Days 10 & 11...
I need a massage... I need a massage... I NEED A MASSAGE!!!
But more of that anon...
Returning to Kampala on Sunday evening, the whole team agreed that the decision to have a weekend break at Jinja had been a very wise move indeed. ]If you doubt the luxury of the hotel, please Google 'Jinja Nile Resort' and scan some of the photos!!] However, it also served to remind us all of the enormous privilege we enjoy from living in N Ireland - our disposable income in East Africa is far is excess of all but the most affluent Ugandan. So, gentle reader, please remember to appreciate what you have (money, good food, comfortable shelter, good quality health care, irrespective of what you may think of the NHS etc etc) and be willing to share some of it with others less fortunate.
Enough sermonising - Monday morning saw an enthusiastic tea
m making its way to Kiti (pronounced Chitty, as in Bang Bang) Primary to implement a similar programme to the first week. For some of us, this was a poignant time where we had the opportunity to refresh old aquaintances from our last visit (see the first entries on this long running blog). It was also extremely encouraging for the whole team to see the potential scale of the positive impact on a school that a few years of careful development and management from teachers and external support organisations can bring. The school now has in excess of 500 pupils running from nursery to P7 which ensures the buildings are now operating at maximum capacity. The efforts of members of the previous team had also seen the construction of a kitchen, the drilling of a borewell (serving the whole community) and the installation of mains electricity, all arranged after our return. Even the play area looked fantastic, the result of careful planting of grass to replace the hard baked dusty earth. It was wonderful to see these new facilities in operation, giving the school a real air of prosperity. It also great to meet some of the pupils being sponsored by team members and see how they had grown and were progressing with their studies.
Suffice to say, the last two days have been exhausting for all and during our return to Kampala this evening, not a word was spoken by anyone on the bus - a significant change from earlier times!! The medical team has commented on the greater openness and responsiveness of the pupils at Kiti and the kids' club are having a wonderful time with their carefully crafted programme. After a day of training, all the Kiti children will shout "Magooooooooooo" (nickname of one of our members) at the least provocation, in honour of his previously mentioned exemplary 'funky chicken'.
A much reduced building team continues to work at Glory for Education. Jon arranged to tear his calf muscles at Jinja and others wanted to rest their weary backs, leaving 3 or 4 of us to continue the labour, mainly stockpiling concrete blocks at strategic locations around the house in support of our Ugandan builder Johnson (200 blocks this morning - hence the pressing need for a massage!). At present, the wall are nearly complete (two courses above the ring beam almost finished today) and the roofing joiners arrived on site on Monday afternoon to start their work. I expect the first timbers will be placed on the walls tomorrow (Wednesday). The much reduced (yet beautifully formed) building team also spent time this afternoon setting out a brick border to the embryonic flower beds at the front of the school and hope to finish this task tomorrow.
Well, a queue of folk has now formed to access the PC the PC, so I will sign off. Hopefully (PC permitting, for it could not acces t'internet hier soir) I will be able to post some more tomorrow.
Oh, I nearly forgot - Jamie appears to have developed a remarkably deep tan. Despite rubbing after-sun into his body every day since we arrived, his tan appears to get signifiantly deeper day by day. It may or may not have something to do with the fact that the contents of his bottle of after-sun were (helpfully) replaced with self tanning lotion by other team members at the start of last week!
'McBlogger'
But more of that anon...
Returning to Kampala on Sunday evening, the whole team agreed that the decision to have a weekend break at Jinja had been a very wise move indeed. ]If you doubt the luxury of the hotel, please Google 'Jinja Nile Resort' and scan some of the photos!!] However, it also served to remind us all of the enormous privilege we enjoy from living in N Ireland - our disposable income in East Africa is far is excess of all but the most affluent Ugandan. So, gentle reader, please remember to appreciate what you have (money, good food, comfortable shelter, good quality health care, irrespective of what you may think of the NHS etc etc) and be willing to share some of it with others less fortunate.
Enough sermonising - Monday morning saw an enthusiastic tea
m making its way to Kiti (pronounced Chitty, as in Bang Bang) Primary to implement a similar programme to the first week. For some of us, this was a poignant time where we had the opportunity to refresh old aquaintances from our last visit (see the first entries on this long running blog). It was also extremely encouraging for the whole team to see the potential scale of the positive impact on a school that a few years of careful development and management from teachers and external support organisations can bring. The school now has in excess of 500 pupils running from nursery to P7 which ensures the buildings are now operating at maximum capacity. The efforts of members of the previous team had also seen the construction of a kitchen, the drilling of a borewell (serving the whole community) and the installation of mains electricity, all arranged after our return. Even the play area looked fantastic, the result of careful planting of grass to replace the hard baked dusty earth. It was wonderful to see these new facilities in operation, giving the school a real air of prosperity. It also great to meet some of the pupils being sponsored by team members and see how they had grown and were progressing with their studies.Suffice to say, the last two days have been exhausting for all and during our return to Kampala this evening, not a word was spoken by anyone on the bus - a significant change from earlier times!! The medical team has commented on the greater openness and responsiveness of the pupils at Kiti and the kids' club are having a wonderful time with their carefully crafted programme. After a day of training, all the Kiti children will shout "Magooooooooooo" (nickname of one of our members) at the least provocation, in honour of his previously mentioned exemplary 'funky chicken'.
A much reduced building team continues to work at Glory for Education. Jon arranged to tear his calf muscles at Jinja and others wanted to rest their weary backs, leaving 3 or 4 of us to continue the labour, mainly stockpiling concrete blocks at strategic locations around the house in support of our Ugandan builder Johnson (200 blocks this morning - hence the pressing need for a massage!). At present, the wall are nearly complete (two courses above the ring beam almost finished today) and the roofing joiners arrived on site on Monday afternoon to start their work. I expect the first timbers will be placed on the walls tomorrow (Wednesday). The much reduced (yet beautifully formed) building team also spent time this afternoon setting out a brick border to the embryonic flower beds at the front of the school and hope to finish this task tomorrow.
Well, a queue of folk has now formed to access the PC the PC, so I will sign off. Hopefully (PC permitting, for it could not acces t'internet hier soir) I will be able to post some more tomorrow.
Oh, I nearly forgot - Jamie appears to have developed a remarkably deep tan. Despite rubbing after-sun into his body every day since we arrived, his tan appears to get signifiantly deeper day by day. It may or may not have something to do with the fact that the contents of his bottle of after-sun were (helpfully) replaced with self tanning lotion by other team members at the start of last week!
'McBlogger'
posted by Team Muzungu at 6:20 pm
4 Comments:
could someone possibly take a pic of wee jonny for me and give him a big hug too? i bet he's grown!!
really wish i was at the school with you, am reminiscing over photos from last time.
:-)
Abandoned Heron says...
All 'non-builders' should massage 'builders', I reckon, in the 'feet washing' tradition.
We continue to pray for you all. Adrian has you down in the programme for July 27th to tell us all your news.
Take care of yourselves lads and lassies.
So great to keep up with all the news. McBlogger you are doing a great job giving us a flavour of what is going on. We are away in France for a week and it has been a great way of keeping in touch.
We continue to pray for the team during the remaining days.
The Judds.
S McBlogger says,
Her-Indoors_McBlogger has asked me to pass along that her internet has ceased to function as it ought to. So - she isn't hearing the news but she's excited about you coming back! (Not just for the internet...!)
Also - H McBlogger has had a crisis and had us all up to the Highest Doe you could possibly imagine. Mother McBlog will tell all I'm sure. All I'm saying for now is that your parlez-vous anglais skills would have been useful the other evening!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After an (eventful and slightly disastrous) evening of travelling, H McBlog did indeed arrive at her new destination. Enough said for now. Panic not - no health problem, just train and plane problems.
I am going to the McBlogborns for a day or two so won't hear your news for a bit...
Keep safe all of you, and I can't wait to see you all soon.
S McBlog
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