Living on the Edge - a long way from the Edge

Safari

emilycarp — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 04:33:00 GMT

Safari

I think that the safari has to be classified as the highlight for me because it was honestly fantastic. On the Friday we left school at 12 to get lunch at the lodge, before heading over to the Queen Elizabeth National Park at Ishasha. I decided to sit in the bus VU had hired for the occasion because it looked really comfortable, and it was. Unfortunately though, it was also the disaster bus.

Driving from Kazuru to Ishasha we got a puncture, which we had to sit by the road to wait to be fixed. Rather than replacing the tyre, the mechanic who came to help just filled in the hole using some kind of red cylinder thing. This is important for the second day of this story!

When we finally arrived at Ishaha, the campground was actually really really nice. I think it is run by a British couple, and it had flushing loos, showers (although I didn't see them, they were advertised) and a bar which was on stilts on the middle of the field. This I was not a fan of, as anyone who is aware of my fear of heights will understand. Anyway, we arrived at the campground and immediately went on a game drive, where we were lucky enough *heavy sarcasm* to see Kob, one of Uganda's national animals. Kob are small, light brown deer, and I have seen about a million of them.

After the drive wee returned for dinner which Dennis and Elie, the cooks from the lodge, had been busily preparing for us. We ate by a fire on the banks of the river which ran alongside the campground, and as we ate we could hear hippos in the water which was kind of cool and kind of terrifying. Did you know:

Hippos can't swim; hippos can run at 30mph; and a hippo will charge if you get between it and the water, and if it does you should run first one way then the other because they can't change direction easily? You do now!

We were roasting goat kebabs on the fire, which took ages, but they smelt really good so I stayed up to wait for them, and they were definitely worth it. I'm not even joking when I say I think goat is my favourite meat now!

Shared a tent with Elise (who I'm at school with, she's from Nice and she came to the UK on an Erasmus scheme and liked it so much she transferred for good) and Becky (one of the PGCE group who arrived the week before safari who's pretty cool, she's done an R.E. PGCE and she does fire dancing in her spare time).

The next morning we got up at 5 for a dawn game drive. Breakfast was served up on the high bar, so I made Laura bring me some pineapple down. Clearly I did not learn my lesson about comfort vs good van, because once again I boarded the disaster bus. We should have known it was going to end badly when we had to be jump started to leave the campsite. We did the morning game drive and didn't see any (exciting) animals and then we started the four hour (supposedly) drive to Mweya.

The drive to Mweya actually took us considerably longer than 4 hours. The first indication we had of this was the puncture which had been fixed repunctured, so we had to change the tyre. Then, over the course of the drive, we broke down 4 times because the engine overheated. Three of these times we had to push the bus so the driver could start it, and sometimes flag down passing cars to get them to jump start us. The fourth time we were only about half an hour from the destination, so we were collected by another driver.

The hotel at Mweya was ridiculous, it was absolutely gorgeous. Apparently, it costs $300 per night to actually sleep in the hotel, but there is also a hostel and a camp ground (where we stayed). The camp ground was a massive field with a couple of toilet and shower blocks, and when we arrived there were a couple of warthogs just wandering around, which was funny. We had missed the first boat safari which had the rest of the group on, and so we had been booked on to another one at 5pm. W arrived at 4.20, and so we had 25 minutes in which to shower and change for our fancy dinner before we had to drive back down to the boat dock.

The river cruise was actually incredible, we saw so much wildlife. I never thought I would get bored of seeing hippos but apparently there are 200 in that stretch of river, which connects Lake George and Lake Edward which are twin tributaries of the Nile. We also saw a tonne of buffalo, some crocodiles, doves and Kob. We got back to land and we went straight up to the hotel for drinks before dinner.

For a fancy schmancy hotel, with drinks which cost well up to £15, the cocktails were not as good as they could have been. Only one of the bar staff was able to mix cocktails, and they didn't taste great. However, the food was pretty good. It was Hannah's 19th birthday, and so Laura had organised a cake and a card for her, which was lovely when it came out after dinner.

Sunday morning at 5.15 I could hear people talking outside the tent but I was really disorientated and thought that it was another group. Was almost late for the safari but made it onto the buses for our 6am game drive. This time, getting up early totally paid off, and we saw a pride of lionesses. My camera had just died when we spotted them, but I turned the batteries over and I was good to go. Honestly, it made my trip - I've done so many safaris in the past and I've never seen a wild big cat, so to see 7 in one go was just incredible.

We went back to the campground for breakfast and then went on another game drive back towards home. I was in the van being driven by Aggrey, and being in Aggrey's van is never good. He drives so fast and it seems like he aims for the potholes. To begin with, I was sitting on the broken front seat, which swivels round and round. However, Mathilde got a concussion from sitting on the back seat and so I volunteered to take her place because she's considerably taller than me so I thought I would be safe. I was not safe. Going over one particularly rough pothole I flew out of my seat and smacked my head on the roof. On the way down I then managed to bite both sides of my tongue until it bled, before flying back up and smacking my head into the roof again. Cue panic attack all of the way home, which I'm sure was about as much fun for everyone else as it was for me.

So, that was my safari adventure. Can't wait to post the photos when I'm home!

The first week of school

emilycarp — Fri, 5 Jul 2013 02:41:00 GMT

Ugandan Adventure

Day 12: Monday 24th June

1st day at school

First day of school today, I was absolutely terrified. What was nice was that i had already visited the school and met my class, so I wasn't going in completely blind. We set off from the lodge in a van which was also taking volunteers to a school called Kindergatten, which is closer to the lodge than our school. When we arrived at Kindergatten Ivan made us all get out of the van and go in to the school. At this point it was 9.10 and our first lesson was due to begin at 9.30. At 9.20 Ivan suddenly decided to listen to us and we left, arriving at Kyejanga Modern Nursery and Primary School at approximately 9.28.

I spent my first two lessons doing introductory activities with the kids and taking photographs of them standing next to their names on the blackboard. Not one of them is smiling in their photo though, so they all look a little bit creepy. It's quite the culture shock to teach these kids: the concept of thinking for themselves is not something they've been introduced to. I asked them to draw me a spider diagram about themselves and modelled an example on the board for them. At least three of them wrote on theirs that they were from England. Their names are cool though, in my class I have two girls called Prossy, two boys called Bright, Precious, Promise, Ritah, Hildah, Aderah, Emily, Daphine, Christine, Meble, Shamia, Anglin, Wise, Amos, Mathius, Ivan, Peter, Brian and Exizevia.

The staff are really sweet as well, they keep trying to make us eat more but goddamit the food is vile. The staple food is called Pocho, a mix of maize flour and water which is cooked until it forms a solid mound, and we eat that with a purple peanut sauce, beans in some kind of sauce which tastes (and looks) like mud, and rice. I took as little as was possible without seeming disgustingly rude.

Got back to the lodge by 5.00 and fell asleep on one of the sofas until dinner.

Today, i got given two mangoes, an avocado and an ear of corn. Nothing compared to Greig's haul though, he got bags of avocados and mangoes, a couple of pineapples and a really big piece of sugar cane.

Day 13: Tuesday 25th June

Another day of school. Got more fruit and veg.

Because I barely ate anything yesterday, Elizabeth (our mentor teacher) made greens with eggplant (which is more like kumquat than avocado) as well as pocho and beans etc. I still ate basially nothing, but it was better than yesterday where she sliced avocado on to my plate. I tried really hard to eat it because she was being kind and because I can just about stand the taste, but the texture made me gag. Elise told me later he had thought I was going to throw up.

Day 14: Wednesday 26th June

Felt so ill when I woke up this morning, but I soldiered on and went in to school where all of the lessons were frustrating because the kids just didnt seem to understand anything I tried to teach them.

At breaktime Elizabeth asked me what type of African man I would like her to find to set me up with. Umm...

Day 15:Thursday 27th June

Research Group Leave :(

I got up at 5.00 this morning with the research group to say goodbye to them all. They are all so lovely, I'm really going to miss them. Still feeling really ill so I spoke to George and then went back to bed.

Denis woke me up for lunch and I managed to eat a few mouthfuls of chips and veg before going back to bed and sleeping through to dinner time. Finally feeling better and there are only two lessons to get through tomorrow before we set off for Lake Bunyonyi.

Day 16: Friday 28th June

Woke up feeling fine, only taught two out of three lessons and then had a 3 (supposedly, it was more like 5) hour drive to Lake Bunyonyi.

The journey was hellish, but the views made up for it, absolutely stunning. Went to Barclays to withdraw cash, then the supermarket to buy booze, and then we drove another 8km over a mountain to the lake. We got off the buses and got onto a little motor boat which took us over to our own private island. We pitched our tents before heading up to the bar for dinner, where we found out that for 100 000 Ugandan Shillings (approximately 30GBP) we could sleep in a private room with a king size bed and an ensuite (hot) shower and toilet. Definitely went for that option, money be damned. Spent a little bit of time in the bar after dinner but I went to bed around 10.30. Unfortunately my bedroom had some very thin walls, and so my early bedtime did not stop me being woken up by my neighbours noisy shenanigans, which went on for about 4 hours.

Day 17: Saturday 29th June

Woke up ridiculously early, at about 7.15. Killed a little bit of time looking at the view from my shared veranda before moseying down to a breakfast of fresh fruit and fried egg on toast. So good! After breakfast I told Laura and Katie they could use my shower if they wanted to, so they came up to my room and showered whilst I sat on the veranda, wrote in my diary and read. Then we had a little nap in my bed, because it was easily big enough for three, and could probably have fitted four at a squeeze.

At 10.30 or so we went down to the lake for a swim, which was lovely. Had to put proper clothes on because we got on motor boats to go over to a swanky hotel on the other side of the lake for lunch. Had a decent steak, and was eavesdropping on some Israelis for an indecent amount of time. i had just figured out how to ask them something in Ivrit and they walked off. Oh well.

Caz, Liz, Tasha, Nico and Dave were coming up with challenges for people to complete that night. The forfeit was to do shots of a very strong Ugandan gin, called Waragi. My challenge was to get drunk, very very drunk. I think that's all I'm going to say about the fun of Saturday night!

The VU Lodge

emilycarp — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 05:47:00 GMT

I was going to put this in with a single blog post about getting here, but I feel like this lodge is so good it deserves a post all of it's own.

Located at 9000ft above sea level, on the perimeter of the Bwindi Inpenetrable Forest and National Parlodge front of the main lodge building looks over the forest onto the DRC which is located 50km to the west. The Rwandan border is not visible but is located 200 km to the South. If you are standing on the decking looking over the forest, the furthest hill visible you front of you is in the Congo. The region is mountainous and lush, steep green rolling hills covered in banana bushes, mango crops, maize fields and livestock are now basically boring scenery to me!

The lodge itself has one main building, and then several smaller buildings which surround it. The main building has three long trestle tales, a blackboard, a small bar and a lounge sofas with sofas. The walls are lilac and green and the floor is smooth (dusty) stone. Outside of the front door is a small veranda with a sofa and some chairs. A small lawn the separates the lodge from the decking and the fire pit. The decking is small and has some hand carved weights on it, and a small bar. The fire pit is surrounded by precarious chairs.

Around the lodge are bandas (sleeping huts) with bunk beds and shelves in them. Each bed has a mozzie net on it, a sheet and a blanket and pillow. Behind the lodge are 2 hygiene areas, with three flushing toilets a piece, 4 showers in each and two sinks.

That's basically it, when I'm back in the Uk I'll post pictures!

The final countdown to school

emilycarp — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 05:36:00 GMT

Ugandan Adventure: June 20-24

Day 8: Thursday June 20th

This morning we planned our first lessons. My plan was the best, according to Frank but I'm not sure how well it would actually work. In the afternoon we went to observe classes in some of the schools we'll be placed in next week. I went to observe P4 at Kyeijanga Primary School and it was really lovely. I'm really hoping I get placed there because the children were really friendly and the classes were small. I helped with an English class and then played netball with the girls. So much fun!

Day 9: Friday June 21st

Again this morning we planned lessons, and then this afternoon we went and did micro teaching to small groups of the other volunteers down at Great Lakes college. I was such a badly behaved student for Kayleigh, I feel quite bad. Walked out of her class and then dicked around outside the window.

Day 10: Saturday June 22nd

Last night was so much fun, Hilary was leaving in the morning and so we stayed up all night drinking and chatting and messing around. Finally went to bed at five, and then got up for 9am to wave her off. Had a quick breakfast and then went back to bed for a couple of hours. When I properly got up we all went down to Kanungu market, where we had to find the ugliest outfit possible for as little money as possible - and then give it to someone else. I took fancy dress literally and bought a red leopard print Lycra dress with a matching cardigan for Natalie T.

After the market and relaxed before dinner and the great clothes swap. Turns out Nico had bought my outfit, so I had to wear a fluorescent yellow and pink rain jacket, a maroon and blue beanie hat with "cowboy" embroidered on the front, and some Ali g glasses. The party was pretty good fun to be honest, I got to drunk too quickly so I took some time out to Facebook and then went back out and stayed out late.

Also, we got our placements today. I'm teaching P4 at Kyeijanga which is exactly what I wanted. So happy.

Day 11: Sunday June 23rd

Once I had woken up and had breakfast (which Mackie extended for us, that lovely lovely lady) I had a hardcore lesson planning day and then created a bunch of learning aids. We also got our timetables, mine is as follows:

0930-1030 Maths

1030-1100 Break

1100-1200 English

1200-1300 Free

1300-1400 Lunch

1400-1445 Science

1445-1530 Free

1530-1630 Homework/Games

1630-1645 Collection by VU van

This is Africa, and if you can't taste the milk you're doing it wrong.

emilycarp — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:52:00 GMT

Ugandan Adventure: June 16-19

Day 4: Sunday June 16th

I didn't keep my diary on Sunday and so I remember very little. I know we had salad and chips for lunch, which was yummy, and then we had mash, spaghetti and boiled salad for dinner. It tasted a lot nicer than it sounds, to be honest.

Day 5: Monday June 17th

Today we actually started the proper work. In the morning we had LRTT (Limited Resource Teacher Training) where we learnt about making lessons engaging, motivating and contextual. After lunch we went down to Great Lakes regional college where the history of the charity was explained to us (I've written about it in more detail later on in this entry). On our return from the college some of the girls and I did circuit training. There were 8 stations and we did 2 rounds. Liz is a ridiculously good motivator, so it stayed fun. At one point someone shouted "If you can't taste the lactose acid* you're not working hard enough!" This led to the catchphrase of the session "If you can't taste the milk you're doing it wrong!" Anyway, I am ridiculously unfit but I'll be doing it again. Spent that evening drawing up a framework for an Internet timetable, everyone gets half an hour but not more than ever two days.

*lactose is dairy sugar, the bitter taste you get when exercising is lactic acid.

Day 6: Tuesday June 18th

The LRTT today focussed on differentiation, and that's how we spent the morning before we went over to Kirima (pronounced Chireema) Parents' Primary School.

KPPS was the initial project which sparked the Volunteer Uganda scheme 14 years ago. A group of local parents came together and started their own school under a tree in the centre of the village because they weren't happy with the primary school options for their children. The local vicar was studying for a doctorate in London at the time, and visited communities looking for funding to build a classroom. A community in Highgate donated £10,000 and a few months later got pictures of the classroom being built and then of children being taught in the classroom. Having seen that the money was put to good use, the community then raised money for another classroom, and then a kitchen so that the children could be given lunch each day. Then the community in London realised that there was only so much their money could do if there weren't teachers up to the job. They then began sending teachers out to Uganda, and to fund a college where students could study to become teachers. Today, Volunteer Uganda and the local charity they work with, Chifcod, have built 4 primary schools, a secondary school and a college - as well as working with a further 6 primary schools.

Anyway, KPPS is the oldest and therefore the best equipped school in the area. It takes on boarders and day pupils from the age of 3 upwards. When we arrived the kids sang us some songs and danced around. Then we played with them for a while before being given a lunch of pocho, beans, mashed green banana and rice. Given that the usual lunch is just pocho and beans we all acted very appreciative, but it really wasn't great. Pocho is a malleable, solid mix of maize and water. Not looking forward to eating that for the next 5 weeks.

In the afternoon we did more LRTT and then just relaxed into the evening.

Day 7: Wednesday June 19th

I felt so ill this morning,so I dragged myself through a freezing shower in the hope that it would make me feel better but it didn't. Suffered through breakfast and 2 LRTT sessions before going for a nap instead of eating lunch. Got up for the third session of the day but opted to stay in the lodge when everyone else went for a walk to another local village and the poorest school VU works with. I stayed behind to sleep, rehydrate and read Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" which is amazing. It's the third book I've read since I've been here, I started with 'The Shadow of the Sun' which was excellent and then I read an Agatha Christie for a bit of fun. Going to try and keep alternating from serious to silly whilst I'm out here: next up is either Hunger Games or Wolf Hall. After my nap I'm feeling much better, probably helped by my rehydration sachet, most of a litre and a half of water and a bar of chocolate. Decided to skip this evening's TICs because I'm still a bit dizzy. This is Circuits, or TIC, is one of our abbreviations. The others are ATS, the African Trouser Society and TIA, This is Africa

Been playing a lot of pool, and am slowly getting better at it. Hope everything at home is ok.

The first three days

emilycarp — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 05:40:00 GMT

Ugandan Adventure: June 13-17

Day 1: Wednesday 13th June 2013

Arrival in Entebbe Arrived in Entebbe after two flights, from Manchester and then from Doha. At the gate in Manchester I met Natalie, who had messaged me on Facebook and who was on my flights. She's really sweet, but hadn't flown in 10 years and was really nervy. We landed almost an hour ahead of schedule in Entebbe and cleared security really quickly. Because we were so early, we ended up having to sit in arrivals and wait to be collected, and I had to calm Natalie down because she kept worrying that no one was on their way to get us. Anyway Carla arrived at 6.45 and we hopped in a taxi to Entebbe backpackers hostel where the volunteers who had arrived the day before had slept. We were able to shower and then chill whilst we waited for the others to wake up. Well I was, Natalie couldn't get the shower to work for ages, turns out she was turning the tap the wrong way. The two leaders we've met so far seem nice, Alice and Carla. Alice went to Manchester Uni and she lived with a Jewish guy so she was saying all these names which seemed familiar but who I don't actually know. It was quite odd. At 8 Carla took Alfie (who is a volunteer who arrived yesterday) up to Kampala because he didn't finish his course of Hep B vaccinations. She went too because she needs to get a doctor to check her - she has been having really bad allergic reactions to her malaria tablets. We're heading to Jinja today for bungee jumping and white water rafting. Then it will be back to Kampala for the night before driving over to the lodge in Kanugu (11 hours from Kampala). Everyone seems really friendly and I think I've learnt all the girls' names, although the lads are basically interchangeable so I've only learnt the names of a couple.

Jinja

Arrived in Jinja at 6pm. I managed to sleep for a bit on the bus, at least until an was woken up by the driver yelling "SHIT!" really loudly over and over again. A taxi driving in front of us had come of the road and was lying on its side. Nobody stopped to help them or anything, mental! Didn't look like anyone was injured though. Anyway, we got to Adrift in Jinja and got settled into the dorms. The sleeping arrangements were triple decker bunk beds but I managed to claim a bottom one so that was a-ok. Bloody moxie nets however were full of holes, I got bitten on my ankle. Dinner was self serve spaghetti bolognese which set us back 13000 shillings (about £1.35) and then we got some drinks at the bar. I asked for a cider and got this alcopop thing which was apple flavoured. Some of the group did a drinks challenge where they had to flip upside down into a kayak which was balancing upside down from the rafters, and then do a shot. I got some pretty good photos of this, it was funny to watch. Went to bed at like 10.30 and then some woman sat on the step outside our dorm and chatted away in a really loud voice for hours. Once I was asleep I was out for the count, and woke up at 7.

Day 2: Thursday 14th June

Jinja

Got up this morning and went to stand on the veranda to watch people bungee jump over the Nile. It looked absolutely terrifying, but to their credit every single member of our group who signed up for it went through with the jump. Had soggy scrambled eggs and dry toast for breakfast (7000 shillings) and then went to pack up the dorm with Katie. She arrived after I did, she's just graduated in PE and sport something. Dunno. Anyway, she and I packed up and then went to shower. I took my iPad in with me, and we had a bit of a shower party. Shower alternated between scalding and freezing - no middle ground. We got dressed and went back into the bar where there was finally wifi. Checked my emails and Facebook and then I took loads of photos of random stuff to try and learn how to use my camera. Kayleigh (from Ipswich, works at McDonalds) saw a bright blue chameleon so I took some pictures of that and they came out really nicely. The group of us who had not gone white water rafting left Adrift just after three and got on the bus to Kampala. The group who went rafting were supposed to meet us in this little village 20 minutes after we got their, but it was close to an hour before they arrived. We waited in a town square thing surrounded by curious kids and suspicious adults. We got off the bus to look around and an little family of three kids came over to investigate us. It was cute until they started grabbing at my camera and and slapping me surprisingly hard when I tried to move away. Then a fight broke out between a bora bora (motorbike) taxi driver and another taxi driver. A mob formed and marched them to the police station. Then we just sat around on the bus some more. When the rafting group finally arrived we loaded everyone on to the buses which were completely full. Liz (very bubbly, plays water polo, dropped out of Birmingham and going to a different uni in Sept) then decided she had to pee, even though she was in the back row of our bus. We had to all get off to let her out and then wait for her to get back on. Finally we start on the two hour drive to Kamapla. I wrote a lot of random musings on the bus which aren't really diary entries, so if anyone wants to read them I might upload them separately. We went for an evening out in Kampala, which was nice. I was exhausted though, so Mathilde (from Denmark), Laura (looks like Molly Wortley), Katie, Hannah (just got back from a gap year being an au pair in Switzerland) and I shared a taxi home from the bar at 12.45. So funny, they all squished in the back and I got the front. We went and stopped at a petrol station where the driver just got out for a chat. Very odd.

Day 3: Friday 15th June

Kampala to Kanugu

The rest of the group who stayed out at the bar last night didn't get back to the hostel until 4.30 this morning, and we all got up and out by 7. Then we faffed around whilst they loaded all the luggage and got toast and Nutella for breakfast (5000 shillings). Finally at 8.06 (I checked) we pulled out from the hostel and set off for the lodge. I managed to sleep for a while, and I woke up as we arrived at the equator. We had a demonstration of how water flows differently on different sides of the equator and I bought a massive African shoulder bag with elephants on it. Ten we got back on the bus and I managed to sleep a bit more before we stopped at about three at a supermarket where we got food and supplies. Then one more stop at a petrol station and we finished the final five hours of the drive. Once we pulled off the Tarmac roads the journey got a lot dirtier, but a lot more fun. We were waving at all of the villages, taking bus selfies and laughing. Beth (from Manchester, reading Law in Sheffield) got so mucky - she was basically black. Quote of the day has to go to the 'other' Natalie (UCL Medical student) who was waving at cows. When I asked her what she was doing, she said "I'm waving at cows. None of them have waved back yet though, I think they are all busy." We're at the lodge now, our bus was the first to arrive. Very happy because I managed to get the last bottom bunk in my Banda! The others in my room are Mathilde, Laura, Katie and Kayleigh., so it should be pretty ok. Had our free welcome drink and now all relaxing whilst we wait for the other buses to arrive. Ps. Found a beer I actually like, wooh!

I made it!

emilycarp — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 08:26:00 GMT

Hi!

Going to keep this brief because I just typed a whole long spiel and the my browser crashed and I lost it all. Basically I am keeping a paper journal, which I will type up here once a week, probably on Sundays. Then you can follow my Ugandan Adventure and I don't have to write the same email 8 times and worry about forgetting someone important.

Just quickly, so far we landed at Entebbe and went to a hostel where some of the other members of the group had stayed the night before. We've been to a hostel on the Nile in a town called Jinja, where some of the group bungee jumped and went white water rafting (not me, I hasten to add). Tonight we have been for a night out in Kampala which is the capital city and the night was quite dull, not a massive fan to be honest. I think I'm going to go to bed now because it's 1.40am and we have to leave this hostel at 7 tomorrow to drive the 11 or so hours over to Kanugu, which is the village we'll be living and teaching on for the next 6 weeks.

lots of love xxx