March!

So I gather I haven’t written about what I’ve been up to for a while now! March was a good month and my 7^th full month in Uganda. I continued to work in the pre-school almost every morning.

On the 8^th of march for international women’s day the females of the base took a trip out. We went to the kingfisher resort for the day and spent the day in and around the pool, it was so much fun teaching some of the African’s how to swim and playing with the young children who came so that their mothers could have a break! We shared a wonderful bring and share lunch which included pasta salad, amazing rice dishes, chapatti, mandazi’s and lots of yummy fruit!

The new DTS continued with their learning and we continued to get to know them more and show them around Jinja, we took a trip to the source of the Nile. I’m not going to lie there isn’t much to see except some bubbling water however it is something pretty crazy to say I’ve seen and I now want to go to the mouth of the Nile! It was a really fun day that we spent relaxing and laughing, it’s fun days like that which allow me to feel that not only am I serving here in Uganda but I am so blessed to have all these amazing tourist/cultural adventures as well!

Our ‘Big Sister’ Naomi surprised us when she returned from a medical visit back in England, me and Becca flew out of our chairs when she appeared at the dining table on Sunday evening, and she was just in time to celebrate her birthday which we did by a ‘surprise’ bonfire which was a great evening and we saw some great African and Tongan dancing around the fire!

I was sick a few times during March which was not fun, but I am very grateful for some amazing room mates and my lovely mama Jeanine who always made sure I was doing okay!

I had 3 lessons during March to teach the VTS (vocational training school) ballet which was very fun, they might not be pro’s and I think they thought I was trying to kill them but we did enjoy the time and it was a great opportunity for me to share some more western culture rather than the normal tribal dancing!

Pre-school continued to inspire and challenge me, I got to continue to teach song time and by the end of the month the kids had a whole load of new song and actions that we loved to sing every day! I also taught the Bible  section of the kids day a couple of times which is an challenging for me as the children to struggle to listen to me talk for a long period because of understanding my accent, however I love being able to see the children learn and grow. I successfully completed the task for hand writing the letters A-Z in all of the children’s books, the letters were all written out 8 times with 3 words for the kids to copy. I also had to draw lines into the books- it was a beyond time consuming task, however I see it was one of the best ways of serving however boring it means that the teachers can get on and teach and the children sit around so much less that’s what allows me to go on, knowing that it makes a difference.

The end of March saw me preparing of my move up to Soroti. My last few days of pre-school were sad and I just sat and cuddled the kids who were climbing all over me! We had some great song times and danced around singing loudly without a care in the world. I just loved being able to be so care free with the kids, showing them about the simple joys in life! I certainly will miss them and the teachers who I had a lovely meal with my last day there- Ugandan’s sure do know how to bless people!

I was sent on my way to Soroti with some wonderful prayers and blessings from the Hopeland community and the YFG’ers who I had a lovely last meeting with (which include juice and cake) I’m going to miss my friends, room mates and family from Jinja so so much, but I am excited for this next adventure that you will start to hear about very soon...

Placement goes on...

Wow, it has been a busy few weeks and i’m so grateful for some time this weekend just to relax!! I am now 5 weeks into my placement at the pre-school. Middle Class certainly keep me busy! We have about 30 4-5 year olds in our class and with limited space it can certainly be challenging. Staff shortages have been an issue these past few weeks and i have been given the task of teaching the children numbers and sounds from the alphabet. It’s certainly a challenge to get all the children to listen to me and make learning fun! (major respect to all teachers that manage it) However ‘teacher Tee’ has managed to master song time! I spend about 30mins a day teaching the kids Jesus your my super hero, our God is great big God and other HBC songs! The winner however has to be the little green frog song, thank you to my cousin for teaching me that many years ago!!! In class the kids have been learning about how they are Gods children and are specially created by God, they have also been praying for their needs and for each other. It’s beautiful to see a 4 year old stand up and pray for their sick parents or school fees!

My afternoons are spent preparing books for class, writing out letters and number for the kids to copy- man I wish we had a photo copier!! Haha! 

The head teacher of pre-school has pretty much adopted me and Becca as her twins, Mama Jeanine is an amazing lady! She works so hard in the pre-school and caring for her family, she has so much wisdom and faith I just love her!!! She has also blessed me with dinner 3 times now, and boy does she make some good chips!! J

Since I last wrote we have seen some visitor to the base, Kirsty joined me at half term which was great! I r4eally hope she enjoyed seeing life as I know it and working in the pre-school. It was really eye-opening to me to see how different my life is now to what it was! While she was here some of the girls celebrated valentine’s day with a meal in town which was r3eally good just to relax!

This past week our YFG co-ordinator from  England visited, it was great to see her and chat though our experiences so far! I was blessed by our spontaneous one to one and i’m sure i talked far to much! Haha! It was great to hear her wisdom and for her to be able to see and say how well we are all doing!

The next DTS have arrived and it been fun to hang out with them for a few days and watch them settle in to base life remembering how I was 6 months ago! We have also moved rooms in the last week due to the amount of on the new DTS so we now have A PROPER TOILET and a decent shower (yes it’s still cold) moving was an entertaining process I certainly now own far too much!

This week Ella who was last year YFG feb student returned to England for her debrief, I remember meeting her for the first time when she was 6 weeks into her placement (where i am now) and suddenly she’s finished! It’s crazy to think that’s going to be me before I know it! I’m certainly not ready to leave yet I still have so much I want to achieve and learn before that day comes right now the thought of having to leave this place is sad i have defiantly settled in and really love Uganda now, i just pray that when the day comes i will be ready to leave ( but hey i still have 6 months!)

Once again my blog post is scatty and unstructured (just like my brain) still I'm sure your get the picture!

Start of term!!!

well it's 4:30 on a friday afternoon, and i think i kind of understand that end of the week feeling tezchers get, i mean as a student 3:15 on friday was the hilight of my week but i really don't think that compares to the feeling teacher get!
Now don't get me wrong, i have had an incredible start to my placement but it has been hard work! the first week i spent my time helping clean and organise, i don't think i have ever seen so many disorganised boxes, there was stuff EVERYWHERE at the start of the week, but after mnay hours of sorting organising and cleaning the shelves were re-stacked the resources orderd and the place dust free!! the first thing that really hit me about how this is an afrian pre-school not in the UK was that the hand made resources and games are all stored on peices of old box or plates, there are nice cabinets and draws to store things in. You might be thinking durrrrr you are in Africa but sometimes i do forget that it's different here because i now see this as home, especially when i see games i had as a child or domino's that i can picture in a box at my gradparents house!!
Pre-school term started on monday this week (6th feb) a staff shortage meant that for this week both middle class (4yrs) and top class (5 years) were both in one class with one teacher are 2-3 helpers (thats me!!!) we had about 60 children and so i'm sure you cn imagine with the start of term hype it has been a crazy week! The program the pre-school uses is a Bible based sylabus, the day (well morning 8-1) consits of singing, leaning about the Bible, memory verse ( this week was psalm 119:89-90) learning manors (e.g. how to greet someone into your home) and education (alphabet, numbers etc) everyday the children also learn about the weather (all week it has been sunny!!) and the day of the week, date and month! During free time the children work on projects (this is what we would call classroom playing) and have domino's, puzzles and matching games which are all educational resources as well as being able to colour and draw.
This week i have also worked with smaller group (15-20 children) teaching them, on thursday we looked at numbers and the children had to count from 0-7 and then match the number and words. After we had learnt to numbers they then practiced writing, i found challenges with mixed abilities in my group and some difficlties in lauguage, although the children are learning english and are expcted to speak it not all understand me or speak it!! Today (friday) i worked with a group on the alphabet, one issue i found was that half way though learning some of the letter cards were missing!! At this age the children also have a short attention span, the different approach here in Africa meant that i had to try and engage the group for almost half an hour, this i have learnt is hard enough at the best of times but especially with a group of non-understanding misbehaved 4 year olds!!! They are certainly going to be a project!!
The cutest moment of my week has to be when 4 year old patience sat on my lap and fell asleep, bless the little girl she was curled up for almost an hour!!! The girls in true girly fashion have taken a liking to my mzungu hair and are constantly twisting an braiding it!!
I think thats about it for these weeks but i will leave you with some prayer points:
pre-school: language barriers
disapline with the children
staff in pre-school
preperation for the next phase of my placement (at amacet childrens home)
financial security and trusting God with my money!!
Good healt
Rain!!!! haha it's been far too hot lately! haha
oh and as a last point, we have been harvesting and shelling the maize that we planted the first week we were here! it's been amazing to see the whole process go through ( even if it is going to make posho YUCK)