Tuesday 21st July

Back home safe and sound after two flights.

We were booked on a KLM flight from Entebbe (near Kampala the capital city) to Amsterdam, where we changed planes, and then went on the final leg to Glasgow. The first flight was around eight and a half hours through the night followed by an hour and fifty minutes or so for the second flight. 

We were all sorry to leave Masindi on Monday morning. Norma said a lovely farewell speech to Solomon, the Head Waiter, on behalf of the group who has looked after and organised all the kitchen and waiting staff all week. He has worked at the Masindi Hotel for a long time and has witnessed many changes to the town. I wonder what he makes of it all.

We headed back down the road to Kampala, making good time due to the newly surfaced road, (around three and a half hours), and arriving in time for a delicious lunch of dosah's. They are Indian pancakes that come filled with a curried vegetable filling. They gave us enough sustenance to deal with the bargaining in the craft market which some of the group heartily (and surprisingly!) enjoyed. It was full of interesting carvings and batiks, jewellery and even musical instruments. I particularly liked the necklaces made from rolled up pieces of paper which are then varnished. A great idea for recycling.

We had time to fit in coffee and cake at a lovely cafe. There were people working on their laptops just as they do in Starbucks in Edinburgh, (although the cakes were better!)

It was soon time to drive out to the airport and go through the check-in process. The systems were all down so it was interesting to watch all the back up computers and emergency check in desks being put into action. The only casualty appears to be Mr Jim's bag which should arrive with him this evening. 

All in all a fabulous experience and lots to learn and think about.

Look out for new posts with further information in a couple of weeks....

Murchison Falls

Sunday 19^th July

 

Had to be up by 4am this morning to be on our safari bus. We headed off in the dark to the Murchison Falls National Park. I have to confess to sleeping most of the way, surprising given the state of the road.

We had to take a small car ferry across the Nile. It was a reverse on and drive off effort that only took about 4 or 5 cars at a time. We had our first animal sighting of hippos from the river.

We set off in three vehicles for a game drive around the park and were completely blown away by the amount of wildlife we saw. Apparently there are about 76 different mammals and 450 different species of birds in the park. We were quickly rewarded with a sighting of the first giraffe followed by a variety of antelope, buffalo and then loads of giraffe.

We were treated to a very special close up view of a lioness and her (quite large) cub. They were so close it was amazing they stayed still as long as they did.

We then saw three male elephants of which one was around 5 tons! We were told that they can drink around 100 litres of water and eat about 400kg (4 -5% of it’s weight) of vegetation a day, incredible!

As the rangers were checking the landscape before our bush walk we witnessed a lion chasing some oribi (a variety of antelope). It was slightly unsettling to walk across the grassland where moments before there had been a lion stalking it’s prey.

One of the most incredible things to see was the dung beetle rolling an enormous piece of elephant dung and the termites working away in their mounds. It is amazing to consider the interdependence of creatures on each other as we looked at the termites and thought about the vegetation that was enriched by their work.

The day was a wonderful variety of game drive, walking safari, boat trip up the Nile (passing hippos, crocodiles, elephants, birds etc) to the walk up to Murchison Falls itself. The Falls have an enormous volume of water passing through a narrow gorge which produces a spectacular display. It was worth walking through the tremendous heat to reach the top of the water fall although I think some of us felt a little melted by the end!

After 15 hours on the go we arrived back at the Masindi Hotel ready for good curry!

 

This will now be my last blog for a few days until I return home and reconnect. Thanks to everyone who has read it so far!

 

 

The final meeting...

Saturday 18^th July

This morning breakfast was outside as the dining room was set up for our final meeting. The HT’s, inspectors, SDO’s had all been invited to come for 9am. Of course they should have been invited for about 7am for the meeting to start on time!

It was an opportunity for us to fill in evaluation forms, feedback about the whole SPR process, make recommendations and discuss issues that had arisen. We had a very positive and productive time together discussing lots of things that had arisen. Margaret, one of the three school inspectors in the district, spoke beautifully at the end about moving forward and improving education. She also requested that the SCIPD visits could be made reciprocal. It would be fantastic to be able to welcome Ugandan colleagues and return the hospitality.

We finished with an amazing buffet style lunch of Ugandan food. Delicious!

It was wonderful to have the afternoon to relax after all the work in the last couple of weeks and try to catch up on these bloggings.

Some of us wandered back along the road into town to pick up some garments that were being made by the tailor. We had a stroll through the market and were fascinated by the vivid sights, sounds, smells and bustle. It was packed with people selling everything from passion fruit, tomatoes, onions, and potatoes to jack fruit, mangoes, shoes, clothes, pots and pans. We found a man who was recycling car tyres into flip flops and a woman selling paraffin lamps from recycled tin cans. The Ugandan people certainly demonstrate an ability to reduce, reuse and recycle!

We really enjoyed sampling some of the street food. We had some lovely pancakes and chapatis. The muchuomo (kebabs) looked delicious but we were full up!

 

A surprise guest at the hotel!

Great excitement over the sudden influx of soldiers and 4x4’s! The place was crawling with security folk. It turned out that the Vice President of Uganda was staying the night at the Masindi Hotel and would be eating breakfast and lunch on Saturday too. Some of the security camped in tents in the grounds and others seemed to be in every other available room. When we returned after our evening meal along the road we walked back by torchlight as usual along the edge of the road trying very hard not to get run over by bikes with no lights, cars and motorcycles we found two of our group having a chat with him and some of his entourage. They said he was a very friendly man.

It led into a huge discussion about politics in our country but I think that’s best left for another day!

Friday, last day in school

Friday 17^th July

The last day in school…

I wore my bright, new, (and slightly big!), Ugandan outfit to school today to the approval of the staff at Nyebeya.  Since James was heading off to adjudicate we found him giving last minute instructions to Nelson (the DHT) who was going to have to represent the school at a meeting in Masindi that had been called to discuss HIV/Aids education.

If the government or district need to contact HT’s to call them for urgent meetings they announce the meetings on the radio for the previous two or three days. Somehow the message always gets passed on to those who need to know, modern jungle drums indeed!

The government is concerned about the rates of HIV/Aids and has implemented a national programme to raise awareness. They are trying to encourage schools to offer counselling and guidance as well. We were encouraged to hear that people are becoming more open about their HIV status and that nearby clinics offer testing whenever anyone wants to check.

One teacher in the school had discussed the issue with the HT who was very supportive about their health and the need to miss classes occasionally in order to collect anti-retroviral drugs and have a check up.

We were concerned that classes would be disrupted again due to teachers being away but the school seemed to operate very efficiently this morning. We clocked Chris, a P7 teacher, coming in late but then it transpired that he had been up all night trying to find his children who had taken shelter from the storm in a different village. By the time the rain had eased it was dark so they had decided to stay where they were. Although many have mobile phones in Uganda very few have landlines and often mobile signals are not in range. It wasn’t until the morning that Chris had located his children miles from their home and brought them with him to school. Considering the National theme for the Music, Dance and Drama festival was the safety of children in light of a few kidnappings, among other things, it was no surprise that Chris arrived late looking tired but relieved.

Kate and I went into Sarah’s P3 class and observed an excellent lesson. After the chaos of introducing slates to her class to do the ‘show me’ strategy she showed us how it could be done calmly and effectively as part of her literacy lesson. The children were all engaged and all seemed to really enjoy the lesson, as did we!

In the P1 class with Mary-Gorretti we saw another great effort at making a phonics lesson lively, interactive and fun using simple resources. It was so encouraging and positive that it made me think that all the teachers need is a wee bit of guidance and motivation to inspire them to carry on. They have such large classes and sometimes it is very difficult to engage all learners. We discovered that children with additional needs had been identified but differentiation was not always happening. They are facing many challenges but improvement is happening.

We finished the morning with a staff meeting to clarify some questioning strategies that we had not had time to cover on our Tuesday meeting earlier in the week. Many of us are guilty of asking too many closed questions but to improve the quality of the interactions between pupils and teachers and improve critical thinking and cognitive engagement, rather than rote learning everything, it is essential to work on higher order and open questioning techniques. The staff were all up for it and some seemed to be very aware of it already. There are certainly some strong teachers in the school who are keen to take on new ideas to improve their teaching which is very encouraging to see.

Back at the hotel it was quite sad to think that had been our last day in school so Kate and I –went shopping! We had a wander through the bustling market and purchased some Ugandan coffee and Masindi honey from the ‘Lucky 7’ supermarket.

We had been requested to be back for 6pm sharp as ‘something’ was scheduled to happen. We were beginning to wonder if the Ugandan VP was coming to speak to us! However, nothing quite so political and something very kind that Jim had organised – a surprise cake made by Mike who’s father had been a teacher and had studied in Moray House. He lived opposite the hotel. His son can certainly bake a fabulously delicious cake. We kept half for the Saturday farewell lunch with our HT’s…

Dinner was back at the Court View for a lovely chicken curry.

 

 

 

 

Thursday...

Thursday 16^th July

Julius our wonderful new driver was waiting to take us to school again this morning. It’s made such a difference having the car changed and is significantly more peaceful not to have Phil Collins blaring at us!

Today day began with an assembly around the flagpole. We heard the Ugandan national anthem being sung followed by the children’s national prayer. The HT then proceeded to lecture the children about looking after their school environment as there had been some vandalism to the new school fence and they are keen to encourage a sense of pride and respect in the school.

Kate and I spent the morning working with James the HT on the remaining parts of the School Development Plan. He really seemed to appreciate the guidance we were offering him and became quite excited at some of the ideas we suggested for improving discipline, the learning environment and involving parents. We managed to set quite a number of targets under the remaining priorities so they are going to be a busy staff!

We observed a few more classes and arranged to work with a couple of teachers the next day.

The afternoon was given over to a farewell ceremony in which all the classes had a hand in organising. We were first treated to a meal of goat stew and chapattis with coca cola, after just being given a bowl of chips to keep us going half an hour previously, I feel they are succeeding in making me put on weight! Africans generally like their women to be fatter and see it as a sign of good health, quite the opposite to our culture!

The afternoon was wonderful! We heard some of the items which we had seen previously in rehearsal for the music festival including traditional folk songs and dances. The energy and enthusiasm of the children who participated was amazing. We had the obligatory speeches from the chairperson of the PTA and the chairperson of the SMC as well as the HT and ourselves and then we were gifted with beautiful wooden love heart shaped plaques with the name of the school and a picture of a chimp. We were very touched by the gesture. We took photos of us with the Scottish and Ugandan flags surrounded by the teachers and pupils of Nyabeya and Kate left them with the message that their children are the future of Uganda. (She almost had me in tears!) We were waved off in the taxi by hordes of children. It seemed a bit odd to be saying farewells when we still had another school day to go but James was due to be adjudicating at the music festival again on the Friday and he didn’t want to miss the entertainment.

In the evening there was internet access at last – the first all week! As you can tell I’ve been trying to catch up with the blogging ever since. The days are so full here and there is so much to talk about together that in some ways it was just as well there was no power or internet access for a few days!

This evening a few of us went back to the Court View for dinner. It is pleasantly warm here but today saw a horrendous hail storm just as we started our journey back from school. The road quickly turned speckled white and Julius had to drive slowly to avoid any more cracks in his wind screen. We could see the children running along the road trying to find shelter. There were claps of rolling thunder and flashes of lightening as we arrived at Kabango to pick up Elaine and Patrick and then the heavens opened. The dusty red road soon turned muddy with rivulets of water running off to the sides. We had seen a trench digger clearing the ditches at the sides of the roads and now realised how important it was to keep these ditches clear for drainage to avoid flooding. When we arrived back at the hotel it was lovely to sit and watch the rain pouring down. The temperature cooled slightly so it was on with a light jumper and then off to sit outside on the veranda area at the Court View for dinner. Mr Jim stopped by later to meet up with a friend of his who is a District Inspector of Schools so we had an interesting discussion with James who seems to know everyone who is anyone in education in the Masindi District and could name teachers at all of our schools. Very impressive!

 

 

 

Wednesday 15th July

Wednesday 15^th July

Today there is still no internet access and it appears to be affecting most of Masindi. After a fruitless conversation with someone from the Ugandan Telecom Hot Spot help line I decided to give up and go shopping! Anyway, if this is now posted internet has either been restored or I’m back home!

This morning the four of us in our car share finally resolved the death trap that has been our daily transport. It came to a head with the petrol bottle in the open boot jumping around and giving us such awful fumes we were arriving feeling sick. A short call and a replacement car arrived with Julius the new driver. The difference was amazing and only topped by the sighting of the chimp running across the road!

We arrived to find the school deserted and wondered for a moment what had happened. We then noticed the children spilling out of a nearby building and realised they were all in the church. We walked up the hill and were ushered into the front of the church to hear the sermon being preached in Kiswahili, Runyoro and English. It was lovely to see the school coming together first thing in the morning.

We had a very productive morning with James our HT fleshing out the rest of the development plan. Three out of the five priorities for the School Development Plan come under Teaching and Learning or Leadership and Management and the remaining two have a community and parents focus. The school decided to work on improving the quality of the teaching and learning process, improve climate and relationships (to improve discipline) and increase the range of co-curricular activities (we might call them extra-curricular). The remaining two areas concern the strengthening of parental links through the SMC (School Management Committee) and the PTA and building houses for teachers as many of them have a distance to travel every day.

We were then given a snack of a hard boiled egg and a cup of coffee before being taken into the Budongo Forest on the back of James (the HT) and Nelson’s (the DHT) motor bikes to meet some researchers at the conservation field camp.  Fortunately a very accommodating researcher called Kat was available to speak to us as the person we thought we were meeting had gone to Kampala. Kat, who is based at St Andrew’s University, is completing her PHD studies on the gestural behaviour of chimps and explained how she has to gather lots of video footage and then analyse it all. The forest has been given a grid system with numbers and letters a hundred metres apart marked on trees so they don’t get lost. They all wear gum boots to help avoid snake bites although I was reassured to hear that there is some anti-venom available at the Kinyara Sugar works clinic.

Kat explained that there had been a very large saw mill in the forest which had cut most of the mahogany found in Europe at one time, including the interior of the Royal Albert Hall!

Unfortunately a lot of the mahogany and hard woods have been destroyed and chopping down trees in the forest is now illegal. Part of the forest is in the research area and they operate a policy of quarantine in order to protect the population of 75 chimps from coughs and diseases that humans carry. The nearby Nyebeya Forestry College has planted pine as an alternative to use in building and furniture making.

The field station has an interesting collection of specimens including a couple of chimp skeletons. It is alarming to see how closely they resemble humans!

Budongo Primary School was located in the forest to serve the children of workers at the saw mill but since it has closed most of the children were having to walk into the forest every day.  The children regularly had to pass groups of fearless baboons who would steal their lunch. After seeing the sharp canine teeth on a baboon skull in the field station museum I could understand their fear!

The school has now been relocated outside the forest, which is much better for them and means the researchers have some peace to observe the chimps.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk up the ‘Royal Mile’, which has world renown as a bird watchers paradise. We saw lots of amazingly colourful butterflies and enjoyed the coolness and smell of a rain forest. It was a real privilege.

We stopped by the Polish Church on the way back to school, which had been built between 1943 and 1945 by Polish prisoners of war during WWII. It was so sad to see the rows of graves marked with the same year. It turns out that many were killed by a fever, probably malaria in 1947.

We were returned safely to the school on the back of the motorbikes (I’m relieved to say!) and given another delicious lunch of potatoes and g nut sauce (ground nuts or peanuts).

We had our regular meeting together at 6pm when Mr Jim did the relevant announcements and then enjoyed a delicious vegetable curry in the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staff Meeting

Tuesday 14^th July

Arrived in school as usual around 8.20am to be met by James the HT. We then decided to use the first hour to see some of the teacher’s planning and get a feel for some of the classes we hadn’t seen. It was great to see P1 outside having circle games to begin the day. The teacher and children were clearly loving their time together.

P3 were busy chanting tables and counting numbers in the thousands. P7 were doing some environmental studies about tree planting and looking after trees – we later discovered this teacher had left for a four day course at the Kolping Hotel in Masindi run by the Jane Goodall Institute and facilitated by some Canadian teachers. They are running a course on using the Budongo Forest and the chimps as a learning resource using co-operative learning strategies. It sounds such a great course I wouldn’t have minded joining them!

Kate and I saw a chance to work in P3 demonstrating a simple strategy using their slates and chalk. It was mayhem! Trying to organise over a hundred children who have no system of organisation or experience of anything other than chalk and talk was utter chaos. However, after a while everyone settled and got into the hang of the ‘show me’ idea. They were working on writing numbers in the thousands and were certainly very excited about it. Kate was in her element!

After break Kate and I were kept busy with James and Nelson adding the targets and action points to the Development Plan. It took us two hours to flesh out one point with appropriate targets but hopefully he is clear about what he needs to monitor and where he can access training to support the improvements. In the afternoon we had a staff meeting for an hour and a half which seemed to go quite well. Essentially the staff need to be informed about the process and understand what the School Development Officer will be looking for in terms of improvements. We shared lots of strategies and ideas and got them to generate open, higher order questions almost without them realising!

Kate and I left school exhausted but happy that we had managed to do quite a lot today and had made some progress in terms of sharing ideas. They seemed to be very positive about the things we were suggesting, now it’s over to them to make it happen…

Unfortunately there has been no power all day around Masindi and they can’t get in touch with the service provider to get me access to the wireless network at the hotel so this blog will just have to be posted when I get a chance. I’m amazed that it has worked so well so far to be honest!

Back to the Traveller's Inn for dinner after our 6 o'clock meeting with Mr Jim. Had tilapia which was delicious (basically fish and chips!)

 

Monday morning and back to work again...

Monday 13^th July

This morning it was back to the work routine again. The birds start their dawn chorus around 6am as the sun rises although there is one particular bird which seems to start around 5am and sounds just like my alarm clock. I keep waking early thinking it’s time to get up!

It feels strange to be getting up in the dark at this time of the year but it’s usually light by half past 6 and then it’s off to a breakfast of toast, coffee, fresh pineapple and water melon and the occasional Spanish omlette. The honey from Masindi is particularly delicious on the morning slice of toast.

Our drivers are waiting to take us to our respective schools by 7.30am and then Kate, Elaine, Patrick and I begin the day with the sound of the radio (or Phil Collins!) for the remaining 30 - 40 minutes. Our driver has a very clapped out car which rattles and shakes along the red dusty road. There’s a strong smell of petrol fumes and the windows don’t open. However, the driver insists on driving us door to door and I’m sure would drive into the classroom given the opportunity!

I really couldn’t believe Phil Collins was playing full volume in the car on the way home again today – arghh!

The rest of our daily routine consists of school from around 8.15am till about 4pm or 5pm and then the morning trip in reverse back to Masindi. Usually a quick shower is needed to wash off the dust followed by a meeting together at 6pm and then dinner somewhere. After logging on to blog at the other end of the hotel from my room it’s then into bed by 10 or 11pm and off to sleep under the mosquito net.

Today we arrived at school to find James the HT waiting for us. Nybeya School came third place in the music competition which was an excellent effort but means they are knocked out of the next round.  After commiserating on not getting through to the next level we agreed our plan for the rest of the week and headed off to observe different classes. It was interesting to look at the record of class observations and see the form that they use to observe the teachers.

I went to P1 who were trying to write numbers between 31 and 60. There are around 150 in each of the P1 classes. I then watched some lessons in P3 on things they spend money on and numbers over a thousand. It was interesting to see how lessons were differentiated to meet the needs of everyone in the class.

I went over to the library at one point to see what was happening there and had a surprise when I came face to face with another ‘Muzungu!’ It turns out Maggie has been volunteering there for a couple of months on one day a week. She lives in Masindi with her husband who is a Doctor working for VSO in the hospital. We had a great chat about life out here but I think it must be very hard to be so far away from home and be in a culture that despite being welcoming is really quite different. She has been doing a great job of helping to set up the library and catalogue the books. It turns out she is good friends with the chimp researchers at the Budongo Conservation Field Office near the school. This is the place that has the link with Edinburgh Zoo. It turns out that the chimps we saw are not part of that research programme at all but are being monitored through a local initiative to educate the villagers so they can protect them due to that part of the forest being cut off from the main.

The afternoon saw the Community Meeting with all the stakeholders in the school to discuss the School Performance Review and set the priorities for the next Development Plan. The SDO (School Development Officer) from Link was excellent and tactfully kept the meeting on track. The chairman of the School Management Committee also seemed to be on the ball and chaired the meeting well. As is typical in Africa the meeting that was scheduled to start at 2pm (although we were told last week it would be 10am!) actually kicked off nearer quarter to 3. Two hours in they had finally selected 5 priorities and were in the process of serving up chapatis and sodas to everyone when we really had to leave as the driver was waiting and we had our colleagues to collect. I’m not sure quite what we’ll find when we go back tomorrow as nobody appeared to be taking notes except for us and they still had to break down the priorities into action points. I suspect we may find ourselves working on this with James in the morning as well as preparing for a staff training session in the afternoon. I was delighted to get the first priority on the plan to be ‘Improving the quality of the teaching and learning process’ as this is fundamental to raising standards.

Kate and I decided to head off to get some photocopying done for our staff training tomorrow afternoon but the lure of the fabric shop was too much to resist so we ended up buying some beautiful fabric while we were out as well. Dinner was at the Travellers Inn again for a tasty bowl of veg stew with rice.

 

 

 

 

Chimps!

Today was the most amazing experience!

Picked up around half 7 this morning, we were taken about half an hour out of Masindi through villages and into the maze of sugar cane. Our guide Gerard then led us along a path which skirted the edge of the sugar cane on one side and an isolated piece of Budongo Forest on the other. 

This section of forest was cut off from the main swathes of Budongo by the introduction of the sugar cane plantation run by Kinyara Sugar. Once upon a time the forest stretched from Masindi all the way to Biso so the early travellers going to the ferry in Butiaba would have travelled through some dense jungle. Today it is quite sad to see the huge tracts of land taken up by the sugar cane but I have been told that the company is a major employer in the area and pays the largest amount of tax of any company to the Ugandan government. As I have found time and again there is nothing straight forward in Africa and issues which appear black and white rarely are.

The 45 chimps in this section of the forest are being monitored and studied through a local trust which has been set up to educate the villagers that the chimps are worth more to them alive than dead and that chopping any more of this section of the forest down will be extremely detrimental for everyone. Gerard has also visited Edinburgh Zoo which has a keen interest in supporting this vulnerable habitat. It has to be one of the richest environments on the planet with the amount of bird life alone drawing ornithologists from around the world. The chimps we were privileged to see today are not on the 'tourist' route so it was incredibly special to be guided in by locals and stand and watch them. None of us could have believed two and a half hours had passed so quickly.

We witnessed a number of chimps making such loud noises that Catheryn in the group jumped with fright when she heard them first! We then saw them eating, making nests to have a rest, playing, grooming, swinging and climbing through the trees, calling to each other and generally getting on with life as a chimp. I lost count of the number we saw but it included several males, females and youngsters.

The main problem with this section of forest is the isolation from the main section which means the gene pool may become compromised at some point in the future if chimps can't pass into different groups. They also need to ensure these chimps are safe and monitored.

It was a truly fascinating experience and Edinburgh Zoo won't be quite the same after seeing them in their natural habitat.

Long live the Budongo Forest!

Food and a surprise guest!

Last night we decided to take the chance to enjoy a Ugandan meal at Alinda’s Guest House. After a short walk along the main road dodging the bikes, cars, buses and lorries which come whizzing by tooting their horns, we were seated at the table with the ‘booket’ sign.

The staff were obviously trying to make us feel at home with their tartan waist coasts but the meal was as far removed from haggis, neeps n’ tatties as it’s possible to get although thinking of the contents of haggis and the look of the goat stew then maybe not!

We had matoke, (plantain or savoury banana), beef, goat, chicken, beans, rice, fish, potatoes, cassava, posho (maize porridge similar to nsima in Malawi), kalo (millet gloop), dodo (leaves similar to spinach). The meal was delicious and it was wonderful to be treated to all the flavours and textures. I loved eating the posho and being reminded of the nsima from Malawi. The only thing I think I can live without ever eating again is the kalo. The gloopy texture was not unlike bubble gum and would do well in place of blu tac when the teachers at Nybaye run out of sticky tape!

We were honoured to meet the Prime Minister, Kizze, who made a surprise visit to the restaurant to meet us all and gave us an interesting account of the local politics. There are currently five kingdoms with a PM and King each. I must admit that it was slightly distracting to try and listen to him with the ubiquitous tv in the back ground and the street noises and traffic going by!

Saturday meetings

After a leisurely breakfast we started off with a meeting together to discuss how we were getting on. I think we’re all feeling a lot clearer about the role of the SPR (School Performance Review) profile to help to focus discussions around the School Development Plan next week. We had lots of discussions around our expectations and how far they were matching reality and our impressions of the school system here so far. Lots of positive comments were made about the standard of the teaching we were seeing but like Scotland, curricular change takes time to implement.

We all enjoyed the opportunity to share professional dialogue together and share ideas about how best to use our time next week.

One thing that has struck me is the similarity between our education systems rather than the differences. We both need to involve parents in the process of educating our children and help them to be part of school development. The pupils learning is at the heart of both systems but I can see that the Ugandans are still quite a way from having the discussion about the purpose of their education system. Sitting through a lesson on how to prime factorise numbers and then record in a sub script notation does not strike me as relevant! They still have a very summative system of assessment and put their children through lots of tests. Sometimes it appears to be for tests sake as that is the expectation although despite the challenges there are lots of examples of excellent engaging practice where the children are involved, on task, working actively within groups and enjoying it. As for the dedication of teachers, I’m not sure how many Scottish teachers would put up with having their pay delayed for two months!

 

Journey with Phil!

Our journey to school is by a local taxi which basically means that someone who can drive and has a car can make some money by driving folk about. Our taxi is quite clapped out and appears to be kept together on a wing and a prayer.

The taxi man loves playing his music at full blast so yesterday we were treated to Phil Collins all the way back to Masindi. Today we suggested that he might like to turn down the volume and then realised it was probably stuck on loud, very loud and deafening….when we set off and realised it was Phil again we had to laugh. So absurd driving along a Ugandan road in the red dust with Groovy Kind of Love playing away, although maybe highly appropriate with Another Day In Paradise!

This evening on the way back the taxi pulled over and stopped at the side of the road – next thing the bonnet was up and we were out. Then the driver disappeared and we were left wondering whether we should hitch a lift back to town. Fortunately it was just a top up of petrol that was needed to get us safely back.

Safely back and covered in red dust from every other vehicle which passed us as we were waiting. The colour of the water in the shower at the end of the day is amazing!

We’re hoping that the driver manages to find another cassette tape for Monday!

Friday 10th July

Well, it’s been another full on busy day!

As expected lessons were curtailed even further with the frantic last minute rehearsals for the competition but despite this Kate and I managed to observe a little teaching.

I went to see Edward in P5 delivering a maths lesson on ‘Prime Factorisation of Numbers’. I’m not sure any of our P5’s could manage what they did today! They were being taught how to use a ladder system and then record their answers either using multiplication or in a subscript notation format. I was hugely impressed by the quality of the teaching and how he managed to keep track of the huge class. Some of the children are so quick they were astounding.  Watch out P5/6 for next session as I’ll be seeing if you can do it too!

Kate thought she’d lost me as I ended up being caught up in the lesson and helping those who had a few corrections – she found me hidden in the middle of the P5 classroom!

Kate managed to observe in P6 and P3 which she also really enjoyed. Using our own observations and the school data gathered by Link we should be able to plan next week so we can support the areas of most need. I’m sure things will become clear after the community meeting on Monday!

During the lunch break we had a wander into the village next to the school. I was amazed by the satellite dishes on the roof of a little hut and more amazed at the contents of the shop below it – everything from toffee chews, ketchup, pants, exercise books and buckets! There was a group of men sitting outside engrossed in their game of strategy. Slightly different rules to Bau (in Malawi) but all based on the game of Mancala. I think I need a few more lessons before I’ll have it mastered.

We walked as far as the Health Centre at the end of the village. The children are sent there if they are sick or injured. We have heard of a few people suffering from malaria. We are making sure we sleep under our mosquito nets and are using our mossie spray – particularly in the evenings.

We also had a look at the library and were dismayed to find the newly donated books in such chaos. After lunch (coca cola and a couple of biscuits again!) Kate and I decided to do something about it so we asked Edward if we could tidy up – when he unlocked the door we found all the books placed perfectly on the shelves – he had taken it upon himself with a few children to tidy the place up. We were delighted!

The librarian, Rita, then explained her system of cataloguing books – Dewey it is not! However, she has it under control and is doing her best. The children sneak in at every opportunity and clearly love the opportunity to read anything they can get their hands on. It was a lovely moment to find Kate on the floor reading Funny Bones to a group of engrossed children.

We wished everyone the best of luck at the music festival tomorrow and will find out on Monday how they got on.

First day in Nyabyeya

Well today was our first day in the school!

Kate (a teacher from Fife) and I went off in a car this morning at 7.30am to Nyebyeya School on the edge of the Budongo Forest.

After a bit of a bumpy ride along the red earth road we dropped off Patrick and Elaine before continuing on our way through a village and past the sugar cane plantation.We even went round a roundabout!

Nelson the Depute Head Teacher greeted us at the school and gave us a tour around each class. Everyone was very friendly and made us feel warmly welcomed. Kate and I went into the P1 class to observe the lesson, with over two hundred in the room it was remarkable how well the children were engaged with what was going on.

The school was in a state of high excitement with the impending music festival competition on Saturday so lessons were curtailed as we were treated to the rehearsals. Teachers in Uganda are alarmingly similar to those at home encouraging the children to 'smile' and 'enjoy the experience' (or else!)

Some of my colleagues had their best day ever! It was "Super!" said Sharon. 

Mr Jim was commandeered by the mayor of Masindi for lunch, it's good to know he was enjoying a feast while we had coca cola and biscuits!!

The music is a total joy to listen to, particularly as they are using lots of local instruments. More on the music tomorrow!

Now we're off for dinner....

Link in Uganda

Today we had meetings to fill us in on the work of Link Community Development in Uganda. Derek Nkata the LCD Director spoke to us about the work they are doing and the difference it is making. 

The area they are working in is in school improvement and to help schools improve they have developed a system of auditing using 18 indicators. These are concerned with Teaching and Learning, School Leadership and Management etc. There are 104 sub-indicators to break down the analysis to help schools pinpoint areas for development. Schools undergo a process of School Performance Review which the whole community is takes part in.

We are going to be taking part in the process at the point of engaging with all stakeholders to inform the next stages of School Development Planning. After the next two days observing in schools we will be taking part in the community meetings (60 have been invited to attend at our school by the HT!) and then we will be helping the HT and staff to make the plans realistic and achievable.

After speaking to our HT today I think my partner Kate and I are going to be placed in an amazing school!

They already sound like they are making very good progress in a number of areas and we can't wait to meet all the staff and pupils tomorrow.

James the Head Teacher will be away adjudicating at the District music, dance and drama festival for the next 3 days which is a huge event across Masindi. We have been told that classes will only take place from 8am till 11am for the next two days so that rehearsals can take place in the school. Nelson the Depute HT will be in charge. I'm really looking forward to hearing the pieces that they are going to perform. The theme is on keeping children safe in school.

Runyoro Language

There are 56 tribes in the District of Masindi. One of the local languages is Runyoro. Although most people speak English and it is taught in schools it is great to be able to greet people in a local language so here are a few words that we learned today:

 

Banyoro – tribe

Runyoro - language

Munyoro - person of the Banyoro tribe

Muzungu - person of the white European tribe

 

Oli ota? how are you? (singular)

Muli mota? how are you? (plural)

 

webale - thank you

webale kale - thank you very much

 

Departures:

If you are the one who is leaving:

Oikale kurungi – you stay well (singular)

Mwikale kurungi – you stay well (plural)

 

If they are leaving:

Ogenda kurungi – you go well (singular)

Mugenda kurungi – you go well (plural)

 

Questions:

Oha           – Who

Ki ki          – What

Nkaha      – Where

Dihi          – When

Habwaki – Why

Ota           – How

Now I just need a little practice!

Arrival in Uganda

Well, I've arrived safely in Uganda after a good flight with KLM from Glasgow via Amsterdam to Entebbe.

The hotel in Kampala was very comfortable last night and we all slept well after the long journey.

Uganda is 2 hours ahead of the UK so we were all in bed very early last night and up early for breakfast this morning.

The hotel had coffee and toast all ready for us, the pineapple was very refreshing and the cooked potatoes, sausages and beans looked very appetising too.

We then went off to Garden City in Kampala. it's a shopping centre with a bank and a supermarket. The supermarket sells everything from food to books and beds. We bought some lovely filled baguettes for lunch and bottles of water for the journey then got on the bus and travelled the 3.5 hours north towards Masindi.

The countryside is very lush and green. There are lots of people walking along the side of the road or on bicycles. We passed lots of cows being herded along the road too. In Kampala there are lots of storks - they are enormous! They can eat up to ten times their body weight in rubbish but they are also becoming a pest. It's a bit of a problem for the people in Kampala!

The bus had to slow down or stop for police road checks a few times and each time it was surrounded by locals trying to sell their food through the windows. We bought some bananas and pineapples. We ate the pineapples after our official welcome by the District Education Officer and the Minister for Health, Education and Sports. The pineapples were delicious!

Tomorrow we are having lots of meetings so it's off to bed under the mosquito net for now.

Where is Uganda?

Uganda is in Central East Africa and is surrounded by a few countries: Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan and The Democratic Republic of Congo. The Equator goes through the country.

Getting ready!

Less than a week to go until Uganda and preparations are well under way!