Met Mike with no problems at Heathrow and received an unexpected
visit from Mike Godfrey (Hampton School).
Arrived smoothly at Entebbe airport. The airport was perhaps a similar size
to Bristol's (2 baggage carrousels) and is at the end of the Entebbe land promontory,
jutting into Lake Victoria.
We were met by Ben Solomon, George (the Head's son) and Fred (driver). As well as his schoolwork, Ben runs his own fledgling IT business in Jinja)
George has a prodigious knowledge of English football (Southampton:
"Ah Beattie!") and apparently sells Dell computers.
Despite our lack of showers and sleep we were taken straight to PMM Girls' School
and met Petromella, the Head. She has only been in post for 2 months. We also
met Audrey and ???, a new deputy of 4 days.
We had a cup of very refreshing weak black tea before going to assembly (outdoors) where we were asked to say a few words. The new deputy head was also introduced to cheers of delight!
A fan-cooled amplifier was used to project voices. Girls were lined up by Form. They were very smartly dressed in white blouses, tie and purple (O-Level) or green (A-Level) skirts. They were praised or admonished politely by a teacher for various things - dress, state of form rooms, leaving food lying around and so on. Sweeping form rooms for example should take place at the end of the day, not at the beginning when in interferes with prep time. Girls were also told off for their hair styles. A number of girls, it appears, comb their hair with their fingers!! Some need a trim (only very short hair is allowed).
My first impression is of a bustling country. Stalls are at 200 metre intervals along the roadside. Painted hoardings advertise everything from contraception to Vim, Nile Special beer and soap powder.
There was a constant stream of people (mostly women) walking
along the roadside carrying yellow jerry cans of water (often 25 litres) and
loads on their heads. Bikes are piled high with everything from bananas and
bales of wood to long planks and girders!
The Basoga Trust guesthouse was clean and simple. We had our own bathroom and
there was a very attractive garden. Breakfast consisted of tea or coffee, fruit
(pineapple or mango) and 'Tip Top' toast, with jam or honey.
We went for a stroll. Kids were leaving school (for lunch?). We wandered 15 minutes to Jinja's Main Street looking for a bank but failed to find one. We were too self-conscious to take photos at this time. We ended up at the Triangle hotel for a beer (the first of many Nile Specials! 1,500 USh (50p), 500ml, 5.6%) and a feed. Mike had fish fingers (not factory processed, but small fish in breadcrumbs) and chips and I had a delicious matoke and chicken stew. Then it was back to the guest house for a snooze.
Back to school. Collected by the school driver in an old Toyota pick-up. Later that day we saw it with perhaps 20-25 girls on board!
We went out onto the field to play volleyball with a collection of girls. There seemed to be little organisation, but it was good fun and a good way to relax after the long journey.
We walked back to the guesthouse for a cold and refreshing shower
then we returned to the Triangle for a chicken kebab (goat kebab was not recommended
by the look on the waiter's face!) and a couple of beers before bed.
We slept under mosquito nets until 7 am. It was quite cool but we certainly
didn't need blankets.
Tour of the school with Juliet. We saw Chemistry, Physics, Maths,
English and Geography offices. The common concern was a lack of resources. For
example the physics department had 18 books for 150 pupils. In maths they had
one book for every three students. Pupils were making wrapping paper for a 5-year-old's
birthday in fine art.
The Economics class (year 10?) was learning about investment. There were 50
students in Applied Biology and they were learning how to draw biological diagrams
("what is a continuous line?"!).
In the afternoon we were taken to the Nile by Johnson and Jerome.
We saw the magnificent, surging Itanda Falls and the Bujagali Falls that I was
later to raft down.
We saw many brightly coloured school uniforms on our trip -
purples, pinks, yellows and blues. The car broke down towards the end of the
day at a village in the middle of nowhere and we had to get a lift back to Jinja
from a passing car.
Had Posho and chicken stew for dinner at the Triangle. It tasted good, and was
again similar to mashed potato.
We had a wonderful tour of Jinja with Richard and Dorothy. We saw green oranges, onions, honey in reclaimed bottles. Tilapia (dried fish), small fish (mukene) and chickens. Bike wheels and saddles. Plastic water containers (plastic barrel: 60,000 USh (£20), metal: 40,000 USh), second-hand clothes, electrical items etc. I bought a pottery bowl for 1,000 USh and a dodgy fake Aiwa tape recorder for 20,000 USh.
On Main Street we saw millet for making home-brew (malwa) laid out to dry on an empty patch of concrete.
We walked past the post office, town hall and law courts and down to Lake Victoria where we saw the very poor landing site juxtaposed against the colonial Jinja Sailing Club. The Sailing Club was a reminder of Uganda's colonial past. Although slightly run down now, the gardens are impressive and the view over the lake is not to be missed. It was one of the missed opportunities of the trip that we failed to see a sunset over Lake Victoria. This would have made an excellent vantage point.
I bought a football made from banana leaves for USh 1000 (33p).
In the afternoon we went to Kirra College which was fascinating.
Daudi was very impressive. It is a large boys' boarding school with 1,200 pupils.
They are building a new computer centre for 100 PCs to be donated by Hampton
School.
There was the most amazing avocado tree in Daudi's garden that was literally
dripping with huge, ripe avocados.
We visited Wanyange Girls' School and Proscovia its head teacher. This is her third posting to the school, having previously been a pupil and a teacher there! Proscovia had been the Head at PMM until a couple of months before our visit and is keen to find a UK link school of her own.
Wanyange is a boarding school with 800 girls and 100 staff, of whom 48 are teachers. The school is quite remote up on a hilltop and has vast grounds, which partially explains its number of non-teaching staff. The approach to the school is a typical African, potholed road.
Pros took us to her house in the school grounds where we hoped to see the monkeys that pester her in the mornings by stealing food and knocking on her windows. We were out of luck.
We had a huge tilapia (fish) and chips for dinner at the Triangle - possibly Uganda's best dish. We met a group of second year geography students from Gloucester University who were staying at the same guest house as us. Small world! One of them had been a student at STRS and knew MAS. I got to recount details of Gloucester's victory in the Powergen Cup Final to a few of their party!
Up at 6:30 to get to school for 8am in order to help Ben and a few other staff with Excel. They were keen to find out how to use ICT better to aid their administration! Unfortunately Ben was totally pre-occupied with his house's contribution to today's House Drama competition and I never saw him.
Mike was guest of honour at the House Drama competition. I did some filming. There are four houses and each had to write its own play under the theme of "The Fight Against Corruption". Plays had to last an hour. This turned out to be a very long day. The hall was packed and the audience certainly participated wholeheartedly. Ben's house won the competition and he was delighted. The stage was destroyed during the celebrations!
I paid a visit to the loos after school today, and saw the ones the girls use (it was after everyone had gone home!). They were a surprise! A hole in the ground in a hut. Bits of newspaper trodden into the concrete floor - and the smell!!! We are very lucky in the UK!
A wonderfully indulgent day for me white water rafting, but sadly Mike had not recovered from his stomach problems and was unable to join me. I joined up with the Gloucester University students and a few others to raft down 30 km of the White Nile. We practiced paddling, flip drills etc. for the first 6 km before we met 11 really wild rapids. My raft flipped 4 times so I had plenty of opportunities to go swimming! Tremendous fun!!!
Saw my first sign of African wildlife whilst rafting - a baby
crocodile. I wondered where its parents were!
We finished off the day with a few beers and some good food at Itanda Falls.
I joined Ben and Agnes at their church this morning. Agnes led a medley of hymns for the first 30 minutes which really got the congregation on its feet and participating. The middle portion was a mixture of prayers, announcements and the taster of a play to be performed the following week on Easter Sunday. The sermon ended the proceedings. An American (?) lady talked about the prodigal son for 45 minutes! Ben translated into his language for some of the congregation.
I met Ben's brother Godfrey who has recently given up his work
as a teacher to work full time as a Pastor at the church.
After church I went with Ben to an Internet café briefly to demonstrate
some web page design and uploading, and then we took boda bodas to his house
for lunch. It is a small rented house with no running water (the landlord hasn't
paid the bill). I didn't get to look round as I wasn't offered the grand tour,
but it seemed quite comfortable. Ben and Agnes have a Sony TV and video. A housemaid
lives with them, does some cooking and looks after Alison (born 13/8/02) whilst
Agnes (an accountant) and Ben are at work.
I went to school in the afternoon with Ben to spend a little more time teaching him web design. A girl was sitting on the grass in front of the school in school uniform reading. Ben told me that pupils have to wear uniform if they are in school at the weekend, and guessed that she had come here as it was a quiet place to work.
That evening I went with Ben and Petromella for dinner with Audrey and her husband, Ben. Ben is head of a local college and they appear to be very wealthy. They had a lovely big house. Dinner was fantastic. We left at 10:30 - Ben could hardly keep his eyes open following a busy day!
Went with Ben and Jerome to Kampala. First stop was Uganda's principle academic institution, Makerere University where we met Diana, Agnes's sister. She came with us for the rest of the day. It turned out that Ben and many of the other people we had met had all been educated at Makerere.
From there we went to Kasubi Tombs where 4 Buganda kings are buried. This is a complex of large mud huts - one for the king, and a large number for his many wives!
We went to a fast food restaurant for lunch - and were surprised to discover that it would not have been out of place anywhere in the western world.
In the afternoon we finally saw a few African animals at Entebbe zoo. We were worried that we would see caged animals with little freedom, but actually it was more of a wildlife park. We were able to tick off many birds as well as a lion, snakes, monkeys and rhinos. Diana had never seen most of these animals before.
This was our last day. We spent the morning tying up loose ends in school - some last minute filming and photography as well as quickly teaching Ben how to use Dreamweaver for web design. A magical moment was when Genevieve, the Fine Art teacher, looked us out and gave us some wonderful demonstrations for the camera of tie dye and gourd painting.
In the afternoon Jerome took us on a tour of some local villages by car. He appeared to thoroughly enjoy his role of guide. He took us to Proscovia's parents' farm. They were by far the oldest people we had seen in Uganda. Pros's mother was bent double with arthritis, making rugs. Her father started Senior 1 in 1933, which makes him about 83 years old. They have had 11 children and all have Masters qualifications or Doctorates! One is Uganda's energy minister, another works for the UN and Pros of course is a head teacher. We had a great tour of the farm by Pros' father. It was surprisingly large and well managed. They have a bio-gas system. They collect cattle dung and vegetable waste which are stored and then left in a small covered well where they turn into gas used for cooking. Ingenious, but the cost of around USh 600,000 must be prohibitive to most Ugandans. I was really impressed by this couple. The father had a Nelson Mandela air about him. He is clearly very well educated and a man with vision.
In the evening we invited 8 members of staff from PMM, Ben's wife, Daudi and Proscovia for dinner at the Sunset Hotel. This was a very pleasant evening with several speeches and presents. We were very touched by the impact we appeared to have in such a short time.
Up at 5am for the journey to the airport. We were very grateful to Jerome for driving us and to Richard for chaperoning us at that time in the morning. The journey back was uneventful and we arrived home safely in the early evening.
What a trip! Thanks to Mike for being great company - despite a flood of results going against his Newcastle football and rugby teams!