Thursday 29/5/2014

I have been here now for 3 weeks and it feels like so much has been done already.

The climbing frame is taking a battering with 7 children hanging from one tire swing. Rich and I stood back and could see to top beam bending under the heavy weight. We are imposing playground rules of one person per swing and max of two on the tire swing.

This morning at 7.30 am we did some more exercise a few more volunteers are joining in now so its like a little fitness club.

The girls Kim and Emma are making volley ball pitch and net for the kids so had to dig big holes in the ground for the polls.

 I think they spent 5 mins digging and the rest was completed by school children who wanted to dig the holes for them. Another way of using the resources around us I guess.

Rich and I picked up on this and recruited to larger boys to do our sawing on our trees to make joints for our monkey bars and balancing beam.

We have had a sign made for our playground ready to put on once we do the grand opening on Monday. It reads Ruhanga Development playground by Rich and Edd May 2014 so we should be remembered for as long as that sign stays up.

This eve we have a quiz as our entertainment around the fire. Its like a pub quiz but without the pub. Emma is in charge of it and has requested from every one of us a secret for one round of guessing peoples secrets.

These pictures are saved up the right way but are not working in my blog I dont know why. I think ill take them horizontal next time sorry.

Anyway tomorrow will be a big day for Rich and I so ill tell you more tomorrow.

C ya

26/05/2014 till 28/05/2014 Monday till wednesday

So on Monday Georgie and I went on some a jet ski together to same on money. It was 15$ for 5 mins so we went on for 10 together. Turns out we got away with closer to 20 mins messing about on the water.

My plan was to get Georgie off the back but to my supprise she held on too much and when it was her turn I fell off the back within 5 mins. Quite embarassing but its cool I got her back later on when we both fell off.

That afternoon was spent travailing home back to the lodge.

Tuesday Rich and I cracked on with with our climbing frame installing a tier swing and climbing wall and the platform. You can see these pictures on my facebook wall. While we went for lunch i noticed ruffly 7 children on our tier swing and to their supprise they snapped the rope.

Rich and I went and installed the swings so they would be more spread out over the full frame. They are loving it all so far but have no clue we are only half way done.

Yesterday I came to do my blogs but the power was out in all of Ntongamo so even people withdrawing money from the back couldnt do anything.

We got a quote for some sheet metal here for our slide. 2m by 50cm ranged between 14 quid to about 35 quid.


Last night we did some working out doing the 7 min work out 3 times It turns out its a heck of a lot harder than I imagined and tired me out for the eve.

Wednesday

This morning I was woken by the security guard playing his music at 5.30 am with out any thought for people all around sleeping. I went out and politly let him know how un consideriot he was being and i had to be up by 7.30

So went for a run with Rich for about 5km which took us just under 30 mins but it only helped because it was cool that time in the morning.

Today we made the monkey bars out of 2 oddly bent trees we ordered a few day prior. It still is hard working with african tools and bent wood to make something level and alined to all the polls at once.

I dont want to bost but we are good at this building milark and im loving it getting my hands cut up and dirty but to see the smile on the childrens faces when they get to play on it is priceless.

Anyway I better go as its getting dark here and I need to find a Boodabooda

c ya

Sunday 25/5/2014

Today has been so much fun I love being on holiday while volunteering.

We started off at breakfast. Last night after my high jumping in to water my ears were killing me so I left dinner at 9 pm to go to bed to sleep off what ever I had going on.

After brake fast we jumped on a boat for an hour trip to see some pigme tribe. We are currently above 2000 ft above sea level and we could tell the air is thine here when we walked up the hill to the tribe. I was out of breath but it took so long to get my breath back it was a struggle getting up the hill.

The pygme tribe we went to see is a group of 6 families. We got to see them at their homes and school. It was quite a nice experience. They also showed us some of their tradition dance and songs. We also got the chance with the tribe on a few songs.

The children were fun holding our hands up and down the hill but spoiled the moment when they asked for money. That's the case a lot here people think because we are mazongoos (white people) we are rich to just hand out left right and center.

This afternoon was spent on quad bikes with Georgie and a guide. They are quite powerful and we had lots of fun on them. I found out how to pull donuts with mine and done about 6 successfully until i was showing off in front of about 100 local towns people when i spun around and it flipped over me doing a backwards role to get away from being squished. I came out with no marks but the quad had a few scratches. Woops!

At about 5 we went for a swim to the local island which is about 1 mile away it was great first time i have swam in such large waters. We got to the island chilled out in the sun with a coke then swam back.

Tonight's dinner was stake and probs the best meal iv had in a long time.

I'm feeling much better Han last night so I'm off to play some pool

C ya guys in a bit

Saturday 23/5/2014

Today is lake bonyorni day which is like a small holiday resort by a georgus lake.

We set off at 10 after looking for a missing purse of one of the girls at thr lodge. She also had all her money in it includimg cards the lot. We stopped off in Kabale to get me some money and get some bbq fried goat which was amazing.

There is stacks to do here like: canooing, walking, jet ski and  pigme tribe.
Today we arrived just after lunch and chilled for an hour or so before renting 4 canoos and  fadaling over to one of 28 islands on the lake. Its about 2k away so I think ill swim it tomorro. The canoos are made from hollowed out trees and fits 2 people easily. After canooing I found a 20ft high platform to jump off in to the water. The water is deap but I still managed to hit the bottom lol.

The food here is grest just takes an hour to arrive at the table
Tomorrow mormimg at 10 we leave on an hour boat trip to see a pigme tribe which is local to these areas. We should be back for lunch.

Tonight Will rich and I will be watching the champions leage final in thr bar which has wifi.


Anyway I will post again soon

Friday 23/5/2014

Today has been a good day so much stuff got done and now I'm shattered.

After brekkie me and rich went out to prep the climbing frame to be put up. We got a few helpers to help lift it up and we heard a few cracking noises coming from one joint so desiderata it's safer to concrete it in the same day.

We dug some big holes to make sure even if we measured it out wrong the poles will still fit in the ground. As we was mixing the concrete all the children wanted to climb on the frame which at this point was unsafe so we had to constantly tell them off. One kid put his finger in our mix and tasted it lol he gave a funny look realising it's not edible. The children just wanted to step all over the concrete so we had to stand guard until school was over.

So its up and we have realised the monkey bars will be 2.5m off the floor so let's hope they don't do much falling. We need to buy more trees to finish the frame off with the monkey bars and balancing beam. It's going to be epic. Rich and I are thinking of having a grand opening ceremony once it's done with ribbon to cut the works.

I also spotted a guy who was a builder there wearing a huddersfield uni jumper which I was very shocked about lol

In the evening we went to a pork joint restaurant and had some georgus food and it came to about £1.20 each including drinks.

It was 3 girls last night with us and it was music night so we danced till we dropped. Rich and I have picked up the way Africans dance is like they have a soar back so spent most of the eve taking the mick out of them.

Anyway

Thurdsday 22/05/2014

Afternoon

Today the sun has come out and the temperature has hit 27 degrees and theres not a cloud in the sky.

We have been carrying on with our swings today. We aim to have the frame finished this eve so we can start on putting on swings and a climbing frame.

Yesterday I forgot to mention we had a market at the school for all the cloths that have been donated to raise money for the children. Yesterday we raised 120,000 shillings which is only about 25 quid but that will support up to 7 children for a month of education. If you are thinking of helping support this charity I'm working for you can either donate old cloths or even sponsor directly with funds. Every penny is accounted for and is spent very wisely to benefit all the children and not just some. Every time a volunteer flys from Heathrow to here they are often asked to take an extra bag of donated cloths books or anything that gets requested as an urgent need out here.

Last night was logelimpics which was a laugh from start to finish. The volunteers here have just found out how competitive I will get to win. Coming second is the first looser. The fancy dress was classic, so much time and effort was put in to all of them it was great. Jordan even painted his face with actual paint instead of make up to get a better effect. I found my costume in the uniform box and had t get the dress fitted to my size as it turns out my chest is a lot bigger than a 12 year old girl.

Today also we went to the market that comes once every 2 weeks and got some fabric I am going to have made in to some african shorts. Hopefully they will be a lighter material so I wont get so hot.

Anyway I must go so speak soon

Wednesday 21/5/2014

Hey from Uganda

Just had my hair cut for 47p and i was in the chair almost 40 mins. The prices of things here are crazy.

Me and rich had a large audiance as we started cutting and chisaling the wood ready for this climbing frame. Im getting quite good at woodwork now. It helps a lot more when you have the right saw for the job. The children are all trying to help us but most of the time they are around our feet.

The kids are coming in by the hundreds now and when its play time the school looks packed which is good.

I had a few grass hoppers today also for dinner they are quite tasty if you dont look at them.

I booked our next outing away to lake bonyoni where we can canoo and go see native tribe quite cheaply. It is 2 and a half hours away and we will be staying in tree top tents. For two nights and travel it comes to 36 quid which is amazing!


Tonight we have logeimpics, its the olimpics but for the lodge. We are in teams of 5 and have to come in fancy dress. We are the wizzad of oz and im Dorathy so lets see what i look like in 30 mins haha

Anyway ill take pics and speak soon

19/5/2014 and 20/5/2014

Hey people

Yesterday was spent traveling and playing pool in the evening so nothing to talk about much.

Today we have been having some of the children arrive for the school. We have been working closely with the teachers making sure they have all the resorses they want for their rooms to aid in teaching the children different subjects. They had teacher training last week and a few of them have taken on the advice and putting it in to practice. Other teachers have sunk in to their old ways and doing the preaching from the front and expecting the children to understand.

I got to play rugby with the school children during their breaks. The concept of only passing backwards is alian to them so will try and teach them the real rules over the next two months.

The girls and I have been making more rope out of banana bark ready to hand up signs in the classes when ever a teacher requests one.
 

We cleared the ground for the play ground a little for the play ground as we are still waiting for the trees to dry so we can work with them and create our swings. I cant wait its like my little baby.

The dorms are almost finished for the girls now just need to finish making the beds for them and they will be done.

I got some flip flops in town so now i can wash my trainers as i think they are starting to smell lol.

My leg is still cut up but its healing and not infected. That comment was more for my worrying mother lol

Rich and Emma should be back by the time i get home so we will start the hard work of the playground tomorrow hopefully.

An update on m wallet. I have all my cards and even my room key left in the wallet. We had the police in today and took every ones finger prints and the wallet as evidence. I had to sign my fingerprints and the box read signature of prisoner. All the staff and all the volunteers had their prints taken so we will see if they can find anything on it. 

Anyway speak soon

Sunday 18/5/2014

Today has been a touching day. We went to a geneside museum where we learnt all about the conflict in Rwanda only 20 years ago. There were groups of people called tribes and they got on fine until the western world started to divide them through propaganda And public speaking. Over 1 million people lost their lives.

If you was married to some one of the opposite tribe it was common to turn your loved ones over to be killed mutilated and raped if you didn't you would fall victim of the same fate. This all happened in the space of 3 months before it was stopped.

People used to seek refuge in churches thinking they were safe. We visited one example of a church where the tribe who was doing the killing blew open the doors and threw in granades shot people and even killed them with masheties. The smaller children were picked up and smashed against the walls till they were dead. In this church alone over 2000 people lost their lives. On the grounds of the  church the victims are berried in open tooms where we went in and saw coffins stacked 10 high. As bodies are excivated they are added to the tooms as a way to remember the massecure that happened.

Most people were killed by people they knew and grew up with who was from this tribe. It was a strong reminder of the happenings in the world today that a lot of people are unaware of due to what propaganda is portrayed in our news.

This afternoon  we went to a craft center and found some good souvenirs of Rwanda.  Tonight we will go out for a meal as a group and spend some time together.

My wallet has been returned minus the £200 I had in cash.

We travel back to Uganda tomorrow morning and should be back in the afternoon.

Thanks for reading and ill post again soon

Saturday 17/5/2014

Last night was fun with a lot more volunteers we had a good dance and I lost at some more pool lol. I have lost my wallet which had £175 worth of Uganda money and my bank card and driving licence. Good job I have another bank card just in case that happened.

We have traveled to Rwanda and went for a coffee and a spot of shopping. Our friend kate found it hard to cross the border as shes irish and needed a spasific visa. I got a new wallet so everything will be ok.

tomorrow our guide will show us the museums about the geneside that happened in the 90 '

We have spent the afternoon swimming in the pool at hotel Rwanda where people were hidden during the geneside and the film hotel Rwanda was made

Anyway look like wifi is in most places around here to I feel a bit more connected with you all.

I slipped up on my ass the other day after getting caught in a rain storm while on a walk you can see my leg on the pics

Anyway im off chat soon

Thursday and friday 15/16 May

Sorry people wasnt online yesterday as I was treking through a rain forrest.

So this blog will cover yesterday and today.

I paid about 110 quid for a full days trip in a rain forest, now I love to go for a walk but this was on a whole new level. I never though a wood can be so humid. Everything was fine when we stood still but the walking took it out on me and I was sweating buckets. We got to see a family of chimps and watch them play ect. The first 3 hours was spent trying to fine them and as we got close they moved away. It got to a point we had groups all around us making lots of noice and we would walk one way and not see them like a game of piggy in the middle.

We got to where they settled and watched them and had lunch. It turned out they were eating meat and all that noice we heard was them hunting a monkey for food. I got a few pictures on my phone but they were quite a bit away. Over all it was a great day out and I feel I have had my excersie for the week. After the food we watched a little more then walked back out.

I now know what tea looks like when its growing. We convinced kate a volunteer that weed (canabis) is made when people wee on tea leaves and then is smoked. She was so gullible we had it going for most of the trip home.

Its raining again today so we are looking for some bolts for the swings ect. We ordered our trees to be cut from a wood. Turns out 2 trees here are about 2.70 quid quite cheap i thought.

My phone still isnt unblocked so I will see if they can do it here.

The reason why I keep saying quid was because this keyboard dosnt have a pound sign.

So today we will just potter about, tonight we have the music again like last week and tomorrow a group of us are off to Rowanda and we will visit the geniside museum and few other attractions while we are there.

Anyway I hope to get some kind of wifi while im there so should be able to let you know what there is to do in Rowanda

C ya for now

Wednesday 14/05/2014

So today Rich and I have completed 5 shelves units for the classrooms and all the books they may use. It was a lot harder than expected but by the time we are done here we should be good at carpentry.

Tomorrow I will be going on an excursion to do a chimp treck for the day with a few volunteers which I am looking forward to.

Last night was full of games with the team playing charades and I am so bad at acting its unreal. The electric came back on after lunch so we had lights in the evening which was a blessing.

Rich and I have been given the task of making some playground equiptment. Our first task is a set of swings and after that monkey bars. We are just in town looking at plans to make sure its a safe swing that wont kill anyone lol.

More volunteers are returning today from various trips which is good. We are getting to know one another now making it more of a team which i love.

I am uploading more images to facebook so look out for them.

C ya for now

Tuesday 13/05/2014

Today I woke up to the sound of some very heavy rain looked out my door and took some pics to show you how bad it can get but dont think they show it too well. This rain carried on until the early part of the afternoon. I got soaked walking 50 yrds to breakfast.

Emma a volunteer here was trying to introduce me to a masala tea which is quite spicy. It was nice to try but I wont be drinking that again while im here.

Alex pulled off her tap in her shower so it flooded water constantly all morning. Her plumbing effected mine so I had no water for a shower this morning and to top it off we had another power cut.

While it was raining we decided to carve room numbers in to bits of wood which we would hang up using rope that we made from plating bananna bark together. I have taken a few pictures of our masterpieces for you to see. I have never carved or made rope before in my life but it was a sucsess and looks quite good if i say so my self.

We are doing a lot of work with the teachers here getting them propaired for when term starts. We are making stuff they can use while teaching the children in a more interactive way, instead of standing at the front of the class saying something and expecting them to repeat it back and memories it.


Today a girl called Kate has arrived she is from Belfast. I think shes about 22 and is on a break from uni as a radiotherapist. Its interesting that a lot of the questions seem to be standard to ask. 1. Where are you from. 2. what do you do back home. 3. how long are you staying here.

My phone is still not unblocked which is driving me mad as if i get lost i will have to ring off my english phone and spend a fortune

Anyway hope to speak soon i got to go find a bike to take me home for dinner.

Monday 12/05/2014

Yesterday I had problems getting on to my blog site so apolagies for not keeping you informed of my trip.

So Monday started off well Rich and I had a productive day making furniture for the class rooms and got 3 book shelfs made with 2 more to make. We have our own helper called edwin he is like 8 years old I think and he was helping us carry tools ect. We made a joke he is our own personal donky who likes to carry everything.

I had him distracted with my phone playing games, but im sure I shouldnt have introduced him to the sniper game as the aim is to kill people. Im sure they arnt so bothered here about age ratings on games. Edwin sais he has never seen a computer before only read about them in his books.

Close by there is a lodge called Leeds lodge I have taken a picture for you to see when I get it on my dongle ill put it on facebook.

Last night the girls and I played pool and had some fun with the locals. Out of about 6 games I sadly only won 2 of them, I know let down for the lads but im sure the table is wonky lol.

Anyway I must go

Sunday 11/5/2014

So these are my views from my walks you can see the Lodge we are staying at with the schools attched.

Today has been a fun day doing lots of exploring. I have many more picutures I wish to upload but this internet cafe is putting a restriction on only two due to the size of them. I will endever to go to another cafe and upload them without asking.

Rich, Emma and I walked up the tallest hill today and followed the ridge along for another 2 hours and finally came down. The views are stunning and there was a light breeze. On the way down we lost track of the path and so ended up walking down the steepest part of the hill falling over a few times.

The food here is good quite nice only had one meal with meat in so far but thats ok im sure more will come.

After walking up the hill I realised i must have lost the key to my room some where on the hill and so had to break in to my room. Only took about 5 mins and the lock seemed to come open. So my next task is to find a new lock hopefully with more guts than the last one.

Next week we are planning a chimp treck as a day trip out with a few of the volunteers.

They have scouts here just like england which is run by a teacher from the school. Back in England im a scout leader and he asked me if I could show him what I know. The thing is I spend most of my time playing with the kids and doing the activities with them as I was never a scout when I was younger. So all the things we do with the scouts I experiance for the first time. I will let you know what we do and how I get on.

3 more volunteers arrived today one German and two English. They are mainly medical students doing a gap year. Hopefully around the lodge will get a bit more lively and more fun conversations to be had about their adventures and their trips ect.

Anyway I must go find a boodabooda to take me home as food will soon be ready.

Saturday 10/5/2014

Hey people, thanks for reading my blogs so far.

Last night was a music night around the fire. Mostly it was un eventful untill the end of the night when Richard a volunteer her got pick pocketed. The problem we found was we knew who did it but he must have handed the walet to his friend so he didnt have any evidence on him to prove he did it. Also there were no police to be seen and no one called for the police.

This morning was normal a few more volunteers arrived today. They will be doing some teacher training before the term starts so wont be here for more than a week.

This afternoon we will be going for a walk up a hill, im told the views are great and i should take my camera.

When i first arrived on Thursday there was a building in the complex that said internet cafe. I got my hopes up to find out they never got the internet installed as its a lot of money here. So this morning I have been painting over the sign so other volunteers dont get confused like I did.


Hope to speak soon

Friday 9th May

Hmm today has been an adventure.

Started the day around the breakfast table discussing the planned day ahead and was ready to go start my building project when it started to pour down with rain. It was rain I have not seen before, torrential is the only way to describe it. I normally wouldnt have minded except i didnt pack a rain coat thinking its africa how cold can it get? Well i was proved wrong.

Interesting fact I learnt today was a boodabooda is named that because they are used to transport goods from border to border and the name seemed to stick.

I havnt had a very productive day in regards to volunteering as I spent most of the day in the town. Its an hours drive away and if you know me and im not the driver I fall asleep quickly on long jurneys. This Jurney on the other hand was interesting, It was so bumpy i kept on hitting my head on the roof of the jeep. To discribe it as worse than going around my grandads farm in the land rover would be an understatement. That last comment would only make much sence to my family and people that have visited the farm.

So today was spent trying to find a rain coat, a bag as mine has a rip on the strap and to find a way to unlock my iphone to any network. In hiensight i should have done this back in England as I have spent a bit to make sure I can use my phone with a local sim card in. Even a pay as you go has a lot of forms to come with it where they require  a phooto copy of your passport and a passport photo. They say this is to cut down on terorism but I dont see it doing all that much as I will only be here for a few months.

Tonight is party night in our complex where they play music told to be loud enough you can hear it from the tops of the hills that surround us.

I think tomorrow I will explore the local area and treck up the biggest hill I see to take some photos.

Hope to speak soon

1st day in Uganda

Thursday 8/5/14

So on wednesday 7th May i took 3 flights to Uganda from 5.45 am to 11.45 local time. When arriving in Entebbe airport I had to find my driver to take me to Kempala to a safe house. I couldnt see hi so ended up asking a randomer to borrow their phone. Finally found the driver and the trip was another hour from Entebbe.  I arrived at the safe house at 1.30 am and was asleep by 2am.

In the morning i had to be up at 6 am for my lift to the coach that would take me to netumegamo where my volunteering would take place. this coach took me 7 hours and i was the main entertainment for a 5 month old baby for most of it.

As I arrived i met jordan who is a long term volunteer here. Jordan showed me around and showed me what I would be doing while I stay here. The first day was spent getting to know a few of the volunteers that are already here. They are all helping to get the school ready for when term time starts in a few weeks.

I bumped in to a builder here who said his name was Edward but im sure he is having me on. So tomorrow i will be helping him build a shower/toilet block for the girls.

The evening was spent eating some great food around the fire. one of my first questions was, does the power go off often to which the reply was it is quite stable in this area with only a few power cuts in the past few month. Just my luck that evening was spent without any power lol.

I got a chance to go to the shops also to get some internet. My taxi was a small moter bike, where no protection is provided. The local town is about 30 mins away one one of these bikes what they call boodabooda's

I must go now internet is running out.

c ya

Off to Uganda tomorrow

So tomorrow I will start my journey to Uganda. I am a little nervous as I haven't done anything like this before. Before I go let me fill you in on what I'm expecting to do while I am in Uganda with Original Volunteers.

I searched high and low for what I thought was a good organisation to go with to Africa and stumbled across the original volunteers. I heard lots of different opinions both positive and negative with regards to other volunteer projects, so made sure I made sure I checked them out and read all the reviews to make sure my final decision was the right one.

The original volunteers is a linking organisation to many amazing charities doing fantastic work all over the world. Recently I visited Africa to see some friends I have in Zambia and got the African bug which is also very contagious. :) I will be travelling to Uganda tomorrow at 5.45 am and I will be arriving at 11.45 pm. Uganda can be found west of Kenya and it is in blue on this picture.

So my time in Uganda will be spent in a rural town called Ruhanga which is south west of the country, about 5 hours drive from Entebbe airport. While I am there I hope to get stuck in to different activities, be it building more class rooms on a school or even teach some of the children English. I will be working with other volunteers so I will not on my own in this adventure. The list of different projects I can help with is as follows:

Building of a new classroom block

Teaching basic English skills
Helping out in a toy and book library

Helping in a medical centre

Raise money through a market 

Grow crops with the school children for food

One on One speech therapy

Possibly some IT lessons 

Genuinely I'm not very confident when stood in front of a group of people so this will be quite a challenge, but one that will make me grow in experience. I aim to keep you all updated with my blog if I have access to the internet and I will upload some pics I take along the way. 

If at any point you would like to donate anything, my next blog will have the details to do so as I want to make sure that any moneys raised goes to the areas most needed.

Thanks for reading and check back soon for my next update.