I slept like a log last night........until 3am when it sounded like something was being murdered outside!! It was some African bird?! Are they going to do that every night?!
Today was our first day of work. We travelled out to a local school that have acquired some land to build a nursery. Again, as we arrived at the school, it was like being part of a scene I have seen played out so many times on my tv screen. A team of white folk arriving at a school or an orphanage much to the excitement of the children who gather round and cheer and wave. Some were bemused by us, others immediately stood by us and took our hands. We were welcomed warmly by the staff who then showed us around their school. Classrooms with benches, a black board, a few torn posters on the wall. No colourful trays, no smart boards, no visual displays. This place is a million miles away from my class, my classroom and my school.
All day we moved bricks. We formed human conveyor belts in order to place bricks ready for cementing. In the heat of the day it was exhausting but rewarding and exhilarating and fun. There's something incredibly satisfying about working together as a team; making a difference.
Jess, Zoe and I helped prepare lunch. We shelled beans and peeled sweet potato which we later ate, Ugandan style, with our fingers! The children ate porridge from their mug; the meal they eat every day.
We left at 4pm and returned to the hostel which was buzzing tonight, lots of travellers in, on their way through. Tonight was pizza night, cooked outside in the kiln - delicious!
As we travel about we are driven by Charles, a local driver and we are able to gain an insight into his life and his country. We asked him how much the lady sweeping the road earns. Twenty five pounds a month for sweeping the road all day every day. Charles has a daughter, 'Lucky'. As we travelled I wondered why he would choose to call his daughter Lucky. I considered that my children should have been called Lucky, not his. Mine who have grown up with so much, not his.
Later on as we passed through one of the villagers a womans voice could be heard making an announcement. We asked Charles what she was saying. He went on to explain that she was telling the village to look out for a child who'd disappeared. When pressed, Charles explained that children are taken for sacrifice. Wealthy Ugandans use a witchdoctor to bring about prosperity by sacrificing a child. I was speechless - whilst somewhere else in the world I am teaching 7 & 8 year olds, here they are being taken, up to 10 children month go missing here, to be sacrificed by a witch doctor. There's something very wrong with this world. And Charles chooses to call his daughter Lucky......
