Category: Nature

Final days and reflections

Uganda Day 14: 2019 


After a comfortable sleep in a room on my own in the motel, woken only by a cockerel at one point in the night, I woke up feeling fresh. We all slept in for a while before breakfast which was where we were staying. 


Then we went to a market in Fort Portal. It was extremely colourful, with a variety of fruits and vegetables being sold. One particular thing I spotted was the way tomatoes were displayed. They were balanced on top of one another like when people balance rocks in a stack on the beach which was very clever. 


For the afternoon we went to Mountains of the moon to use the pool for the day and relax. I finished my book and just relaxed for the afternoon, occasionally dipping in the pool to cool off. We stayed for dinner and I tried the beef fajitas which were delicious, then it was back to the hotel for another good night’s sleep.  

Uganda Day 15: 2019


Paul, Luke, Meg and I went for breakfast whilst Andy and Nick got some extra sleep this morning. We were almost ready for our final part of the journey back to Entebbe. The bus journey wasn’t too long, only 4 and a half hours, but time flew by playing games with Nick, Paul and Luke. 


We shortly arrived at UWEC zoo and were reunited with our huts we stayed in on our first night in Uganda so it felt a bit like returning to our second homes. As we arrived late last time and didn’t see many animals, we went for a wonder around the zoo (along with hundreds of school children on trips!) We saw lions which we hadn’t managed to see properly in the wild, more zebras, and monkeys playing on the paths. The boys were tired so we headed back to our huts but Megan and I didn’t want to rest so we went to explore more of the park as we hadn’t seen the giraffes properly. We found an elder tree, baboons and the giraffe viewing platform and had time to chat and reminisce about the trip.

Joffrey picked us up at 5pm to go shopping. We went to the craft market which was really colourful, full of paintings and souvenirs to buy but it was just nice to have a look around.


Finally, it was time to revisit the beautiful restaurant (Gorettis) on the beach from our first night. We sat back at our table and as it was still light, we could enjoy the breathtaking view of Lake Victoria. Before dinner arrived, we had time to reflect on our time here. We did our top 3 moments for the whole trip and everyone had such different moments which was brilliant. Then we remembered funny moments of the trip and things we will miss. It got a bit emotional before leaving as we prepare to go home tomorrow. Overall, this trip has been an incredible, life changing experience and one I am thankful to have had. 

Reflections

Before taking this trip, I didn’t know what to expect. I was a bundle of nerves, anxiety and excitement at a fresh opportunity to see more of the world and different cultures. Having now been able to experience the Pearl of Africa, I can see why it deserves that name. It’s not just the animals, which are incredible to see in their natural habitats, and the landscape, which goes on as far as the eye can see and changes with every turn, it is the people. I have never been anywhere more welcoming and protective of visitors to their country. Just by meeting someone, you are already their brother, sister or friend. You are treated like family without hesitation just by being happy and polite. The people of Uganda’s happiness has been unfaltering in every town and city we have visited. With those who have little, they are happy. With those who have plenty, they are happy. This joy beams out of them primarily through dance and music which spreads to anyone around as it is infectious. 


My biggest thank you for this trip is to the people at Kafuro Primary School, particularly Stephen Thembo, who made me feel welcome as soon as I entered his school and began speaking to him. I felt like I had known him longer than a few days by the end of my time in his school. I would also like to thank the teachers at Kafuro Primary School for giving me free reign of their classes (and sometimes translating), allowing me to experience different styles of teaching in a different culture and try to show them some of my style. 


I am going back to England with a renewed appreciation for things we take for granted, such as getting water from a tap instantly and without thinking. Having listened to Mr Stanley talk so positively about Uganda for the last couple of years, I hope I can harness some of his passion for the twinning project and continue to ensure that the children of Liss understand how lucky they are to be twinned with such a fantastic school and to remember that they have family, the school children of Kafuro, in Uganda.

Installing a wildlife camera at Liss

Warm greetings to all our friends in  Kafuro, other Ugandan schools and our colleagues in the UK. This week, two of our pupils have been working with Geof, a volunteer helper at the school, to construct and install a wildlife camera in our nature area.

It took Jake and Oscar about 90 minutes to build the camera from a kit under Geof’s supervision.  After they finished, they installed the camera low on a tree in the nature area. The camera has a heat sensor which reacts to the proximity of animals (or indeed humans) and takes photos. As you can see from one of the photos below, we have an active badger sett in our nature area and the camera caught a glimpse of a badger walking through the long grass. Many thanks to Geof for all the time and effort guiding the boys and helping out the school.

In other news, we now have a colony of bees again, and we didn’t have to go and pick up a swarm. Yesterday, Mr Stanley noticed bees flying in and out of our Number 1 hive, and when he checked again this morning the numbers had greatly increased. It seems as if  a swarm of bees were looking for a home and found our hive. Happy Days!

We will keep you informed as to how the bees are settling in during the next couple of weeks.

School Grounds Day 2018

Greetings to all of our friends in Kafuro and also at other UK and Ugandan schools. This afternoon was School Grounds Day at Liss Junior School where the whole school works on various projects. This included:

Putting up lard balls to feed birds.

Planting flowers in the pots around the front and side of the school to make it look beautiful

Refurbishing our minibeast hotel

Cleaning and refurbishing our butterfly houses

Clearing raised beds and planting them with vegetables

Harvesting our rhubarb crop

Clearing litter around the school and gathering wood

Preparing our bottle greenhouse for the new pots with seeds in them

Clearing the main pathway up to our nature area

Clearing the pond in the nature area and cutting back willow.

We were given lots of help by parents who gave up their afternoon to support the children. we were also helped by Joe Williams, a ranger from QECP, who came in on his day off to help the children clean the pond and cut back the willow. Joe is an outstanding example of community engagement by a ranger.

We were all really happy with our new tidy school and we can’t wait for our new crops to grow.

 

School Grounds Day 2017

On Friday, Liss Junior School held its annual School Grounds Day with children, teachers and parents working together to maintain the school grounds. Each class took on different jobs:

Ash Class: Cleared the cob oven area and applied a new skim of clay to the oven.

Oak Class: renewed the plant pots outside each classroom and put in bird feeders around the school using coconut shells, lard and birdseed.

Willow Class: Collected wood for the cob oven and planted the front border of the school

Beech Class: Created a new compost heap near the school nature area.

Birch Class: Renewed our minibeast hotel.

Pine Class: Renewed the butterfly houses.

Rowan Class: Continued building the bottle greenhouse, helped clean the nature area and cut back willow. Found worms to keep our wormery topped up.

Maple Class: Used logs to line the path up to our nature area.

We were joined for the morning by Joe Williams and Steve Peach from Queen Elizabeth Country Park. They led the cleaning of the nature area and cutting back the willow. Steve also identified that we have an active badger sett in our nature area. He is going to install a camera so that we can try and see the badgers come out at night (badgers are notoriously shy creatures).

Mr Stanley has set Kafuro children a challenge for this year. Each class at liss Junior School has planted tomato seeds and we want to compare the plants we grow with those grown by Kafuro children. Mr Stanley has told the Liss children that this is a really tough challenge as Yowasi says that Kafuro tomatoes are the best in the Rubirizi district of Uganda. We hope that you wil post some photos of your tomato plants growing.

Rowan Class reply to questions from Kafuro children

Greetings to our friends in Kafuro. We enjoyed reading your last post and we have collated our answers to your questions. They are displayed below. We look forward to hearing your own answers on Tuesday.

Which animals do you always see in the park?

QECP: Deer, squirrels, foxes, rabbits, ducks, badgers, hedgehogs.

QENP: Elephants, lions, kob, hippos

 

Which animals visit you from the park?

QECP: Deer, squirrels, foxes, rabbits,

QENP: Elephants, hippos

 

Among the animals you have mentioned, which one do you like to see most and why?

QECP: Deer because they are shy animals and you don’t see them very often.

QENP: Elephants because they are so big and majestic.
Which animals do you not care to see and why?

QECP: Deer because they are shy animals and you don’t see them very often.

QENP: Elephants because they are so big and majestic.
Which animals should be removed from the park?

QECP: Most children said none of them because they are all important. A few children said rabbits and squirrels because you see them all the time.

QENP: Lions and snakes because they are dangerous killers.
Name the wild animals that live in water

QECP: Frogs, tadpoles and newts

QENP: Crocodiles and fish

 

What problems do hunters face?

Both parks: (This was Mr Stanley’s favourite answer) They have to get past the rangers!
What should the park authority do to the hunters?

Both parks: Ban them from the parks and if they kill animals they should go to prison.

 

How can we together prevent hunting?

Both parks: Get more rangers to guard and protect the animals. Use poster campaigns and educate people to stop poaching.

 

Which animal in the park is the best in cooperation?

QECP: Birds work together to build nests

QENP: Elephants work together to protect their young.

 

What do you learn from the cooperation of the animal named above?

We have learned that by working together we achieve more.

Installing a wormery at Liss Junior School

When Mr Burford retired from teaching in July, he bought two presents for the children at the school. One was a crab apple tree which was placed next to our orchard. The smell of the crab apple tree attracts the bees and, in turn, they pollinate the nearby orchard.

The second present Mr Burford bought the school was a wormery. Today, children from Rowan Class (with the help of Mrs Stokes) built the wormery and began filling it with food waste which can be turned into compost.

In assembly this morning, Mr Stanley explained to the school how worms were very important to creating usable compost. He explained that there are 26 British species of earthworm that are of a variety of sizes, the largest is 30cm and the smallest is around 6cm long, and they range in colours from a dark red to pale a yellow/green. The different types of earthworm are not easy to tell apart – identifying them requires a magnifying glass, an eye for detail and a lot of patience! However, one group ‘the litter dwellers’ are the most distinctive, living either in the leaf litter, at the soil surface or within compost heaps; they have dark red or brown colouring and in the case of the Tiger worm a set of dapper stripes.

The Tiger worms play their part at the very start of the recycling process consuming dead plant material when it first lands on the soil surface. They process it by eating it and recharge the soil with nutrients and minerals. The worm ‘casts’ – the small piles of processed soil or worm manure – are especially rich in the mineral calcium, which is needed by plants to absorb nitrogen – essential in helping them to grow. Earthworms also break up and aerate the soil like mini-ploughs, improving the texture of the soil which also helps produce healthy plants.

Charles Darwin recognised the  importance of earthworms and spent a large amount of time studying and understanding them, eventually writing his last book ‘The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits’. The research methods he utilised ranged from the very standard to the more unusual, for example he played a number of musical instruments, while assessing their reaction, and eventually he concluded that they are deaf!

Tiger worms also assist in living more environmentally friendly lifestyles, as they are one of the main worms used in wormeries. They allow us to process our kitchen and garden waste breaking it down and eventually creating rich compost for gardens, allotments and window boxes.

The children built the wormery and filled it with the Tiger worms (they have been living in plastic bags), strips of newspaper and bedding. As the worms mature, we will be able to add more and more food waste. In time, the worms will produce lots of fantastic compost that we can use to help grow vegetables.

We’d like to thank Mrs Stokes for assisting the children this afternoon. Most of all, we’d like to thank Mr Burford for his generosity in giving the wormery to the school and enabling us to produce fantastic compost.

We’d like to ask our friends in Kafuro if they use worms to recycle waste matter in Uganda.

A busy day at Liss

Thanks to Moris and P6 for their post. It is good to know that your bees are doing well although we’re sure you would prefer to have all six hives populated by colonies. Here in Liss, the long cold winter has only just ended and we have unfortunately lost two colonies through the cold weather. However, we checked our third colony (the original) this morning and the bees were very active out foraging for food. The pleasing news is that the weather is finally becoming warmer so we are expecting the colony to thrive and hope that we can take a swarm from the colony to populate a second hive later in the year.

We are also pleased to hear that Community Ranger, Elinah will be taking regular assemblies at Kafuro. Today, our community ranger, Joe took assembly at Liss and told us all about animals in Uganda and the UK. We learned how a female weaver bird can destroy a nest made by her mate with just one snip of her beak if she doesn’t like it.

We also continued building our bottle greenhouse today. Mr Stanley and two pupils turned and raked the soil in the greenhouse and made sure it was level while our site manager, Mr Haycock had a very difficult job trying to fit the door. The problem was that the wood had warped over the winter so poor Mr Haycock had to keep making adjustments. With only half the roof to fit, we are confident that the bottle greenhouse will be finished tomorrow.

Finally, we are able to tell you that our solar panels have now saved three cubic tonnes of carbon dioxide.  We are looking forward to raising the rest of the money required to provide Kafuro with solar panels so that you can use a clean source of energy as well.

Cob Oven Cooking

In history, we have been learning about the Saxons. We found out that Saxons had ‘feasts’ and a typical food that would have been available were ‘Oat Cakes’. The Saxons would have had to use fire lit ‘ovens’ to bake their oat cakes. To have a real experience of this, we lit our own Cob Oven and had a go at making Saxon Oat cakes.

Whilst we were outside cooking, we had noticed that the pear trees in our school garden we full of delicious fruit! We harvested the pears and had a go at making them in to pear crumble.

Have a look at our photos. You can see what we thought of our Cob Oven fayre!

With the pears we had found in the garden, we made a pear crumble! Here we are doing our magic in the kitchen;

Liss Junior School gains prestigious International Schools Award

Good news was received today at Liss Junior School when we heard that we have successfully received accreditation for the full International Schools Award. This is the culmination of a year of activities, many of which have been carried out in partnership with our friends at Kafuro Primary School. Some of the activities included keeping water diaries, oral storytelling, running Ugandan themed assemblies, developing the schools’ grounds and learning Runyamkore – Rukiga.

The British Council’s comments included the following statements:

This is an outstanding Impact Evaluation and you have shown how focused collaboration based on good communication can build a strong foundation for the establishment of an effective and well-structured international curriculum. Your application clearly outlines your international learning journey as well as showing the imaginative work that has gone into producing such an interesting curriculum. Your submission also maps out a clear vision of your future plans and aspirations for your school.You have fulfilled the success criteria for the ISA and it is our pleasure, therefore, to recommend Liss Junior School for the Accreditation level of the International School Award. Your relationship with your Ugandan partner school works very well(especially in the context of looking at sustainable living) and provides a great opportunity for your students to be exposed to the life and culture of Uganda.

I would like to thank Yowasi and all of the teachers and children at Kafuro Primary School for their hard work in keeping the partnership between the two schools so vibrant. I would also like to thank the staff, children and parents at Liss Junior School for supporting the activities we have been carrying out. Finally, I’d like to thank Steve Peach and the Queen Elizabeth Parks Twinning Project for all their ideas and support. The good news is that there’s plenty more to come!