kidsgear primary school

Kidsgear is the Primary School which was established before Hoy's College by the same family. This is a typical morning assembly, dancing led by head teacher Christine...

I decided to attend the Luganda (local language) lessons as a student with the Primary 1 (5year old)  class. Needless to say I was a complete dunce and did what all disaffected students do... start distracting others...

I did however excel as the lunchtime jumping teacher...

I would be completely useless as a primary school teacher...

Women's day - out on the toon

One day in March I was chatting with some of the female teachers from the  primary school of Hoys College. The headteacher informed me the following day was 'Women's day' when traditionally women have a day off and men are supposed to do all the work both domestically and in the workplace. Christine suggested that I should take her, Martha and Susan out on the town for a couple of hours. Of course I didn't hesitate...

I understood that I would be providing the cash for food and drink.

The group however gathered in number to about 14 female and male teachers !

Delicious pork for everyone and 3 rounds of drinks at the Dizz Motel came to about 100,000 Ugandan shillings... under £30... great value by mzungu standards...

Shake it, Headteacher!

Rubbish, recycling and the kids next door

As Mzungus (white people) we create far more 'rubbish' than Ugandans with our constant need of packages of this and plastications of that. Our waste management/ recycling system consists of this bin...

Which then gets taken outside and various attempts are made to burn it by Helen underneath the Jackfruit tree...

More often than not however, local children get to our  rubbish before burning and recycle as toys...

Scary mzungu...

Can be other worldly at times...

These twins have white marks on their heads which is a type of mould. they all also have distended bellies I think with a form of Kwashiorkor or protein deficiency. 

Twins can be viewed with suspicion and deemed unlucky in traditional circles in some rural areas...

Home from Home

This buiding is my home. They call it the Mzungu compound. 

Mzungu means white person. 

There is no electricity and for water we rely on a man they call...

 DEFENCE.

Defence fills the jerry cans from the muddy pool, trucks them to us and fills our tank when we run out. 

Inside the compound, on most days you will find Dutch people sitting in their Dutch way on comfortable furnishings.

This is my room which is commonly accepted to be the best. I do now use a mosquito net but often end up wrapped up in it by morning. Sparrow like birds nest outside. There is a bat in the store cupboard, recently joined by a rat, the cat has proved ineffectual.

Helen looks after us and is even brave and kind enough to wash my clothes on occasion...

Invaders are rare, but occasionally Nwaje and Colin like to push the boundaries...

Very rare moment of relaxation...

Our shower.

Mad dogs and Englishmen, out in the midday sun...

Bukomansimbi

Bukomansimbi Trading Centre is our local town where most things are available. Things I have been unable to do here include : withdrawing money, buying a fuse for a plug, finding fresh bread.

I have had my bicycle wonderfully repaired by Samuel and his team...

I didn't buy any of this meat..

But I have bought Matooke - unsweet bananas - the national dish - frequently transported by bicycle.

Council offices - seen better times...?

Rain,rain but where is the fresh water?

Europeans take clean, drinkable water ON TAP for granted but the reality here is very different.  Water is collected from this muddy pool which is a 15 minute walk from school. Each student has to fill two 10 litre jerry cans each day to suffice for cooking and washing purposes...

Paul Yigo talks me through it..

Emmanuel and I show off our muscles while Rose has seen this all before.

I can't balance anything on my head, least of all a good head of hair these days, but these girls are smooth operators...

Taking the strain when moving the rainwater tank...

School dinners...Posho and spice and everything nice...

Beans and Posho ( somewhere between mash and rice and made of maize ) is served every lunch and every supper every day. Students often save some of their evening rations to consume in the long morning between wake-up (4.30am) and breakfast (10.30am), this they call 'cold power'.

Tina is not only the matron at Hoy's college but she is also chief brewer...



While Tina is chief brewer, Herbert, who has other innumerable jobs, is chief 'mingler'. An 'umingled' posho is no posho at all...

Occasionally Matooke - unsweet bananas - and pretty much 'the' national dish will be prepared for staff and the perfect accompaniment is a groundnut sauce...

High days and holidays bring MEAT...

Happy recipients queue patiently...

Joshua

Uganda is of course not all hanging out under mango trees, quaffing gallons of delicious porridge while enjoying the beautiful countryside, and this country has had more than it's fair share of misery. 

This was Joshua, although he didn't have a name when he was found in a field by Dutch educationalist Hilda van der Draai.

His mother had died of AIDS, his father had then disappeared and his grandfather had given up on looking after him. His hands and feet were so diseased that he could not move easily or play. Hilda took him to Jenny, here seen in her tiny shop (and the only shop) in the village where I live. 

Jenny took Joshua in and saved him from a fate which probably does not merit thinking of. But Jenny was also dealing with grief of her own as one of her sons had just been killed in an accident in South Sudan. The reasons for the accident were very unclear and it was extremely difficult and expensive for his body to be brought back to Uganda.

Back in Holland Hilda asked her grandmother if she would sponsor Joshua through school and she said 'yes'. So 2 weeks ago we drove Joshua to Kidsgear, the primary school of Hoy's College for his first day of school. And here he is, having just donned his first school uniform...

Joshua is quite a character and he does not get pushed around at his new school,  for above all else he is a survivor.

Breakfast time but... can you tell the difference between Reft and Light ?

Breakfast is an important business here and takes place at 10.30, don't forget the students have been up since 4 am and already have been subjected to 3 hours of mainly maths lessons. Science teacher Martin Kadduuuu has a voracious appetite...

Mr Bright enjoys a mug of maize porridge and a rolled japati.

Mr Gell really doesn't like being photographed when trying to come to terms with a new food

Students eat pretty much all their food from their plastic buckets... Lawrence and Paul getting stuck into porridge heaven...







Now it's a curious thing but Ugandans cannot differentiate between the letter 'L' and the letter 'R' when speaking. This can lead to obvious mzungu (white man) mirth. Fresh eggs are often pronounced as 'Flesh eggs'. Steaks are often 'flying' rather than frying. Lorries are Rollies. Asking someone to pray before a meal can often come across as an invitation to play.

 Mr Bright is no exception, here extolling the values of the morning staple, college porridge...



Please wish newsreaders across Uganda the best of luck with the 'upcoming elections'.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow ?

Goat-lover and farming guru, Mary Muhindi from Kenya has recently been appointed to oversee agricultural studies at the College...

Goats, rabbits, chickens and even bees are on the way

But with the availability of water outside of the rainy season a real problem just how does her garden grow ? Especially when Mary is feeling a little bit contrary.

Relief at last...

Mr Bright, his work ethic and 2hr maths lessons.

Meet the Headmaster of Hoy's College, Mr Bright. 

Bright by name and definitely bright by nature, but also unreservedly bright by dress sense and sartorial elegance.

Mr Bright is a genial man but he oversees a regime which UK students would struggle to adhere to... 

Maths lessons are always first thing in the morning and often last for two hours. I have been in several where all the students continued working for 20 minutes into their breakfast time, completely voluntarily.

Work it ! Students sweep up mown grass in the compound for mulching.

Saturday morning clothes washing...seems to be mainly girls...! Come on lads...

 Maria, Jamillah and Sofia chop matoke ( unsweet banana ) for lunch. The girls really are doing all the work around here... 

Welcome...et Bienvenue...Willkom...

Welcome to Hoy's College, the secondary school in Uganda where I am teaching for the next two months.

It has formed a link with my school in Cornwall, Richard Lander School, and in July students from RL will be coming out to visit. It is a short walk from a small town called Bukomansimbi which in turn is 3 to 4 hours away from the capital Kampala by car.

The view from the boys' sleeping quarters, on the left the chicken hut, on the the right main school building and beyond the the lush Uganda countryside...

Mama Regina is a Founder and the current Director of Hoys College...



Mama Regina is also a pastor of the local Born Again Christian Church, when she addresses the whole school, the whole school listens....

This school along with it's primary school Kidsgear is the recent creation of a Ugandan/Dutch couple and their family here in Uganda.  Like most Ugandan schools it is fee-paying but as it is a boarding school it is more expensive than most.

Restful revision under one of the many mango trees.

All sorts of children come here from different backrounds. Some are orphans, some have sponsors in Europe, almost all are from the immediate locality.

Achilleo Kiyemba is a warden at the school...

Class sizes  (20-35) are small by Ugandan standards (some government school class can max out at 100!) and the emphasis is on producing high quality education and expanding slowly but steadily.

Where would we all be without MIST!