I was so emotionally exhausted that I slept like a log last night. I was faintly aware in my sleep of a loud thunder storm and heavy rain for hours on end. This morning it was still raining and everything had turned to mud. At one point we were in the car, essentially sliding down the hill in the mud while children stood beside the road and laughed.
We were taken today to a conference on child protection. When we arrived people were standing around in clusters discussing large scale ideas in scenes faintly reminiscent of Monty Python's Life of Brian's People's Front of Judea.
It was sprung on us at the last minute that they wanted us to do a talk on child protection in England. Knowing nothing of this I put my skills to use as an expert poster holder. Some of the other volunteers has knowledge they were able to share. While some people were really happy to have this extra input, others resembled rowdy teenagers. There was sleeping on desks, texting, eye rolling, giggling and at one point a man asked us if we were ourselves children.
We used a piece of rolled up paper as a pointer. Apparently this is because the use of a stick instead could bring back bad memories for some delegates of being beaten at school. Violence in the schools is quite a problem in Uganda. The school run by the organisation I am working with prides itself on a strict non-violence policy.
After the conference we met with the project director. As well as doing a general induction for the new volunteers he shared with us his personal reasons for starting his charity work. He was one of 28 children, to his father's 4 wives. They were very lucky in their youth and all reached adulthood. However, during the AIDS epidemic in the 80s, 15 of his siblings passed away. This prompted him to form his first group, an AIDS support group.
On the way home Ali stopped us at a bridge. He said this was where the tribal border was and that there were riots here just 2 years ago when the King of Buganda wanted to cross the bridge. Ali told of being a journalist there at the time and having to sing the Buganda national anthem the whole way along the road as a password.
Tomorrow I will meet with the group accountant and field officer to discuss my plans and ideas. Feeling very excited and nervous tonight!
We were taken today to a conference on child protection. When we arrived people were standing around in clusters discussing large scale ideas in scenes faintly reminiscent of Monty Python's Life of Brian's People's Front of Judea.
It was sprung on us at the last minute that they wanted us to do a talk on child protection in England. Knowing nothing of this I put my skills to use as an expert poster holder. Some of the other volunteers has knowledge they were able to share. While some people were really happy to have this extra input, others resembled rowdy teenagers. There was sleeping on desks, texting, eye rolling, giggling and at one point a man asked us if we were ourselves children.
We used a piece of rolled up paper as a pointer. Apparently this is because the use of a stick instead could bring back bad memories for some delegates of being beaten at school. Violence in the schools is quite a problem in Uganda. The school run by the organisation I am working with prides itself on a strict non-violence policy.
After the conference we met with the project director. As well as doing a general induction for the new volunteers he shared with us his personal reasons for starting his charity work. He was one of 28 children, to his father's 4 wives. They were very lucky in their youth and all reached adulthood. However, during the AIDS epidemic in the 80s, 15 of his siblings passed away. This prompted him to form his first group, an AIDS support group.
On the way home Ali stopped us at a bridge. He said this was where the tribal border was and that there were riots here just 2 years ago when the King of Buganda wanted to cross the bridge. Ali told of being a journalist there at the time and having to sing the Buganda national anthem the whole way along the road as a password.
Tomorrow I will meet with the group accountant and field officer to discuss my plans and ideas. Feeling very excited and nervous tonight!
No comments:
Post a Comment