Friday 15th April

Today was to be my last day at Kasubi.  I was tired from the previous day’s events, but was looking forward to spending the day in school again.  The morning was relatively calm.  We talked over what had happened the night before and looked at the coverage in the local newspaper.  4 people had been shot dead last night.  Everyone was very kind to me and reassured me that things would be calm now and that the army had taken control of the situation. Many of them were not frightened last night as to them this was insignificant to the many years they lived through the war here.  They explained that many of the children in the school had only ever known war and were not frightened of anything anymore, and that this was part of the problem.  Children should be frightened when they hear gunshots.

We also discussed some of the activities that Patrick could take part in whilst he is staying with us in July.  A lady came to the office and appeared with a carrier bag full of clothes for me (the school had asked her to come in earlier on the week and she measured me).  I had been thoroughly spoiled with 2 dresses, a skirt and a bag to match, that were all made specifically to my size.  What a treat!

Me with the lovely lasy who made this dress for me!

Another lady called Rose appeared and she showed me how their Girl Guide group made necklaces made from paper.  This was extraordinary as the necklaces produced genuinely looked like beads.  I think this is a project we are going to develop, whereby their pupils can teach our pupils how to do this, and we can produce something similar to show them.  Rose is going to send some samples over and will make whatever we want.  Any money raised will go towards buying more equipment, so the Girl Guides group can produce more necklaces and sell at the market. 

In the afternoon, we did presentations of the T-shirts I brought over to the pupils and teachers.  As there were only 55 T-shirts, pupils were chosen on the grounds of their punctuality, participation in class and in the link projects.  Teachers who had been involved in meetings regarding our school link and had developed ideas, also received a T-shirt.  Pupils and staff alike seemed very pleased with the recognition.

We also had an assembly in which more traditional dances and a fantastic role play was shown to me.  The role play told the ancient story of how the two tribes of Acholi and Luo came to be.  They currently live on separate sides of the river Nile and do not mix.  This was largely down to a quarrel between two brothers over a spear and some beads.  It was very entertaining and the lead pupil was particularly funny!  It is safe to say that the assemblies are fairly chaotic.  The teachers bellow at the pupils down a loud speaker but nobody is silent.  Teachers will happily get up and answer their phones, children will walk off home if they have had enough (there is no fence around the school, so they can come and go whenever – something which they would like to change) and people will move around and chat whenever a performance is going on!  It is obviously very different from an assembly at St Phils!  However, there were moments when the children and staff came together, mainly when a traditional dance was going on and staff randomly decided that they wanted to join in, which the children loved.

I was humbled by the enormous amount of gifts I was presented with during the assembly.  I had already received the clothes, yet they presented me with wall hangings, cushion covers, a mat, bags, a drum and wall carvings.  Some of these will look fantastic at school and I think we should put them on display.  The assembly finished around 5pm.  Most of the children had left by this time, and this was good as a rain storm came with quite strong winds and whipped up all the dust, it got everywhere and was particularly bad to try and see.

The teachers came and had a drink with me at my hotel and I said my goodbyes.  I have only known them for a few days but they have made me feel so welcome, I feel as if I have known them for years.  I only hope we can do the same when Patrick comes to England.  I’m looking forward to developing many more projects with them and helping the school as much as we can.

At dinner I met the other teachers that had come over from England and we all sat and told stories from our week, whilst the power continued to come and go. I leave to go to Entebbe tomorrow (a long journey of about 6 hours) and will then fly back early on Sunday morning.  It has been an incredible week and one that I shall never forget.  In some ways I feel like I have been here for ages, as each day has been so busy and I have seen and learnt so much, yet in others I feel as if we are just scraping the surface and there is so much more that could be done. I know that the teachers and staff of Kasubi are keen for this partnership to carry on long into the future and I look forward to seeing the developments that our partnership will bring.    

Thursday 14th April

Today was truly extraordinary in so many ways.  A minibus collected us as 6am to take us to the nearby Murchison Falls National Park.  The journey took a couple of hours, not so much because of the distance, but because most of the roads here are not paved.  Instead they are dust, so when it rains it turns very quickly into mud and cars can get stuck.  There are also many potholes, as well as numerous police checks along the way (these don’t seem very effective as the traffic police seem to walk round the car looking at the people inside and then wave us on our way).  The scenery was spectacular, one of the things that has struck me is that there are two main colours that dominate here.  The deep greens of all the different vegetation, that grow so quickly in this equatorial climate and the deep red of the soil, which seems to get everywhere!  The park was so much bigger than I could have expected, it went for miles and miles and you couldn’t see the boundary line at all.  I was very lucky to see Ugandan buck, warthogs, giraffes, buffalo, crocodiles hippos and many elephants.  One elephant was in the road and didn’t seem bothered by us whatsoever, it was with its baby and it was lovely to see it so close.

The Ugandan bucks run very fast and they seem to move in all sorts of directions (rather like moths do – where they seem to be flying one way and then a split second later have made a U-turn).  We also were told about a lame lion that was close.  The driver decided he would go off road to see if we could find it (apparently this isn’t really allowed) and instantly the minibus got stuck.  The tyres spun round and round throwing up mounds of red dust, but to no avail.  All the men got out to help push, but there was a high sense of tension as many of us were aware the lion could approach from any angle at any minute!  As it was, we freed the minibus and we didn’t see the lion, but it was quite stressful for a good few minutes!  The drive back to Gulu was a long and bumpy one and we were all very tired, we stopped off for some food in an ‘interesting’ roadside restaurant.  We were mobbed by people selling dried fish (huge slabs of fish covered in salt and dried, carried in large piles on women’s heads), which apparently you rinse and boil to cook.  There were also men selling wooden carvings of various animals that we had seen in the park.  Many of the teachers ate something called Matok, which is where a special variety of banana is cooked and mashed up.  I tried some and like most of the food here it was quite heavy and not very tasty, but it definitely did the job of filling us up.

We arrived back at the hotel about 6 and what ensued in the next 2 hours was one of the most terrifying things I have ever experienced.  I was in my room when I heard a few gunshots fired.  My room looks out onto one of the main roads and people started screaming and crying and running down the road.  I went out onto my balcony and could see a cloud of smoke coming from one of the buildings up the road.  I initially thought a bomb had gone off.  There was absolute chaos.  There was no power, although I was lucky in that my hotel had a generator, so my lights were working.  Many more gunshots followed for the next 2 hours.  Some of them sounded like they were right outside my window, I could hear people running and screaming and I was unclear what was going on.  As my whole room faces the main road and is a wall of windows, I gathered my mobile and went and sat in the dark on the floor of the bathroom.  The project manager from African Revival called and explained that there was a demonstration about the lack of jobs and the high price of fuel for people and that the army were trying to disperse the crowds with tear gas and bullets (apparently they were firing into the air, although this did not make me feel better).  There had been demonstrations in Kampala over the last few days and many people were on a Walk to Work protest over rising fuel prices.  It had been particularly bad in Kampala today and one of the politicians had been wounded, which sparked the uprisings in many key cities across Uganda, Gulu obviously being one of them.  One of teh politicians opposing the givernment decided to visit Gulu and this was what had encouraged protestors out onto the streets.  I phoned home to the UK and thankfully more information was found on the internet.  It was however completely terrifying to hear so many gunshots (so loud and so near), as well as smelling the tear gas seeping through the windows into my room.  Around 8/8.30 the chaos seemed to die down and although the shots could still be heard they were much further away.  I was absolutely exhausted from a long day and through being so scared, but I didn’t sleep easily, as any loud noise woke me and prompted me to think that the army were back.  I don’t know if this is something that happens regularly here, but it is something I definitely do not want to experience again.

Wednesday 13th April

Another busy day!  Today I gave out the badges to the lower school, they were very excited about this and greeted me with many songs.  I was then taken to the local hospital, something which I initially found very odd, as we would not take visitors to England to look round a hospital!  However, on arriving there, I could see why they wanted to take me.  It is a training hospital and whilst it obviously wasn't of the standards that we are used to, it was without doubt a very impressive hospital, for a developing country.  They were very proud of it. There was a maternity ward, beds for patients, collection points for medicine and counselling for those suffering from AIDS and HIV.  Following this visit I was then taken to another school nearby.  It was a Catholic Girls school, which had 1000 pupils.  Pupils boarded there for the whole term.  It was government funded, but it was clear to see that this school was much better equipped than Kasubi.  They had a proper library, an ICT suite (admittedly the computers were very old and some didn't work, but many pupils were browsing the internet when I visited).  They had a proper canteen, well presented grounds, chemistry and biology labs, the list is endless.  This school is selective and does take pupils from Kasubi, but only the most high achieving pupils.  They are helped heavily by Catholic organisations and charities such as Invisible Children, which assist orphans.  It seemed so unfair and yet so like England.  We are blessed to have a very well presented and well equipped school, yet similarly there are schools in England that aren't so lucky.

We returned for lunch and then had a meeting with staff and the Head Girl and Head Boy. This group of people have been involved with the projects that have already taken place between Kasubi and St Phils.  We met to discuss future projects that could take place and I came away with plenty of food for thought.  There is much we can do to help Kasubi and enable our pupils to learn from them.  They informed me that the money that was sent by us last year had paid for tables, chairs and windows for the classrooms.  Throughout my week I have been taking note of some projects we could follow up with and ways in which we could help and I look forward to discussing these with the Student panel on my return. 

The whole of the district are having formal exams tomorrow for all year groups, so I am very lucky as the Headmaster and some of the staff are taking me to a nearby National Park, to show me some of their wildlife.  An early morning awaits me!

Sunday 10th April - Arrival in Uganda!

I arrived at Entebbe airport around 8am and was collected by our driver Charles, who drove us to Kampala where we met Amy Tew, one of the project leaders of African Revival.  We drove to Gulu from Kampala.  Along the way we stopped at a few places to get roadside snacks.  There was heated plantain and samosas, which were very tasty!  We arrived at Gulu at 3pm and checked in to our hotel.  I have a lovely room with a balcony that overlooks a village situated towards the back of Gulu town.  I can also see the edge of the market that sells food, clothes as well as hardware tools!  Basically everything you could ever need!

On the way out we noticed a crowd of people watching TV in the reception area.  There was an Arsenal vs Blackpool football match on and all the locals were fully engrossed in it!  Had dinner with Amy Tew, Simonpeter and Josh, all from African Revival.  We were introduced to the other teachers who were also on an exchange. Dinner was a buffet that consisted of a wide variety of beans in gravy, sautéed potatoes, and rice.  During our dinner there were frequent power cuts.  The power is irregular here and people are used to the power cutting out, sometimes for days at a time.  Luckily we all had torches handy! Lots of hotels also have generators, although they often need to conserve how much they use it, as they are unsure when the power will come back on.  I go to bed excited about the trip to the school the following morning.....

Monday 11^th April 2011

I had breakfast this morning which consisted of toast, pineapple and some very tasty banana.  Went for a short walk into the town to get a mobile phone, a job which I hate doing in the UK, but was actually pleasurable here.  Phones are very accessible, most people have them and nearly every shop sells credit that you can top your phone up with. I was collected from the hotel and driven the short distance to Kasubi Army school.  What greeted me on arrival will stay with me for ever and brought me close to tears.  The whole school were waiting for me at the gate.  Some pupils were in traditional costume and were dancing and singing, whilst all the teachers were lined up waiting to be greeted by me.  Some pupils held up a sign which said ‘Miss G the teachers welcome a handshake from you’, and so, feeling like royalty I was walked along the line of about 20-30 teachers and shook hands with each one.  The dance continued whilst I did this.  The whole school were stood waiting patiently behind a rope and I walked up and down the line waving to the children.  They all seemed very happy and had such fantastic smiles.  There are over 2000 pupils at Kasubi Army and the teachers have many pupils in each class, but you can see the mutual love and respect that the students and teachers have for one another.  We had a short assembly in which the whole school sang the national anthem, the school song and we had a short prayer.  I was welcomed by the head and had to say a few words to the school. 

Throughout the day I was shown around various classrooms in the school.  There are 21 and some of the classes have between 100-150 pupils in each class.  Much of the classes involve reciting words written on the blackboard over and over again whilst the teacher checks for pronunciation.  One class I watched was on the parts of the body.  Pupils stood up and recited ‘This is my nose, I use my nose for smelling’, ‘These are my legs, I use my legs for walking’, whilst pointing to the relevant body part and doing the actions.  Considering how many children the teachers have in each class and how few resources, they really do an excellent job.  Generally the pupils seem very engaged.  They come in with their own exercise books to work in (many of these are homemade with a few loose lined pages folded and stuck between newspaper).  There is obvious signs that efforts are being made to give opportunities to all.  For example, there is a scheme called Echo Bravo in which pupils who had dropped out of school to have a baby, personal difficulties etc have a special classroom to work in and a crèche facility so that they can bring their children there whilst they study.

There are many links that I noticed throughout the day.  At Kasubi and in Uganda generally there is a strong input from parents.  The parents have a Parent Teacher Association and provide much needed money that doesn’t always get through from the government (all payments are made from Kampala and some teachers haven't been paid for over 2 years).  Furthermore, whilst I was there they had an outside inspector come in to review the teaching practices and topics in place and to give support and suggestions for improvements.  This was not so scary as our very own OFSTED, but not a million miles apart!  They also have a national curriculum set by the government, which they must follow.

The teachers work a similarly long day, arriving at 7.30 and finishing at 5pm.  Many have to stay to help out with extra curricular activities such as football and dancing. 

Throughout the day I was encouraged to meet important people who had come to the school to see me (e.g. figureheads from the Army – who own the school, Head of the Parent Teacher Association etc) and to rest out of the sun and take tea – there is a definitely more relaxed atmosphere in the school, though that is not to say that people don’t work hard.

I watched a PE lesson, which I though was very resourceful considering they had no PE equipment.  They had one chair which they placed far from the pupils and paired girls up with each other and boys with each other.  Two boys or two girls would take it in turns to race to the chair and see who could sit on it first!  This provided much amusement and was good exercise.

In the afternoon we had lunch and an assembly was held in which there was more traditional dancing and some short sketches.  I was dragged into one of the dances to participate and I am not looking forward to the video footage – although they assure me I gave it a good shot! 

I has been an extremely busy day and no doubt tomorrow will be too, so I am going to get fed and watered and let it all begin again tomorrow!

Tuesday 12^th April

What another fantastic day.  I watched my first Geography lesson today.  It was on soil degradation.  The teacher went through the main causes of soil degradation and then some of the practices that could be used to overcome them.  The pupils seemed generally very engaged and were well behaved at answering questions and waiting to be instructed to write their work down.  Their books were generally very thorough, they had studied electricity and magnets as well as other parts of Physics that I am never likely to understand!  The teacher had prepared a flipchart with coloured pictures (drawn by himself) prior to the lesson.  This showed practices such as crop rotation and terracing to the children, which they could then draw in their books.  At the end of the lesson the pupils filled in the Geography questionnaire that I had prepared.  It was interesting to see that many answered questions with a simple yes or no answer, even if the question required more than this.    They also struggled to understand the concept of a rating scale in which 1 meant you were very unhappy and 10 meant you were very happy.    I think this was a new concept to them and some of the questions threw up interesting language barriers.  Furthermore, in answer to the question ‘What is your most treasured possession’, a question which we thought might draw responses about items that they own, many replied with ‘their education’.  To have the idea that education was a possession was a  very different way of seeing things and I found this very touching.   The following lesson was Maths in which pupils were working out problems using Venn diagrams.  Again, the level of teaching was very good considering how many pupils were present (a register stating 25 girls were present and 47 boys was drawn on the blackboard – very different from SIMS!) and the pupils worked hard.  At the end of the lesson they filled in the questionnaire written on behalf of Textiles.  Again many of them found this difficult as some words they were unfamiliar with and the concept of fashion, seemed insignificant to these children.  Following the questionnaire I showed the pupils the videos that the student panel had produced, as well as an RE video produced by some year 11s.  This went down very well and many of the pupils were clamouring over each other to see the laptop screen, a theme which followed all day as I showed as many pupils as I could until the battery ran out. 

The afternoon was extremely busy.  We divided up the badges that St Phils had made between the older classes, as well as giving out the plain badges for them to make.  The badges brought so much pleasure.  They were clapping, laughing and cheering when they heard that they would get one each and were very studious about producing a badge to send  back to England.  Many of the younger pupils however, were very upset that they had not received a badge or could not participate in the fun.  Many were following us around, crying and waiting outside the head’s office asking for a badge.  It made me feel very guilty and I wanted to ensure all the children felt that they had been treated equally.  Thankfully we have 700 blank badges left that some of the children can make and we have decided to distribute the badges that some of the older pupils made, to the younger ones, so that everyone receives one.  I know that the girls at St Phils would want these children to have something which will make them smile and to remember our school by, so I feel confident they will not mind that not everyone will get a badge back when I return to England. 

At this point, I feel it necessary to fill in all the small wonderful additions to my day that have made  me feel so welcome.  First there is the special handshake.  I am unsure what this is for but it seems that when I am greeted you clasp hands in a kind of ‘secret handshake’ that best friends would reserve for one another, thankfully I have picked this up quickly!  Furthermore, there is little rushing in Uganda!  The heat  means that I am frequently encouraged to sit and rest in the Headmasters office, to have tea, (a lady comes in with a bowl and soap and a large teapot of cold water to help you wash your hands), bread (which they dunk in their tea),  and bananas (that taste better than any banana you have ever had at home).  There is much laughing and talking as well as formal introductions.  They have a wonderful politeness that makes you feel as if you are stepping back in time.  Each teacher was asked to stand in front of me and explain what they taught and to which class. 

The headmaster, Patrick invited me to his house after school.  It was very humbling to see.  He had a large, but very dilapidated old government building, which would look very grand if it was renovated.  He has 6 children and has adopted 3 orphans.  His wife, Alice works in a kiosk (a shop at the side of the road, in a shack), that sells drinks, phonecards and food to passers by.  We sat and talked and I showed Patrick and Joy (the Head of English) photos of England.  It was a very relaxing time and it was exactly how I imagined people to spend their time after work.  There has been another long powercut today.  Patrick and Joy explained that this is why they buy food each day at the market, as the power is so unreliable they cannot use fridges.  They were curled up laughing when I explained that many people in England did their shopping online and had it delivered.  To them, this was a totally alien concept, as for them, visiting the market is a social as well as necessary journey.

Another busy day and more badges await me tomorrow.  I have been informed that I will also be taken to a local hospital, which I am sure will be very interesting.  Until tomorrow!  Goodnight.