Many thanks to all the pupils and parents who attended our Uganda Celebration. We were joined by Mr. Davies and Mrs. Masika, the headteachers of Hambledon Primary School and Rihamu Junior School respectively. We were also visited by Olga Rey from the British Council who was incredibly impressed by the work displayed from the four schools. She described the partnership as ‘prolific’.
Work on display at the event included examples of the learning from all three of the units that Yr 3 and Yr 6 have been working on in conjunction with Kafuro. Additionally, there were samples of work from the wider Yr 6 curriculum where their topic this term has been Uganda. These included African—style bags and travel guides to Uganda written by the children.
We’re sat in Fort Portal, nearing the end of our Ugandan adventure. This is an opportunity to pause for breath, drink a Nile and take stock of what has been a real life-changing experience.
There is obvious impact from the Changing Classrooms Project and we’re only half way through it. The Headteachers from Rihamu and Kafuro will visit Hambledon and Liss in March 2020. The learning has been mutual and we will take things from the experience that will benefit pupils at all schools. A detailed exchange of thoughts about managing school improvement has already taken place and I look forward to implementing some of the ideas that I take away from this trip.
I am excited by the potential to make an enormous difference to the lives of children in Uganda for the long term. It won’t be too tricky either. By western standards the money and resources required to make significant improvements to the schools here is relatively small. A little will go a long way. We have already started this with our projects to improve sanitation and the building classroom infrastructure. I hope we can continue this to ensure that pupils don’t waste valuable learning time performing tasks that take them out of the classroom, such as fetching water. When they’re in class, we can ensure that they can learn without being exposed to the elements. I am hoping that our School Council can rise to this challenge next year.
The purpose of this project is to benefit both English and Ugandan schools and there is much that Rihamu can contribute to Hambledon. As well as a window to different cultures and beliefs, our children continue to strengthen their ties with their pen-pals. We also have plans to create video links and exchange voice messages with our friends at Rihamu. We’re getting good at recording podcasts at Hambledon and these are a great way of promoting communication between our children.
As I think back on what I experienced I am glowing with admiration for what Shakilah and her team achieve with meagre resources. In Uganda it doesn’t matter what clothes you wear or what car you drive. Everyone is together and they look out for each other, nobody is judging. It is inspiring. School children concentrate well, listen carefully and show high levels of respect to each other and to the adults that teach them. Living standards are lower and the pace of life is slower, but levels of appreciation are high and I will take these precious memories back to the UK.
Every night of this trip the whole group has sat together and chatted. As part of this conversation we have all nominated our top three moments of the day. Today, I will find it impossible to nominate just three. There were so many amazing moments that made this the perfect day in Uganda.
The Conversation Cup is a competition between all 10 schools in the QE Parks Project on the playing fields at Kyambura School. Ten children from each school participate in Tag Rugby and Football and also deliver a presentation with a conservation message.
Of course I was cheering for Rihamu. The children had only received their tag rugby kit a week ago, but have been training hard since. Many of the schools have been playing for years and Rihamu improved every game. I was delighted that by their final game, the children put up a stiff challenge and managed a 1-1 draw.
At break I handed the children some biscuits I’d purchased at a shop in Kampala on day 1. One little girl reached into the jar and pulled out a ginger nut. “Don’t eat yours yet!” called another child. “I’m not going to eat it,” she replied. “I’m only looking; it’s from the expensive super market.”
Rihamu’s football team are very skilful and performed brilliantly. I was on the side-lines cheering every kick. I must admit that the ecstatic cheer that I let out when their first goal was scored rang very loudly around the playing field. Rihamu went on to win that game and the next! The team qualified easily from their group and progressed as far as the semi-finals. The semi-final was a very tense affair with New Life School. Two very evenly matched teams. At the full-time whistle the scores were still 0-0 and extra time beckoned. Memories of Italia 90 and Euro 96 resurfaced as Rihamu let in the first goal in with literally the last kick of extra-time. This was the first time the children have taken part in a competition and to progress so far is a stunning achievement.
That left the conservation presentation. Rihamu performed a poem written by the Headteacher Shakilah, last weekend. The children had it memorised by lunchtime on Monday and spent the week perfecting their performance. I blogged earlier in the week that I thought they stood a great chance, but this performance brought things to the next level. They took to the stage in costume, having used a nearby tree to manufacture ‘branch’ headdresses. The performance was loud, slick and synchronised and brought huge cheers at the end. For me the result was never in doubt and as expected Rihamu were crowed Conservation Champions, winning a valuable prize of a boat safari in the Queen Elizabeth National Park!
Shakilah and her team are amazing. They achieve so much with so little, making a daily difference to children with extremely meagre resources. In Uganda it doesn’t matter what clothes you wear or what car you drive. Everyone is together and they look out for each other, nobody is judging. It is inspiring.
Huge congratulations to CM Sports for organising an excellent tournament. The sight of the post-presentation celebrations, hundreds of children dancing on the field, brought home to me the difference that a simple sports tournament had made. Then it was time for emotional goodbyes.
I return to the UK with pen-pal letters for the children and staff of Hambledon. Also with a snazzy hat and a plaque for my office. But more than that, I return to England having fallen in love with Rihamu School and the many friends I have made there.
As I went for tea at Tembo there was time for yet another Ugandan surprise. We have to drive everywhere in the park in the evening and night. This is because of the risk from wild animals. As I walked into the garden of Hippo House to board the bus I froze. Literally no more than 10 metres in-front of me, walking through our garden was a herd of elephants! I stood agog as 30 Elephants walked through past us, occasionally stopping to rip some leaves from the trees to eat. Perhaps I got too confident, but to get a better shot on my mobile phone I stepped towards a giant elephant. He decided to remind me who was in charge! Letting out a loud trumpet, he turned and started to run towards our group. Obviously I panicked and hid safely behind the bus. An exhilarating finish to a heart-pounding day.
Up early to visit Katwe Boarding School. Karen has donated a new first aid kit to the guides group and we popped along to see how they’re doing. The girls greeted us with two excellent songs and I got to teach them how to play frisbee. The focus of today’s learning at Rihamu Junior School was the importance of sanitation. Diarrhoea kills more children than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Almost 1 billion lack access to safe drinking water. More than 2.3 billion people lack access to safe sanitation.
For this reason I am delighted that the money raised by Miss Murray from her Ugandan Marathon will be used to improve the sanitation at Rihamu. Sometimes the water supply to the school is cut, on these occasions staff and pupils have to carry 20 gallon jerry cans from the neighbourhood. One pupil, Abigail, explained that this is not only tough, but wastes their learning time. The project will see the installation of a 5000 litre water tank and guttering to collect rainwater. Miss Murray’s fund raising will also cover the costs of the cement, sand, concrete and labour necessary for its correct installation. Thank you again to all who sponsored Miss Murray and to Miss Murray for her fund raising efforts. I have seen this week the huge difference this will make to a great many lives.
What’s left, will be put together with an anonymous donation to fund the refurbishment of a classroom block. Currently two of the walls of classroom P1 are formed from wooden planks. The gaps between these mean that when it rains the children sat in class get very wet. The funding will pay for bricks, cement, sand and marrum. The work will create water tight brick walls and a classroom environment much better suited for learning.
The school provided another gorgeous lunch of goat sandwiched in chapati. I think I will leave Africa having put on weight.
We then braved the afternoon heat to head to a local open space to train for the Conversation Cup. A week ago the children had never seen a rugby ball or a cricket bat. Now they are scoring tries from raid breaks and pulling the cricket ball to the boundary.
Up early for the hour drive to Rihamu Junior School. This morning’s lesson was on the United Kingdom in general and Hambledon Primary School specifically. I was particularly excited to find out what the children knew about my country and what their impressions of it were.
The class explored various pictures of life in Britain that I’d prepared and then used their skills to deduce what the photos said about life in Britain. A few images exposed the differences in the UK between rich and poor. The children were really surprised to understand that we have homelessness and begging and they could see the differences between wealthier housing and poorer estates. We also talked about how Food Banks help people in our country.
The British weather always generates much discussion and today was no exception. The children enjoyed looking at images of snowy landscapes and laughed when I described the disruption that a little snow causes. We also had a conversation about out seasons. At first they didn’t understand that the sun can shine in Britain, yet it can still be very cold. We talked about how trees changed across our seasons. They loved hearing about Robins Class weekly ‘Wellie Walks’ to the ‘Changing Tree’ to photograph these differences across the year.
The children have received their pen-pal letters and are writing back to their friends at Hambledon. They enjoyed viewing pictures of our school and I was able to help match a face to the name of their pen-pal.
I have to say that I was again impressed with the pupils of Rihamu. Their enthusiasm for learning and ability to infer understanding from the information I provided was superb. They were surprised to hear that education is free in our country and that pupils progress through classes at the end of every year, rather than when they pass the exam, like in Uganda.
Shakila very kindly continued my tour of Kasese. This allowed me to collect more photos to teach Hambledon pupils about Uganda next term. We visited the new airport from which a single engine plane was about to fly 12 passengers to Kampala. There are plans to expand the airport to support the economy in Kasese.
We then visited the new market which is under construction and due to be completed in Feb 2020. At the moment The market stalls are in temporary accommodation and it was a delight to browse the bustling stalls and hunt for bargains. I purchased a ‘Jug’ fruit that I want to share with the school children tomorrow – another new experience. Shakilah made my day by buying me a gift – a Ugandan Football shirt! I shall wear it with pride.
On Friday Rihamu will participate in the Conversation Cup, a rugby, football and poetry competition between all the schools in the QE Parks Project. After another lovely lunch I was able to sit in on a rehearsal of their poem. Shakilah wrote the poem at the weekend and the children have already memorised it and were polishing their performance. I don’t want to give too much away before Friday, other than it’s excellent and stands a great chance. Maybe Rihamu can help our performance in Eurovision?!?
I have has many fantastic days as a teacher over the last 20 years. Today was definitely another.
I awoke feeling excited. My first day teaching at Rihamu Primary School. As I boarded the bus for the hour journey to Kasese, it felt like the first day in a new job. Excitement mixed with a little nervousness. Rihamu is a special school. It has that amazing ‘something’ that is hard to put in to words. The warmth and friendliness makes it the perfect match for Hambledon.
I shouldn’t have been nervous. My class of 32 pupils were incredible. We were learning about the UN ‘Charter of the Child’ and thinking about what children need to grow up leading a healthy and happy life. The children began by drawing around a friend and giving their ‘child’ a name. Nick and Andy were very popular names after CM Sport’s visit last week.
The children needed to then populate their drawing with concrete and abstract examples of the requirements for a healthy lifestyle. The level of debate was high as children discussed the importance of good sanitation over health care (Abigail argued that health care was more important as not all diseases are caused by infected water) and others thought that education was not essential as shelter or clothing as it wasn’t necessary to survival. Shakilah will deliver the rest of this unit exploring children’s rights under the UN Charter as well as their responsibilities to the community.
As part of the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms Project all the units of work will be taught to children at Rihamu and Hambledon. One topic examines the impact of flooding in both communities. To help me teach this back in England, Shakilah took me out to the Kilembe Mines to photograph the impact of the 2014 flooding. When the river Nyamioamba burst its banks, the whole community was destroyed. Homes were washed away and over 30 people were killed, their bodies washed to the bottom of the Rwenzori Mountains to be recovered in Kasese. Photographing the damage caused by this natural disaster was a very sobering experience.
Back at Rihamu, the staff had once again prepared a generous lunch of bean stew and rice, followed by fruit. The pineapple in Uganda is very tasty. The break was also a chance to discuss with Shakilah her expectations of the UK (she is visiting Hambledon in March 2020 to help me teach the pupils of Hambledon) and the cultural differences between the UK and Uganda.
After lunch I was delighted to represent Hambleon; (The Cradle of Cricket) and teach about 40 Rihamu pupils the wonderful game. They quickly picked up the rules and entered into a game with a competitive spirit and enthusiasm that would put England’s defeat in today’s First Test to shame. Shakilah bowled me a few unplayable ‘Doosras’ (her arm was definitely bent) and one boy didn’t let taking a ball full in the stomach slow him down. Well done Rihamu. You did the cricketer s of Hambledon proud.
I finished the day joining in with the girls playing netball, until the bus came to collect me. I left Rihamu, hot, tired and dusty but also really happy that I had made new friends. The day was topped on the return through Queen Elizabeth National Park. We saw about 60 elephants, in three herds, up close. In one herd, the two male giants were helping the younger elephants across the road. Just like when we take pupils across Church Lane in Hambledon, the two ‘staff’ male elephants were blocking the road like Lolly-Pop men, as the younger ones walked in a line between them. An amazing day.
After a rather restless night last night, with a huge storm, I woke up feeling much better than yesterday. We headed to Tembo for breakfast where most of us had French toast to set us up for the day. Setting off at 10, we drove to Rihamu, spotting an elephant on the way out of the park.
An hour later, we were nearing Rihamu and Joffrey asked some locals to show us the way to the school. We arrived to a carnival style greeting with children lining the entrance, singing and dancing and wanting to shake hands with all of us. Nick and Megan got emotional as it was really overwhelming to see children so happy and excited to see just us. As soon as we were in, we were whisked away to look in all of the classrooms where the children warmly greeted us with enthusiasm and some had decorated their rooms with paper flowers especially for us. The rooms themselves had a chalk board at the front, wooden tables with benches attached which could seat 3 children, and a few posters on the wall to support the children’s learning. One class I entered, Primary 5 (P5), told me in their introduction that they ‘go to school to struggle for a better future’ which really pulled on the heartstrings. Another class, P7, told me ‘teachers are our parents at school, they care for us’ which I would hope children in England would have in common. I was given the tour of the school by a teacher called Roseta who taught the children my name as we moved around and was very welcoming. Her younger sister, Bridgette also worked at the school and was just as lovely.
Once everyone had seen the rooms and caused chaos by dancing, singing songs and getting the children hyped up (like Luke), the upper school walked to the pitch which was used for sports, not quite the fields the CM sports group were used to as it was dusty, extremely hot and not very even which was noticeable by the footballs rolling away! They started off with a game involving everyone (which was about 60 children) in which they stood in a circle and had to take turns in their pair running around to get back to their pair like a giant duck duck goose. There were a few rounds and I played with Bridgette which was interesting when we were both wearing dresses and flip flops and had to run around a huge circle and jump on each other’s backs! Whilst the boys organised the teams, Roseta asked the children to teach me the elephant song which they found hilarious when I tried but it would be a lovely song to teach back at Liss. Later when the school were organised into 2 groups posing rugby or football, I had the chance to talk to Roseta and Bridgette with Ashley, who works at Queen Elizabeth Country park and is also staying with us at Hippo House. We talked about our similarities and differences such as they’ve never seen snow but Bridgette has been to university. After a while, Roseta and Bridgette joined in on the football and Roseta was a great goalkeeper, organising her team before her throw ins.
When it was too hot and the games had finished, we headed back to school for lunch. Shakilah had organised a special lunch for us which included Irish potatoes, rice with vegetables, goat stew and cooked green bananas which tasted a bit like potato. We were discussing the children at Liss cooking Ugandan food in DT with Mr Stanley and they noted that they didn’t cook posho so Shakila kindly got us some to try as the children have it with beans for lunch at school. Once we had refueled, we visited the nursery where children stay at the school. It was quite hard hitting as we were told the children share beds as there isn’t enough space.
The final thing we learnt was to balance a bottle on our head as we have seen lots of people carrying things on their head in our time here. After lots of determination, I managed to do it – and then with dancing! It had got to about 3 o’clock and it was time to leave. We had lots of photos with the teachers and said some emotional goodbyes then headed back to Mweya.
On the way back through torrential rain, we spotted an elephant herd on the side of the road. The giant elephant was with some of his family including a baby one. Once across the road, they used their trunks to throw dust over themselves to dry them off.
We carried on down the road and went back to Hippo House for an hour to rest up before the daily pilgrimage to Tembo for dinner. I tried chicken and vegetables with chipati which was a bit like a stir fry. I didn’t think I would be hungry after our feast at Rihamu but I managed to eat a lot. Then it was straight to bed to get an early night before a delightful 5.30am wake up call for the game drive tomorrow.
I awoke this morning very excited, anticipating my first trip to Rihamu School. The journey from Mweya to Kasese takes about an hour, on some of the best road in the country. It was a chance to reflect on Hambledon’s partnership with Rihamu. The schools have been twinned for just over a year, but in this short time it has made a huge difference to the pupils of Hambledon. Last autumn the whole school studied the country of Uganda and forged links with our new friends via pen-pal letters and visits by Mrs Foster and Miss Murray.
Both teachers had told me to expect a warm welcome, but I was still taken aback by the strength of the excitement and joy that we all felt in the meeting. The children were lined up in the courtyard and started cheering as we entered. Many ‘hi-fives’ were exchanged as we made our way along the welcome line and I was delighted to meet my fellow Headteacher Shakilah Huda and the director of education Ibrahim Kiwanuka.
We were taken on a tour of the school’s classrooms and each class had prepared a special welcome. I was really impressed with the quality of the work and the attention and hard work the pupils were giving their lessons. I was pleased to see that in each room hung a picture of children hard at work in Hambledon. I was pleased to be able to tell the pupils the names of their Hambledon friends.
Shakilah has a strong and powerful vision for improving Rihamu. The programme is already underway; they have bought new land and extended the courtyard area of the school. Further improvements we discussed included a programme of works to improve the classroom infrastructure including plastering and painting many of the walls in the school. They have plans to put in a system of rainwater collection via guttering and a water tank. They also hope to put a surface down in the playground to stop it turning very muddy whenever it rains. I am pleased that the money Miss Murray raised running her Uganda marathon will be put towards some of these vital works.
Another way in which we will be working together is to deliver joint units of work in both Hambledon and Rihamu. These cover the topics of Children’s Rights, Sanitation and Changing Communities. Next week I will be teaching with Shakilah and delivering these units to pupils at Rihamu. Shakilah will also have the opportunity to teach the pupils of Hambledon when she visits us next March.
The coaches at CM Sports were fabulous today. They took very large groups of children over to a local playing field to play Tag Rugby. This was using sets bought with some of the money raised by Miss Murray. The children will have a chance to play in a competition with other schools in the project: The Conservation Cup. The children and teachers were new to the game but the coaches quickly taught them the basics and gave them what they need to continue practising next week. Coming from the cradle of cricket I will also be teaching that game using set Mrs Foster brought over last year.
The generosity of our hosts was amazing. Shakilah and her team had made a gorgeous lunch of meat stew, matoke (a savoury banana), rice, potatoes and fruit. We all tucked in with enthusiasm, grateful for a chance to rest and shelter from the afternoon sun. CM Sports also presented some gifts to our friends of Rihamu. This included various pieces of sports equipment as well as a Dart Board and sets of Dominoes. Luke taught Shakila darts. Shakilah won! I taught Shakilah dominos – Shakilah won! I feel very lucky that I am able to return to teach on Monday and am excited to strengthen the partnership between our two schools.
The day began with breakfast at Entebbe Zoo. Again the backdrop to our meal was the gorgeous Lake Victoria. This morning Joffrey brought his wife along to meet us. She is pregnant with twins and was about to wave goodbye to her husband as it was his job to drive us the eight hours to our base in the Queen Elizabeth National Park at Mweya.
Before we could start we all had jobs to do in Kampala. For the CM Spots crew this was a trip to a Sports Shop to purchase sports equipment for the training they’ll be doing in 10 schools over the next two weeks. Between them Nick, Luke, Megan and Andy have raised £400 and the equipment they purchased today (including footballs, tennis rackets, dart boards and dominoes sets) will be remaining behind in the schools they visit.
Miss Duncan and Mr Davies paid a visit to the British Council whose offices were housed within the British consulate in Kampala. The British Council have funded much of this visit through their Connecting Classrooms Project and this meeting was an opportunity to share our plans and expectations for the next two weeks.
Most of the rest of the day was spent in the minibus driving across Uganda, a distance of over two hundred miles. Despite the cramped conditions, the team managed to entertain themselves with games and conversation. The journey through the countryside was a great way for us to become familiar with the real Uganda. The scenery was staggeringly beautiful as we headed towards the Rwenzori mountains.
The quality of Ugandan roads is not great, although I’m told that they are much improved in recent years. This was apparent from the fact that most of the way, roads were still under construction. This lead to a very bumpy ride and I received what Geoffrey termed a ‘Ugandan Massage’ as I was thrown around in the back of the bus. Uganda also has speed bumps all along their main roads. Sitting on the seat above the back wheel is not a good idea on these occasions and I managed to bang my head several times on the roof of the bus! We made a couple of brief stops to use the ‘bush toilet’ as well as a welcome rest in Fort Portal for a drink.
As we got closer to our destination I was very excited to see Kasese; a bustling town that is home to Rihamu Junior School – Hambledon’s twin. I look forward to returning on Friday.
Today was also notable for the huge amount of wildlife we saw in its natural environment. At one point we swerved to avoid baboons and as we entered the area of the Queen Elizabeth National Park we were welcomed by Hippos and Hyenas. We eventually made it to Hippo House in the dark at 8pm. The hospitality of Tembo, the Parks’ restaurant was very welcome after a long and tiring day.
Well, the good news is that we’ve arrived at Hippo House safe and well. As usual, it wouldn’t be a journey to Uganda without being highly eventful. This time, however, it wasn’t about us!
We were picked up from Rowlands Castle on Tuesday at 7.30am by Steve Peach and progressed smoothly up to Heathrow. I was a bit (a lot) worried about the weight of our baggage – we had been frantically adding and removing items the previous night – but the Turkish Airlines staff paid no attention to the weight and passed our bags through without any problem. Both flights were fine too – I watched Rogue One and The Martian and managed to get a bit of fitful sleep. Mrs Green spent a lot of the flights dozing off – she had been in an important meeting the previous day and was very tired.
We arrived in Entebbe at 02.45 on Wednesday, right on time. It took an eternity to get through customs, in fact the Ugandans seem to have designed the most inefficient system possible where you apply online and get given a slip of paper saying you have a paper visa, then you stand in a queue for 40 minutes while they process the people in front of you and then another ten minutes while they take a photo of you and fill out all sorts of forms. It was so much easier when you could just get the visa in London. In spite of all that, the lady who processed me was very friendly and said that I should be made a permanent resident seeing as it was my seventh visit.
We picked our bags up without any problem (Thank you Turkish Airlines) and met Geoffrey, who had brought our car to the airport. Unusually, there was a bit of drizzle in the air. As I drove out of the airport, this turned into a downpour. By the time we reached Kampala, it was monsoon conditions and the streets were rapidly flooding. Drainage in Uganda is not at the level of the UK and at one point I was genuinely worried that we would struggle to progress any further. Kampala is built on seven hills (just like Rome) and the water was coming down the hills like rivers. It also didn’t help that it carried a lot of the local garbage with it!
We stopped off at a Forex bureau to exchange money (we had to wake up the cashier) before dropping off Geoffrey at a garage and starting the long drive to Mweya. As prophesised by Larry the Leopard, Mrs Green had fallen asleep and face-planted within twenty minutes – only the seatbelt prevented her from bashing her head on the dashboard and I drove on through the pouring rain. The good news was that because it was raining so hard I was unable to read the road signs clearly and it was a pleasant surprise when we reached Mityana and then Mudebende before I had thought we would get there. At Mudebende, the rain finally stopped and we made rapid progress to Fort Portal where we stopped for breakfast. Mrs Green, who wasn’t feeling hungry, managed to eat a massive plate of fruit and then some French toast. I had a very nice BLT which they brought to me with fries. We also got our phones and data sorted out at Africell. Unfortunately, my friend Robinson wasn’t there, but I left a message for him and an England rugby shirt that I’d brought over from the UK. We also visited Norah, a ranger who works out of Fort Portal, who was very interested in our plans for our trip.
Mrs Green took over the driving when we left Fort Portal and headed for Kasese. By now the sun was out and the Rwenzori Mountains (Mountains of the moon) looked spectacular in the background. We reached Kasese where we had the first of our duties to perform. We had promised to briefly visit Rihamu (pronounced re-harm) Junior School who have recently been twinned with Hambledon Primary School. After a bit of a search (we eventually employed a boda boda driver to show us the way) we found the school where we were welcomed by Neckson (Nixon) and Sylvanius, two of the teachers. The headteacher was away at a meeting, but the school director soon appeared and was very pleased to see us. The school was tiny – about the size of four English classrooms but still managed to pack in 220 pupils. An impropmtu dance performance was arranged and groups of children performed four or five different dances. However, whereas in every other Ugandan school we have visited, we were presented with cultural dances, at Rihamu they were all modern ‘street’ dances. To our great discomfort and to the hilarity of everyone else, Mrs Green and I were dragged out to dance as well!
We left Rihamu, picked up supplies and then I began the final leg of the drive to Mweya, about an hour away. The sky was looking an ominous black colour and before we knew it we had monsoon conditions again. I drove very slowly and carefully onto the Mweya peninsula. Mrs Green almost immediately saw waterbuck and two elephants – her finely tuned ranger sense immediately kicked into gear. Hippo House was prepared and ready for us and we were both so tired that we went straight to sleep.
I was woken up at 18.00 by a call from Yowasi telling me that the others had landed and they wanted my phone number. I called Geoffrey and spoke to Nick who told me that although they had all arrived safely in Entebbe, it had been a traumatic journey for Lisa and Katie M. They had been trapped on the M25 as it had been closed and missed their flight to Dubai. Fortunately, they were able to get a later flight and just make their connection in Dubai. Nick said that they were all very tired and a bit overwhelmed. We should see them early Thursday evening when they arrive in Mweya.
We finished off the day by going to Tembo for dinner – tilapia and chips washed down with a couple of Niles! We were made to feel so welcome by the staff, it was as we’d never been away. As we drove back to Hippo House we saw 11 (by my count) elephants just walking out of our garden. A spectacular end to a long and tiring day.
Tomorrow we visit Mahyoro and Kyambura before returning to Hippo House to greet the CM Sports group.
Finally, the first question of this year’s trip comes from Emilie James in Yr 6 who wanted to know if Ugandans have pets. The short answer is yes. Many Ugandans have goats or chickens which are essential sources of food. Some Ugandans also have dogs or cats but they tend to run free – I’ve never seen a Ugandan dog being taken for a walk. Ugandan cats are also smaller and skinnier.
