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Two months have disappeared somewhere in the middle of watching live local football matches, learning the art of carrying bundles of dried grass on my head and long walks to villages where they touch your skin, your hair, your face, awed at the Mzungu so foreign. My stay in the beautiful Ruhanga is coming to an end, and so I will explain a little of what I've done other than making bricks and making friends.
At school, there are certain lessons that volunteers can help with, one of these being 'Life Skills'. I decided the kids should learn some teamwork, forcus, patience, trust, comprehension, hand-eye coordination and gain confidence, so I did circus with them. For a week, I took a group of 8-17 year olds for an hour of acrobalance. It was approaching exams and it was a joy to see so many different faces laughing, relaxed and able to play, as they climbed, balanced and conquered fears. In our last lesson, two boys snuck in, changing jumpers to pretend they hadn't done it already, so I asked little Jordan to lead the class, which he did so well! It was a very good feeling to know it had gone down so successfully. Life skills was good. I felt like I'd given something, which I struggled to feel in other lessons. 'Structured Play' and 'Nursery Play' for example felt more like we were making the teachers lazy and 'giving the volunteers something to do' than actually being beneficial. I struggled to find motivation to sit watching children play or help mark homework and I began wondering what I was doing here. We did a few days of health screening, weighing and measuring the kids, testing their eye sight etc, but we didn't discover anything we didn't already know, so that didn't motivate me much either. Even 'Additional Support' often only seemed to benefit 1 of the group of 6 or so receiving it.
Alice and I had both been interested in working at our new medical centre, but due to it's continual delayed opening, we thought we'd try to volunteer at the local hospital instead. After 4 visits from Alice, and many conversations with doctors, officials and the head of HR, we were finally informed by the receptionist (!) that it would be illegal for non uni students or graduates to work there, and as there is no running water, even cleaning was not really an option, and so, back to the school we went.
I then began 1 to 1 support, which finally felt useful and I had a good time creating learning games, reading books and seeing progress. When I wasn't doing x tables or opposites, I was painting. Painting a mural on the wall, painting the medical centre, the kids' porridge hut, painting certificates for the end of year exam prizes. Painting is always needed.
We ended holiday club with a very competitive sports day that left me very fond of my brilliant team and the school in general.
It's not the easiest task to find something to do at Uganda Lodge which actually feels beneficial, that wouldn't happen if we weren't here. It is a good thing, because it proves the project can now run fine without volunteers, but it is disheartening to those born into the 'We can change the world' generation.
So, I did the little things that I could help with within the school and then threw myself headfirst into the other tasks outside of school and in the community where I felt I could make a difference. There were points I considered leaving (which is very unusual for me), but, as usual when you persist, I found moments that were so worth it and experienced times I will never forget.
And with that, I wish you all a very Happy New Year!
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