Uganda Day 10 Monday 22 July
Today we had an extremely productive day.
Giles, Josh and John were all up at the crack of dawn (before dawn in fact) to serve the first lot of porridge to the school children, while the rest of us slumbered on – all apart from Benjamin that is, who thought it would be an excellent idea to go on an early morning jog with a few of the Lodge’s staff and another volunteer.
Once the rest of us got up at around 7 o’clock, we got ready and started the day off with some Bible study before having some breakfast.
After breakfast, we divided ourselves into groups to do some different activities.
We wanted to do some work around the school and the lodge.
Josh and John headed off for the morning sessions of porridge serving and washing up, this time accompanied by Chris.
Emilie, Gabriela and Claire began a very artsy and creative mural of Noah’s Ark and a rainbow. They managed to spend most of the day drawing and painting using some extremely unusual and runny paints (cover themselves in large amounts of gloss paint at the same time).
Some of the boys (Benjamin, Jordan and Charlie) however, opted for the less artistic painting option and unleashed all kinds of pain(t) on different sections of wall – We aren’t fully sure that they completed one full wall, but they worked hard and we still have 6 days left to finish. They have promised that all the walls which they started will be a masterpiece before they leave!
Whilst these painters got busy, Giles, Maddie, Jack and Mark (later joined by John and Josh) turned into carpenters for the day.
We were asked to make some tables and benches that the children can use when having the porridge.
The lack of decent wood, the unusual and varied wood sizes, the lack of instructions and the lack of many tools plus a total lack of experience did not dampen the enthusiasm, and with Mark’s design, and Giles’ careful measuring and mentorship, between them they sawed, hammered and sanded themselves into wood-oblivion. By the end of the day, the table was completed, except from a few benches and varnishing. We learnt today that if Maddie changes her mind about her Law degree, she will make a good carpenter! (We still recommend you buy from IKEA though).
After lunch, although we were quite tired from such a busy morning, we persevered and continued to work on our different projects. Jordan and Benjamin decided they wanted to do some more artistic painting, so they proceeded to paint their shoes – and themselves, bright colours (what a great idea!)
By the time dinner was ready, the mural was mostly finished, as was the dining tables which had gone from white to multi-coloured. (Another job for before we leave)
After a delicious dinner of meat (a beef curry style dish) chips and coleslaw, we had our evening bible study, all of the Gang headed over to the school to help with some homework. (We say help, but really, the curriculum is extremely challenging and most of us struggle to even understand the questions in some subjects). The younger children (4 and 5 year olds) who have been up since 6.00 am and had 8 hours of lessons often fall asleep in the homework classes which continue until 21:30. They have no teacher with them and often we just pick the little one up from the tables where they have fallen asleep and lie them on the floor to rest until bedtime.
Hope you enjoyed today’s story. Stay tuned…
Lots of love,
– Jack, Maddie and a brief appearance of Josh