Week 7

Friday - February 24th

More people keep getting added to my classes at Smile Africa. It is very difficult when we are already at our 8th meeting. I don't know how to integrate the new students without making the material redundant for the established students. It is frustrating.

One of my students brought me oranges today. She is the same student who previously brought me bananas.

There was a problem being picked up today because all of the leaders of Hope 4 Kids partners were in a meeting with Hope 4 Kids personnel. So I had to hire a taxi to get home and couldn't do the food shopping I needed to do, so I ended up eating peanut butter and crackers for dinner. Oh well ----.

Saturday - February 25

SAFARI !!!!

We were supposed to leave at 10 for a 5-7 hour drive. The van we hired needed a battery so we left over an hour later. We made it to Kampala in about 3 hours but to get through Kampala took about 2 hours. There was much traffic and many badly flooded streets. We didn't even have a torrential rain. I can't imagine how badly the streets would be flooded with a torrential rain. Kampala, the capitol, is a little over a million people. The people who had given me an idea of the time to get to Fort Portal were badly mistaken at 5-7 hours. We finally arrived at our hotel at 9:00 p.m., for a total of 10 hours. Fortunately, we could still get dinner. Everyone was tired and sore from the worn-out seat pads of the van over very bumpy roads. The hotel is lovely - felt luxurious after our home in Tororo. The best part was a good meal we didn't have to prepare. Sue and I sat out in the cool of the evening with no mosquitos and talked over a nice glass of wine - telling ourselves that it was okay we were having 2 days of "vacation".

Sunday - February 26

We were at breakfast at 5:30 so we could leave for the park by 6:00. It was a 2 hour drive and we were not exactly sure where we were picking up our guide, Ven. On the way we saw a mother and baby elephant - pretty special. Stopped at the equator for photos and eventually found Ven and made our way to the park. It really was a great day!! The weather was comfortable though sunny. We saw all the animals that part of the park has available except for a leopard. We saw a lioness with 3-4 small cubs. Very exciting!! We saw elephants, Ugandan kob (a type of antelope), water bucks, warthogs and many beautiful birds. We also saw hippos, a huge crocodile and many cape buffalo. The rest of the animals there, are nocturnal, or too small to see except we did see a monitor lizard - not too big. We were lucky. All in all, it was a lovely day. Had a late dinner and went to bed for an early start in the morning.

Monday - February 27

Spent the day driving - 8 hours to return to Tororo. There was a northern bypass around Kampala which we took which cut down on the time in the city. It gave me a whole new view of Kampala - new construction, modern housing, some affluence. We arrived home tired - unpacked and went to bed = back to our teaching routine tomorrow.

Tuesday - February 28

We haave a little visitor every morning. There is a bird with a longish curved bill that looks like it is made for picking insects from the bark of a tree, that comes knocking at all of our windows every morning. First it comes to Sue's, then usually the kitchen windows and usually, but lastly, it comes to my window. So if our "preacher" is not walking through the neighborhood about 7:00, this little bird with its knocking is sur to wake us at 7:00.

Back to work. Drove to Wikus. With Peter driving we got there 20 minutes early. What a shock!! When we first arrived there was no one there. At first, I thought I had the wrong day, but upon checking the time, discovered we were early. We had 3 good classes. I have a suspicion that teacher James is helping the students with the homework assignments I have given them, which is fine, except it is more difficut for me to determine if they have truly understood what I have tried to teach or are just copying off the board what James has written.

Wednesday - February 29

It is a friend's "18th" birthday today as he was born in a leap year.

The last 2 days we have been experiencing, weather-wise, an inversion. The air is heavy, almost fog-like, with little sun. I think we need a good rain to wash it away.

I told all of my students about leap year to the best of my non-scientific ability. We spoke of the reasons for leap year, how often it happens, etc.

Pretty exciting - there are only 2 students in my Wed. Smile Africa English class which have not yet written their names on the board.

Thursday - March 1

We are having a few water troubles. The pump for the tanks is making a pounding sound plus the tanks overflowed - SOOO now we have an over-abundance of water as opposed to none. This situation of over-abundance is far better than none!!!

Peter drove me to Busowa. There was a downpour on the way, one could hardly see to drive. This is a bit scarey when there are so many reckless drivers on the road.

My English class did well in numbers and activity There are only 3 who need to learn to write their names. The Reading class were only 5 in number but we carried on. I think the rain made it difficult for many to come. We meet in their church which is mud walls of wattle and daub construction with a hip roof of reeds/grass. Windows are holes in the walls and doorways are totally open. The difficulty is discerning those dark faces inside a dark structure under a dark sky. Didn't get home until 7:00 p.m., very late.

We add 2 to our small team during this coming week. Another teacher, Stevie, joins us and then my son, Kent, is coming for 2 weeks. We anxiously await their arrival.