Day 7 – Friday 17th August

Two new people arrived yesterday, Catherine from Doncaster and Alex from Cheltenham. Both on gap years and both teachers. We helped them get settled by passing on what we have learnt in the last week and spent last night trying to get photos on the laptop and getting an early night. Caroline’s joint aches have eased, but it seems her stomach isn’t at all happy with ground nuts!

Teaching in the morning in P2 with Alex and Caroline trying to get the kids to understand how to tell the time. A few of them looked bored because they knew it already but the majority looked bored because they simply could not get their heads around it. I have to say, it’s not so easy trying to explain it to a bunch of 7/8 year olds when you really attempt it, and have no tools to use, only a blackboard and two different length rulers! we ended up limiting it to quarter past, half past, quarter to and o’clock, then eventually gave up, moved the benches and played “what’s the time mr. wolf”, which of course they loved! When the kids were taken off again at break time to shift bricks, Caroline and found blu-tak in the resource room and finished putting up all the revamped posters in the Baby 2 classroom (pictured). Looks way better now it’s all finished – very proud of our efforts.

 

After lunch Amon (project manager) took me and Caroline to the nearby Itojo Trading Centre where the child she sponsors lives. 10 year old Winnie turns out to be the only daughter of Amon’s cousin’s brother (surely that makes him another cousin? but I wasn’t going to challenge it). Winnie lives with her mother Harriot and her father Asaph in a shop on a dusty back road in Itojo. They sell fruit, homemade butter, vegetables, mats, coal stoves and all sorts of bits and pieces. They welcomed us in and gave us pineapple and papaya whilst Caroline gave Winnie a new school shirt and jumper, pen, pencil, rubber, ruler and exercise book – she was made up. Whilst Caroline was spending time indoors geting to know Winnie, I wandered with the camera outside and found their 3 day old goat!

I gave Harriot some soap and shower gel and Winnie’s Uncle Stephen gave us a ride home on his motorbike.

After a really quite lumpy cup of tea, we decided to pop down the road to see Patrick again and deliver the pictures we had printed of him and his dog, Obama. He was so grateful that he bought us both a Sprite at his local shop/bar. He had been working in his fields clearing the ground and cutting the grass with his panga (machete) and needed a drink himself.  We wandered home in time for dinner. Another cracking afternoon.

We are off to Lake Mburo at 8am tomorrow morning and so are going to try and get an early night (rather than join the others at the local nightclub, where they nearly got arrested last week!). We believe the lake is about 3 hours drive from here, and so we have paid for a car and driver (Wilson) to take us and bring us back on Sunday – I’m not sure I’m recovered enough yet for another ride on the post bus! We have managed to get Wilson a drivers room at Mihingo Lodge for 10,000UGS (about 3 pounds!). The price even includes 3 meals for him – bargain.