Blog entries

Big-Ups for Serve Direct!

Elspeth Dugdale — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:03:40 +0100

(Not another Ugandan rap, but a quote from a senior prefect to the WTA students with reference to the SD events this week)

What a looooong week..... but the pictures (below) do describe better what we got up to....

At some point every day last week, we were so relieved that we had built in plenty of flexibility and alternatives for every session (Plan A, Plan B and Plan C .... not to mention the wet weather alternatives)- as each day turned out to be different from the orig...

Redundant and lousy are eradicated from our vocabulary

Em Ball — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:08:51 +0100

This week has been crazy, a little exhausting but huge amounts of fun. Let me explain. Ugandan terms are a little ridiculous as they are bookended by exams – and sometimes they even have midterms as well.. Anyway other than the severely reduced teaching time that gives us, it also means that every term ends with 2 weeks of exams followed by the ‘redundant’ or ‘lousy’ week. Students just have to hang around, milling, being useless, and restless waiting for teacher...

How not to be redundant or lousy....

Elspeth Dugdale — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:07:13 +0100

Why the long silence?..... Well, it's been pretty busy over the last few weeks, I guess. No sooner do we finish one set of exams, then another exam week rears its ugly head. But that is the Ugandan way - endless testing, marking and assessing, at least two or three times a term. The last 7 - 10 days are completely lost from a teaching point of view, as each teacher must mark literally hundreds of papers and then write hundreds of reports before the end of term. We have learnt that this last ...

Even Uganda has April Showers

Em Ball — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:00:00 +0100

Before I start, I may as well point out that, no, this is not going to be a weather blog – and really it hasn’t been bad at all, but it seems that the Rainy Season has finally arrived in Uganda, though we’ve still had hot days by the pool.

I’ve been back for 2.5 weeks and though initially having to shock my system into being able to tolerate living with mealtimes and so much food, (my dad has always had a thing for cooking huge quantities, and once again having...

Surprise visitor...

Elspeth Dugdale — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:20:07 +0100

Umm... if you just received notification of this - but with no text and no photo, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a very cryptic title. Actually it is a technical, blog-loading prob from the Kampala side and yes, we are blaming the equipment of course....... now we have text... and the photo will arrive soon... (thanks, Simon 'Fixer' Bramwell in Romsey).

Praying before the football match - local schools tournament - but it is one of the referees taking a photo of the WTA team - and he clearly interrupted the prayers as they didn't win in the end ;) ... but they did have fun. but we have a cunning plan and a secret weapon. A semi-professional footballer who coaches i...

The Naguru Sunday News : Sunday 19th February 2012

Michèle Ball — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:49:56 +0100

It seems incredible we're already at half-term at KISU, and we find ourselves already a year on from Kilimanjaro Climb and two weeks away from IB mock exams. Tobes is following in Grace’s footsteps and the workload is both piling-up and being fought-back on a daily basis. However, Friday brought a little light relief in the form of the annual International Day, which I had never seen. Given it was our last, and besides, that the UK had the “focus tent” thanks to HM The Que...

Named and Labelled

Elspeth Dugdale — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:46:24 +0100

On the WTA staff this term, we have just welcomed the wonderfully named Miss Christmas Justine. But interesting names and labels are everywhere to be found.

Each week, I take S4 for a booster English lesson - already with the end of year exams in mind. But I do infiltrate the more formal teaching with plenty of colloquial English - often contradicting the...

RESULT!

Elspeth Dugdale — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:31:53 +0100

RESULT !

In the words of Charles' text: " We have just collected the results of our candidates. Thank GOD everybody passed, although we missed a lot of good grades due to determinant [Maths+some English] subjects"

It seems an age since S4 took their O' level exams last October... but finally the results were released this week. In short - the results are much better than last year, so big smiles all round! It is a very complicated and confusing mark system, to the un...

A pleasant diversion up North...

Jerry Dugdale — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:56:53 +0100

Pictures always convey more than words. Uganda is the only country that allows motorcycles into the game parks - without the need for a ranger to accompany to make sure you are not eaten! And it is just amazing. Breathtaking beauty, loads of game and all senses seriously heightened.

So, 870kms later in 40 degree heat we a...

First Day, First Term..in pictures..

Elspeth Dugdale — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:33:55 +0100

Arriving by boda from the main road - regulation trunk, mattress, bucket, jerry can, books - all balanced on top.

‘Happy Christmas!’ to you all and also ‘Jebaleko’ – which translates as ‘Well Done’ in Luganda...

Christmas?

Jerry Dugdale — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:13:46 +0100

Sometimes conversations here show how our worlds collide. I was sitting with our fencer and guttering man yesterday (Moses, he is also a pastor of a local church and a great supporter of the school) when the subject of Christmas came up. Sitting there in the heat of a hot day trying to explain what Christmas is like in the UK was mind bending. He just could not understand the big deal about Christmas shopping and gifts however much I explained it. He was als...

in their own words....

Elspeth Dugdale — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:38:42 +0100

Empty school .... not a pupil in sight... it looks very clean, but it is much too quiet for me.. so in their own words, here is what some of them had to say and write before they left for the long holidays...

from Sarah:

"I have written th...

Three guesses on a postcard..

Jerry Dugdale — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:35:09 +0100

Ok, you all know that we are building a health education centre and that progress is running along nicely....it is looking good and now ready for the roof. The building team have done a great job as it all seems level, square with vertical walls!

But there is also another building s...

White Man’s Magic with a Very Tall King on the Camel

Elspeth Dugdale — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:11:16 +0100

Never mind taking Kampala by storm… (see Geoff’s last blog) the Serve Direct team certainly took WTA and the Lukomera community by storm… they left last night and we are just about recovering from their whirlwind of activity and energy. In fact they will have recently landed back at Heathrow, so if you know any of the...

ServeDirect takes Kampala by storm

Geoff Rapley — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 12:02:37 +0100

In case the UK supporters out there were worried, yes all 6 of the 2011 team arrived safely at Entebbe. After a good sleep (for some), we moved up country and until yesterday have been living rough at the Networth and working at the new school.

We have variously been teaching (some a lot more formally than others), painting lots of things, planting, weeding, carrying out maintenance, and building a most impressive flag pole area at the entrance. Additionally there has been loads of in...

Home Alone with Much Ado!

Michèle Ball — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:28:33 +0100

Hello, from the land of noisy generators and a bit of a power and fuel crisis...
Much excitement, as our team of 6 is now over South Sudan as I type! But first, some catching up to do, to explain my lack of recent communication.

It all starts with a tale of 3 babies and a period of 12 weeks being on-call, from the middle of September until 11.11.11 - what a day to arrive! Most of my clients return to their home countries to give birth, but for many people, this is their home an...

Bleeding mosquitoes and flags in the swampyland..

Elspeth Dugdale — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 10:35:02 +0100

Even marking a single set of exam papers seems to take days here.. must be the altitude or I am losing my touch. Well, it is partly to do with huge group sizes, together with my pitiful level of concentration perhaps. But desperate times call for desperate measures, which this week meant marking by headtorch during yet another power cut, not to mention resor...