School session beneath the great big sky
On Monday afternoon the team ran a life skills session at Duhaga secondary school which was quite challenging. We arrived and the students brought chairs out to the lawn whilst the entire school gathered on the grass. We were given a microphone, but with over 100 students it was difficult to get them all to listen.
As we have experienced before, the pupils found the voices of the female UK volunteers very funny because they sound high-pitched in comparison with a Ugandan accent. This created another challenge in getting them to focus on the message and not the voice. It was also tricky to engage the students at the back and they began to drift away as rain threatened, but the children at the front were engaged with the session.
It can be hard conducting a school session with all these challenges, but each time we do one I feel we learn about more about how to engage the pupils and keep order whilst transmitting our message (it’s rather fitting that we improve our communication through running sessions about communication and other life skills!)
Cat crashes agriculture debate
On Tuesday we conducted a debate at St Mark’s school, which we haven’t worked with before. The motion was ‘This house believes agriculture is the future for the youth of Uganda’ and I was the chairman. It was interesting to be in charge of the debate (which has a rather complicated format that the Ugandans have taught us) although this group were not as vocal as some of the other schools we have worked with. At first there were no interruptions for the speakers, but participation did increase as the session went on.
One element I really enjoy is the way pupils show their approval of a point made during the debate. It’s called flowers and they shake their hands and make a shushing noise. Whilst explaining some of the rules and keeping order I received some flowers and it made me feel very sassy. However, the show was stolen somewhat by an adorable kitten that wandered into the classroom and prowled around beneath the desks until someone popped it in a cupboard from which it presided over the rest of the debate (flowers for chairman kitty!)
Hallo-winnie dinner
On Wednesday (Halloween!) the whole team was invited to Mama Winnie’s for dinner. She is one of the host mothers and, as she does catering, loves to host lots of people. Her host daughters (Niamh and Caroline – 2 UK volunteers) were very excited for everyone to meet Mama Winnie and try her delicious food. And she did not disappoint!
With an impressive spread of many different Ugandan foods plus Mama Winnie’s famous juice, we were all stuffed and happily collapsed on the sofas. Then, in an attempt to embrace the spirit of Halloween, we played a game of werewolf (where each person is given a role they must keep secret and the villagers have to guess who the werewolf is) and our own Winnie (one of the Ugandan volunteers) seems to have an unusual knack of always being the werewolf. It was a great night and was lovely for the whole team to eat together.
Training day for the displaced community
On Thursday afternoon we held a training day at Kykaboga for the displaced community. It was a community action day organised in conjunction with Communication for Health Uganda for the people who have been displaced due to the discovery of oil near Lake Albert. Originally from the Buliisa area, thousands of people have been resettled at Kykaboga without adequate facilities or the compensation they were promised: The government promised them either money or the opportunity to be relocated. However, not nearly enough houses were provided, they don’t have proper water or sanitation and the relief food that was promised for 6 months was only delivered for a few days. The situation is appalling and we met two British journalists from Kampala who were reporting on conditions there.
It was held in the school which has been built there and the community members could choose two sessions from: liquid soap-making, basket weaving, jewellery making, a talk on agriculture and one on VSLAs (Village Savings and Loan Associations).
After some initial confusion due to language barriers (the displaced community are from a different area so don’t necessarily speak Runyoro) the sessions got underway and were pretty successful. After learning about two activities, rice and condoms were given out to the attendees and Kenneth (from Communication for Health Uganda) informed us that the community found the sessions useful and were happy with what we had done. That’s great news as hopefully it means we can work with them again. Their attitude towards NGOs has been a little skeptical as apparently many have conducted research there, but not taken action.
Rain on a hot tin roof
On Friday afternoon a group of us went to Kitara secondary school to conduct a life skills session. When we entered the huge classroom full of over 150 students rain was pounding on the tin roof so it was impossible to hear anything. We had to wait for it to subside whilst sat with the students staring at us, which didn’t help with feeling intimidated.
Again we had issues with them finding our voices funny and laughing when we speak, but Emmanuel (one of the Ugandan volunteers who is usually a teacher) showed his skills and was great at controlling the class. He helped me manage to lead my section on interview skills and, although there were still issues with people at the back being engaged, they seemed to take on board the information. Also, the pupils seemed very keen to work with us again, asking how they can get involved with VSO and ICS.
Daniel’s (belated) birthday celebrations
A Ugandan volunteer named Daniel turned 25 on Tuesday, but he was away in Kasese as part of his project with the VTIs. So, in order to surprise him, the rest of the team arranged for cake and presents on Friday night as we are all staying at Hoima Resort Hotel this weekend for our mid-phase review.
We presented Daniel with the cake (which thankfully he shared with all of us!!) and played a few party games including coming up with adjectives in alphabetical order to describe Daniel and making a sentence saying what we like about Daniel submitting a word each (with a forfeit if you forget the rest of the sentence). We then played some cards and headed to our rooms for the first warm shower in 6 weeks and a comfy double bed (pure luxury!)
Mid-phase review
As part of the ICS programme each team has a mid-phase review when you spend the weekend away from your host family and have sessions to evaluate how the placement has gone so far as well as come up with plans to improve it.
We discussed each of the events we have done in turn, evaluated the successes and challenges and came up with action points for the next month. We then did a session about personal achievements and did the activity where you draw around your hand and then write a positive comment for each person (cheesy I know, but it does make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside).
The afternoon session was a little more tricky as we were discussing cross-cultural working. Everybody wrote down a positive and a challenge and we then discussed them. It was difficult to manoeuvre through differences in work ethic, timekeeping and morals, but it was good to air our grievances and now we have a better picture of what others are sensitive to so we can work on it. We’ve also come up with a plan for the future to have proper meetings every morning, make sure we all share what we’ve been doing, and make extra effort to be inclusive so we can all work together as a team and make the most of our remaining month here.
Bonfire Night
This evening we went to Kontiki hotel for a campfire (partly as an early celebration of bonfire night) and played some games. We taught the Ugandans to play musical chairs (with music provided by a drum) and then all gathered round the fire for Truth or Dare. It was a childish throwback and awkward at times, but it was soothing to sit around the fire as a team and stare into the flames.
Sunday, 4th November
Ella's blog 