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.