Kwaheri Africa

So our final day has come and it is with mixed emotions that we prepare to return to the UK. We have had the most amazing time- we’ve laughed a lot, faced our fears, got to know each other better, grown in confidence, had new experiences, cried, faced challenges and for all of us the time we have spent here has left us with a wealth of fantastic memories. I have no doubt that there is at least two of us that, circumstances permitting, will be returning to Uganda next year!

The last couple of days have been spent based at our camp on the outskirts of Nairobi. One day we visited the elephant orphanage and giraffe sanctuary- particularly fab for Lucy and Vickie since their favourite animals are elephants and giraffes. Seeing the orphan elephants was lovely but also tinged with a hint of sadness as all, apart from one, had lost their mothers due to ivory poaching. Until people around the world stop buying ivory products then baby elephants will continue to become orphans- a sad but true fact. The organisation that look after these orphans eventually release them back to the wild. 

 

Was great to visit the giraffe sanctuary and really get up close to these magnificent animals.

 

Yesterday we enjoyed shopping at the Masai market- particularly Sabi and Lucy who really put their bartering skills to use!!

Farewell Africa. I hope those of you who have been reading this have enjoyed following our journey. Thank you to all who have written such lovely comments- they have been much appreciated and we have really valued your support. We will all enjoy sharing more of our experiences with you when we return to the UK.

An amazing safari

We have just returned from the most amazing safari in the Masai Mara. We were really fortunate enough to end up having our own private safari and even more fantastic we also had the entire camp to ourselves. We felt very privileged. We saw lots of wildlife including lions, cheetahs, a leopard, elephants and giraffes. We were also fortunate enough to be there during the annual wildebeest migration so there were multitudes of wildebeests roaming the plains and forming lines in preparation to crossing the Mara river. A few highlights were as follows. On our first day we saw a cheetah tracking wildebeasts and then taking down a calf. However that was not the end of the story. To our amazement and that of our Masai guide Justace, a baboon came out of nowhere, chased the cheetah away and the wildebeest calf lived to see another day. A truly remarkable spectacle which our guide, who had grown up on the Mara, had never seen before.

We were also fortunate enough to see several prides of lions and a leopard.

The great thing about safari is you never know what is around the next corner- be it elephant, giraffe or wildebeest.

 

The security guards at our camp were local Masai and one evening we went to their village. It was really interesting to learn about how they lived, visit a home, watch a dance and see them lighting a fire.

So a brief look at what was an unforgettable experience- one we will never forget.

Our Final Days at Child of Hope

I am writing this from the grounds of our beautiful lodge on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. We arrived late yesterday afternoon after a long, tiring, but uneventful journey from Mbale. Our last few days at the school continued to be extremely busy- full of demonstration teaching, training of teachers and teaching assistants and Lucy continuing her coaching of the head and deputy head teachers. Vickie and Sabi concentrated their teaching with the younger children in the primary department. The children are mainly about 6-8 though in Uganda they do not stick to everyone being the same age in each class like we do in the UK. The children particularly loved Talk for Writing and it was a real hit with the teachers too. Headteacher Mike really enjoyed joining in with the story on the last day. 

Laura concentrated on the older children- with the children mainly being aged between 10 and 14. They learned how to effectively debate and thoroughly enjoyed a variety of maths games including tables aerobics- the sounds of which echoed around the grounds of the school. The children became so keen on the games that they wanted to play in their own time. In this photo head boy Moses found Laura in the staff room and challenged her to a game!! 

Sabi has been a real support to the teaching assistants in helping them with strategies with children with specific behaviour or learning difficulties. She provided great support to Helen a child who is blind and returned to Child of Hope for the holidays. Here she is teaching her how to form the numbers 4, 5 & 6.

Lucy has spent every morning working with the new head and deputy Headteacher on things such as how to embed the new behaviour system, timetables and daily/weekly/termly routines. She also held a prefect meeting and staff meeting with Mike the Headteacher.

So Friday was our last day and as you can imagine we all found it difficult to say goodbye to everybody, particularly Lucy and Vickie as it was their second visit. Their first good bye was to their sponsor children, Peace and Mercy. 

At 1pm Bex had arranged a farewell lunch with us with all staff which was really lovely. All staff came and we had a delicious lunch of rice and pork. Lucy had to give a brief speech and we were each presented with lovely bags which the school tailors had made us as a surprise. Then followed an amazing experience. The welfare team had arranged for the four of us to go into the community and to cook for some of the children and the parents just how they do. This included all the preparation including the lighting of the charcoal fire, the sorting of the rice, the sweeping of the house, chopping the meat and vegetables and washing the dishes. After 3 hours of hot, hard work to produce a small meal to feed a family of 15 it helped us understand more how hard work it is living in the community of Namatala and even more how easy we have it!

So finally we said goodbye to all the primary teachers and Bex- I’m sure we’ll be back!!

 

Our second week so far

We have had a busy but productive start of the week hence not being able to have time to blog- apologies to anyone following us.

This week Vickie is teaching English every morning in P1 class who are aged 7 and 8. She has introduced talk for writing ‘ The Little Red Hen’ which the children and staff have responded to well especially creating actions to accompany the story. Laura is teaching English every morning in P4 class who are aged 10 and 11. She has been introducing the subject of democracy and the children have been writing speeches, using role play, group discussions and spelling games.

They are also both teaching maths every day. They have been focusing on mental maths and maths games. It has been great to hear that children have been choosing to carry on playing the games at playtime- great impact.

Lucy has been continuing to working with the head and deputy to ensure that everything that is being implemented is sustainable once we leave. This includes support with expectations for teachers, timetables and daily/weekly routines.

We have also been training teachers and teaching assistants every afternoon. On Monday we focused on the role of the teaching assistant and on Tuesday providing work for all abilities. As last week the staff have been fantastic to work with.

We are also pleased at the impact the new behaviour system is having. This is all due to the fact that is has been embraced wholeheartedly by the staff.

The Weekend

We have had a great first week at the school- the time has flown and we can’t believe we are already half way through our time with them. The staff have been amazingly receptive of all our ideas and have already put many of them into practice. We have also had a lot of fun both with them and the children. It is going to be very difficult to say goodbye to them next Friday.

On Friday afternoon Lucy, Bex, Mike (head teacher) and Faustine (deputy head teacher) met to discuss how the week had gone and to make plans for the following week. All felt the week had been very successful due to the openness and hardwork of all the participants. Next week the plan is demonstration teaching in the morning and staff training in the afternoon. Throughout this will be the consolidation of the new behaviour system.

We also presented all the stationery and posters that the children and parents at our schools had so generously donated. Some will go into the classroom for general use but the stickers and much of the special pencils, rubbers etc will be used as part of the new reward system.

Although our original plans were to go to Jinja this weekend we instead decided to stay in Mbale as we all felt we needed some rest time. Yesterday, Saturday, we celebrated Eid with Sabi as we were in Uganda for Eid. The day started with Sabi wearing the special outfit which her mum had given her.

We then went to the new market which has been built in Mbale. An amazing place which replaces all the outdoor markets and has everything under one roof. We bought some fresh passion fruit- 8 for about 25p!! We also went to where the tailors are as we thought we would have Eid outfits made like Sabi’s which we could wear to the SMR Eid celebration next term. We found a lovely tailor who then took us to a shop to choose our material and took our measurements. Amazing service- our 3 custom made outfits will be ready by Thursday!!

After the market we had our Eid celebration lunch at Endiro’s cafe, gave Sabi her Eid gift ( a necklace made locally), shopped for next week’s lunch in the supermarket and then returned to the hotel for some much needed rest and relaxation.

Today Vickie, Sabi and Laura have gone off to the Mbale resort hotel to swim and relax by the pool. Leaving Lucy to plan next week in peace!!!

 

Day Five

Yesterday afternoon we went around the classrooms to help with the beginning of the implementation of the new behaviour system. Was great to see it being introduced so positively. Were the two girls at the back paying attention though!!!

Was great to see Elijah again who we met last year. Particularly lovely to watch him having fun and getting up to mischief with his new friend Sandy. They were unaware of us watching them trying to sneak a look at the pigs!!

In the evening we went to Bex and Moses’ house for dinner, the directors of Child of Hope. Was really relaxing to spend the evening away from the hotel and have a lovely home cooked meal.Today is the end of our first week- we can’t believe we are already half way through our time here. Again we spent the morning in classes supporting the teachers and helping with the implementation of the behaviour policy.

As always we also found time to have fun with the children. Here Laura and Vickie are playing with baby class.

Of course there is always time for a little bit of silliness with the teachers too!!

Child of Hope Day Four

Yesterday afternoon Laura led staff training on the use of maths games to consolidate mental arithmetic skills skills such as place value, number bonds, addition and tables. A lot of laughter was had by all and it got very competitive as you can see from the pictures.

 

While the teachers had their training Lucy had a meeting with Mike, the head teacher and Faustine, the deputy head teacher to discuss how the week had gone so far and next steps. An assembly was also planned for the next day to introduce the new behaviour system so that it was understood by all.

Today we have just done a short session with the teachers due to the assembly at 11am. We had a quick re-cap of the week so far and then gave them resources to make their star of the week badges which they thoroughly enjoyed as you can see!!

After the training the whole school went out to the playground for the assembly to introduce the new behaviour system which was very successful.

Child of Hope Day Three

Lunchtime day three and it already feels like we have been here much longer- in a good way!! Yesterday afternoon Vickie taught the primary teachers talk for writing ably assisted by Sabi. As you can see the teachers could really see what great fun learning stories could be and enjoyed re-enacting the story of’ The Little Red Hen’

It was fantastic to see the children crowding around the doorway, peering through the windows and the rafters all keen to join in the action.

Laura also played some English games and taught them some brain gym to keep the energy levels high.

We are thoroughly enjoyed the food at the hotel- so great to eat very fresh fruit, vegetables and fish. We are hoping to come back much healthier!!!

So far today we have continued looking at positive behaviour- particular what positive language can be used. The emphasis has been on ensuring there will be consistency across the school. Great discussions were had to ensure this happened. The teachers enjoyed making posters to put up in their class as a reminder of what vocabulary to use.

We have also enjoyed spending time with the children and Sabi has been utilising her skills with individuals.

Today Vickie and Lucy gave their gifts to the children they sponsor as well as the gifts for the child Lucy’s mum sponsors and Tess’ sponsor child. They were pleased, if a little over whelmed!!

 

Our First Days at Child of Hope

We are starting on some amazing news! What we didn’t tell you in our first post was that when we arrived in Uganda two of our bags were missing. Although we dutifully filled in the forms at the airport we weren’t hopeful that they would find their way all the way to Mbale which is 6- 7 hours drive from the airport. However much to our excitement, and to the bemusement of the staff, they arrived on Sunday afternoon at our hotel. Not sure where they’d been- they were a bit battered- but we know they were put on a bus from Kampala and then our hotel manager took two bodabodas ( motorbikes) to pick them up from the bus station. We were so relieved!!

So we are on day two of our time at Child of Hope. For Vickie and Lucy it has been fantastic to be so warmly welcomed back by staff and children alike; Sabi and Laura  already feel at home. For the first three days our focus is working with the primary teachers- they work with children from age 7 to 14. We our training them initially on behaviour management- reward systems and positive discipline. The teachers are being very receptive and a lot of fun to work with.

Yesterday afternoon we went around the slum so Laura and Sabi could see the community in which the children live.

Because the children are having exams at the moment we have not had much time with them- apart from playtime. Was great to watch them having so much fun in the rain yesterday.

 

Uganda 2014 starts with a bang!

After a long and tiring journey, we arrived in Mbale yesterday and were welcomed by the staff of our hotel, who remembered us, we must have made a strong impression!

After a wonderful nights sleep, we are relaxing today in preparation for starting school tomorrow. We are all very excited to see the teachers and children, and begin our journey with them all.

Will update as often as possible.