Volunteer support

Dorota's farewell party with volunteers and friends in Kamwenge

For those of you who may have wondered about the repeated jumble of photos last week - the group around the table were not animals in Lake Mburu National Park but our family in Pinner!!
One of the great things about being a volunteer in Uganda is meeting other volunteers. In the 14 months that we have been here (is it really that long?) we have met some truly amazing people. We have many volunteer friends in Kampala and other large towns, but the ones that make a huge difference to our lives on a daily basis are those few in Kamwenge.
When we first came here we were the only volunteers in this District. Within a few weeks we were joined by Dorota, a delightful Polish girl who had spent many years in Spain and was volunteering with a Spanish organisation called Africa Directo. Dorota’s organisation are building a much needed health centre in Kamwenge and her job was co-ordinating the project. Dorota quickly became a good friend and we shared scarce books and enjoyed many an evening drinking Nile beer and chatting. Sarah and Stuart came here from Canada just before Christmas and Rakel joined Dorota from Spain in January. Suddenly we were six and have been able to support each other, far from home, and also have fun together. Sarah and Stuart are a young Christian couple and have really made a difference to our lives at our local church.
Sadly Dorota’s time in Kamwenge came to an end in late May and she has now returned to Spain. We really miss her. Although Rakel, Sarah and Stuart will be leaving in August, we are fortunate that Goiko, a guy from Spain who has been a volunteer in Malawi for 2½ years, is coming to Kamwenge to move the health centre project on to its next phase. All of these (much younger than us) people have taught us so much and have made being a volunteer in remote Kamwege much more fun.

Long overdue update

Lake Mburo boat trip






Impala in Lake Mburohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Sorry about the double pictures but decided we have better things to do than work out how to get rid of them!!!!

There has been a rather large gap between blog entries for many reasons, the main one being that Sabrina has been at home for 4 weeks and Geoff has been doing all his usual work, plus all the other jobs on his own that are usually shared.
Most of May was school holiday here, so we took the opportunity to visit other volunteer friends and do some sightseeing. We visited Lake Mburo National Park which is a small but delightful park and the only accesible location in Uganda where Zebra are found. As well as hippos and waterbucks, there are 315 species of birds. It is the best place in the country to see the ‘Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird’ so called because it has a bare face and the noise it makes sounds like it is saying ‘go away’!!! Although quite how it managed to speak English when the locals speak Ankole is a mystery? Lake Mburo is also the only reserve in the country to support a population of Impala, an antelope for which Kampala is named.
Sabrina had a wonderful time at home visiting family and friends and managed to catch some very good weather as well.
Geoff held more ‘Guidance not Violence’ workshops, which give teachers ideas of how to manage behaviour without resorting to corporal punishment. He also has prepared a 2 day training manual on numeracy for early years teachers, which he will trial with a small group of friendly teachers an make any necessary adjustments so it can be rolled out across other districts.
Kamwenge, like England and the rest of Africa, is currently in the grip of world cup fever. All the bars have big crowds, although sometimes support can be esoteric. The other day Geoff met a local supporting Japan instead of their African opponents because he owned a Japanese car! Anyway the cross of St George is hung in the bar next door for England games and Geoff has managed to gather a small goup of Ugandan England supporters around him who cheer England on – with more success in the future we hope.

One year old in Kamwenge!

Having been in Kamwenge for 1 year now we thought we would put some local views on the blog. Enjoy!

Kamwenge Schools

Participants at the 'Guidance not Violence' workshop showing power differences betweeen different people - although Geoff looks as if the power has gone to his head.
Discussing the causes of bad behaviour by pupils
Charlotte, Valencia and Isaac going back to their dormitory. Charlotte (who has cerebral palsy) in the red jersey is guiding Valencia, who is blind
Rakel playing with Charlotte
Valencia catching the ball

We have been very busy over the last few weeks, carrying out workshops and making follow-up visits to school. It has been pleasing to see some of the good things that are happening in schools, as well as frustrating in some schools when the attendees at our workshops seem to have been asleep most of the time. Although perhaps they have!!

We have trying to visit the special needs unit at the local school for an afternoon a week and enjoy working with the pupils there. It reminds us of why we are working with the adults – to try to improve the education of the children. The pictures show some of the activities we do – playing with a ball to improve gross motor skills and touch-feely books for Valencia, who is blind. We have used some of the money you have given us to buy suitable resources for these children. Rakel, a Spanish volunteer here for 6 months, helps in the unit every day and has built up very good relationships with the children.

Yesterday we ran our first ‘Guidance not Violence’ workshop in Kamwenge Railway Primary School – so-called because it is next to the old railway station. We have to cross the old railway line to get to the school and despite having been here for a year and the railway having been closed for over 12 years, we still look both ways as we drive over the level crossing.

Anyway back to the workshop. It aims to promote positive discipline methods as schools prefer to fall back on corporal punishment, despite the fact that it is supposedly banned in schools. We look at issues of power, its use and abuse, and the moral question of how to maintain discipline, before looking at alternatives to corporal punishment. Again, thank you for your giving, which meets the costs associated with this workshop.

A child's life in Kamwenge

Last week when Geoff was reading The Argos on line (web site of the local paper in Brighton that he reads to keep up with his football team), he noticed an article which stated that 1 child in 10 in Sussex is considered to be neglected. There then followed the usual letters asking if that meant the child was lacking in food or a mobile phone! Having been in Kamwenge for a year now, I thought I would write on the blog about what life is like for the majority of children in rural Uganda.

If a child and his/her mother survive the birth process, then they are very fortunate. Giving birth is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do in the developing world and, in a district like Kamwenge that has no hospital, it is even more dangerous. Most women give birth in their villages attended by a TBA (traditional birth attendant). These are untrained women who also lay out the dead and prepare them for burial.
TBAs have little knowledge about hygiene and many women and babies die from infections. If the labour is obstructed, then both mother and child die.

The baby will spend most of his first year tied on to his mother’s back whilst she attends to all her tasks, such as digging in the fields, fetching water, looking for firewood, preparing meals etc. He is exclusively breastfed. By the time he is about 1 year, he will be given some porridge made of maize flour and millet and will be spending more time on his older sister’s back. His mother will probably be pregnant again.

From about 18 months he will be looked after by older brothers and sisters, often only a couple of years older themselves. He will spend a lot of his time playing in the dust or mud, depending on the season. His toys will be sticks, rubbish and anything that is lying around. His food will be small portions of posho (maize) probably shared with his other brothers and sisters. His diet will not contain the protein or vitamins that he needs. It is unlikely that he sleeps under a mosquito net, so he will have repeated attacks of malaria. In this area 1 child in 4 does not reach his 5th birthday and, throughout Uganda, a child dies every 5 minutes from malaria.

By the age of 3 he will be out with his brothers and sisters looking for firewood, which he will carry home on his head. He will also be going out to fetch water, often walking long distances with his small jerrycan. As he grows, the size of the jerrycan he is expected to carry gets larger. As soon as he is old enough to help with digging and planting (about 5 years) he will spend much of his time out in the fields helping the rest of his family to grow the food which is essential for their survival.

At 5 years he may be enrolled at his local primary school where he will sit in a classroom with up to 200 other children. The condition of the room will be very poor and his teacher, who is poorly trained, will struggle to teach with few resources. During the planting season, or whenever it rains, his parents will keep him at home to continue with the essential task of food production. In Kamwenge district 82% of children enroll in primary school but only 42% complete. Education is not always a priority in an area where only 40% of people are food secure.

If he is one of the fortunate ones who complete primary education he may have the opportunity to go to secondary school although only half of the 42% completing primary school will go on to secondary school.

The rest will carry on being subsistence farmers and raise their own children in a similar situation.

Parents' Day

Kamwenge Primary School, where Geoff helps in the special needs unit, had an open day for parents. The teachers all dressed up in their smart new t-shirts.

The senior man teacher could not be forced off the microphone - just like Geoff at sports days at Stock!!

The staff team played a pupil team and the result was an honourable draw.

Both sides looking ready for action before the game.

And in action.

And of course the standard of cheerleading and drumming beats anything seen at Brighton's games!