From the Classroom to the Bush
Trip Start
Mar 02, 2010
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3
5
Trip End
Jun 25, 2010
Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
I've started doing some work at the school which I finally think is actually useful, after the first few weeks I got pretty disillusioned with the pace at which the things I was doing was progressing. However, I'm now doing sport with the kids after school every day which is really good because they don't normally get organised physical education. They are all football crazy and some of their skills are amazing, I've got a team together of some of the older ones and hopefully we'll be able to play some matches against other schools. As well as football I've also introduced to sports like cricket, rugby and baseball; rugby was definitely a challenge, they couldn't really grasp the no throwing the ball forward rule but it was great fun nonetheless!
I've also been doing some proper teaching which was pretty intimidating to start with but I'm really enjoying it, I've been assigned to P3 which ranges from about 7 to 10 years old and I do quite a lot of English with them, their enthusiasm overcomes the language barrier! Once we had no books because one of the teachers didn't turn up so I taught them for an hour just from the board and I could see they were losing their concentration so I asked them what they wanted to do and as one they all shouted "sing!" So they spent the next half an hour just singing songs in their traditional language and it was really incredible to see the enjoyment they got out of it.
I've also started to do a bit of work with S.O.U.L, a local NGO whom I went to Bududa with. I'm teaching guys a bit younger than me computers and it's the most fulfilling thing I've done to see them progress. If I said I was teaching them the basics it would be an understatement, most of them don't even know how to put in a space, capital letter or a full stop. However they're all wonderfully enthusiastic and I can tell they really enjoy doing it.
However, I don't want to give the impression that I'm just slogging away at this volunteer business. I have plenty of free time to explore Jinja and the surrounding areas and have spent far too much time drinking beer at NRE in Bujugali, the bar with the best view in the world. Last week we went fishing on the Nile with a local fisherman, the scenery was beautiful but it was a bit shortsighted to leave at 12:30 in the afternoon, after an hour and a half the heat got too much for us and we had to call it a day with not a fish to our names! Easter at the Owino compound was also a great experience, they slaughtered their best chickens for dinner which was an actual feast, in Western as well as in Ugandan terms. There were about 25 people crowded into their main room and more turned up when it switched from a dining room to a dance hall!
I also realised that I couldn't come to Uganda and not go on Safari so last weekend I headed up to Murchison Falls National Park, the largest one in Uganda, with a few other Mzungus for a bush camping safari. The first day was mainly comprised of the drive to the gateway town of Masindi, though we did stop for a few hours across lunch at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary where they are trying to rejuvenate a rhino population that has been hunted to extinction in Uganda. The rangers took us to about 10 metres away from the mother, father and baby Obama, incredible if not a little scary when they started snorting at us and stamping their feet and we were told to back off slowly!
The next day we went on a forest walk in Budongo Forest where we saw some monkeys, birds and massive, massive trees, as well as meeting the inimitable Mr Sipi, our guide. We then departed for our first game drive, which took us past countless antelope, buffalo, elephant, hippo, baboon, birds and a herd of about 30 giraffes which surrounded our truck as we sat in the middle watching them. We camped that night near the delta of the Victoria Nile with the mountains of the Congo in the background and hippos moving all around us in the dark, a truely unforgettable experience. We had an early morning game drive the next day where we glimpsed a lion as well as many more of the already mentioned creatures before heading for a ferry ride up to the falls, where we saw scores of hippos and crocodiles. The falls themselves where shockingly impressive, the 30 or 40 metre wide Nile forcing itself into a 5 meter gap between two rocks and after a (very hot) walk up the falls we got to stand literally at the point where the water flows over it, it's impossible to describe the power with which the water cascades down. After another memorable campsite at the top of the falls we awoke bright and early for the long drive back.
I hope everyone's well back home, I'll try and will some of the 35 degree heat we have hear back to Blighty!
Love Charlie xx
Comments
It sounds fantastic Charlie! You must have lots of wonderful pictures! xx