Cerys' adventure in Uganda: Half Term Antics & so much more ...

Time has flown by so quickly and nearly a month has passed, well three days short of this. So much has happened in the last few weeks where to start…FOOD! I was excited to go to the local market the other day and buy a bag full of carrots, tomatoes, aubergines, onions, peppers and garlic for just over £1. Even Coventry market would have to work hard to compete with these prices!

The local market in Banda; next town along from bweyogerere where Wellspring is.

Yesterday I was 'lucky enough' to try a local delicacy of Grasshoppers. Lets just say they were interesting and not sure I'd have them again!

Eating the local delicacies!

I’ve now managed to work out the pattern that the electricity is on and off, this makes it sooo much more manageable especially as now can be prepared for a no electricity day. It is challenging to think about how much more we rely on in the western world, I love the Ugandan laid back attitude they have to things like this which is often met with an ‘oh sorry…’ and that is that.

At the school since we are following the Cambridge curriculum we have the same holidays as the UK and so last week half term was met with happy student faces. The students were in school for the first two days and then we enjoyed a four day holiday. During this time I had the privilege of going with Wellspring into one of the communities (Kito) they work into. Unemployment is high in Kito and many of the people have not had the opportunity to be educated hence making it difficult for many people. As part of the community work Wellspring help to train people with skills that will help them find employment and the skills necessary to set up their own small business if they so desire in the future. These include literacy lessons, hair dressing and Jewellery making.

Learning how to create different Hair stlyes in Kito

Bead & Jewellery making

60/ 70 people & a cow turned up to the lessons in the community

Literacy lessons

Off course the ladies being trained in hairdressing loved having a ‘Mzungo’ (White person) there and enjoyed trying out their hair styles on ‘novelty’ hair they had not plaited before. In return the ladies taught me a bit of Lugandan, which means I now need to try it out…. Eeek!

There have been many success stories of people who have found work since being trained in the community. Around 60 / 70 people came along and it was so inspiring to see how lives are being transformed here.

Last week I also saw the arrival of a new housemate, Ruth from the UK. She is lovely and it is really nice to have a bit of company in the house. She will be here until December. We have enjoyed entertaining many people in the house and have enjoyed a few games nights. Whether these evenings happen to be by torchlight / candle light or the power is on it inevitably ends up competitive!

Ruth is setting up a charity here and works in partnership with other schools in the area. So during half term I tagged along with her to visit a local deaf school called BDI. It is only a small school with 53 students attending, the majority of these students board in a small space. This was quite challenging to see especially faced with such poverty! However it was amazing and so inspiring to see and feel the amazing love the children and staff have for one another. I was so challenged by how they showed love to one another and were so thankful to God for what they had, such a challenge for us in the developed world.

Many children with disabilities of any kind are seen as not worthy of any kind of love or care, or even an education. This means that even though the school is FREE the parents have to be persuaded to send their child to the school. The children here were beautiful and could have stayed for along time!

BDI School

Meeting the children of BDI school

Learning sign language

24 girls sleep in this dormitory

This week it has been good to get back to teaching and working on trying to spread the word about the school at Wellspring. This means many an email and phone calls have been made. We will see what will come of this! The students have enjoyed learning more practically this week, one of the highlights has been learning about the growing of crops. To do this I have given the students a piece of land each in which they are responsible for tending to and growing two crops of their choice. So this week the hard work of clearing the land took place!

Students at Wellspring clearing their piece of land.

So I’ll end with what I started with ….Food! Yesterday we had an amazing experience when some of the young people in Wellspring came over. A few of the wonderful ladies taught us how to cook traditionally. My particular favourite was making a 'whomba,' (spelt phoenetically not sure of the correct Lugandan spelling!). Basically it is meat cooked in a sauce using banana leaves, yummy!