13

So last week we said our goodbyes and left Masaka. Made a last dash to the cafe in the pouring rain and had a nice hot chocolate drenched with the Danish girls we’d shown round Kitovu (amazingly walked onto labour ward just in time for them to see their first delivery and hold a brand new baby) and saw some of the other lovely UCC people. On Thursday morning we left Kitovu armed with samosas that Maria made as our parting gift for the road. We sat at Kitovu gate as we waited for Fred. Gathered a crowd of the boda men, totally surrounding us so no chance of Fred spotting us. It was very funny! We were practicing our Lugandan and they were asking us about England, what freckles were, if we would marry them etc.

Then Fred came and he has a huge smile! He is so so nice. Drove us to Rock of Joy school about an hour and a half from Kitovu. His wife Harriet was at home and their 6 month old son Isaac who is totally cute and very scared of mzungus. Despite multiple attempts at winning him over in the end we got one smile (after he’d eaten) and then back to the horrified look and tears!

Total breath of fresh air to see what Fred’s been doing. After all the crap at Kitovu with loads of funding and nothing actually happening you get a bit disillusioned that things can ever change. But this was so different. Fred’s story is amazing he’s worked incredibly hard to start the school and now it’s brilliant. Amazing that the Blairs found him at just the right time and have helped him so much. There was something so wrong with the Kitovu sister doling out shillings in the middle of the bush to the needy every day, which I couldn’t really work out at the time. Now I see that there’s no honour and dignity in that. This was so much better.

Fred is now trying to make the school self-sufficient so has a farm with pigs and goats and all kinds of fruit and veg and 3 big fish farm ponds with tilapia and catfish. It’s so good! Now the kids get porridge in the middle of the day but he wants them to be able to have a better lunch – they are so excited when they get an egg! And other plans are to make the nursery a separate school, buy dairy cows (about £500 each) for milk and improve the new small school he set up in an area nearer to where some of the kids were walking from. We visited that school as well, the kids were so excited they hadn’t had visitors before! It’s really really basic, no chairs even, the kids are kneeling at desks all day. These kids need sponsors (£5 a month www.rockofjoy.co.uk) for their school materials and food – it makes a massive difference and really improves things for them. Things here are really changing the community who were at first very sceptical about kids having any school education.
Until Fred’s I didn’t realise how important education was, having totally taken it for granted in England. But unless the kids know there’s a world out there with different possibilities and ideas they will just have to become peasant farmers struggling to survive. And this community has some really strange beliefs about health e.g. malaria is related to mangoes (mango season and malaria season happen to be at the same time) so they leave mangos to rot instead of eating them. But when they learn the science behind malaria they can be free to eat mangoes. There’s a billion examples like that.

We went to the school in our scrubs and stethoscopes on the second day to talk to the kids about being doctors and do some role play consultation scenarios which we made into a bit of a public health thing about malaria and TB. We were a bit nervous having never taught a lesson and with most of the teachers watching but it was SO much fun! The first session was with the oldest two classes P5 and P6. Fred wanted us to talk about the different medical specialities which he decided to make them repeat – can’t believe how well they did with orthopaedic surgeon and gastroenterologist considering English isn’t their first language! There was a bit of confusion at dermatology which C-M was getting them to repeat -‘durm-a-tology’ ‘dorm-a-tology’ ‘No, dUrm-atology’ ‘dorm-a-tology’ at which point she realised she’d have to say it in a Ugandan accent ‘darm-a-tology’ and then they got it ‘darm-a-tology’ haha. They liked trying out our stethoscopes at the end as well, was very cute watching them being mini-docs.

After lunch we returned to find the rest of the primary part of the school gathered for our second session, these were P1 to P4 so absolutely loads of kids. Fred was translating into Lugandan for the little ones. Afterwards we asked them who wants to be a doctor and there were lots of hands including one amazing lad who is 22, a Rwandan refugee with no chance of an education previously but was desperate to go to school so started primary school a few years ago. Wow.

Then I met my sponsor girl Sharon – very cute and shy. She also wants to be a doctor. She was very happy as we walked to her house through the matoke plantations and past the mud brick huts down a little dusty path. Amazing to go from just a picture blue-tacked onto my Sheffield wall to walking the way she walks every day to school and seeing her little house. It’s made of mud bricks with a separate little kitchen building and 3 bathroom structures made out of banana leaves. Her mother wasn’t there (I don’t think she has a father) but there were some little kids who were her neighbours/cousins. Later on when we were back at Fred’s she came with her mother – so lovely of her to come and find me to meet me. It was really special.

C-M has a new sponsor child Shadia, who lives with Fred and his family. Her mum is Sarah who is lovely and made our food with Harriet. Sarah was a muslim and was forced to marry when she was 16, she hated it and was rescued by Fred. She has 2 children, Shadia and Swice who are both totally beautiful. Shadia is 6, she was so cute she pressed her palms against us and said in a little voice ‘Olimulunji’ which means ‘You’re beautiful’. Sweet.

So we set our alarm for 6.20am to leave for Kampala by 7am. We had to get to a specific bank to change our traveller’s cheques (will never get traveller’s cheques again, you can’t change them anywhere!!!!) or we would not be able to do safari because we needed dollars, the bank closed at 12am. Woke up at 6.57am. Woops. Downed a few egg fried Casava (like parsnips) and got on the road. It was nice actually to drive back through Masaka to Kampala, I really love that place it was beginning to feel like home. Fred drove us all the way to the bank and then our hostel which was unbelievably kind of him. So now at the hostel and off on safari tomorrow!

It’s so strange that we’re leaving Uganda so soon. Being here has been so normal and so much easier than I thought it would. For the first week you’re like wow I’m in Africa and then you appreciate it but it becomes normal life. I’ve learnt so much being here, so so much to reflect on.

Lots of love to you! See you soon!

Christine