Rakai, Day 2

Our second day in Rakai was another busy one.  We had three site visits; the first being the school where Pastor George's wife, Beatrice, went.  (Side note: Pastor George is the leader of the Ugandan staff.  Dorothy is the administrative secretary and also Pastor George's adopted daughter.  They are both super awesome people!)  Kakoma Primary school has 7 yrs, much like our elementary school.  This was the first school we've visited that has all the subjects AND resource subjects (P.E., art, and music).  The students were all very smart, well behaved and listened to their teachers and headmaster, so I know it is a well run school.

I was able to teach some of the girls and younger boys how to play 4 square.  This was good for them because girls were not allowed to play soccer at this school and the younger boys had a hard time playing.  At first, I couldn't tell if they liked it or not, but a teacher talked with some of them and they said it was very fun!  Sweet deal!  :)

Our second destination of the day was St. Luke Butabago church and nursery.  Except, that they taught much more than nursery school.  Upon gathering information from the church staff and school teachers, we discovered that the children would drink all the water from the tank installed at the church 200 yards away every day.  Pastor George and Richard decided to make the school a priority for getting one of the next tanks so that they would have their own water supply.

Side note:  Some of us noticed a cement water tank, and found out that the school could no longer use it because it grew algae and was clogged.  Since there was no way to get inside to clean it, the tank could not be repaired.  This is one of the examples of an organization trying to do good in a community, but with no follow ups or contact afterward, the money spent went to waste.  No worries though- UWP to the rescue!!  :D  When I first met James, the leader of the American staff, I was skeptical about whether they were providing a sustainable resource for the people in Uganda.  After talking with him a bit, scouring through their website, and finding out about the Ugandan staff that works with the Ugandans, I became more confident that they were doing something awesome and lasting.  After seeing how it works, I can say that UWP is working hard to stay in touch with the places where tanks have already been installed and meeting the communities of new locations.  Each school or church has to go through an application process and talk with Pastor George before they will be considered to receive a water tank.  Then the process goes on from there.  It is supremely awesome and I am soo unbelievably glad that I am able to be a part of it!!!

Baby corn and banana trees

Our last stop was Kamengo Technical Institute.  What a cool place!  It allowed students who finished primary (7 yrs) and secondary school (6 yrs) to come and learn a trade in 3 years.  Afterward, they could go on to university, where they would study for a year or 2.  The trades taught were plumbing, carpentry, tailoring, electricity, masonry, and auto mechanics.  One of the unusual things about this tech school is that girls were allowed to come too!  It was interesting to compare my life to these students since we were about the same age.  They had to work first to make all the money for school because there was no where around to work.  I talked to a couple guys in the program for a while about how things worked at the school and how they had come to be there.

On the way back to Wingate, we got goat on a stick!!  It was sooo good! We also had chipati, of course. :)   Fun fact #2:  Some soda companies are the same in Africa, like Coca cola, Pepsi, Fanta, but some are different.  My favorite is Novida Pineapple or Mirinda Orange.

Hanging out in a cool tree :)