Tag: Rihamu Junior School

A Ugandan Celebration

As our Ugandan Exchange comes to an end, we finished in style at Hambledon Primary with a celebration of our links with Rihamu Junior School.  This was an opportunity to demonstrate what both schools have learnt from each other and the difference that the partnership has made.

The celebration event showcased the learning from the units of work on Sanitation, Community Change and Wants and Needs. The topic of sanitation has a very high profile in the media and all visitors had the opportunity to wish their hands with a specially constructed ‘Tippy Tap’ in the hall!

The children discussed with our visitors (parents, Governors and members of the Parish Council) the impact of positive changes in both communities. Of special interest was how both communities are dealing with the threat of flooding.

Year 6 (Wants & Needs) could talk with passion about the importance of education in both of our countries. They were prepared to admit that that maybe this was something they’d taken for granted in the past.

The Queen Elizabeth Parks Project ran a stall selling Ugandan crafts and business was brisk all afternoon.

Visitors were also able to try their hand at African drumming and taste Ugandan food prepared by our extra special guests, Ugandan Headteachers Steven and Shakilah!

After speeches, the school presented Madam Shakilah with a cheque for £670. The money will be used to refurbish a the P1 classroom at Rihamu. The children also gifted a special teddy bear in Hambledon uniform – a special gift to our special friends.

Connecting Classrooms and Strengthening Bonds

Madam Shakilah has enjoyed her week teaching at Hambledon; almost as much as the children have enjoyed having her in their classrooms.  The children have been so excited to welcome her into class and have thoroughly enjoyed her lessons.  These have included sessions answering the children’s many questions about Uganda as well as sharing African Stories on world book day.  The Conservation message was a key part of the children’s learning on this day and all the pupils came dressed as endangered animals and plants.

She has explored issues around sanitation with Owls class, positive changes and developments in Kasese and led an African Animals Art lesson with Robins.

Today Madam Shakilah led a fascinating discussion in Ospreys class. She brought with her the responses from the pupils at Rihamu, who considered their Wants and Needs.  The similarities and differences to their own Needs and desires prompted much thoughtful debate.

Of particular interest was the differing views about the importance of education.  Madam Shakilah described how all pupils at Rihamu consider themselves very fortunate to have a place at the school.  Not all parents can afford to send their children to get an education.  Hambledon children felt that perhaps they take their education for granted as it is free and compulsory.  The children challenged their views of the purpose of their learning and its value to their life chances.  The pupils were able to articulate their understanding clearly and are looking forward to continuing the debate at next Wednesdays celebration event.

‘Sanitation’s What You Need…’

Owls class have been learning about the importance of good 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.

The children in Owls made their own ‘Tippy – Taps’. Before they began their builds, the children discussed why they would be needed. They discussed that in areas where water is not readily available, that it is really important to conserve as much water as possible. Additionally, the need for good sanitation is really important. Figures tell us that incidences of diarrhoea can be reduced by 44% just by washing your hands with soap.

Wants and Needs Work begins at Hambledon

Wants and Needs work begins at Hambledon
The same lesson is delivered at Rihamu Junior School

Year 6 have begun their work on the wants and needs learning pupils at Rihamu also started earlier in the year. Our first task was to draw around the outline of a pupil and give the outlined child a name. Next, we discussed what this child would need to grow up into a happy and healthy adult. The children were set the task of identifying twenty things that would help the child achieve this. At this point there was no input and the children could completely decide for themselves. Once the pupils had completed their twenty things that a child would need, they wrote them on post-its and placed them in the middle of the child. Next, they were asked to remove five of the things that the child could do without – this reduced the items to fifiteen. This exercise was repeated twice more and generated fierce debate on each table as the children argued over what should stay. Eventually, each group had five items left which they shared with the rest of the class and compared.

Community Change Work begins At Hambledon

Pupils in Year 2 and Year 3 are looking at how the communities of Hambledon and Rihamu change and develop over time. One threat that exists in both communities is the risk of flooding.

Rain water has caused much damage in Hambledon & Rihamu. Mr Davies launched the topic at Rihamu Junior when he visited last summer as part of the British Council ‘Connecting Classrooms’ project. He launched the same topic in Kingfishers Class, Hambledon last week. The children began by comparing photographs of the two localities and considering what these told them about the communities. In coming weeks they will be considering the impact of the flooding, before Madam Shakila finishes the topic as part of her visit in March.

Uganda 2019 Day 2: Journey to Mweya

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.

Uganda 2018: Day 1 – Rain

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.