen, my wife, for providing moral support along the way.  The most important people I wish to thank are the people of Nkozi (the school's surrounding area) who bust a gut to make a basic living.... which is nowhere enough and the children at Buseese and Mary's village - you are so special it is unbelievable!! I sign off this Blog with a poem from Julius, who is the happiest 12 year old boy I have ever met.  Julius lives in Mary's village and he lives in a 2 bedroom, cramped hut.  His mother is a primary school teacher.

POEM TO HELEN AND THE CHILDREN AND LEE - By Julius (Uganda)

God is wonderful in his creation
He created tall and short people
Black and brown people
Fat and thin people
Strong and weak people
All look beautiful!

God is wonderful in his creation
He created strong and rough animals
Big and strong animals
Black and brown animals
Gentle and fierce animals
All look beautiful!

God is wonderful in his creation
He created high mountains with beautiful peaks
Long rivers and white water
Thick forests with wild animals
Wide lakes with fish
All look beautiful!

God is wonderful in his creation
He created the sky with beautiful shining
Twinkling in the night sky
The sky with thick clouds and bright sun
And the moon with thick clouds bright
and the moon round and yellow
All look beautiful!!

Here are the children in the village - Julius is the child bending over on the right as you look at the picture with his hand near his mouth.

Some other sighseeing photos

Roadside shop selling stools - very popular in Uganda

Kampala streets - busy and bustling...

My last Ugandan meal... Beans, Matooke, Greens, Rice and Chapatti - delicious!

A huge bird wandering around the picnic tables

Diary entry for Friday 22nd April 2011

I returned to school and was welcomed again by some children and teachers.  The children were here to clean the school for the school holidays.  I spent the majority of the day planning in school for the project that will be studies at both schools.  Following this I did some sight-seeing!

First of all we visited the beach which was on Lake Victoria (one of the world’s biggest lakes).  It was not what I was expecting.  There was a community living on the edge of the lake and their livelihood was the sea and fishing.  The fishermen were drying their nets and many had caught silverfish which were tiny fish that would be dried out for selling.  The boats were in a shocking state of disrepair and apparently people take out the boats even though they are leaking.  We were then on our way to see the crocodiles!

On the way a group of people were carrying the cross towards the church recreating the Good Friday scene from the bible.  This was very interesting to see.

We then arrived at the crocodile enclosure and there was a sign that said “DO NOT FEED THE CROCS – YOU WILL BE EATEN”!!  Although we found this sign rather amusing, when we saw the crocs, we could see why!  There were hundreds of small crocs in the enclosure and let’s just say… there wasn’t much separating me from them!  When I saw the big croc, I have never seen anything like it!!  It was the biggest creature I have ever seen!  I was longer that my classroom!  I found out subsequently that it had actually eaten people!  After this we had fish and chips!  This was slightly different to at home as the fish wasn’t battered at it was a whole fish called Talapia.  It tasted delicious but I was aghast when I discovered that Ugandan people eat the head!  It is, apparently, the best bit!!  I declined for obvious reasons!

We then returned to Mary’s village and I was again treated to a lovely dinner consisting of Irish potatoes and Pork and gifts from Julius.  He really is a special boy – so nice and talented.  I look forward to sharing his poems with you when I return – I know you will be impressed!  He is desperate for a pen pal and the person who agrees to have him is very lucky indeed!  I have promised to send him a Paul Frank t-shirt (as the character logo is called Julius) and some football boots!  I presented the family with some gifts I had brought including my travel kettle which they were all on cloud 9 with – they could not believe my generosity.  I left on Boda Boda back to my hotel where Mary was very sad that it was my last day!  I then stated packing to come home.

Hard at work planning curriculum link

Enjoying a joke during planning!

Enjoying Lake Victoria

A lot of silverfish!  There were lots of these nets laid out to dry the fish

One of the many boats in a state of disrepair


A rather foreboding sign!  No trespassing then!!

A fisherman casts off his net - this was a fine art!

Those crocs were scary!

Lots of crocs!

The big croc!  The picture does not do it justice!

With Julius in the village

Diary for Thursday 21st April 2011

FOR FANTASIC PARACHUTE VIDEO visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdEQsRjpRog

It was officially the last day of the school term today!  Although I would be going in tomorrow to plan with the teachers for Mary’s return visit to Priory.

The day began early when I realised that I had not enough Ugandan shillings to pay for my hotel room so we left to head towards Masaka to obtain money.  We got about ¾ of the way when we realised that there was a riot happening do we made an alternative route into the city.  I bought 4 mangoes for a pound on the way back and felt very happy to save money!  I managed to get money and we returned to Kayabwe (where my hotel was).  We then took a Boda Boda (motorbike) to the school.  The rain was torrential and I managed to take cover in Mary’s office.  The children were disappointed as they were desperate to see the parachute that you have designed for them!  We waited a while and the rain stopped!

I took out the parachute and, let’s just say the impact was astounding!  Thanks to Mr. Chatterton for coming up with the ideas and all of the children, teachers, parents and governors for decorating it.  I will let the video tell the tale when I return. 

After the parachute, I had lunch with the school management committee (which is equivalent to our governors) and planned the links with Priory.  The committee were delighted to see me and loved the scrapbook – they all want to come to England!! I showed them Robin Hood statue and one of the men had heard of him – I tried to explain that Russell Crowe played him in the recent blockbuster – but they hadn’t heard of him either! We talked about a possible curriculum link with both schools and we agreed that keeping healthy and keeping safe would be a good link.  We also agreed that looking at types of food and animals would also be fascinating for both schools to look into.  I have mentioned earlier about the various animals roaming about the people’s houses but an interesting fact is that cats and dogs are not stroked and cuddled like they are in the UK, they are just left to wander around.  Keeping safe is a good area because in Uganda they have to be safe when using a hoe to dig the land and in England we have to be safe when surfing the internet – two very different examples!    

Following this, I took a group photograph of all of the children and the children presented me with some wonderful gifts again – I will show you when I return.  The teachers were busy writing reports today and the children were digging the fields and finishing off work.  Mary suggested that the teachers write to the Priory teachers and they did.  I look forward to showing the teachers when they return.  The teachers really were lovely people – caring and welcoming!  In fact, the people of Uganda are incredibly friendly and welcoming!  I took many more pictures before waving my final goodbyes to children and staff.

Buying the mangos at roadside place

Unveiling of the parachute!  Thanks to all the children/adults at Priory - The children were overjoyed!

MUSHROOM!!  Great fun is had by all!

The CAVE!

DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE!

JAWS is coming to get you!  This was the children's favourite game!

Buseese's management committee loving the scrapbook!

Discussing the curriculum project with the management committee

Children getting ready for holidays

Teachers busy writing student reports

Children eagerly anticipating their end of term present

A group shot!

Diary entry for Wednesday 20th April 2011

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE MR SHILTON LEARNING LUGANDA - THE LOCAL LANGUAGE

CLICK HERE TO SEE A MATHS LESSON

CLICK HERE TO SEE A SCIENCE LESSON

CLICK HERE TO SEE AN ENGLISH LESSON

Another fabulous but thought-provoking day today!  It started when we stopped at a house belonging to a boy who could not walk at all and lived with his 70 year old grandmother.  He had to drop out of school because he could no longer make the journey.  He is now 17 and crawls around the house (which is a mud hut).  He cannot afford a wheel chair or crutches which would enable him to carry on at school.  So he stays at home and helps his grandmother dig.  We then continued to school.  When I arrived one of the children had picked me some mangoes which were far smaller than ours but tasted far juicier!  One of the teachers then showed me the crops again and I found the children digging the field to help the beans grow.  I watched them demonstrate how to do it and then I had a try – they laughed at how badly I used a hoe!  It was really hard work and I only did it for 5 minutes!  These children (and adults!) do it for hours a day in the blistering hot sunshine!  I then taught the children how to make high-pitched noises with pieces of grass!  They loved it!!  I have pictures of this which I will show you when I return!)  I then asked to learn some basics in Luganda (the local language).  The teacher taught me some basics in the language including days of the week, numbers up to 20 and colours.  It was surprisingly easy to do!  I will teach you some when I get back!

Mary then took me around some houses belonging to the children in the local village.  I saw a range of houses which were made from brick or mud.  There were animals around the houses including goats, pigs, cows, chickens and dogs!  I also saw an ant hill which was a big as our classroom ceiling – I will show you when I get back!  I saw one lady who was 70 and very frail.  Her hands and feet were covered in mud – because she had been digging in the fields on her hands and knees – I found this unbelievable!  Especially when I think how well our older people are treated in the UK in comparison.  This brought a tear to my eye.  I then visited a man who had 6 children.  This was a sad story as he had lost his wife and a daughter in the previous year.  He made me very welcome and showed me his drinking vessel and gave me a woven mat that had taken him 3 months to make!  I tried to pay him but he would not accept.  He was an Arsenal fan and loved Fabregas!  I then visited a house with a thatched roof and observed cooking and weaving.

I then returned to school to find the teachers looking at the scrapbook with very excited children!  I then talked them through the scrapbook and they all agreed that Priory looked like an unbelievable school.

After lunch I watched the children play football and they were really good and had great skills.  Some of their footballs were plastic bags wrapped in straws which work surprisingly well!  We then had fun talking to the teachers whilst they were eating. 

I then presented the teachers with the magnificent parachute you designed and explained the rules ready for the big reveal tomorrow!  I could tell that they were struggling with this as it was totally out of their comprehension.  We played catch in Mary’s office using the balls I had bought.  I then returned to the scrapbook and explained about all of the wonderful people at Priory and they gasped about how different it was to their school.

After school we returned to the Mary’s village for dinner again.  We had pork and Irish potatoes – very popular in Uganda.  Ruth, Mary’s daughter, loved the cameras and disappeared off with them and took many superb photos which I will show you when I get back!  One of the local boys, Julius was a lovely boy.  I never caught him without a smile on his face and he has made me many wonderful poems and many beautiful gifts – including a Ugandan doll and a skipping rope.

Later that evening the friendly hotel owner, Martin, invited me to watch the football; Arsenal V Tottenham.  It was one of the best matches I have ever seen!! 3 – 3 with spurs making a great comeback!

Visiting the boy and his mother

Me eating mangoes

Children digging the fields

Me trying to dig!  It was seriously hard work!

Me learning Luganda - It was great fun!  The children were great teachers!

A typical family home.

The frail old lady

Teachers and children enjoying your scrapbook

Me with Mary's children (Ruth and Joshua)

Diary Entry for Tuesday 19th April

A fascinating day started by going to the Nkozi University to see where the Mary went to when she was younger, She is also studying for a masters there.  It was a nice campus with a good computer suite.  While I was here, the children at Buseese had been sitting their final exams.  I returned to the school shortly after the exams had finished.  I continued to take photographs and then sat with individual teachers naming all of their children.  I found out that lots of the names are similar to ours but many are very old fashioned (e.g. Agnes and Edith).  I then spent more time talking to Mary before lunch and after I looked at books and test papers!  Some of the tests were very hard – even harder than out SATs.  After lunch, I observed some lessons.  I found this intriguing!  I watched a science lesson on magnets, an English lesson on joining 2 sentences with so and that and a maths lesson on integers.  All of the lessons started very formally.  All of the children stood and the teacher said “Welcome to the lesson”.  The children replied “Thank you madam”.  I have videoed these lessons and will post them on FRONTER as soon as I get back.  The lessons were very much run by the teachers with no resources!  No magnets, no paper, no interactive whiteboard.  There was also very little pupil discussion and group work.  However, the children listened impeccably throughout the whole lesson.  The teacher spoke throughout and the children repeated things over and over again to learn it.  One class did do a bit of group work where they wrote sentences in a group of 4.  It almost reminded me a bit like Victorian teaching without the cane!  I have found out since that although the Ugandan government discouraged the cane, it is still used.  I did not see it being used at Buseese.

After this I again watched the children clean the school before returning home on motorbike.  I again when to the Mary’s house for dinner and played catch and cards with the local children.  Mary’s daughter, Ruth, showed me some crops that they grow, including mango, pineapple, avocado, guava and ground nuts.  The mangoes and avocados are enormous – much bigger than in the UK!

Agnes and Irene!

Teacher teaching the children

Children listening attentively in class

Me playing catch with children in the village

Advocados in the tree!  They were big!

Diary Entry for Monday 18th April 2011

Click here to see the children welcoming me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT4bWCcb0h4 

I was picked up early for my first day!  I got there on the back of a motorbike (which is called Boda-Boda in Uganda).  It was scary as I had never been on a motorbike before!  I found out that the school day was from 7:30 until 5:00 – which seemed a very long day!  I arrived at the school as the assembly was going on.  This was very different to our assemblies in that we were outside and stood up for a good fifteen minutes!  The children were silent and you couldn’t hear a peep out of them!  They greeted me by clapping.  I then went on a tour of the school into each class.  They children were so delighted to see me – I felt like a celebrity!  I tour each class and found the classrooms to be very bare with desks in rows (like Victorian times).  There were a few sheets of paper on the walls which were pictures drawn by the teachers.  Each class had a very dirty blackboard with very sparse chalks.  The children in the school range from age 4 to 15 and are arranged into 7 classes (P1 to P7).  P1 and P2 are the youngest children and, like nursery children in the UK, they return home at lunchtime.  The lessons the children do are in some ways similar to ours (e.g. Maths, English and Science) but they also study agriculture and vehicle maintenance.  This is because the village where Buseese is very poor and the majority of children will grow up to be either farmers, street sellers or Boda Boda drivers so they need to learn about these things at school.  Mary also showed me the curriculum which is, in some ways similar to ours but more like ours was 20 years ago.  On their curriculum are very different things such as:

·         The post office

·         The telephone

·         Peace and security

·         Keeping poultry and bees

·         Immunisation

·         Components of soil

·         Crop growing

·         Keeping goats, sheep and pigs

·         HIV/AIDS

·         Human rights

A shocking fact I discovered was that half of the children do not bring any food to school and the school does not provide them with it not because the school is cruel but because the school can not afford it.  The monthly school budget for the whole school is £50!  They school does serve porridge at 11am but only children who have money can buy it which is very few.  After break, I was incredibly moved when the children performed a “Welcome to Uganda” song for me together with a special traditional dance.  I have video clips to show you when I return.  Following this we had lunch, the cook had cooked me Matooke (mashed green bananas) and beef stew but I felt guilty eating it as I knew the children didn’t have any lunch but Mary insisted.  After lunch one of the boys in P7, Vincent, had carved me a wooden statue from hand that had taken him a month – I was once again, very moved!  This was to be the second of a myriad of gifts I would receive! 

After lunch I spent a long time talking to the Mary about the Ugandan and English education system before visiting classes to take photographs for you when I get back.  The children are very excited about meeting you from your pictures!  After school I watched the children spend an hour sweeping the school from top to bottom before returning home.  They did not use dustpans like us they used weeds gathered from the surrounding fields bound together.  The teachers did not have to nag the children to do this they did it automatically.  I then found out that after this incredibly long day in searing temperatures the children return home to carry out at least two hours of digging before they are allowed to eat.  It’s a hard life I thought! 

After that I went to Mary’s village and had my dinner which was cooked over an open stove.  It was delicious.

Some other interesting things I found out:

1)      Some children run away from school at lunchtime as they are so hungry

2)    They have monthly exams and then a big exam at the end of term

3)    The children kneel to speak to the headteacher directly and address her as madam.  There is real respect here – I also found out that younger people address older members of their family by kneeling and the wives do the same for their husbands!!  I also found out that men are allowed several wives!

4)    The children have no toys/games at home and very few have teddies.  The teddies they do own are banana leaves wound together creatively to make a doll.  One of the boys in the village, Julius has made me one to bring back.

5)    The children have no coca cola and chocolate as it’s too expensive.

6)    Teachers are very poorly paid (£500 a year!!)

7)    There is no power in the school – no computers!  Very few Ugandans have power.

8)    They love football and particularly Manchester United!

9)      Some classes have 55 in them!

10) 27% of Ugandan children are out of school.

11)  A lot of children had never seen a video camera

12) The toilet is just a hole in the ground!

13) Between 1 and 2 children die each year at the school


Children performing a traditional dance for me at school

Some happy faces!

All hands to the pump!  Cleaning the school!

Aloysious Lubega - P4 teacher writing on chalkboard

Mary Achelun (Headteacher) with children in the village 

Diary entry for 16th and 17th April 2011

Dear all,

I arrived after what was a marathon flight which called at Amsterdam, Kigali (Rwanda) and Entebbe.  The flight time passed really quickly mostly down to a friendly Ugandan man called Kamba who, after spotting me reading my guidebook offered to explain all about Ugandan culture to me so I no longer needed my guidebook!  He explain a lot about the country including the fact that they speak English and Luganda (the latter being the local language).  Later in the week I will learn some Luganda which I will show you when I return!

I was greeted with a fantastic reception by Maria, Mary and family (8 people in total!).  I would be driven by Andrew, Maria’s son who drove the mini bus.  I was then treated to a night-time tour of a wide variety of Ugandan spots in his minibus.  The main observation here was the crazy drivers who seemed to overtake wherever and whenever they liked!  We saw a near miss – which was very scary!  We passed through many towns as we approached Kampala which was a happening city on a Saturday night!  What I noticed about Kampala was the number of people who were out selling their products and the number of motor cycles… not a helmet in sight!  The roads in Kampala were in an unbelievable state – with some enormous pot holes!

We reached a hotel just outside of Mpigi which was the most basic place I have ever stayed and I fell asleep quickly.  I was awoken in the morning to the sound of a JCB digger digging a gigantic hole at 7:30 in the morning!

My first full day in Uganda!  I had a very intriguing day today.  To be honest it was almost too much to take in!  I was met at the hotel by Mary and Maria and I learned that Maria and Mary were from different schools.  Mary was the Headteacher of Buseese school whereas Maria was a Deputy head of a Private school nearer Kampala and also ran a boarding school for Ugandan children.  The amazing thing about this boarding school is that it was for children who were less fortunate.  In fact of the 78 children at the school, 39 of them were orphans who had lost their parents to AIDS.  The remaining children were abandoned or mistreated by their parents.  I visited the school briefly to find the local pastor teaching them religious studies.  The children, who were between the ages of 4 and 6, listened attentively.  The pastor, who was friends with Mary and Maria, then drove the minibus onwards.  I looked back to see a small boy’s face peer around the corner of the door to wave at us, I waved back. 

We then passed through many towns where every time I passed a group of people (mainly children) they would shout Muzunga (White man) and wave.  This was very friendly and really puts you at ease.  We drove until we reached the Ugandan equator where there was an actual white line painted where the equator is!  I was charged 19, 250 Ugandan shillings to see an experiment.  I know this sounds a lot but as there are 3850 Ugandan shillings to a pound, it means that it cost me about £5!  Crazy exchange rate!!  The experiment was unbelievable…  The best £5 I have spent!!  The guy poured water down a plug on the north side, the south side and right on the line of the equator.  To my amazement the water flowed anticlockwise on the North, clockwise on the south and directly down on the equator – amazing!!!  Why don’t you try this now – see which was it flows!  I have a superb video to show you when I return!

Following this we made our journey to Kayabwe, which is where I would be staying for the next few nights.  On the way I was amazed to see how poor these people were but how little fuss they made.  A lot of children were dressed in rags and most had no shoes.  I was the only white person in the town – in fact I only saw one other white person for the whole of the week.  I passed a headteacher’s house which was no more than a shed in England.  Wages are very low here and even a headteacher lives in a very poor house by English standards.  People were working on the edge of the roads undertaking jobs such as drum making, fixing their motorbikes or selling street food. 

I then spent the afternoon with Mary and Maria at the hotel, ironically watching the English premier league!!!  Blackpool V Wigan!!  It was 3-1 to Blackpool.  I then found out more about the Ugandan culture and was surprised by many things.  The main thing being that some of the children do not eat all day at school because they cannot afford it and Mary does not eat often as she cannot afford it either! 

I presented her with the scrapbook and they were absolutely spellbound and they thanked all of the teachers and children from the bottom of their hearts.  They would like me to take lots of pictures in Uganda so I can make a scrapbook with them when they visit Priory.  I am off to bed now to get some quality sleep before my first day at school!

Me standing at Ugandan Equator

My first Ugandan meal!

A local pet!


Life on the street!