We're Growing ...

 Last week we saw some very exciting news at Wellspring as we gained another student, now making the student count all of 6. Slowly, slowly we are developing and making progress. We also have a new student who is also planning on joining us in January.  Exciting to think that by the time the student had arrived I’d only been in Uganda for just one month and a new student had been added already.  Although I cannot take the credit for this student coming along it is exciting to think and hope for a student to be added each month over the course of the year, this would mean that the school would have grown and developed by 60% in one year! Come on!

We have also seen some changes to the old classroom. It has been painted and the students were charged with making the displays look appealing and interesting.  We now have two classrooms that we use and they are now looking great and our now a good environment for developing thinking skills and curiosity.

Painting the old classroom

Sorting out the new displays. It was a big task!

Moving tables from one classroom to another!

The second classroom all sorted and painted

Alongside the academic subjects, the students have enjoyed a range of different activities. A particular highlight has been when the students taught the upper primary class how to bake.  The secondary students only learnt how to bake a marble cake the week before and then put their skills and new learning into practice by teaching the younger students. It was great to see the students developing their leadership skills whilst leading the upper primary.

Making a coffee cake

The boys working out the measurements

Secondary students teach the upper primary students how to make a cake

On Sunday we hosted the school open day. This was an excellent time of celebration with over 200 parents attending; it also was a prime opportunity to advertise the secondary school, which off course we did. There have been ‘murmurings’ of parents from the primary talking about sending their children to the secondary school, hopefully this will come true, only time will tell what their decision will be.  In fact I have just had a parent pop in this morning to say they have 3 children that they are looking to send to the school in January, this would be fantastic and are praying for this.

It has been great to have Holly back in Uganda with a team from links. Holly was here for 7 years and worked as the head of the primary school. It has been so good to be able to spend some time with her this side of the world. The links team have been working with the primary school on the agenda of ‘Fit for Life,’ so during the open day we enjoyed various fun physical activities for children, parents and teachers. It was lovely to see everyone getting involved.

Driving in the rain on the back of a boda!

The rainy season has begun in full throttle, we have enjoyed many a thunder storm, this has resulted in a few leaks in the house and it has been good fun to try and find out how to stop the leaks whilst it is quite literally pelting it down outside. The roads get quite flooded in some parts when the rain pours, it has been fun driving through flooded roads on the back of ‘boda’s’ (motorbike taxi)!

Talking of traffic, we saw Kampala get very excited with the last football match; Uganda vs Ghana in the African cup. I live nearby Nelson Mandella Stadium where the football is held and made the mistake of driving into Kampala just before (well a couple of hours) before the match. It was mayhem and lets just say an experience driving; first of all driving pretty much a minibus which is about 6 times bigger than my car in the UK, bodas weaving in and out of the anything in their way with people dressed in their national team colours, flags flying everywhere, ‘matatus’ (big minibus/vans that run as taxis) cutting in at any which way and people crossing at any point! Wow, it was an experience but glad I’ve now managed the crazy roads in Kampala!

The community car, imagine how much bigger this is than the little Fiat 500!

In the last couple of weeks, I have also been learning about the procedures of Uganda. After an hour journey to Kampala city in a packed matatu I found out that I couldn't pick up some letters at the post office because I’d forgotten my I.D. ….dohh! Believe me I tried to bend the rules in explaining that I was from the UK and didn't know the procedures, however this defiantly didn't work! Next time I travelled to Kampala I remembered the I.D and then really enjoyed investigating the city for the first time on my own. It was so good to get my bearings around the city. The people here have been so welcoming and friendly and have taken me to many different places here but I was finding it hard to connect them all together. So it was an enjoyable experience to investigate on my tod. This was the first time I had been on my own since being here actually, (6 weeks now) that's how welcoming people have been!

I think I will leave it there for now … SO much has happened in the last few weeks and it is difficult to know what to write to ensure it is interesting … until next time!