Week 9 and i'm in two places at once!

Personal and Cultural Development

Even though Easter is not celebrated for the entire week, we decided to make the most of the holiday and try to squeeze as many different excursions in as possible. An Irish girl that we met here had two friends coming to visit for a week, so we decided to tag along to the majority of their activities as we wanted to see some more of this beautiful country.

We first met the girls on Monday evening when we all went for some Chinese. The car journey on the way home was rather eventful as Ugandan roads are not the smoothest; the car was running out of petrol and needed some water! We were preparing ourselves for a long walk or a car push. We just about made it to the petrol station to get it sorted but apparently after HM dropped us home, he broke down and had to call a mechanic.

Tuesday morning was an early start. I had arranged to meet Pamela from Abaana (the charity that I am working alongside) at 7.30am at Freedom Square in Makerere University. I managed to crawl out of bed at 6.45am and walk there in time. She asked me a few questions about myself, what I was doing in Uganda and why I was keen to volunteer with the charity. The meeting was really informal and Pamela dropped me back to Nanas by 8am. I’m not sure why it had to be so early in the morning but that’s typical Uganda for you. Early mornings seem to be a favourite here but they definitely are not in my books. I can’t even imagine having a meeting at 7.30 am at home.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rachel and I headed to Streetreach. This is a programme run by Abaana for the street kids that we have been working with in the slums. It involves some people spending time with the boys, playing football and other games, studying bible stories and other organized activities. The boys were really excited to see us and we spent a few hours hanging out with them and participating in their programme. These boys are having a huge impact on my personal development whilst in Uganda. They have really made me reconsider my priorities in life and taught me to be truly grateful for everything that I have.

Wednesday was not the best day for me as I was feeling a little unwell but I think that it was due to the length of time I spent in the direct sunshine on Tuesday. After drinking lots of fluids, I began to feel better again. We had a meeting with the Head of Education in the afternoon and he was just checking how we were getting on and making sure that we had no problems. He was very friendly and approachable if any problems arise.

On Thursday, we visited two schools in Bajja but on the way home we made a pit stop at the Equator. We got to see the experiment that has always been of interest to me. They had a sink on each side of the Equator and one directly on it. The water in the Northern Hemisphere swirled anti-clockwise, the Southern Hemisphere swirled clockwise and the one precisely on the Equator did not swirl at all but instead went straight down. This was also a great photo opportunity to add to my memories as I was able to stand in both hemispheres at the one time.

As a treat for the boys in the slum, we decided to buy them all a present for Easter and also prepare a special meal for them for Easter on Saturday. We bought each boy a sponge, soap, toothpaste, a t-shirt, shorts and boxers each with money that people had kindly donated to us before we left. We spent the afternoon teaching the boys how to get washed properly and then they all got to get changed into their new clothing. Delegating the clothes out was quite a task as I was left on my own to do it whilst HM organized the meal and Rachel lay down as she was feeling ill. It was rather stressful as the boys are used to having to steal things to get belongings and were all fighting over who got what. Some of them do not have very good English either so the language barrier was a slight problem. I do not like being Teacher Natalie and the weekend but I had to go into teacher mode to try and control them all.

Thankfully HM returned shortly after which took the pressure off me and I was able to enjoy the rest of the evening more so. One of the street kids had my camera and was taking pictures of everything for me whilst I enjoyed seeing the huge grins on the boys’ faces. We ate dinner with the boys including matoke, rice, posha, beef, and beans and not to forget a soda. When the boys saw soda, you would have thought that I had bought them all an iPod. They were so excited! We provided so little for these boys, something that we take for granted every day, yet they were so appreciative. One of the little boys even told me how he couldn’t believe that he had just got washed. He could not remember the last time he had been able to do that as they had no soap or sponges. This has to be one of the most rewarding days so far. A smile can say far more than words.

Easter Sunday in Uganda was also a fantastic but tiring day. We decided to attend KPC (Watoto) church in the morning for their Easter service as we had heard really good reports about it. It was really good and a thought-provoking way to spend Easter morning. After church, one of our Ugandan friends invited us to his aunt’s house for a special lunch. She is a lovely woman who was very friendly and welcoming. She put on the most enormous spread of Ugandan food which left me feeling fit to burst afterwards. We spent the afternoon with Keith’s family and had some very funny and interesting conversations. One of his cousins was trying to explain how Ugandan men think to us but none of the five girls seemed to make any sense of it at all. Men will continue to remain a mystery!

In the evening, we headed to Ndere Centre. There was a special Easter show consisting of many traditional African dances and acts. Some of them were phenomenal including ladies balancing eight ceramic pots on their heads, one on top of the next. I thought that was difficult enough until they started dancing with them on their heads also. There were lots of other interesting acts such as juggling, dancing and very funny compare. They even got anyone who wasn’t from Africa up to do some Ugandan dancing. Let’s just say that we made an attempt but I wasn’t much better than I had been in the school assembly last week. It is all part of the experience though and I was happy to partake in the cultural experience.

Professional Development

Week 9 is the first week of Easter holidays back at home in Stranmillis but unfortunately the holidays are not the same in Makerere. We only get Good Friday and Easter Monday off and I have no classes on a Friday anyway so I only managed to miss one hour of class in total due to the holiday. I suppose I cannot complain but I was meant to have class as normal this week. Mark’s class was about the broad field curriculum again on Monday morning but the rest of my classes ended up being cancelled for the rest of the week. Mark’s car broke down on the way to class on Wednesday morning and Gillian was unwell on Thursday.

Montessori Children’s Academy is an International school so it follows the international holidays and therefore is closed for two weeks over the Easter period. We decided to use this opportunity to spend some time in a more typically Ugandan school as they only have the same holidays as the university. We travelled for roughly two hours to a village called Bajja where we visited Bajja Community School which was completely different to Montessori. The children here do not start learning English until Year 5 so very few of them could communicate with us. They also had even fewer resources and most lessons were taught by purely listening to the teacher.

We then proceeded up the road to another school which had even less again. Bare classrooms were packed to full capacity of pupils. We didn’t spend very long here at all but enough time for me to observe a few things. It gave me some ideas of how to conduct a lesson without resources but I am unsure whether their methods would be successful in a primary classroom in Northern Ireland. The children here are very well disciplined within the classroom but this is probably due to the methods of punishment used. Visiting the typical village schools in Uganda is an experience I will never forget.

Week 8 and I eventually start teaching!!

Personal and Cultural Development

Monday night was my first experience of a barbeque in Uganda. The Norwegian girl who I have become really good friends with was leaving on Wednesday, so she decided to hold a barbeque for all her friends at her hostel before she left. The food was really good but not quite what you would expect from a barbeque at home. We had chicken, Irish potatoes, roasted matoke and salad, followed by a food salad of pineapple, banana and passion fruit for dessert. Roasted matoke is definitely the best form of the dish that I have tasted as it actually had some flavor to it, unlike the majority that I have tried. Overall, it was a really lovely evening relaxing with friends including lots of photo opportunities to capture the memories.

On Tuesday I had to say goodbye to Line. It was really difficult saying goodbye to one of my closest friends in Uganda, especially as I am unsure when I will next see her again. As most of you have probably realised by now, we love Chicken Ghetto, so we decided to head there for Line’s last meal in Kampala. Usually it is just roasted chicken with spices and fried cabbage, peppers and tomato that we devour, but as a special treat we bought avocado and asked the ‘chicken president’ (as we like to call him) to add it to our dish. We also purchased some chapattis and then made our own wraps. They were delicious and definitely a good idea. After dinner, the time came to say goodbye, but I will definitely remain in touch with Line and maybe even take her up on her offer to come to Norway and go skiing!

As I am in Uganda for four months, I think that it is essential that I at least attempt to learn a little Luganda. On Wednesday night, I bought a book with some key Luganda phrases in it to try and learn some and one of the security guards from the hostel was teaching me how to pronounce some of the words. I am going to try a little bit more each week and hopefully by the time I leave Uganda, I will be able to at least hold a simple conversation in Luganda. This will be helpful as most of the boda drivers try to talk to you but usually in Luganda and I feel really rude not being able to reply.

Most of my week was taken over by school this week but I definitely enjoyed some new experiences at the weekend. On Saturday morning, our friend HM picked us up and we headed to a shop to buy some Ugandan Crane football shirts. Two hours and eight shirts later, Rachel, HM and I headed to Mandela National Stadium for the Ugandan Cranes v Burundi match. We were running a little late and just as we were walking up the steps into the stadium, we heard a might roar! The Ugandan Cranes were winning 1-0. I got the word ‘mzungo’ on the back of my shirt which several Ugandans found amusing, and I thoroughly enjoyed the match and got into the supporters spirit. At half time a crane flew onto the pitch which caused the entire crowd to erupt but they were even louder when the Ugandan Cranes won 4-0!


After the match we headed to the slums to visit the street boys again. We decided to make them some Irish stew for dinner but it was already dark by the time we got there so it was even more difficult than usual. The boys had never tried this dish before so when we added water to their meat, they thought we were trying to poison them. As we plated up the food, a thunderstorm started so we ate and had devotions under the shelter of the church. The boys loved it and all wanted a second portion. It was already 10pm by now so some of the boys started to get ready for bed. This really pulled at my heart strings as they slept on a bed on bamboo canes tied together and in a potato sack. Some of them didn’t even have a sack to sleep in and the rain was getting into the shelter. I felt so guilty heading back to my hostel and leaving them behind as some of the younger boys were frightened of the storm. Saturday night was definitely the most emotional I have been in Uganda and it has left a lasting impression on me. We are in the progress of arranging a night where we spend the night in the slums with the boys so that we truly understand their way of life. It is going to be an uncomfortable experience but I think it will mean the world to the boys.

Professional Development

Monday morning’s class this week was all about the broad field curriculum. This topic was also continued into Wednesday morning’s class as we discussed the advantages of this integrated approach. Thursday morning’s class was slightly more useful as it was about setting test papers that are going to be beneficial to a class, especially focusing on multiple choice questions. We had to come up with three questions in our groups- one higher order and two of lower order. We had previously chosen the topic of matrices which proved to be quite difficult to set multiple choice questions for, but Rachel, Ian and I worked together and managed to complete the task. This piece of work goes towards our coursework and overall grade for the module.

After class on Wednesday morning, I EVENTUALLY managed to spend my first day in school. The university still seemed to be in progress around the issue so I decide to organize it myself. A friend that I met in Kampala works in Montessori Children’s Academy in Muyenga so she invited me to visit the school and do my placement there. When I first arrived I had no idea where I was meant to be going but I managed to find my friend Rachel, she introduced me to some of the key staff and within no time I was placed within the Year 2 class with Teacher Irene. I was literally in the classroom no more than three minutes expecting to observe and she had me teaching. The class was in the middle of making Easter cards for their parents so she asked me to take over and to help them come up with a message to write inside their cards and some pictures that they could draw to decorate it.

After helping them to complete their cards, Teacher Irene asked me to teach them a song. The only song that I could think of off the top of my head was “Our God is a Great Big God”. Thankfully the children loved it, especially as it had actions to go along with it.

As soon as I had finished teaching them the song, I was handed a book with ideas for art lessons in it and told to choose one to do with the class. The book had plenty of good ideas but as my resources were limited to a sheet of A4 white paper each with some colouring pencils, and the lesson had to be taught immediately without any preparation time, I had to pick something fairly simple to do with them. I decided to talk about different flags with them (including the Ugandan and British flags) and then asked them to design a flag for their own country. Their flag had to tell me something about their country. By the time we finished discussing flags and our ideas, it was lunchtime. Lunch consisted of beef and pilau rice with cabbage. I wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. After lunch we continued with our flags. I asked Irene for a sheet of paper for each child and she had to send a child down to the office to get some as they have zero resources within the classroom.

The children who get the bus home left around 2.45pm but those who did not get the bus did not seem to have an exact time to be picked up. Parents arrived for them between 3pm and 4pm and this seemed normal. There was no bell to end the day like we have at home. The teacher just has to wait for the parents to arrive.

After class on Thursday, I headed to Montessori again. Irene had asked me to prepare a lesson on syllables for the class so I brought a bag of objects with me as a resource. On route by boda, it started to bucket down with rain. By the time I arrived to my classroom, I was soaking wet and even still had the entire class come running to the door to hug me.

The work that the class were set to do before I arrived really shocked me. This is what was written on the board :
1) Write the numbers from 1-300
2) Write the pairs of 2 (2,4,6…) from 2-200

The class is only Year 2 and capable of completing this task but it is just so tedious. I dread to think what would be said to me if that was one of my lessons.
One of the boys in the class who has special needs came up to me looking for attention and I told him that he had to return to his desk and complete his work. Teacher Irene informed me that it was too difficult for him and to ask the classroom assistant if she had a colouring sheet for him to keep him occupied. She didn’t have any so the two boys with learning difficulties were left doing nothing because of their disability rather than being helped. I spent some time trying to teach the two boys their colours whilst the rest of the class completed the task, and the excitement on their faces because they were getting some attention was unreal.

Later in the afternoon, I taught my lesson on syllables. The class seemed to enjoy it and I realised just how clever they were. They were far more advanced than I had expected for Year 2. I printed the word ‘syllables’ on the blackboard and they were able to read it without difficulty.

As I had no class at university on Friday morning, I had to be in school for 7.30am. When I arrived, some of the children were already there. This was the last day of term before Easter so they were having a party. Firstly, there was assembly. It was a special Easter assembly where each class presented something to the rest of the school. Three little girls from the preschool class did some Buganda dancing. It was so cute and funny to watch. Whilst Year 1 were performing their song, a girl in my class came over to me and said that Teacher Irene said I could do “Our God is a Great Big God” with them. I nearly died on the spot as I had only sang it with them that first day and I felt like I was singing to the entire school on my own. After all of the children had performed, the teachers also got up and did some Buganda dancing. They made me join in which was rather embarrassing as Ugandans are all very good dancers with smooth moves whereas I prefer the chicken dance variety of dancing.

After a two hour assembly, my class returned to the classroom for their party and some games. The note sent home to the parents the previous day had asked that the children were collected from school between 11am and 12 noon on this day and when I left at 1.30pm, several parents still had not arrived to pick up their children.

My first few days of experience in school have really opened my eyes to a different classroom than at home. Back at home, we are so used to having multiple resources and facilities for teaching but here, they have the bare minimum. The thing that struck me even more is that I am in a very good school for Uganda so I dread to think what a normal public school is like. I hope to be able to visit one during my time here. Special needs assistance is also non-existent here and I have noticed that it just results in the children falling further and further behind. This has emphasized the necessity for the diagnosis of special needs and how vital it is to cater for these needs. I am unsure whether it will be a possibility, but I would love to spend some time with the two boys I mentioned above, giving them the attention they need to progress. The short time that I am here is now going to make a huge difference in the progress but hopefully it will show the other staff that these children can learn if they are given the opportunity and not just forgotten about.