Day Nine: Thursday 21.06.2012

Esther was sick today with killer hay-fever. The meds are also knocking her out, so she decided to stay home and rest for the big day on Saturday. It meant that there was just enough space in the bus for me to go to Morning Glory (the morning prayer service). Anne wasn’t sure if I had enough time to get ready, but I was ready, and not even the last person into the van!

I spent the morning marking P4 test papers. At break I had porridge with the children, which they thought was hilarious, then I went to P4 to teach comprehension. Easiest class I’ve EVER taught – everything was written up for me, we read the piece twice through, and then the children worked in almost silence.

The afternoon included chapel, which was fun. P4 were leading. While we were there it started raining, and so it was interesting getting the children to cross a busy highway in the rain! Although the other teachers offered for me to go in out of the rain I declined as I don’t mind getting wet – and they all do!

After school I went on the internet again, then to the other craft shop, but they didn’t have anything I wanted, so I caught a boda home.

At home, a local artist stopped by and showed me his work. He said he had been by before, so I assumed he’d seen Esther, but he hadn’t. I got some beautiful fabric paintings (3 for my family, 1 for the church and one for me) and two ink and watercolour pieces. They were all very beautiful, and Esther is a bit sad to have missed it.

An interesting note – there are much less power outages than there were last year in Kampala. I’m not sure if it is a location factor or a time factor, but either way, it does make life easier!

Day Eight: Wednesday 20.06.2012

When I got to school my lesson had already started, so they just swapped it to be exactly when I got there. I’m not sure when anything is – no one seems to tell me exactly when. It is a different way of doing things.

While P4 had maths I went to the library and read the story Ivan wrote, which is about his life. It is something that I can work with to do a few different things. I’ll get a printed copy bound – a few copies even – and also I will get Ivan to do some illustrations and then make it into a PSB. We can either get it published by an independent publisher or by a more recognised Christian publisher. Ivan is excited about it, but doesn’t seem to understand most of it. But he is very proud of it, as he should be.

I took a photo of the P4 mathematics work – very different from what grade 3s do in Australia!

After lunch I went into P4, thinking that I would observe a class. The children were leading Praise and Worship. Their teacher came in, and after 5 minutes, asked me if I wanted to teach. I asked him what the subject was. “Story time,” he said. “Story time?” “Yes, you tell them a story.” “A… Bible story? You mean, it is RE class?” “Yes. Tell them a Bible Story.” So I told them the SIV (Sam’s Interpreted Version) of Joseph, which was my Sunday School lesson that I had prepared but hadn’t done. Apparently it was a big success, because several teachers (including ones who weren’t there) have told me that it was a great class, which is pretty good!

I went on the internet at the café again, and tried to sort out an issue that is happening with uni. I think I got it all sorted.

After that I went to one of the craft shops in town, and bought 2 necklaces, which I will use to make bags.

Day Seven: Tuesday 19.06.2012

Breakfast was funny! David joined us, and Anne made him take a lot of supplements to help him get over his infection. (Originally it was thought it was malaria, but it turned out to be something else – a general infection.) She made him take 8 different supplements, with him complaining the whole time, especially as he is a clinical doctor (not a full doctor, but still medically trained) and he knows that omega 3s will not actually reduce his fever. We went to the Bushikori Centre, where we met the chairman of the board. Then I went to speak to Juliana about where they wanted me to help or teach. I am teaching P4 comprehension. My class was not until after lunch, so I sat in the back of the P4 social studies class. Classes here are quite different than in Australia: no group work, lots of reciting by the whole class at once, and memorising of definitions. It need to be like that, especially in bigger classes. Imagine 200 children doing group work? Chaos! My class went quite well, though the children are all trying to imitate my accent and sound like a combination of Fran Dresher and a robot. I bribed them all with a promise of a song if they behaved for the class.

After my class was library time. P4 had the story of David vs Goal-leth for their shared book. They are mostly reading early readers for their own reading. I went even before school finished, as my ride was going. They dropped me and Esther at the Internet Café, and I sent a few emails. The internet is still slow, especially for emails, and I have some urgent ones to send, which I just keep delaying. I will go back tomorrow as well to get more done. At dinner we discussed Constantine and his effect on the church, which was really interesting. I really enjoy history! Oh, I forgot to say about our discussions with Linus at lunchtime! We told him about the weather around the world, and how in Antarctica it is dark for half the year and sunny for the other half. He was so amazed at that. Because Uganda is on the equator the days and nights are always about even. Esther told him about how in Sweden they all take a holiday for a month because it is so light until 2AM, so they all just have parties and visit each other. Linus thought that was amazing, and how that would take a lot of planning. So Esther told him about squirrels and bears and how they prepare for winter. I told him about the penguins in Antarctica, and how the boy penguins carry the eggs on their feet while the female penguins fish. Again, he thought they were the funniest things he had ever heard.

Day Six Extra Photos

Again, some extra photos for you to enjoy!

Day Six: Monday 18.06.2012

We went to the Joshua Primary School, and helped out in the classes. I managed to get into P2, and so got lots of opportunity to see my Shamim. She is a very conscientious student, not the fastest in the class, but very thorough in her work. She is also quite shy, and so she didn’t push to be in photos like many of the children. She smiled at me a lot, a serious smile, especially as the day went on.



We had lunch in the library, and the school gave us a lot of the more expensive food – meat, rice and matoke – while the students had posho and beans. While I love rice and matoke, I would have preferred the cheap beans to the meat. We only had the meat sauce, and left the chunks for Linus and Dan.



After lunch I stayed in the library for two library sessions with P1 and P2 (prep and year 1). P2 is one of the biggest classes in the school, with 55 students. They start with around 30 in P1, but children sometimes fail and repeat, or drop out and start a few years later when they have money (or are sponsored). Sponsor children are the most likely to actually finish primary school because all their fees are paid, so unless their sponsorship stops and they can’t get another sponsor, they continue as long as they are willing to stick at their education.


Library time was interesting – it was a combination of a story, a drawing activity, and free ‘reading’ of the different Picture Story Books. I read a few books to the children, which was great. I also wrote the first draft of a grant proposal for a building extension for the library. The library is a public library and a school library, but it is difficult for both groups to use the library at the same time due to distractions (for both the kids and the adults!)

We went home and had dinner. Anne came home after we had finished, and told us about a boy who had written a book in his library time, and Anne was wandering if it would be possible to get it bound for the Commissioning Day. I told her it wouldn’t be possible for then, but that we could announce it at the Commissioning Day, and get it done afterwards. We could also look at getting it published, either privately or professionally, to encourage the children and to let people know more about the work that is happening here at Bushikori. I will view the book tomorrow and that will give me a better idea about how to proceed with this.

Above: Ivan, the author.

The other big this that happened was that a little after 4PM, when the younger children had gone home, and just the P6 and P7 were still at school, one of the P7 students, who comes from a family know for its occult activities snapped and screamed for about 20minutes before they were able to calm him with prayer and praise songs. It isn’t the first time (either with him or generally in the school) and it serves as a reminder of the spiritual forces at work in Uganda. Truly, we do not war against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities of darkness.

Day Five: Sunday 17.06.2012

After all that worry, I didn’t even give my lesson, just greetings from Australia. The children take part in the second part of the service (the sermon) but they have something for them before hand. They have a similar time at church to what we have: prayer is 9:30-10:00, then the service is officially from 10-12, but usually runs over.

They made a special cake for us all to have, and I just managed to get away with not eating any. I had a Fanta though, which I normally wouldn’t to make up for it.

Afterwards we had lunch at one of the elder’s house’s, with all of the elders there, along with the other visitor, Winnie (from Kampala). I had lots of food, but everyone kept wanting me to eat more. Then Auntie Irene prayed for us.

John picked us up and drove us home, and then we went back into town. Esther needed to get some money out, and I just wanted to see things. It was quiet because it was a Sunday. Esther soon got tired and went back, but I continue on… to receive 1 proposal of marriage from a Congonese man and one offer of ‘friendship’ from a seller of Matoke bananas. Then I headed back on a boda – the first boda ride this trip! It was a lot of fun. I passed Esther on the way and David soon arrived on a boda too, so we walked the last road together.

At dinner we talked a bit about politics. Museveni (their president) was the reason we had difficulty accessing our emails. That’s right, the president blocked my email. I feel important. Anyway, he has been in power for 25 years, and while he isn’t bad, a lot of people have previously voted against him but election results just get ‘recounted’ and he stays in. I told them how we have crooked politicians in Australia – the recent case of one spending millions on things completely unrelated to politics or the good of Australia being an example.

We also discussed the Bushikori clinic. It is extremely important, but it is the biggest cost. Without it though, people can’t get any medical attention, and even if they can afford the hospital, a lot of people (especially poorer people) die waiting. So it needs to stay open, but it is a struggle financially.

Day Four: Saturday 16.06.2012

We had a slow morning, then went into Mbale to go to an internet café. I sorted my emails, but didn’t do much else with the time, although I should have. I actually have some important emails to send (about uni), so I must do that soon. I only cost ₴1500 (about 75c) for an hour.

I spent most of the afternoon reading. We talked a little about some of the missions work that Esther has done (she’s been to the Massai in Kenya, and on a Mercy Ship for 3 years, but has also done other things around the world).

We had dinner with Anne, and she asked if I could teach Sunday school tomorrow. The lesson would run for about half an hour, but I don’t know any other details. I said yes, so I will let you know all about it. I found out at 9PM, so I only had a little prep time, but I usually don’t take much time to prepare. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Day Three - Extra Photos

I thought you might like to see some of my extra photos from this day! I hope you enjoy them!