Two months in and time to move on

The last two weeks at the Acholi Quarters have been jam packed and wonderful. Despite missing two days because of rain, we have learnt colours, shapes, animals and how to tell the time all in the beauty of structured classes! It actually worked! Well, I'd say it had a 75% success rate as it took most of the two weeks for the kids to understand it and accept that some days I wouldn't teach them. In the end I'm pretty sure they have benefited from what they probably see as an abnormal amount of structure. 

By having smaller numbers of kids, I could give them more individual attention which many needed. It also meant I could be braver in what we tackled. As a result, we made kites as part of our shapes topic...

They loved it when we had stories! This one was all about animals and was well received despite me having to fight with drilling work going on to be heard. 

And we did the classic mask making this week to end our animals topic. They didn't quite get the idea of making them like a particular animal and all had very similar designs, but they loved it and had great fun in all the colouring and sticking.

Yesterday was a day of farewells as sadly it is time to move on from these beautiful people to meet others elsewhere. The kids and I had a party as our final class with games, dancing and laughing. I couldn't understand half of the games they were playing (lots of chanting, dancing and bizarre rules) but they all had fun which is what I wanted. These are the most amazing kids - they have so much on their small shoulders and yet they still smile every day and are loving, joyful and hard working. I will miss their smiles, their hugs, and maybe even them prodding and poking me (but we will see about that one!).

This is the group of ladies who welcomed me into their community and who I met with twice a week to do basic English. These ladies are truly inspiring - all of them are full time mothers and full time bead makers. They are basically raising their kids on their own; I have only seen one of two of their husbands, but I don't know where the others are or what they're doing. They have welcomed me in and have taken the time to practise basic English despite always working, cooking, cleaning or patching up their kids. Incredibly, two of the ladies haven't missed a single of the sessions and all except one (the one missing from this photo) have been remarkably consistent. They all want education, showing the gap for adult literacy. Betty, the lady in the bottom left corner of the photo, has a very special place in my heart. When we had our first session, she couldn't write, say or order the alphabet. She is one of the two who has come twice every week, and in our last class on Thursday she did almost the whole alphabet on her own, she can write her name, the letters in the right sizes and the colours. She is the 'lowest' in the class in a western rating but she is the top for me because she has progressed so far and has never given up despite being embarrassed many times and very unconfident. All of these ladies are precious and deserve all the blessings in the world.

I will be going back a couple of times to visit the Acholi Quarters before I leave so this wasn't the ultimate goodbye, thankfully. Please pray for them - the ladies and the kids - none of them will go to school when they start back next week after Easter and are in the daily grind of living in poor conditions; they are all so hopeful and positive, and I pray that God will meet all their needs including the needs of love, value and education.

So, what's next for me? Well, on Monday I will be travelling to Rwanda for a few days. I will be staying with the CRED partner, Pius, and his family whilst seeing the work he is doing, and hopefully having space to rest and process all that has happened in the two months since I arrived here. I will be back next Sunday. After that, I will be spending a lot of time outside of Kampala in a small town called Maya about an hours drive east of the city where John is starting a doctors clinic. I will be getting involved in this in some ways, which I will be more specific about when I actually get there.

I hope you all had a good Easter weekend. I was planning to blog then, but never got round to it. Sorry! Have a good couple of weeks until I write again. For those of you going back to uni, enjoy! And all the best with revision and exams - I am thinking of all of you entering this exam season. God bless you and keep you.

A miracle move

I set out for the Acholi quarters on Monday morning ready to face the kids and implement my new timetable. Mum and I had been there for a couple of hours on Saturday morning on CRED business so I saw many of my children who were extremely excited after not having seen me for a week. As expected, they all ran to my boda boda when I arrived and got my poor driver a little agitated as he navigated the rutted tracks and small energetic children. We walked to the hall where I met the loads in charge who said I couldn't use it that day. After sitting for a while and considering my options (putting off teaching the kids outside really because of past experience) I checked whether I'd have the hall the next day. 'No' was the answer, they were using the hall everyday until the 22nd! My heart fell. There was no way I could spilt the kids into classes outside because there was no way I could keep the other children out and focus on the ability groups one at a time.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were surprisingly very good days! The kids were very well behaved despite being outside, and I am slowly learning the better ways of engaging them and not. This week we tackled colours and shaped and they've done really well with them, especially the colours! Many knew most of them before this week, but they can all vaguely recognise the different colours and most can say their names unprompted. Recognising the names are proving to be more difficult, but the older ones are grasping that. The oldest boy I teach, Collin, is perhaps 10 (it's hard to tell because their size doesn't reflect their age due to the harsh environment they're brought up in). He stayed one break whilst the others all went for tea, and so I asked him to read a book we'd read before break. He said he couldn't read, but when encouraged, he could do the colours and some of the fruits I pointed out to him. His smile when he realised he could read some words was beautiful!

I turned up on Thursday and the two older girls in my class who have unofficially taken the role of translators and crowd control for me, told me they had a surprise and led me away from the place we learn outside and into the community. I was carried along by the majority of my class, at least thirty kids all trying to have a section of my arm! We eventually (due to the snails pace I had to take so I wouldn't stand on any small toes) turn up outside the church I went to at the end of my first week spent in the Quarters. 'This is our new classroom' they announce with huge smiles!!! Praise The Lord! 

I had mentioned to John about not having the hall on the Monday when I got home drenched by the storm we got caught in. He said he'd come in and talk to the ladies and that we'd work something out, because I wasn't at all enamoured with the prospect of having to teach outside every day for three weeks. As good as they were (thanks to extended break times in part), few would actually learn because I would have to pitch my teaching between all the abilities. In reality, I knew John wouldn't come until at least a week later. But it turns out he phoned one of the ladies and she sorted out the church for me to use. It was a complete miracle that it happened so quickly - things out here take forever to organise, especially in a place as chaotic as the Acholi Quarters where disorganisation is the norm. But God sees our needs and loves to provide for His children! So, tomorrow I am starting with the new timetable and we will see how it goes. I am expecting it to take a while to be accepted and understood, and I don't know how well it will really work. So many of the older children come with thief younger siblings, so I don't know how many will come if they are spilt up, or if I will still end up with all ages in the class. But I am trusting God in it all, and know that His will will be done.

Mum came back from Zambia on Thursday night, so we had a final couple of days together. Friday night consisted of a Stoneys (our favourite drink here) and watching Les Mis (our favourite film) and it was a very lovely night. We had to move part way through to under a mosquito net as they were eating mum alive - she hasn't been eating marmite! I promise you, I have actually seen a difference when I eat marmite for breakfast and when I don't. The week Rozzie and Dad were here I didn't have any marmite for various reasons (one being the delivery of hot cross buns I'd ordered!) and by the end of it I'd been bitten more times that week than in the whole month previous. I'm back to eating marmite most mornings and the number of bites are decreasing! Good times. 

Yesterday we went out for lunch and had a final shaking of ideas for my coming weeks, of general discussions and prayer before the drive to the airport. It was sad waving her goodbye and knowing that she won't be back again in a few days, nor will I see her until July when we meet in Kenya. But I have peace about being here, and with things more planned for the coming weeks, I am happier in why I am here too. That, and I got to lie in till almost 11am this morning, so my tiredness is slowly being reduced.

I hope you all have a blessed week and that it will hold all sorts of joy for you. Much love.

A sweet reunion!

And once again the Harrison's won't be fully reunited until summer. It has been an absolute delight to have mum, dad and Rozzie here in Uganda with me for the last eight days. Rozzie and dad went home on Friday night, and mum heads to Zambia tonight leaving me to assume solo life. But it's only for four days as mum is back on Thursday night until late on Saturday so I am slowly being eased back into being the only muzungu (or mono as they say in Acholi) in the house. 

After a fairly emotional reunion at Sunset Motel in Entebbe (which I can highly recommend), Dad, Rozzie and Simon (mum's boss who was staying at John's for two days) saw the first bit of Uganda as we drove back to Kampala. That Friday afternoon was spent in the Acholi Quarters, showing Dad and Rozzie where I've been hanging out for the last few weeks. We were welcomed in true African style by cheering ladies and were ushered into the community hall for a lengthy programme of celebratory singing and dancing by the group of ladies I've been spending time with (and the others in the bead-making group who I haven't yet met) and some of my kids too. It was very joyful and loud with a jerry can and a coconut bowl being used as drums. After the introductions and thanks were given and the entertainment on their half was done, it was our turn to entertain as they invited us to try making the beads. Rozzie and Dad did an excellent job rolling the beads, whilst I threaded them into a necklace. The ladies were very generous in their praises, and seemed to enjoy our attempts at their work. 

We rounded our visit of with a walk around the community which included seeing the local quarry where many of the Acholi people slave for their income. It was wonderful to hear that through bead making, the majority of the women I know don't have to work there anymore because the beads are giving them the money they need! We ended up being the pied pipers as we walked back to the van before heading home after a lovely, yet hot, visit.

On Saturday, we visited Maya, a village almost an hours drive east of Kampala where John has set up a dental clinic which runs for three days a week, is in the process of starting a general clinic too, has a successful biogas project running which provides gas for the clinic and a home, is hoping to also have a maternity clinic along with many other dreams. The whole site is sustainably built - from the compressed and not baked interlocking bricks, to the water collection, to the biogas which is driven by two cows, and the solar panel on the roof. It's amazing! This is where I might be going after I finish at the Acholi Quarters this month, and is one of the central projects John has running. Lunch was that of a typical Ugandan student - a rolex (chapati and omelette rolled together) - and may well become a typical student lunch in England too!

Mother's Day afternoon was spent chilling out together at the local country club with cold drinks in hand (and devices which could go online in the other) and was generally lovely. We ended it with the second half of Parent Trap and Nottinghill accompanied by proper chocolate - all you at home, never take decent chocolate for granted again please as it is something too much of the world (all the plans I've been so far this year) don't have.

Jinja is allegedly the source of the Nile (I can't remember if its the Blue or White Nile's source) and was our destination on Monday. It is a beautiful place, but has sadly been sacrificed for developments sake at the construction of three dams on the river have made the impressive Bugagali Falls history. We were able to take a boat ride on the lake, enjoy the beautiful weather and see loads of birds.

All of these days tied into Mum's work in seem way or another, but Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were just for the Harrison's and we set off up country to Murchison Falls National Park. It's a five to six hour drive from Kampala which after all the significantly longer bus rides I did in Asia seems like nothing. I was able to get some of my prep for the next three weeks of teachings done of the journeys, as well as finish reading a book... I had time to read a book for fun! Madness!

On the way we were blocked for maybe ten minutes by this sugar cane lorry which was stuck in a muddy trench. As you can see there were many locals all watching and giving advice, but only one poor guy who was actually getting dirty. Our incredible driver, Hakim, managed to squeeze us around the back of the truck and out the other side all without incident.

The very impressive Murchison Falls. We saw it from the top and the bottom, but you only get the from the bottom photo I'm afraid.

Us at the top.

On the game drive on the Wednesday (which we had to get up for horrifically early) we were so blessed to see a huge range of animals and birds all in four hours. Elephant, giraffe, water buffalo, wart hog, hyena, hippo, that huge species of lizard which I can't remember the name of, lion, all sorts of different kinds of antelope, water buck, the Ugandan cob and more! This is one of my favourites!

My new favourite baby animal is a wart hog. SO CUTE! (This doesn't do them justice!)

After our game drive we had lunch and then came down to wait by the river for a boat ride that afternoon. The four of us were just waiting in the shade of the van and our driver had wandered off to chat to other drivers and he had the keys. I'd gotten out to stretch my legs and get some breeze when I notice a huge baboon coming out of the trees and heading in our direction. It kept coming, so I pointed it out to the others that if it crossed a certain patch of grass I would get in at shut to door. It kept coming. I shut the sliding door, and so dad shut the passenger door so we were all inside the car. It started running. We tense. It jumps up on the windscreen and then decides it wants to join our party and comes in through the open drivers window which we couldn't shut because we didn't have the keys. We all freak out, and dad and I being the ones by the doors dive out as the baboon climbs over the drivers seat to site next to mum staring her down. Then it goes into the back next to Rozzie, where I'd been sitting seconds earlier. Neither mum or Rozzie can get to the door because of the baboon. It turns to Rozzie and she screams, which mum tells her not to do, but may have freaked the baboon because it grabs the rest of Rozzie and mines lunch and makes an exit through the door. Only then do the Ugandans come running to see what was happening. And a few minutes later our lovely driver strolls over to check it out too. This is the culprit. He is super scary up close and we all (but especially Mum and Rozzie) were very shaken by our close encounter.

He didn't stop at our van either! After a triumphal success of taking our pancakes and crisps (I didn't care about the crisps, they weren't tasty anyway, but pancakes!) he thought he'd try his hand again in not one but two other vehicles! We saw him with a trophy of biscuits from one van. The last we saw of him was him being chased away by several Ugandans with stones. 

We were then very grateful to get off dry land and onto the Nile after that, and relaxed in our private (not intentionally, but it wasn't a busy season) low lying boat and cruised up and down the Nile to the base of Murchison Falls enjoying the stunning landscape, animals and birds along the way. Well, I was relaxed; Mum didn't enjoy it when our driver would let the engine stop as he told us about some bird in a distance tree which we could sometimes make out, whilst a hippo or crocodile near by watched us until they slipped underwater. 

There you go then. That's the summary of our week together, and it was a wonderful week indeed! I am so so blessed by such an awesome family and one who gets on so well and is so close. I love these three a lot! We ended the week with one of our favourite pass times - eating! What better way to finish and prepare to part than with delicious food, drinks and cakes? After lunch, we went and had our final cafe trip before heading home and then to the airport to part ways again. I dare say that our reunion this summer will include a celebratory Coffee #1 or Starbucks session too! Love to you from all the Harrisons.