Personal and Cultural Development
Monday was Woman’s Day in Uganda and I spent most of the day travelling back to Kampala. I did see a parade whilst going through Entebbe though. Some people were playing instruments whilst others paraded behind them. I think that there were rallies and celebrations happening all over Uganda but I didn’t see many of them.
On the way home, we called into a café at a petrol station to grab some lunch. We were able to get soft whippy ice-cream here. Everyone’s faces lit up when they noticed it. It was so hot and the perfect day for ice-cream, especially when it is such a luxury. Just after our ice-cream, we must have influenced the weather as the heaven’s opened and it poured with rain. Back at Nana’s like a drowned rat, I decided to chill out for a while whilst I had the room to myself. Then Rachel came back from her trip to Jinja and we chatted and had a little catch up session on our weekend adventures. Rachel and I have been getting on well but it was nice to spend some time apart as well. It gave us so much more to talk about when we returned.
On Tuesday, we found out that it had been Roscoe’s (the guy who looks after all our problems at the hostel) birthday and he hadn’t told us, so we decided to make him a belated birthday cake. As the cooking facilities here are basically a one ringed hob, we bought a marble cake from the supermarket and then iced and decorated it. Roscoe came round to visit us that later that evening and he was so pleased with his cake. He told us that no-one ever celebrates his birthday and that he had never had a cake before. Our little small gesture meant so much to him that he started dancing around our room singing Michael Jackson songs.
Thursday was not such a good day for me. I had to take some tablets that I bought from the pharmacy to protect me from the parasites in the water. The pharmacist recommended that I took these tablets as if the parasite lives in your system, it can make you very ill for up to a month. I thought that I would follow this advice after rafting in the Nile and swimming in Lake Victoria. I had to take three tablets, wait for six hours, then take another three, wait another six hours and then take a final two. The tablets made me feel a little iffy and I ended up spending most of the day in bed.
When I got up on Friday morning, I felt so much better and decided that I would be energetic and do some more walking again. I decided to walk to Garden City where I met Rachel (she didn’t fancy the walk) and we had a little nosey around and then I walked home again on my own. It takes about 45 minutes each way but it’s nice to get out into the sunshine for a little while, and also not to have to jump on a boda.
Friday night started the beginning of our St Patrick’s Day celebrations. We were invited by the Irish Society to a party in Bubbles, the local Irish pub/restaurant. This was a good night as we met some people from home and they also served everyone some Irish Stew. We got talking to some people and had a good night laughing, dancing and talking about things from home. There was an Irish band there so they played a lot of typical Irish songs.
On Saturday, I made my first visit to the slums to visit some of the street kids. When I first arrived, we went to buy some food for their dinner and had to go deep into the slums. Even just walking through the area really opened up my eyes. Back at the shelter, I washed all the dishes from the meal the day before. It wasn’t the nicest job in the world but at least I was being helpful. Once everything was clean, I began to boil the rice. I went to add a pinch of salt and all the boys laughed at me and then threw in lots in. I couldn’t believe how much salt they used. Whilst dinner was cooking, I chatted to some of the boys, learnt some funky dance moves from others and was even taught a crazy hand jive. Rachel had her camera with her as well so we took some photos with them too. They all loved the camera.
When it came to the fish to go with their rice for dinner, I was staying well away. The thought of it even makes me feel sick. It comes still on the bone, eyes and all! Once everything was ready, all fifty of the boys gathered round in a circle to praise and thank God before they ate. It was so moving as they have so little, yet were so thankful.
Sunday morning consisted of attending Calvary Chapel Church again. I enjoyed the service but I still hope to visit KPC church at some point as it is meant to be more like my church at home. After church, we headed to the beach in Entebbe. We went with some of our friends who we go to church with, and we also took two little boys from the church with us. You would have thought it was their birthdays, their eyes lit up so much at the sight of the beach and they had a really great day. I was playing with them in the sea and they seemed to love the attention, especially when they would climb on my back and I would throw them off. The boys live in the slums so a day like this is a dream to them. We all had a great day here and were shattered by the time we arrived back in Kampala that evening.
Professional Development
Back to class on Wednesday after 9 days without any seemed strange. Our classmates even commented on how long it had been as they have other lessons which we do not study, so had not had such a long break. The class was all about the child centred curriculum. I liked this lesson as most of lessons at home, if not all of them, are focused on this approach and I was able to contribute ideas on its advantages and disadvantages, and reasons why I liked or disliked it. The others in my class seemed interested in the topic as it is only a new idea in Uganda.
Class on Thursday morning has to be my favourite so far. It was all about ‘Tables of Specification’, and we were asked to get into our assignment groups to design one for our specific subject areas. As I study Primary Education with Mathematics at Stranmillis, I was told to focus on Maths. Everyone else in the class is studying to be a secondary school teacher so they all have specific subject areas. I am working with Rachel (as she studies Religious Education and Mathematics at Stran) and also a guy called Ian. Ian was not at class on Thursday morning so Rachel and I just worked as a pair. As everyone in the class is studying secondary education, all of the syllabuses that we have to work from are for that level of teaching and my assignment will focus on this level. I still think that this will be beneficial to my teaching career though and I will be able to transfer the skills that I develop to the primary level and it might also give me some experience and ideas for an alternative placement if that opportunity comes up.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Keep your emails coming, they always make me smile
Natalie
xx
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