Awee bit of life in Kiwangala

Life in Kiwangala is so much more lively and exciting than I ever imagined it could have been. I really feel like this little village is my new home, and the people I’ve come to know feel as though they’ve been friends for years.The school is more or less the same, although we have remade the timetable, so I am now teaching 6 art lessons a week, and 6 English lessons. As well as a joint debating session for all of the seniors and a weekly trip to the school farm with primary 3-6, which includes a 3 mile walk in both directions. It’s a tiring 3 miles as well, as I found out last time, the children all want to run, and, not wanting to disappoint their smiling little faces, I was pushed to the limit! On the way back, after an hour or so of picking maize and piling it up under the jackfruit tree we walked back. To try and distract them from their burning desire to run all the way, I decided to teach them a song, chanting “Where we go, people always ask us, where we come from, so we tell them, we’re from SURE HOUSE!” They loved it, chanting each line after me, and ending on a huge jump for Sure House. This turned out to be quite tiring as well, as whenever I stopped, they would say sing sing! and we’d start again. But it’s empowering, being around all these incredibly tough children, who manage to make fun from the simplest of things.

I found it difficult to begin with, after almost 6 months of having no routine whatsoever. Being thrown in to, not only going to school, but being in charge of a class, even if there were only 4 students! The responsibility was suddenly on me, it was up to no one else, to plan and give these children the lessons they so need and deserve. I now feel like I’m getting into the swing of things, although the heat of the day still makes teaching tricky!

Living here is about so much more than just being in a classroom though, I feel as though I’ve really landed on my feet, it’s great being in a group of 4, every day there’s something going on! Today, at the school farm/garden Calum found an abandoned puppy, so proceeded to borrow a boda to drive it home. So we now have a little puppy living with us!! We’ve named him Nomad, and Calum, Holly and I are trying desperately not to get too attached to it. Later today we’re going to visit a boy’s house, to make sure it is suitable, then, tomorrow we will take Nomad over to his new home.

I’m finishing this today (today being the day after I wrote everything that’s here so far) Calum and I did walk to this little boy’s house, to check that they were ok to take little Nomad. His mum was lovely, and with Derek ( the 12 year old boy who lives next door) as our guide and translator we agreed we would come back tomorrow (today) to give them the dog. As we were about to leave, the mother whispered something to her son, who then ran off, 5 minutes later he reappeared, bearing a chicken, which we were to take, in thanks for the dog! We hesitantly accepted it, and she is now comfortable in our chicken coop at home! Eggs! Derek then took us to his grandmother’s farm which he wanted to show us. He gave us a tour, pointing out the cassava, matoke, bogoya (yellow bananas), passion fruit, mangoes, avocadoes, sweet pototo, Irish potato, jackfruit, and maize. Every inch of available land here is used to grow something, there’s such an abundance of food. On the way back the sun was setting, and I had the strongest feeling since being in Uganda, of how very lucky I am to be here.

Thank you again to everyone who helped me get here, everyday I feel something inside me expands a little, (and I’m not just talking of the weight gain that comes from a diet of matoke!) so thank you.