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Published: March 23rd 2007
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Eating ants!
Tasting the local delicacy. We got swarmed with white ants after leaving the outside light on overnight so what better way to clean up than fry them?! Hello!
Sorry its been so long. I haven't been into the city for the last month so I have rather a lot to fill you in on. A lot has happened since I last wrote. Each week has been getting busier and busier as we've slowly managed to reach out to more and more communities. A couple of you have been asking what it is I actually do in the community so I'll try and give you a run down of a typical week.
Mondays I spend with Roy. We teach in the primary school in the morning and take a farmers group in the afternoon. On Tuesdays I do a Women's group with Doreen, on Wednesdays I teach in a Secondary school with Doreen, on Thursdays I take a farmers group with Roy and Fridays we always have something random going on.
In the schools were teaching environmental education which covers stuff like water and water pollution, hygiene and sanitation, nutrition and environmental conservation. None of us are trained teachers so we use informal teaching methods like games and drama. The idea is that we not only increase thier awareness of these issues but empower them
Fuel Efficient Stove making!
My favourite women's group mixing the mud! with life skills. So basically they take away skills that can be used at home and hopefully when it comes to finding employment, which is really hard in Uganda.
With the farmers were trying to establish Farmer Field Schools which promote organic farming methods, so they dont have to rely on being able to buy seeds or fertilizers but just make the maximum use of resources already available to them on the farm, so its much more sustainable. A lot of farmers dont realize the value of cow shit!! We do it in a way that the farmers lead the sessions and we really just guide them. They know their stuff (obviously a lot more than me, Ive never farmed in my life), its just getting them to think in a different way to help them realise that. We do lots of theory and practicals like making organic compost, plant tea, digging contours etc.
With the Women's groups we do stuff on hygiene and sanitation, nutrition and 'Appropriate Rural Technologies' (Building equipment out of resources they already have to make thier lives easier whilst at the same time conserving the environment).
So hope that clears a few
Chilling by the Nile.
This was at Namasigali. What better way to chill than watch the sun go down over the Nile with a few beers? things up! My favourite is definately the Women's group. They are so much fun! We made a fuel efficient stove with them this week by mixing a load of mud with 'glue' (made from mashed sweet potatoe leaves and water) by stomping on it, then forming the mud into balls and throwing them to build the stove. Got completely splattered which got quite a few of them women concerned that my skin wouldn't be able to cope with mud on it!! Its bizarre how different they think we are, like they were shocked that I could eat the same food as them - what did they think I was doing getting deliveries from Tesco while I was here??!! Ive even tried the Ugandan delicay of white ants - yum!
I've been making the most of my weekends off. I've been to visit 2 other placements so far. One weekend we had a bit of a group reunion and one of the placements in Namasigali. They are living with volunteers from the Health programme that SPW runs so there's 9 of them in total. They have massive place right on the Nile, it's sooo beautiful. It was one of the
girls birthdays so we just spend the weekend chilling by the Nile watching the sunset, drinking beers and making chapaties. That was the best weekend, it was so great to see everyone again and hear how everone was getting on. The next weekend Cat, Charlie and Alice came to visit me and Kate. That was fun trying to fit 2 to a bed when I can barely fit under my mosquito net on my own! Then last weekend I went with Cat to visit Alice in Galalyia. Galalyia is in the middle of nowhere! It took 4 hours on the bus - normally takes 2 but we had lots of rain so the roads were terrible and the bus was at least over twice its capacity so think we probably averaged about 30 mph! I can't imagine living in Galalyia. There's a couple of shops and 2 schools nearby but probably only a couple of hundred people in the whole parish. The land is so dry cos all the trees have been cut down. So there wasn't much to do so we spent all day trying to walk to the lake which we thought was quite nearby but after walking
My womens group
They wanted thier pic taken with a muzungo! for 2 hours in the midday heat and only just being able to see it on the horizon we gave up!!
Well Im sure I've bored you with such a long blog - sorry!! I've got 10 days holiday I really should start planning. There's so much to see and so little time - plus you wouldn't believe the entrance fees to some of the places!
Will try my hardest to get some photos up asap. Keep on with the messages. Its always really nice to hear what your up to.
Love and hugs to everyone xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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