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Wednesday -Day -9
None of us had anything planned for today so we decided to go the Nile Resort Hotel for the day where we can swim and sunbathe. In the morning we all chilled out; read, listened to music and had a sing a long with Ollie. By the time we were ready to go it was lunchtime so it was decided that it was probably best to eat lunch here, rather than pay for it at the Nile Resort.So Dom and I cooked spaghetti with tomato sauce, which was initially for five people, but after everyone saw it they all wanted some; luckily we'd cooked a lot of pasta! After lunch we got boda bodas up to the pool. The ride up there is so fascinating, passing through little makeship villages. We paid our 6,000Ush entry and took our pick of the sunbeds. After a poor effort from me to keep my hair dry, we all took to various pool activities; who can swim the furthest underwater, longest handstand, most roly polys tower wars. At one point I was sat on Joe's shoulders who was sat on Dom's! Joe and I also surprisingly beat Marianne and Tom at shoulder wars which i was very impressed with! It was absolutely boiling and sunbathing and listening to music couldn't have been more blissful. After most of the afternoon there and a cheeky glass of pimms, loads of other gappers arrived. It turned out they were from AV, a company that basically organises what our schools do. Joe, Ollie and Dom also were really good mates with a guy called Brook who was on the AV trip. It was such a coincidence to see him but really great. Like the other Hampton Boys he couldn't be more lovely. Brook told us that they were all staying at Adrift before they got placed at schools at various villages. Brook is placed at Wanyange Primary school, which is pretty near where Livy and I are teaching. Brook told us that later on a group of them were going to do the Nile High Bungee so we all agreed that we would go and watch as our plan was definitely to go up there and get some food later on. There had been a pretty ominous rain cloud in the distance all afternoon, but all of a sudden the heavens opened and it started raining. Joe, Dom and I all decided the only thing for it was to go swimming! The rain didn't last long and we later found out that it hadn't even rained in Jinja town.We all headed up to Adrift to watch the bungeeing and get some food. The bungeeing looked horrific, if I'm honest, but I'm really looking forward to it. The food menu wasn't extensive at Adrift; it consisted of five dishes, but the vegetable curry I had was really nice. We stayed at Adrift for a while, drank and watched the sunset and then got boda bodas home. The plan was to go out afterwards but the general consensus was to watch a movie. Disturbia was our movie of choice and even though it was my movie and I've seen it before I did scream at a very high pitched level. After the movie we all went to bed shattered and slightly pink from our day in the sun.
Thursday - Day 10
We'd arranged to go to the start of term staff meeting, so in the morning we called Cathy and she said she could give us a lift if we got bodas to her house. The bodas went completely the wrong way and just took us to Main street, Jinja but luckily when we rang Cathy and told her she told us not to worry and she'd meet us there. On the way Cathy explained to us how we can get to school if not by the school teacher bus. Basically the journey comprises of getting a boda to Jinja taxi rank getting a bus taxi to the bottom of Wanyange Hill and then a boda up Wanyange Hill. That all in all costs about 2,000Ush. On the way Cathy was desperate to by some Chipaati for breakfast (kind of like a sweet thick pancake) but couldn't find any on the roadside on the way. Cathy laughed if we asked her if it was pregnancy cravings and said she just wanted to eat everything but nothing in particular. When we got to school we were once again greeted in a very friendly way and headed to the staff room for the staff meeting which was meant to start at ten. At half eleven (not too bad by Ugandan standards) the meeting began and lasted til' around two' o clock. We got the minutes from last meeting and various issues were discussed such as timetabling the new govt. compulsory scheme of physical education. After the meeting the school provided us with a really nice lunch buffet and my piece of chicken resembled a bit which I recognised, always nice. After lunch Cathy said we were free to go and explained to us again which stops to ask for on the way home, luckily for us, Arthur-a teacher said he wouldgive us a lift back into Jinja which was really nice of him. He also mentioned that he has a charity that he would like us to come and visit. When we got back to the guest house we found everyone chilling out, doing various things. On a Tuesday and Thursday most of the boys go to rugby training and some people, me not included, decided to go the gym. Luckily I had no desire to exercise as while they were there out the water in the whole of Jinja was off. We couldn't cook because we had no water and the boys couldn't shower because there was no water. We decided to go to two friends for dinner as pizza etc was probably the safest bet. After we went to Babez for a dance and a drink!!
Friday - Day 11
(Realised I've been slightly over-ambitious with the blog. Basically only key things happened over the next couple of days so up til' Sunday I'm just going to write down key parts of the day, From Sunday my gap year really started...)
On Friday we'd been invited to Kirra Kids International. A school that Moses a local Artist works at to help him fund his own project "ASCO- African Street Children Organisation". Ollie met him one night in Flavours and spoke to him and he invited us all come to down to this dinner he was hosting so we could meet all the people who were also volunteering in Jinja and also learn more about different projects. We got there around half seven and soon were tucking in to the most delicious array of food. We met loads of really interesting people and heard about loads of really interesting and worthwhile projects. The main advice people gave us was to find a project we felt really connected and then get really involved in that. After five minutes of talking to Sarah about Moses' street project, I realised that this was the project I really wanted to get involved in. I don't think i've ever met anyone quite as selflessand lovely as Sarah; we seemed to click from the word go.She is 22 and back in England she's a social worker in the child protection unit. She's been to Uganda for a month at a time in April and August with her cousin Laura who is also out at the minute. She now lives here with boyfriend Ivan just outside of Jinja town. Sarah volunteers with TAORP (The Aids Orphan Rescue Project) a local Ugandan Charity which sponsors children to go to school and works on community projects. Originally Moses' project was linked under TOARP but now it's in the process of registering as it's own CBO (Community based Organisation) or even an NGO. Sarah and Laura are helping him with all the paperwork as Moses himself was an orphan and he only went to school for a year and a half as his sponsor pulled out. Luckily he fell back on his art which I must admit he absolutely incredible at. So he uses the money from teaching at the school and selling his art to rent out the room where the street kids project is and provide them with porridge and fruit. He also teaches them art and English so they can have a chance in life and a livelihood. Sarah explained how they all need medical attention for one thing or another and at the minute due to lack of funding she is paying out of her own pocket for their various medications. That day they'd also cut all their hair so they looked neater and washed all their clothes and gave them showers. I was sure that this was the project that would capture my heart. It's not easy as the kids have a really hard life and many have various different problems, many of the older ones have solvent abuse issues as well and as they aren't allowed to bring the meths into the project spend the whole time on a very agitated come down. After our intense chat we all managed to have a really good night at the Nile view club and swopped numbers so that we could meet up at the project on Monday.
Saturday - Day 12
Nothing much happened today. Woke up and cooked pasta with Dom for everyone. We all went to watch Joe and Ollie get slightly battered at Rugby by a team which honestly looked twice the size of them.After went out for dinner and then Sarah invited us all to the NRE campsite to watch a gig. At the gig she told me that she'd spent the whole day with street kids. As even though the project doesn't run on the weekends the kids still need to be given their medication 3 times a day and there's no point them taking their medication if they don't have a proper meal. So out of her and Laura's own pocket she takes them all (each day varies from 8-20) to get local food and fill them up. I found out that she was meeting them in town at 9.30 and even though it was 1 o'clock in the morning when I discovered this and we were on our way to sombreros until the early hours, I told her I would meet her there. Unsurprisingly everybody else wasn't up for it mainly because the boys had got all the shopping in for a massive brunch but I realised that there could always be an excuse and over the past few days while we've been settling in we haven't really been doing what we came out here to do which is essentially volunteer and be productive.
Sunday - Day 13
So after four hours sleep I got up and headed to meet Sarah and Laura and the kids at Flavours. Sarah and Laura are also helpingTOARP to get a better functional website and they showed me the nearly finished product which looks much better than it does now. At 10 the street kids showed up and the relationship they have with Sarah and Laura is so heart-warming. She's been helping out for a month now and you can tell all the kids completely respect her and more importantly trust her. None of them have shoes so Sarah, once again out of her own pocket, rewards them for good behaviour by getting them a cheap pair of flip flops from the market. On the way to the Market we found Kanichi semi- asleep on the street, a little boy that had been missing for a couple of days who is really ill with Malaria and a throat infection. He also has a serious paraffin addiction and so during the day is usually non-responsive and very tired. We took him with us to this little restaurant by the side of the Market which literally was like being sat in someones back yard with stoves at the back. We gave the boys all poshu and beans which was really cheap and water was free as they are used to the tap water. I was so surprised by how patient the boys were and how they all shared and waited for Sarah to divvy up all the massive plates of food. Moses met up with us aswell which was nice and he can translate for us what the boys are saying. Because of Moses' background the boys can all relate to him and they can look up to him for guidance. At breakfast we also gave the kids that are on their medication their tablets. At the minute for of the kids are on meds. Kanichi has Malaria tablets and cough medicine. Lamer has a really big gauge in his foot and on his leg which is going septic so he's on antibiotics and vitamins and needs bandages. Peter has a rotting toe and so he has to have bandages antibiotics and vitamins. John's foot is also really bad he can hardly work, it's swollen and septic but luckily Sarah and Laura have managed to get a family friend to sponsor his treatment. After lunch we all piled on bodas and headed to the clinic to get dressings changed and we managed to persuade the nurse to give them all free tetnus jabs which is pretty essential living on the streets. They are all so shocked, bashful and proud when their in the doctors' surgery. Most of them have never had any kind of aid in their life and don't know how to react to people trying to help them. After the surgery Moses suggested we all go to Cool Breeze hotel where some local musicians were playing as the guy who was organising it said we could bring the street kids there for free. The music started pretty late and we were literally the only people there but the best part about it was the small playground at Cool Breeze where all the boys could literally just act like kids for once. They all went up and down the slide and played together on the swing and it was really nice. All the street children who come to the project are boys and they range in age from around 6 to 15. After Cool Breeze we headed to the project house which is literally a dirty dingy room with an adjoining front room. The boys really enjoyed playing with my camera and Sarah and I got them some biscuits and oranges that they can take their tablets with. Moses eventually when the project is well established and self-sufficient wants to make the project into a place where the boys can stay but at the minute it's just not feasible. However he did arrange for a few of the sick ones to stay so their bandages wouldn't get dirty and they could have a chance at getting better. Once I got back to the guest house I was absolutely shattered. Cathy rang us and told us that the timetable wouldn't be ready till the end of this week so we had the week free to do what we want, which luckily gave me a chance to spend as much time as I could with Moses' project and Sarah and Laura investigating different TAORP projects.
- comments
Gran and Grandad Liberty. Lovely to read your blog, we are going to raise some money towards your street charity hopefully in time for when Mum and Dad visit you. Keep safe we love and miss you