Bond, James Bond

James and I were invited to a private screening of the new James Bond movie, Spectre, on Monday evening. Forrest and Marjory were invited too so we all went together and had a really fun evening. Entering into the spirit of the evening, James and Forrest wore dinner suits and looked just like 007s, and Marjory and I were very glamorous - Marjory looked like a Bond girl whereas I was more like the old style Miss Moneypenny! When we got to the Grosvenor Cinema in Ashton Lane there was a sports car parked outside the cinema. I was particularly impressed that Marjory knew what make and model it was.* There was also a red carpet, which led us into the Lane Bar for complimentary drinks and canapés - lovely! We were then ushered through into the cinema, to the spacious and comfy Grosvenor seats. It was exciting watching the film at exactly the same time as the London Premiere, although in Ashton Lane there was not a celebrity in sight! 

I thought that the film was excellent; plenty of exotic locations and special effects. I like Daniel Craig as Bond and the French actress Lea Séydoux was very engaging as the beautiful but capable Dr Madeleine Swann. It was a worthy Bond film. 

* it was an Aston Martin DB9. 

Birthday tea

A week ago I was on my way home from Uganda. It seems like a dream to me now. It's nice to see the pupils from the trip around school, we are always pleased to see each other because we know that we were part of something very special. I feel a bit different since I came back, less anxious I think, and I am very aware of behaviour around me that I perceive as overly entitled. 

On Thursday Davie came home from Dundee and we had a birthday tea for him. It was great to see him and we had a lovely evening - Jamie and Ally both joined us. We had such a laugh; Jamie is very funny and reminded me of my Dad with all his stories. My Dad would have loved to see how he has turned out.

I'm home with my kitties this weekend - James and Ally are away on a hill-walking weekend. I am amazed at how much Tom and Ruby are eating - they are just about a year old now and spend so much time outdoors, they are very hungry when they come in. As I write this they are relaxing and stretching on their wee beds, but keeping an eye on me in case I head towards the cat food cupboard! 

17. Uganda - The Homecoming

Both flights went smoothly and I managed to get a good bit of sleep between Entebbe and Amsterdam. When we arrived in Glasgow George and I said our goodbyes to the pupils at the baggage collection area and thanked them for doing so well in Uganda. Then we all went through to the arrivals where all of the parents were waiting with a huge banner to welcome us! 

Seeing the pupils reunited with their parents made me feel very emotional - the parents have worked so hard to raise money for the trip and to support the group.

James and Alasdair were waiting for me; it was lovely to see them and when we got home James made me a bowl of porridge with blueberries and a cup of coffee, it was bliss. Then I had a sleep for a couple of hours followed by a bath - yes, with hot running water and Molton Brown bubble bath! James made a special Welcome Home dinner of roast lamb with juniper berries and gratin dauphinois, and Grandma came round for tea. It's nice to be home! 

16. Uganda - Saturday 17th October

It was with very mixed feelings that I awoke on my last morning in Luwero. Although I will be glad to return home to James and the boys, I will be very sad to leave this wonderful place. It really has been the experience of a lifetime. 

This morning we unpacked the cases that we brought with us; we all brought two cases, one containing our own things and the other full of clothes, shoes and toys for the Luwero pupils. These were donated by various churches and individuals around the school area. There were so many items! We divided them into categories and Gabriel got them ready for redistribution to people in the community. 

I have also donated all of my clothes (except the ones I am wearing!) and so has everyone else in the group, and I gave my head torch to Bush because it helps her with cooking in the hut when it's dark. I also gave a couple of wee private gifts. This left me with very empty cases! However Gabriel gave us each two big pineapples and some huge avocados so that filled them a bit.

All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes and we set off along the bumpy earthen road to Luwero town and onwards to Kampala one last time. I just tried to take it all in. The red earth. People cycling with huge bundles of sticks across the back of their bikes. Women walking along balancing high piles of bananas on their heads. Children waving and shouting excitedly as we passed by. Roadside stalls with beautifully displayed fruit. Motorcycles with two, three or four people balanced precariously on them, weaving in and out of the traffic. Markets, full of people and all kinds of products from food to furniture with barbecues and popcorn stalls smelling delicious. Traffic jams in Kampala, most of which our driver, Daniel, expertly managed to avoid. 

Daniel has been our driver for all of our trips, cheerfully and safely taking us to and from our destinations for many, many hours of driving. On the day that we went to the Equator there was a storm in Luwero which blew the roof off Daniel's house and washed away one of the rooms. The community are all rallying round to help him rebuild it. 

Today is Davie's 20th birthday so I phoned him from the bus during our journey, it was lovely to hear his voice. Twenty years - my goodness!

When he's going to the airport Gabriel likes to get through the potential delays of Kampala early and then have time for a stop before going on to Entebbe. We stopped for an hour at a wee mall with a restaurant. It felt so European compared to the other places we have been. We sat outside in the warm darkness and had drinks and snacks, with the sky lit up from time to time with distant lightning. 

 

15. Uganda - Friday 16th October

This morning we finished decorating the secondary school hall. There were a few finishing touches to be done but mainly we were putting our handprints around the outline of the large heart that some of the pupils had drawn at the back of the hall. We painted our hands so that there was room to write our initials in the palms, as did some of the pupils who have helped us - It looks very effective. 

We were asked to come to the primary school at 12 - to our surprise there were seats set up for us in the shade of a tree and the nursery and primary classes all sang songs and danced. They were so sweet - one of the songs mentioned a few of us by name including "teacher Susan!" After lunch we went to the secondary school for the official opening of the art work in the hall, attended by the Ugandan pupils. This time we had to go up on the stage while Amina and Robert made speeches. Amina referred to the French lesson last week and I was asked to teach the hall full of pupils to ask for something to eat in French! Bush and her art class presented us with pictures that they had made for us - some of us were given pictures that have been made for us by pupils who know us, and George's and mine were made by Bush, which made me feel very happy. 

Then George made a speech and made a fine job of it despite the fact that the rain had come on and was battering almost deafeningly on the tin roof at the time. The secondary pupil choir sang a couple of songs and of course there was some dancing! 

Back at the house Bush showed us how she can walk along while balancing a water container on her head. She made it look so easy but none of us could manage it! I spectated a lively and very muddy game of volleyball in the afternoon - the weather was very clammy and I was glad to have a refreshing shower before dinner. 

At 10 p.m. we went to the Friday evening service at the church. Again the singing and dancing was great and we all joined in with enthusiasm. George and I were both asked to give testimony so I found myself at the front of the church with a microphone. With nothing prepared I just tried to speak from my heart. I said that Gabriel and Deborah asked us to make their home our home and that we feel that the Luwero community is our family. You have to pause after each phrase so that it can be translated into Lugandan. We had expected to be given the nod to leave at about 12 but by that time we were in the middle of the sermon which led straight on to prayers and singing. By 12.45 our pupils had stopped dancing and looked absolutely exhausted; (for some reason I had got a second wind and felt quite perky again!) I had to make a sharp exit with a pupil who felt sick and several more who felt faint followed us back to the house. It's so dark walking along in rural Uganda by night - however we all had head torches. When we got back to the house we found that we were locked out - we had to wake Bush to let us in. The rest of our group arrived back at about 1.30 a.m. and we all stumbled off to bed, exhausted. 

14. Uganda - Thursday 15th October

Today we went to Jinja and the source of the Nile. We set off at 9 and passed through Luwero and Kampala without any hold ups. As you enter Kampala there is a large outdoor market and behind it a shanty town which looks very basic - narrow muddy lanes between ramshackle houses all crammed together and looking ready to fall down. On the other hand, as we took the road towards Jinja, we passed an area where the smart-looking small houses had wee balconies and gardens - I suppose that in any city there are very different neighbourhoods; it's just more extreme here. When we stopped at s petrol station Gabriel bought everyone samosas and mango juice, which were much appreciated. 

We passed tea plantations and sugar cane fields as the countryside became hillier and greener. Finally we crossed the River Nile by a big bridge and arrived in Jinja at lunch time. It's a low level but sizeable town with lots of shops. It's the first place that I have seen a few white people walking about the streets, presumably tourists. We could see Lake Victoria and went to visit the source of the Nile. This is the place where the Nile starts its long journey to the Mediterranean - it takes 3 months to travel the 4000 miles. We went right down to the river, it was beautiful. Then we had a pleasant lunch in the Cafe Source on one of Jinja's shopping streets, which was nice and cool with ceiling fans. It also had internet access so I took the opportunity to upload some blog posts. 

After a bit of shopping (the souvenirs were very much the same as those in Kampala) we set off back north. This time we took a cross country route to avoid the traffic in Kampala, but my goodness it was very bumpy! None of us minded that but it must have been hard on the bus! We got back to Luwero in a sprightly three and a half hours, and relaxed by playing cards after dinner. 

13. Uganda - Wednesday 14th October

Today was a rest day. Deborah very kindly decided that breakfast should be at 10 a.m. today after our night time adventures. We all enjoyed the sleep and then had a leisurely morning having showers and sorting out the clothes that we are leaving here into clean and dirty piles; we will wash them on Friday. After a late lunch I was just setting off to the football field with George to watch the primary / secondary football match when we met one of our pupils coming the other way with a twisted ankle. I took her back to the house and bandaged it up with a crepe bandage but she was pining to watch the match so I lent her my walking boot and she went down to the field happily with promises to be very careful! This left me confined to the house but I was quite happy chatting to Bush and Deborah and Suzan - I didn't even have time to read my book! Suzan wrote me a lovely letter saying that she will miss me. 

Deborah asked me how to make bread and butter pudding, but of course it has to go into the oven and Deborah doesn't have one. She hopes to get one when they have electricity installed - at the moment they only have limited solar electricity. It must be such hard work cooking everything on the fire in the hut. Deborah said that especially on a Sunday she has to get up very early to prepare dinner before the six hour service church service, because if she started preparing it after the service they would eat unfeasibly late.

We had dinner and a pleasant evening of chat and laughter. What a nice group of young people our pupils are. 

12. Uganda - Tuesday 13th October

Up at 4.30 a.m. today for our trip to the Equator and Lake Mburo National Park. Most of us got some sleep during the 3 hour drive to the Equator. There was a small cluster of shops around the sign and there was a painted 0 degrees line. The coolest thing was the three basins ( one North, one South, and one on 0 degrees). We were shown that to the north of the equator the water swirls clockwise as it drains away, to the south it swirls anti-clockwise, and on the equator it drains straight down with no swirling at all. Amazing - the three basins were only a few feet apart! 

We had breakfast in a lovely wee cafe and I gave out the malaria tablets - I usually give them out at breakfast at Luwero, but they need to be taken with food so I had to bring them with me today, and I checked my bag about five times to make sure that I hadn't forgotten them!

In the cafe we saw a little tortoiseshell kitten - I mentioned to Gabriel that I haven't yet seen a cat in Uganda and he was surprised - the Luwero community cat is called Sumta and she is black and white - I showed Gabriel a picture of Tom and he confirmed that she looks like him. I haven't seen Sumta because after eating all the rats in the main house she has now moved on to other houses to continue her rat killing career.

After another 3 hours in the bus we arrived at Lake Mburo National Park which is about 120 km south west of Kampala. It was amazing. We saw monkeys, zebra, giraffes, warthogs, buffalo and antelopes. Gabriel told us that if the weather hadn't been so dry recently we might also have seen elephants and lions, however they have moved to the swamps which are further away from the roads. But I'm really happy with what we saw; I was so excited to see all those animals, especially zebras and giraffes.

We then went on a boat trip on Lake Mburo which was a very special experience; we saw beautiful kingfishers and big fish eagles but the highlight had to be the hippopotami. Their big heads would suddenly appear above the water and look around before slowly sinking down again. We were really close to them: there were several big groups. 

We had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the lake; the food was very simple but the setting was fantastic and the wooden building was painted in zebra stripes!

For the last part of our visit to the national park, a park ranger joined our bus and gave us some information about the wildlife that we passed. For example she told us that the white spotted bushback (deer) is an endangered species. She pointed out topies and said that they are the fastest antelopes. And the big deer that we saw are called waterbacks who are good swimmers

As we left the national park at about 6 p.m. we passed lots of little villages surrounded by fields of banana trees - this is a cash crop in western Uganda. Groups of little children cheered and shouted as our bus went past. 

When we stopped for petrol on the way north we bought a bag of roasted bananas from some street vendors - there are nine types of banana in Uganda and one type is specifically for roasting. It would be ok to eat raw when it's very ripe but is better roasted. I quite liked it but George said that he prefers his bananas raw. 

We passed the end of the (nicely tarmaced!) road that leads to the President's private residence. There was a police car there for security. The Ugandan elections are in a few weeks and the President is expected to be re-elected. He has been in power for thirty years but although he is less popular than in earlier years, because of corruption and sending Ugandan troops into Somalia, there is apparently no strong opposition.

The journey home to Luwero was lengthy and not without incident. Four hours into the journey - and still south of Kampala - the bus developed a fault with the fuel pump and we had to stop. After a bit of a wait a mechanic appeared and examined the engine. Much discussion, footering and revving ensued. It turned out that the fuel pump was jammed with part of plastic bag (that had been used as a temporary fuel cap) that must have been sucked in during refuelling. The mechanic repaired it and after an hour or so we were off - but 15 minutes later the bus broke down again. It was another bit of plastic bag. After another hour's delay for more repairs we were finally on the way home. Everyone slept on and off during the journey and I was certainly fast asleep for the last couple of hours, so when I woke up we were arriving at the house, much to my delight. It was now 4 a.m. so we had been travelling for 22 hours, of which about 13 were spent driving and 2 broken down! Deborah and Bush were very kindly waiting up to welcome us. All the pupils headed to bed straight away and George and I relaxed for five minutes with a wee cup of tea! 

11. Uganda - Monday 12th October

Today we set off early to Kampala, a journey that took us only two hours during the night when we arrived, but nearly three hours in the busier morning traffic today. We visited the DFID (Department for International Development) which is the British Government organisation that allocates the aid and development budget for certain countries that have a high level of poverty. It's not just about the poverty though; there are other factors that decide whether the country gets on the list for help, such as its historical and current relationship with Britain. This year Uganda gets £100 million out of a total budget of £1 billion which is less than 1% of UK spending. We were given a very interesting presentation and then the pupils went into discussion groups and gave their suggestions. It was a really good exercise to highlight how complicated it is to tackle poverty; how to prioritise and how to get past government corruption. As a bonus the building was air conditioned and coffee and biscuits were provided! One of the pleasant young civil servants who gave us the talk looked at my brightly patterned trousers and asked "I see that you been to the market!" which I thought was very funny because I bought them in Tesco in Rutherglen!

Then came the highlight of the day (for the pupils!) which was our eagerly awaited visit to Nandos, or as the pupils call it "A cheeky wee Nandos" Gabriel brought us to a fast food restaurant which he told us used to have a sign which said Nandos, although today the sign was gone and there was no mention of Nandos on the menu either. This didn't bother any of us at all as we tucked into very nice burgers and pizzas. There were 28 of us including all of us Scots, Gabriel, Robert, and ten Ugandan pupils, so the staff set us up a long trestle table outside at the front. Luckily it was also under a balcony because it started raining very heavily but we were nicely sheltered. Needless to say it was still very warm! In the trees opposite the building there were birds so large that until I saw them moving and flapping their wings, I honestly thought that they were inflatables put there as art or advertisements.This caused a great deal of amusement to George and Gabriel. It turned out that they were huge storks, one of which was sitting on its nest. When the others flew off they looked like pterodactyls. 

Next stop was shopping - we went to a craft market which consisted of about 30 little shops. We all had a fine old time buying souvenirs and comparing what we bought - the prices were already very cheap but Robert advised us that we were expected to haggle. I suspect that this probably just got us to what the shopkeepers wanted to charge us anyway! Less exciting for me was a subsequent visit to a sports shop to buy football strips, but the pupils loved it and assured me that they had got great bargains.

The traffic was even more congested on the way back to Luwero; we set off at 6.30 p.m. into traffic that was almost stationary, and this time the trip took four hours! However what with the chatting and the singing and the drumming (yes some of the boys had bought drums at the craft market!) and the sights of Ugandan townships and countryside as darkness fell - it was a surreal and pleasant experience. 

10. Uganda - Sunday 11th October

Today was our second Sunday at Church - I can hardly believe that we have been in Uganda for over a week already. It was a great church service. First there was lots of singing but unlike Scottish churches (my old church anyway) it was really joyous and everyone was dancing, including us. And after the main prayer everyone prayed their own prayers aloud so the church was filled with voices. People come up to give testimonies, to thank God for helping them with difficult situations in their lives. Some of these situations sounded very alarming. Several choirs sang (including the Rainbow children's choir featuring several of our pupils joining in all the actions) and then we all greeted each other with a hug - and by all, I mean everyone in the Church, so about 200 people were all walking around the Church hugging each other! Then George got up to make a short speech to thank everyone for their great welcome; he prepared it last night and made an excellent job of it, pausing at the end of every sentence for the translator - the whole service was in both Lugandan and English. 

Up we all got on stage and sang a song that we practised last night; "Wagula Wagula Wagula Wagula

Buli jo" and we did the dance that Bush taught us. 

The 4th year pupils who have exams tomorrow were brought up to the front of the church and "teacher George and teacher Susan" were asked to come up and bless them - it's the first time that I have ever anointed anyone with oil! 

Next was the sermon, which was about the growth of the Church, and quite similar to sermons at home, based on a bible verse. After the blessing Gabriel signalled to us that we could leave - we had been at the service for three hours and it was still only half way through. What an amazing experience.

At lunch we had yams - they tasted like a cross between potatoes and roast chestnuts. The food that has been given to us here has been plentiful and generous. It consists of 2 or 3 dishes of noodles, rice, beans or peas. Sometimes there is a meat or fish stew, or chappatis. Everything is cooked on an open fire. Dessert is either pineapple or watermelon. 

Today I helped Bush to make the chappatis - well actually all I did was to roll out the dough that she had already made into circles as we sat outside chatting. Then Bush built up the fire, which is in a shed across from the house, and we fried the chappatis one by one in hot oil in a wok; it only took about thirty seconds for each to puff up and turn golden. 

Gabriel (jokingly) told George that I won't be going home next week because he is keeping me here in Luwero to teach French. Then they had a pretend arm wrestle over it, although George pointed out that it was a futile gesture  because Gabriel is a very powerful man - if it had been for real he said that he would have lost "a valuable member of staff!" which I found very amusing. 

9. Uganda - Saturday 10th October

It rained again during the night so the morning felt nice and fresh. 

We went to the secondary school in the morning to paint the designs that the pupils drew yesterday. It turns out that the school only has red and blue paint, and of course purple by combining them. So the pupils left space for the yellow, black and white that we plan to buy in Kampala on Monday. The school hall was like an oven, I'm not joking. We had a goodly break in the heat of the afternoon, it's so lovely with the pupils chatting and singing, some writing their journals or reading. 

At this point Robert found us some yellow and white paint which opened up a much larger colour palette, so with great excitement we spent several more hours painting - I found myself carefully painting a pink and yellow caterpillar! By the time it got dark we were 99% finished. 

As usual I had my shower in the evening after the heat of the day had died down. The shower has no running water; you half fill a basin with water from a container that has to be carried inside after being filled from the water tank. Then you stand in the shower tray and use a plastic jug to wet your hair and body with water from the basin, and use a tiny amount of shampoo to wash your hair. Then you use the jug to pour more water over you several times until you are all rinsed and clean. Now that I'm used to it, I really like it because it's so refreshing.

It's the same with the washing up after each meal; we fill the basin in the sink and use soap to wash the dishes, which then go into a rinsing basin and then onto the draining board. One day we found a little worm wriggling around in the washing up water which bothered me a lot less than I thought it would. In fact I'm becoming very relaxed about creepy crawlies; last night there was something running around on the floor of my bedroom, buzzing menacingly - I cared not a jot and went peacefully to sleep! 

8. Uganda - Friday 9th October

There was thunder, lightning and torrential rain during the night at about 2 a.m. It was deafening! And even more deafening for the pupils who have a corrugated tin roof. What did the Ugandans do? They ran outside, filled buckets with water and washed their clothes in the middle of the night! Deborah explained to me later that they prefer to wash their clothes in rainwater because it is much softer than the water from the bore well.

Today is Ugandan Independence Day so no school. In the morning before it got too hot, Deborah and her team showed us how to hand wash all of our clothes outside using a series of basins, lots of suds and cold water. Afterwards we left the washing out to dry on all the branches and bushes in the vicinity. Later I found a tiny pale green frog on one of my socks where it was drying. It looked very cute but I was told that it is poisonous - but only to goats if they eat them!

Next we went to design inspirational quotations to paint on the walls of the secondary school main hall. There was much laughter but we came up with a good set of quotations and started pencilling them onto the walls. It was so hot - I know I am using that word a lot but the sweat was actually dripping off our noses. The pupils did a fantastic job, planning and measuring carefully first. Not being artistic I contented myself with advising on whether letters were straight, or sitting on the benches to counterbalance the weight of the pupils who were standing up high to do the designs and generally giving encouragement. By lunch time we were more or less melting and a couple of pupils were feeling a bit unwell due to the heat, so we had an extended lunch break and some of the pupils had a sleep. We went back to the hall at 5 and it was distinctly cooler outside by then, with a rather pleasant breeze. Inside the hall it was still very hot though - I think the tin roofs seem to hold the heat. 

After dinner Gabriel came to talk to us and sang with us - then he mentioned that there is a Church night service on a Friday night starting at ten, and asked if we wanted to go. So we trooped off in the dark to the Church and got a warm welcome. There was singing and dancing, accompanied by the beat of a large drum. Then there was praying, and the congregation was asked if they wanted to give testimonials. Clearly we visitors were being invited to speak, so George and I both got up, I just said that I was thankful for being in Uganda. Gabriel preached a sermon based on Jeremiah about God being a potter and us being the clay. We left just after midnight but Gabriel told us that it goes on until 3 a.m. 

7. Uganda - Thursday 8th October

Today after morning games we went to the secondary school. We were divided into classes and I was first in English with 3rd year and then in French with 2nd year. 

Needless to say I absolutely loved it as the teacher in me swung into action. The pupils who were with me were a wee bit shy in front of the secondary classes (they are such lovely confident young people but this was clearly outside their comfort zone). However with encouragement they joined in so it was a great experience for them. In English they were studying a past paper to prepare for their exams next week. The subject was "What makes a good boss?" I tried to liven it up with lots of scenarios. The vocabulary that they used in their answers was very good but some of them made me smile - "A good boss should love his employees" or "a good boss should not tease his employees". The 2nd year students don't learn French yet so it was easy to put together a beginners' lesson at no notice! Again our Scottish pupils joined in enthusiastically; we did simple greetings and then the months of the year - so that we could sing "Quelle est la date de ton anniversaire?" because it's one of the few school French songs of which I can remember both words and tune! The pupils soon picked it up and we got everyone singing! We then gave the pupils the chance to ask our pupils some questions - after a quiet start the questions came thick and fast. Among others they asked what music do we like, what did the pupils want to do as a career, what tribe do we belong to (we explained about clans), and what dances we have. This led to our pupils demonstrating the Gay Gordons, and in return the Ugandan pupils showed us a dance. One of the Ugandan pupils asked how much are dowries in Scotland. We asked about what happens in Uganda and they explained that it's what the groom's father gives to the bride's father. They also told us that weddings are really big in Uganda - 700 to 1000 people sometimes. This was all great fun with much laughter.

Deborah had a treat for us at lunch time - she had specially made chips for us which takes a lot of preparation because she has to cook everything on the fire. We were all delighted and touched by her thoughtfulness and thanked her very much. 

Back at the secondary school in the afternoon we took part in Sports and Art; I went between the two taking photos and at one point found myself being taught an Ugandan wedding dance! I noticed around this time that I was feeling a bit out of sorts. I just couldn't cool down, not even lying on the cool tiles in the living room floor. It later transpired in conversation with Deborah that it has been a particularly hot day, even for Ugandans! Luckily it got slightly cooler in the evening. 

6. Uganda - Wednesday 7th October

I had the best night's sleep so far last night; maybe I'm becoming acclimatised to the heat. At breakfast time we got to try Ugandan porridge, which is made with maize flour, rice and sugar. I liked it, it's quite thin but the rice gives it a bit of texture. We went back to the primary for the morning; unfortunately one of the teachers took ill at break time and had to go to hospital, which left the two youngest nursery classes with only only one teacher going between the two rooms. So I ended up doing my first "please take" in Africa! The four pupils who were helping out in the two classes were absolute stars, because the wee ones are only three or four years old and it was very difficult even keeping them in their seats because they were so excited. Eventually the teacher took both classes out to the grassy area for a sing song which was much better! Naturally we obliged with British songs like Old Macdonald had a Farm, with the children joining in the actions. In return the children sang us African songs like Shake Shake the Mango Tree.

We were very hot and tired after this, but revived by lunch we all went down to the football field where George and the pupils played volleyball. When school finished we were joined by an interested crowd of spectators who soon joined in. I took photos and played with some wee children on the sidelines. There was some thunder and even a few drops of rain, but it didn't come to anything - the rainy season has been kind to us so far with only that one rainstorm on Monday. Sports of various varieties continued all afternoon. A wee girl cut her toe badly during the volleyball and one of our pupils got blood on her trousers so Deborah showed me how to wash it out using "Veep", a lemon scented bleach that she tells me can get stains out of anything, even the very sticky residue from banana trees leaves, which apparently is very hard to shift from clothes. As with the washing up, I was amazed at how little water we used; it's so precious here and they waste none of it. I was chatting to Bush again about literature, we have many very similar tastes, she is such a lovely girl. I would say that our evening was chatty and fun, which it was, but I could say that for every evening, because with no television or computers we are all having a very sociable time. 

5. Uganda - Tuesday 6th October

I was very excited today because we were going to help out in classes in the primary school. I can't believe that I have been given this chance to visit and assist in a school in Africa.

The boarding school pupils, whose dormitories are right beside ours, got ready very early and I was talking to a girl who was ironing a shirt on a towel in a step, using an iron that had coal embers inside it. She was ironing it for her teacher! The pupils have a very small space to themselves; just a bunk bed in a crowded dormitory with a padlocked box on it, and they wear the key on a string around their neck. Nevertheless they take very good care of their hygiene and appearance, and stood outside their dormitories polishing their shoes and combing their hair. 

First of all we joined in "morning exercise" down in the field, where the pupils played games before their first classes. We were all ready at 7 a.m. as we had been told but time is a bit more relaxed around here and the exercise didn't get started until a good half hour later. The pupils absolutely love having their pictures taken, but what they like even more is looking at the photos on the screen afterwards, which sends them into fits of laughter! 

Then it was off to the classrooms! I have been looking forward to this for so long! The pupils were allocated to classes "two by two" from nursery to primary 4, and my job was to go around the classes to make sure that all was well. I tried to slip unobtrusively into the classrooms but invariably got a big welcome anyway! Our pupils had all been issued with red pens and were doing a grand job of helping pupils and marking jotters. It was great but so hot in the classrooms. In the afternoon I ended up in a Primary 2 class who were writing down their Maths homework. I thought that it was quite advanced for Primary 2 - they were doing fractions - but I've no idea how that compares with Scottish pupils of the same age. The pupils were lovely and I was invited to go back tomorrow to mark the homework.

Next job - moving bricks! We stood in two lines passing bricks one to the other to clear a space for the workmen to work on the new Church that is being built. It was dark by the time we finished - the sun sets really quickly here near the Equator, it just seems to drop down the sky. 

4. Uganda - Monday 5th October

Wow. It's now Monday 5th and there has been so much to take in. Our 6th year pupils are great and are willing to do anything at all to help around the Luwero community. This morning we had a tour of both the primary and the secondary schools. There are three nursery classes followed by seven primary classes. They teach in a mixture of Lugandan and English and I was very impressed at how their English progresses quickly as they move up through the school. The pupils all gave us a big welcome and Gabriel taught me to say "Abaana, mole motwa" which means "hello children." I was introduced to the classes as "teacher Susan" and when I told them that I teach English and French they all said "oooh!" - I don't know which one they found most interesting. The children were just gorgeous, too sweet for words, smiling and giving us high fives. 

Then we visited some classes in the secondary school. Again the pupils were very friendly and wanted to know our names. By this time it was absolutely sweltering, I took one of our pupils outside because she needed to be sick. They have very limited electricity here and of course there is no air conditioning in the classrooms - instead they leave the windows open to catch the slight, pleasant breeze -but when that breeze drops it gets very hot, very quickly!

This did not prevent us from joining in a lively and very hot game of football in the field later. I couldn't play because of my broken ankle but I talked to loads of little children and got some good photos. 

3. Uganda - Still Sunday 3rd October

Of course by the time we actually got to bed it was 3 a.m. local time and breakfast was at 8 a.m. so it wasn't the longest of sleeps, but I fell asleep instantly in my reasonably cool room under my mosquito net. I feel very lucky because the pupils are in dormitories but George and I have a room each in the main house which is very nice. And thank goodness that it's cool enough to sleep, I don't manage well without sleep! In fact for the first time in weeks I had no nightmares which was great. 

After breakfast we all put on our church clothes and went to the most amazing service. The singing and dancing were fantastic, and the congregation all joined in. It was however very hot, and after about half an hour one of the pupils fainted, so I sat with her outside until she felt well enough to walk back to the house with me. While we were outside people came to say hello and ask how she was; one lady even prayed with us. We made it back to the house in one piece where she had a good sleep. Meanwhile the rest of the group continued in the church service for another two hours, they arrived back happy but sweaty in time for lunch. And after lunch the clouds rolled in (it is the rainy season in Uganda) and there was thunder and a brief but very heavy downpour which turned the red earth paths into rivers. All the people who live here rushed outside with buckets to collect the rain water. There are also pipes which run down from the gutters to large vats to collect rainwater. I sat on the balcony watching the downpour, it was great and then finished as suddenly as it began. A convivial evening of card-playing and chat ensued. 

2. Uganda - The Arrival Sunday 3rd October

Well here we are in Luwero in Uganda! I can't believe that we are finally here after all the months of preparation and the 20 hour journey. The journey went perfectly smoothly but it was a long day. When we got to Entebbe it was a very tight fit into the minibus for the sixteen of us plus Gabriel, the driver, and our thirty-two suitcases, half of which contain donated clothes and equipment for the school. Somehow we managed it and were soon on our way into the warm dark Ugandan night for the two hour journey to Luwero. 

Although it was midnight, there were lots of people out and about in Entebbe and Kampala (they seem to merge one into the other.) There were people eating street food, setting up markets with produce, riding around on mopeds, and there were lots of hair salons which were all full of customers. Kampala is a bigger town than Entebbe, with quite big government buildings and bank headquarters in the centre. We emerged from the town onto dark roads and at that point I fell asleep for about an hour. When I woke up we were at the township of Luwero where there were still lots of people on the streets, Gabriel said there have been meetings and events because they have an election coming up. 

The road got rougher and narrower as we approached the Luwero Community Project and we were bounced around in the minibus! The earth roads were lined with lush vegetation and banana trees. A warm welcome awaited us; Deborah had made us supper and we sat down to eat it, feeling rather stunned with exhaustion. I am so glad to be heading to bed.

1. Uganda - The Journey - Sat 3rd October

I don't know if and when I will be able to get wifi access to blog, so I will write blog posts offline and upload them when I can. I am on a school expedition to Uganda with head teacher George and fourteen fantastic 6th year pupils.

After a horrendously early start this morning (up at 2.15 a.m, bus left at 3!) we were delayed for 40 minutes at Glasgow Airport because of fog at our interim destination of Amsterdam. However we still had plenty of time because we had a 4 hour stopover in Amsterdam - it might be a different story on our return flight when we will have less than an hour between flights! 

So we ate breakfast, took our malaria tablets, and browsed the shops - and we will shortly be boarding our flight to Entebbe. 

Misty mornings

The last couple of mornings have started off with an autumnal mist, which soon lifts to reveal blue skies, as the unseasonably warm weather continues. This has caused such excitement in Scotland that tonight there was an extended news item about it, complete with footage of people basking on beaches and dogs drinking large bowls of water. 

This evening James and I went to see Barenaked Ladies at the 02 ABC in Sauchiehall Street. It was an excellent concert and when I arrived using my crutches we were very kindly escorted to the area reserved for disabled people - we had the best seats in the house! In fact we had just about the only seats in the house, because the concert was standing only, and we were in a lovely little booth with its own little bar. We sang along with all our favourite songs and the band were very personable and funny.