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First update from Uganda
Masaka, Uganda
Our African adventure began just over two weeks ago and it is incredible how much have happened since then!
The trip from Copenhagen started bright and early and everything happened according to the plan. Our host family was waiting for us in Entebbe airport and took us to a hotel for the night. The next day we started the long drive from Entebbe to Kamuzinda farm. We had a short stop at the equator, where we got some lunch and explored how the equator affects water (also: it turns out, that you weigh less when you stand on the equator…).
We spend the first couple of days getting to know the family and the area. Ponsiano and Rogers (our hosts) took us to Masaka (the closest city), to church and to the school where we are now working. We also spend a lot of time playing with Ponsiano and Rogers' 5 children; Halle, Tina, Enock, Solomon and Dorcas.
Our second week in Uganda went by faster than we thought possible. We spend some time helping on the farm. We collected corn and helped build a wall. We also met one of the founders of Uganda Child Care (UCC) and he invited us on a safari. It was in a relatively small safari park, but a safari park none the less. We got to see a lot of zebras, hippos, antelopes and other smaller animals and had a really great day. I think it was a good way to introduce us to Ugandian wildlife.
On Friday last week (8th of February) we visited a home for children found on the streets. Amongst the children was a little girl born with aids. She probably would not be alive if she had not been found and placed in the home. Now she gets the right medication and has a chance of a long and happy life. Most of the children in the home had stories similar to this girl, but they are extremely happy now and it was really great to spend the afternoon with them.
Last week we joined the youth choir at the church. The members of the choir are all very nice and chose an English song last Sunday, so we could join them on stage. We are not yet able to sing songs in Luganda, but they did choose a Lugandan song for next week, so we will have to learn that one. Should be interesting :P
We started working at Christ the King Primary School on Monday. The school is very poor, but the children are all so sweet and very interested in us. Our white skin and thin hair seems to be entertainment enough for entire day. It turns out that tickling works just as well on African children and the younger classes love playing "run-from-the-tickling-muzungus". Over the last four days we have been teaching different classes, mostly in math and English. I think we will focus on the smaller classes from now on.
We also started teaching our boda boda driver how to count in Danish. This week we taught him to count to 10, next week we will teach him the numbers from 10 to 20. By the time we leave he should be able to count to 100. (Btw a boda boda is a mix of a scooter and a motor bike)
On Wednesday we started up a new "club" with the women from the church. The plan is to meet up for an hour or so every week and do some creative work. For the first meeting 5 women showed up and we had a great time. They already got us started and gave us homework to practice with :D Not all the women speak english, but they were trying really hard to talk to us, and they were laughing (sometimes at us :P ) and having fun.
The last 16 days have gone by so fast that we have had a hard time keeping up. Ponsiano has been very busy making us African women and so far I think he is doing a good job. We have been practicing walking with bananas on our head, we have been taking care of the children, and we succeeded in getting Dorcas (who is only 9 months) to fall asleep, by putting her on Anne Katrines back, we have been working on the farm, we have been cooking with local groceries and we have been trying to learn Luganda (which is a really difficult language!). Today we bought some more cloth, so we even dress like African women now…
We have had some technical difficulties with cameras and internet, which means that we have not been able to upload too many things. I will try to update my blog as often as possible!
- comments
Betsy Morrison We were very excited to hear of your adventures Camilla. We can't wait until your next post
Tine Clasen Hvor er det dejligt at læse om! Vi er så stolte af dig!!