Monday 27/06 5th day of teaching, Emily netball practice, banana leaves walk.
Monday morning means early rising and the start of another week teaching. Charlie and I (Emily) teach at Kazuru Primary, which is closest to the Lodge (and in the opposite direction to all the other schools) so we choose to walk most days. The walk is amazingly scenic with views over the Bwindi Forest for most of the way. There is a nursery school on the way so we pass lots of pupils with they’re packed lunches, they’re less scared of us now and high fives are exchanged. Between the lessons I help run netball practice for P5 and 6 girls to prepare for the upcoming netball tournament. They’re version of netball is very different from that in the UK, many of the rules don’t seem to apply, moving with the ball is the norm and smacking the ball across the pitch rather than the standard throw and catch add to the ‘free for all’ approach. However, all the girls are very good at shooting. Back at the Lodge and newly stocked up on chocolate following Laky Bunyonyi at the weekend; a suggestion to put the bonfire to use and make chocolate bananas inspires Sally, Izzy and I to go for a walk to collect banana leaves (to use instead of tin foil) from a plantation next to the Lodge. It turns out there is some skill required in tearing the leaves and wrapping the bananas but once mastered the bananas turn out to be a very yummy success-approved by a very amused Dennis, Mackie and JB who had never tasted them before!
Tuesday 28/06
After school, Team VU (Mzungu Magic) had their first fixture of the trip against the teachers of Kirima Parents. The students of Kirima gathered around the pitch creating an atmosphere comparable to the Nou Camp and within 15 seconds of kick-off, Mzungu Magic took the lead through an own goal. With 20 minutes on clock we were 3-0 up, however by half-time Kirima had fought back to 3-2. After a first half goal fest, the second half only saw one goal, which was scored by Kirima, which may have been offside (bitter). The final whistle blew and after unsuccessfully trying to argue for penalties, extra-time followed. Kirima scored two in the first half and Team VU pulled one back in the second and so the match finished at 5-4. With a better pitch the Bazungus’ classy passing would have been effective and won them the game (very bitter).
Wednesday 29/06 chocolate bananas, cool running’s and teaching
Following a busy day on Tuesday today was relatively quiet. We taught our three lessons and spent the evening on a hunt for banana leaves, which we later used for cook banana splits over the camp fire. Yum yum. The evening drew to a close watching cool running’s on the projector.
Thursday 30/06 Netball
The sun was beaming over Kanungu playground. The perfect day for a netball match between primary schools Makiro, Model, Karuhinda, Mother care and Rushebeya. It started off competitively with the girls at a much higher standard than expected. After practicing at their own schools on unlevelled pitches and no bibs to tell who was on each other’s team. When lunchtime came Makiro looked like they were set for a sure victory, we discussed the tensioned game over a chilled soda from bar Modern and demolished many chapattis and juicy pineapples. After some perhaps too serious team talks with our own schools we were back at the side-line chanting like crazy for our teams. Then all fell silent across Kanungu as the final match was too close to call, the final goal was scored with seconds to spare, pushing Karuhinda into 1st place whilst tremendous thunder roared over Kanungu, a fitting end to such a dramatic and eventful afternoon of competitive netball. All eyes are now fixed on Kirima Parents to see who will join Karuhinda in what is set to be one of the biggest sporting events in Kanungu history.
Friday 01/07 Netball/HIV Talk and Canada day.
The students of Rutenga Secondary School gathered around the school’s great courtyard as our group of bazungu's lined up to address the crowd. We started with games that introduced to the students the risk of being a part of the “sexual network” and having unprotected sex with multiple partners. The students cracked up as we demonstrated how to put a condom on a matoke banana, and some seemed to listen intently as we talked to them about being empowered and standing by their decisions to be safe in sexual activity. The prevention/health system supported by the Ugandan government and our partner organization, Mend the Broken Hearts, is called the “ABCDE+” program. A= abstinence, B= be faithful, C= condomize, D= disclosure, and E= empowerment. The + represents emergency aftercare options including post exposure prophylaxis.
Saturday 02/07 Market, radio
Today was an exciting day as three of us, Sarah, Charlie and Sophie, were on the local radio station KBS. We spent 2 hours in a furry-walled, air conditioned room with the jolly DJ Owen being asked all sorts of questions including how much fish do we eat in England? We took it in turns to introduce the weekend special “1 Makiga, 3 mazungus, 1 show”, answered calls from listeners all over, and found out that the whole of western Uganda were potentially listening to us live natter away and try to pronounce words in Rukiga, much to the amusement of DJ Owen. It was a great experience and after much posing by the red “ON AIR” sign for photos, we were back out into the real world feeling like movie stars.
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