Day 8 – 20th June 2007
Now it was time to get down to some work!
Woke up early and had brekkie, which was pancakes again and I loaded it up with peanut butter and honey..I bet you weren’t surprised that I was nauseous afterwards! Shortly, we lined up in the morning assembly and did some military style PE and attempted to sing the national anthem. Plus they had a clapping routine, which took the whole day to learn! Each of introduced ourselves to the 300 kids.
Unfortunately, the buildings materials still haven’t arrived so we were made available to offer some teaching! I spoke to the Headmaster and Deputy Administrator about the education system, teacvhers’ jobs and how the classes were divided up as each class had pupils of differing ages so were they divided up due to skills and achievements? I was still none the wiser as they were reclutant to discuss this…hmm.
Later on, Boydy and I took a wander through the classrooms to see how we could help and we came across a classroom without a teacher. We waited with them for a few mins in case the teacher popped out but it was pretty evident that this class was left to its own devices. We found out later that this class was considered the worst. But how could they be? They were really eager to learn! Boydy and I decided to out on a music and drama class in which we led them in song, and dance and games! The temperature in that classroom was certainly boiling…even with the windows open!
For the lunch break, I organised some ball games with the girl pupils as they wanted to play with balls but having to take a step back due to boys having more priority. It was also really hard to communicate with the girls as they kept bowing before me and do not really answer unless prompted. It took a while but I got there in the end!
Afterwards we gave a play about HIV/AIDS, condoms and sexual awareness to one class and most of the teachers. It was pretty useful to act out in situations and then led to Helen and Kat (who were both medics) doing a detailed lesson about the anatomy, condoms and how you would contract HIV. What was really surprising that the teachers were asking all the questions and it was becoming clear that the teachers had very little knowledge of HIV as they thought you could only contract it by touching of open wounds, not through unprotected sex. They kept asking why and many more. Things certainly got heated between the medics and the male teachers when the teachers said it was the woman’s fault for spreading HIV around. I had my mouth open at all times, it was that bad. Luckily, Helen and Kat kept their cool and arranged with the headmaster to teach the teachers in more detail about sexual health awareness to given after school today. Other than that heated exchange, everyone did burst out laughing as Helen and Kat demonstrated on putting on a condom on a sprite bottle!
For dinner, we had african spag boland finally the building materials arrived! Yay! Spent most of the evening reading ‘when the lion feeds’ and I did certainly feel comfortedwhen graphic descriptions of a man getting rabies and a man having his leg torn out by a leopard! The rest of the evening was spent relaxing outside the hut and Ugandan Wildlife interfered with Burtie again as I looked up from my book when I heard her cooing something and moving closer to a bag…turns ou there was a pretty moth. She was fairly close to it and then she screamed when it moved! And then screamed again when a lizard came darted out of nowhere and gobbled the moth up! The few of us who witnessed this was so shocked and fell quiet for a few minutes in mourning.
Katie and I went for a wander around the school in the dark and were amazed to see that extra lessons were being given in a classroom especially at 9.30pm! Met a really nice boy in this class called Nelson Mandela! He’s rather cheeky and rather clever and kept asking me about the UK. The girls in this class braided Katie’s hair and she really enjoyed the bonding experience and I laughed at her!
Now it time for the physical work in the morning so an early night was called for and I went to bed thinking of the education system and wondering what else we could do to help them.
