Friday, 26 February 2016

EIGHTH INSTALMENT 2016

FrFRIDAY 26th February2026
We had a lovely "last dinner for Pat in In Masindi" last night with Sallie ,Janine and Robert. It was great sittin in the gardenith a temp of 28 only after a high of 34.2 with a beer and eating the nile perch bought in the market in the morning. We only found a tail end left as it had taken 45 minutes to get her pounds sterling changed into Uganda shillings.
We had had a hectic afternoon working with another 10 girls practising their skills on a needlecases before attempting the knickers next week. However before we got into P5 classroom there was a mini riot brewing in the P6 room so I went in to see what was happening with not a teacher in sight. There were over 60 puils crammed into a hot room with nothing to do!
Pat and I have been going in to school to teach between 4pm and 5pm and we now have 3 groups of 30 plus 6 girls left over. Undoubtedly more girls will arrive next week but physically I can't manage to teach more than 3 evening a week so I will teach those 6  a!one on Tues  and add them to the 3 exso I will be teaching 3 groups of 12.
At 2 PM Pat and I will travel to Kampala and stay with my former pupil Annette.
I hope to buy a electric sewing machine for the Mothers Union smongstvother things like good bread and cheese for the hotel!
Doubt that I' ll get the Internet for a couple of days so until Monday..........

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

SEVENTH INSTALMENT part 3

WEDNEDAY 24th February
 Can' get rid of the last photo so will try again a bit later
Here is Junior Ahumuza almost ready to go to Secondary school.

SEVENTH part two


WEDNESDAY 24th February
I am doing this in stages as the Internet is SL slow and overloaded!
Today are the local elections and so the school is closed again, just for the day. So frustrating but there is a breeze as I write this in the garden of Sallie's hotel
Did I mention that she is now getting very old  and she got cross and rushed around and fell a couple of days ago and made her nose bleed? I think prayers are needed.
Anyway I will try to catch up and now post a picture of Junior and his "requirements"

SEVENTH INSTALMENT 2016

TWWEDNESDAYDNESDAY 24th February
The Internet is very slow At the moment, so some of my pictures have got delayed and put into the wrong day's  instalment! I will try to post a picture of the four  pupils who achieved a Grade One pass at the Rhino Sanctuary.

It was an amazing experience: at one point we were almost surrounded by FIVE enormous rhinos! The children were very good and well behaved and Kasujja Herbert an excellent guide.

Monday, 22 February 2016

SIXTH INSTALMENT 2016

MONDAY 22nd February 2016
Another crazy morning with nothing going to plan!
Junior Ahumuza arrived with hiscaunt as I was having breakfast with Pat and Robert  so I gave them tea and chapatti and then wevrealised Juniors "Requirements were not labellescso I got out my sewing box and wrote his name on scraps of cloth and sewed them into his blanket,sheets,trousers shirts and towels!  The atose the question of his metal box in which all his things will be stored: how to label that? So we went to the beauty salon and bought nail varnish and I stood in the street and wrote his name in bright pink on his box, basic and jerrycan!

Sunday, 21 February 2016

FIFTH INSTALMENT part 2

SUNDAY 21February.
I will try to post some pics of our trips to the Rhino Sanctuary
Sorry! This is headteacher Mary Mukonyezi showing us her harvest of sweet potatoes.
We had breakfast of cassava chips andvhard boiled eggs after the church service.

FIFTH INSTALMENT

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 21st
The power went off as I was writing this blog earlier this afternoon, and I am not sure if it is lost.
So  to recapulate, we had a very busy day yesterday, trying to cut out knickers but being constantly interrupted.The main issue was buying "The Requirements " for those two clever pupils,
Ismail and Junior.At the last moment, one of the most popular and good secondary schools in Hoima came up with a scholarship for Ismail, whose results in the Primary Leaving Exam was the second best in the county.Mandela Secondary has a list of "requirements" as long as your arm, being a boarding school and so Pat and I had to go to the bank so that both Ismail and Junior could get everything specified from toothpaste and a plate to shoes plus sandals,a mosquito net and of course  uniform!Sallie had influenced the head teacher of Kitara Model school to give Junior a scholarship and his list of requirements was only a little shorter than Ismail's. Pat and I felt it a privilege to be able to help two poor boys get a good education. Ismail's father earns a living as a labourer and Junior lives with a bedridden grandmother. His aunt who worked as a gleaner in the sugar fields  and is responsible for I don't know how many people, was involved in a terrible accident last year, when the sugar lorry she was travelling in ran into the swamp when it's brakes failed. 19 people were killed and over 45 badly injured - many falling on their razor sharp pangas. One arm is still in plaster. She is the main breadwinner.
We had given the ,4 pupils who all achieved a First Grade Pass in that P.L.E a treat on Friday, a treat by taking them to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary.
This is picture of Rev. Elizabeth outside her new church at Katasenywa where Pat and I went to worship this morning and met Mary Mukonyezi who is noe the Headteacher ofKatasenywa Primary school

FOURTH INSTALMENT 2016

SUNDAY February 21st 2016


Friday, 19 February 2016

FOURTH INSTALMENT 2016

Friday Friday 19th FEBRUARY 2016
Yesterday was the Election  in Uganda so we watched the television  whilst we.cut out knickers!
Today we have been adapting the pattern to cut out some smaller sizes but we will see thepupilson  Monday - well I hope that at least 10 girls report then, at the beginnuing of term which is so very late
Pat and Sallie and I arelooking forward to going to Ziwa to show the 4 clever pupils the rhinos and Sallie will visit Angie and Johannes who is sso ill.due to the Elections!
We had a tiny shower of rain, thankfully after lunch which cooled the temperature down from  33.3C to about 25C.

THRD instalment 2016

FEBRUARY 18th 2016
Today U Uganda  is going to the polls! Last Monday there were riots I Kampala, but Pat and I are safely tucked away in Sallie's hotel in Masindi.We are spending the day  making paks with which to make needlecases so that the girls can practise stitching and hemming before they get get on to knickers!
We have been very busy in the past few days

Thursday, 18 February 2016

THIRDINSTALMENT part 2

2nd part Thursday 18th
To return to our visit to HRriet's village.
: we enjoyed a cocouple of hors talking to H's parents Alice and Charles and meeting 9 of their 10 childre You may remember that 2 years ago I paid for Alice to be sterilised since she she already had ten children Today she looks bonny and healthy and full of eenergy!In the photo in my previous blog you may see  us sharing a jackfruit for lunch!!!

To returnto the Fiur successfull pupils of Kabalega Primary, we found the teboy with the best result( he goined a 1 i hismaths)  this boy has no parents and iscared forby anelderly grandmother so he obviously canot afford to pay to goto Secondary schhoo   furthermore the boy who was justbehind him comes from a very poor family. You


THURSDAY  February 18th 2016
Yesterday, Wednesday Pat and I went to Harriet Katusiime s village to see how she is getting on.  When we arrived her compound was deserted but quickly the bush telegraph got to work and the children appeared from the fields, one sister carrying Harriet.  It is very hard for her to push her walking  framefrom across the dusty and uneven compound.Soon Moses our taxi driver arrived bringing Alice, Harriet's mum who had gone to get her voting card and soon after that her dad pedalled in on his bike.
Today Uganda goes to the polls so Pat and I are tucked away in Sallie's hotel in Masindi(there was a riot in Kampala on Monday  but Pat and I had a meeting with Millie, the head teacher of Ksbalega Primary. We are all so proud of the fact that 4 pupils of Ksbalega Primary have gained a first class pass at the first grade. On FTuesday Pat and Imet the 4 pupils and their parents to ask if we might reward the children's success by taking the to see the rhinos at Ziwa.

Tuesday, 16 February 2016

TUESDAY 16th February2026
The temperature is over 90 C every day plus there is some kind of nightclub in the boma opposite, playing LOUD music until,5 am every night!And the Internet has been off.......
Sunday Pat and I went to church St St Matthews Cathedral and so many friends can to greet me fortunately no one asked me to go to the front and make a speech as they usually do but Bishop George who was present greeted me like an old friend and everyone clapped. Afterwards I was able .to make an appointment with Mama Joyce the bishops wife  and so today I will be meeting her and the Mothers union ladies.
In the afternoon Sallie and PaT and I were driven to Ziwa rhino sanctuary where Sallie had tea with Angie and Johannes who founded and run the sanctuary. They now have 10 young rhinos and 3 breeding pairs. Johannes is terminally ill with cancer so do pray for them.
Meanwhile Pat and I were taken - after hours - to see a resting goup of 4 female rhinos. The time but theRanger was very knowledgeable and after a while the rhinos got up one by one and walked off grazing on the new grass, sprouting after the land had been burned

Saturday, 13 February 2016

Second installment part two

Slept from 6 pm to 8am on Thursday.
Breakfast of omelette and pineapple at Annet's then Pat,Annet and and I jumped in to Godfrey's taxi and went to the Craft Market where we met Dorothy Mugenyi and after buying sun hsts (I had forgotten mine and Pat wanted one that shaded the back of her neck) we asked some guys at a stall that sold touristy pictures if they knew of a famous old artist named Katangole.
One young man came forward and said his name was Katangole.That may be but he was much too young to be the classically trained guy we sought . Young Katangole Sunday then said he could contact the son of Katangole Wasswa who could paint in the style of his father.
We went back later and the son had found a small painting that did resemble  Katangole Wasswa's work but I am not sure if it is an original...........
In the evening I cooked pancakes - a little late but Annet as a good Christian was keen to taste. oh dear - a bad workmen blames his tools but in an unfamiliar kitchen without the precise tools the pancakes would not flip - much to young Joseph's disappointment! tasted O.K though! Then we played the game of Jenga which I had bought for Joseph. A great success!
FRIDAY morning our journey to Masindi was delayed a little be
 Whilst Godfrey bought meat to take to Courtview Hotel.Eventually we set of with all 4 suitcases for Masindi