Apologies

Two days laft, so crazy. I'm trying to cram so many things in before I go. Home visits, goodbyes, thankyous, packing, sorting the last of the campaign things including school fees as the term starts this week... lots!
Wanted to apologise for the lack of posts on the past week or so, it has been ridiculously busy and stressful (in a good way)
At first I thought it would look stupid if I post once I'm home but I've now convinced myself it wont.
I have lots of bits that I just need to put together so I'll publish a load of posts when I'm home as so many exciting and interesting things have happened recently!
Keep checking my Instagram or Facebook as they are quick updates that I can do with small bits of free time.

Also a big sorry to anyone who I haven't replied to or haven't kept in touch with in the last two weeks, I'm not intentionally ignoring you and when I'm home in two days I'll try and get back to everyone! 

Xxx

Easter and bringing "Frozen" to Uganda

Easter day is almost like Christmas here, and so it should be - one of the most important parts in Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus and the Ugandans celebrate this.

 It really puts things in perspective. After church the celebrations include treating everyone to sodas and a big meal with chicken. The excitement of the kids for these luxuries is huge. It made me realise again now lucky we are as most of us each chicken all the time, and fizzy drinks are very normal in our lives rather than a luxury. But these simple things can really be enjoyed here during special days.

All the kids from the Village of Hope were in the main hall, eating the food that the eight mothers had prepared together. The food was soooo good and the atmosphere was lovely.

In the evening we put up a white sheet and set up the projector. I never payed attention to the film "Frozen" when I was home (even though I was working at Subway who were promoting it) however since coming here was given the DVD which the kids where I stay and I have watched numerous times (and they won't stop singing the songs)

I played Frozen and the kids were each given a little pot of ice-cream as we sat in the dark watching the film on our make shift cinema screen and they also now love the songs too. :-)

I also kept a creme egg all this time so that I wouldn't completely miss Easter chocolate....

More kids helping kids

So a while ago I took 13 boys from the Village of Hope to Home of Hope disability home for the day where they did some cleaning and painting and spent time with the kids. Click to see post.

This week I took (I think it was) 20 girls aged 11-18 from the Village of Hope to the same place so they could also experience what it was like.

We had such a good day, a group of 6 of the girls spent over an hour washing clothes (by hand) for the home as the children go through numerous clothes each per day.

 Some of the girls pushed kids around outside in the wheelchairs.

They spent time sitting and holding the babies and children who can't crawl or sit up, and singing to them - it was lovely to see them caring for the children like that.

Esther was brilliant she spent time with so many of the children really trying to let them have fun, she even spent time with Prossy who is 24, has hydrocephalus (large head due to build up of fluid on the brain) and lies on a bed all day. She was put in a wheelchair and Esther spent a long time just speaking to her in local language, singing and reading a book with her.

Esther singing to Prossy who lies on a bed all day

The girls mopped the floor throughout the home and enjoyed some rice, posho and beans for lunch.

They also pushed the children on the swings which the boys painted and put up a few weeks ago when I brought them!!

Again, it's great to see kids who have been saved from suffering and given better lives, visiting and spending time with less fortunate children.

End of term

 

The Easter holidays have arrived and school is finished. I was happy to be invited to the teachers' end of term meeting / meal.

This consisted of chicken and pork and rice and Irish potatoes and was verrrry nice. Also fizzy drinks which always come out on special occasions.

I had to first sit through a meeting where we went through every class and every lesson discussing achievements and challenges which took a lot longer than I expected but I suppose I'm not used to being a teacher and having these kind of talks.

We discussed ways of motivating children to work harder and behave better, however when I suggested using reward systems and working towards rewards (using the example of Samuel who loves football and saying that if he worked hard he can join in football in sports sessions at the end of the day, and if he misbehaved he would not be able to participate in what he loves) and a lot of the teachers were insistent that this was not a good idea. I explained that I though he'd definitely behave if he knew he could play his favourite game with his classmates, as opposed to sitting and watching if he does not behave. 

One teacher said to me that that might work in England but the children are different here...

I told her that the system doesn't ALWAYS work at home either but it can be a good method to encourage kids to work to goals. Also kids here might have a completely different life and live with a lot less that kids at home, however they are children and children are very similar wherever they are from. They can be cheeky, push boundaries and forget their manners. Anyway the teachers said they might trial it next term so we will see.

The results of the exams the children just did turned out good. Some of the P7s felt they could have done better but they haven't been at this school for long since moving from another local primary school so they had some catching up to do. They have improved their grades in comparison to last term and that's the main thing.

I have really enjoyed being part of the staff at Jinja Christian Primary School, the teachers are lovely, I have had opportunities to teach lessons every week without having had training - something I couldn't just do in England - I've lead chapel doing a talk in from of the whole school which was a good learning experience, and been able to watch the class I have been helping improving and learning more about English and seeing them gaining confidence in reading and writing in different styles. Very grateful for the opportunity!