Day 9 :)

Day 9 - Today we set off to go rhino trekking! After a long and bumpy 4 hour drive we finally got to the rhino sanctuary . We were accompanied by a guide who told us in fewer words that there is a chance of us getting charged at by the rhinos. We then drove for a short period of time to an area near the rhinos. Subsequently, we got off and walked a short distance where we found a baby rhino nesting next to his mother. As we walked on we saw other white rhinos in action. Luckily no one got skewered by any of them! It was a rare opportunity to see rhinos living in the wild and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. We then made a trip to the busy tourist markets where there was a variety of things to buy. Everyone left with some items for themselves, family and friends. After a long day we then reflected on the whole week. Everyone agreed that it was impossible to pick one stand out moment as the whole trip has been a once in a lifetime experience. We have had the most amazing 10 days in Uganda and are very sad to be leaving all the wonderful people we have had the chance to meet this week. To conclude the night we did a vote to see who won The prize prat of the day (PPOD) award as well as the prize prat of the week (PPOW) award. The winner of the PPOD was Courtney for many reasons including all her slips and falls. The winner of the PPOW went to Chaz for being a goon overall :) 

Each and everyone of us have had an incredible journey which has affected our lives and the students of bright future school lives for the better! 

Our work here is done. 

Day 8 - Our final day :(

Day 8 - Today was our final day at Bright Future school. (It was arranged to be a half day so there was plenty of time to prepare ourselves for the party in the afternoon!) For the first 2 hours, the teachers of the youngest children chose games they had learnt from us and put their new knowledge to the test by taking over. With close observation, it was clear that the teachers had embraced the new activities and  gave us complete confidence that there would be a continuation. It was a wonderful feeling knowing that despite being at the school for a short period of time, we were successful in  leaving  a trace of Stoke Park School with them.

The third hour took a slight twist as the teachers showed us some of their Ugandan sports games and rhymes. The final hour, which some of us 8 students might ever spend at Bright Future, was in fact spent learning and not teaching and for us,that summarises the whole purpose of the trip. It shows that this is not a one-way effort and it takes the partnership of the two schools to fully understand one another in order to improve one another. 

We then were sent off by a heart warming assembly, much like the welcome; full of song and dance. There were tears of appreciation and it was upsetting  to think that you can no longer be of physical help to the children and the teachers you have come to care about so much. However, we are comforted with the knowledge that Bright Future is now a home from home and even when we are not physically there, it is safe to say we will be there at heart- as will Bright Future be in all of ours.

The evening's send off party began with speeches and it was clear by the impressive attendance  that the initial Africa Inspires project had left a mark on many. The night was, essentially, a socialising event thats main intention was to bring together the Africa Inspires family and remind us that we are no longer individual and independent schools. We are now a family of schools that depend on one another to progress. 

After the speeches, the dancing began! Quite honestly, the evening  went on for many more hours but this is where the blog for today ends because after the dancing began... it never stopped. 

Today was a lovely goodbye, yet we are sure for many of us this will not be the final goodbye we say to Bright Future- this journey has only just begun.  

Day 7! 8-)

Day 7 - Sports Festival

We arrived at the sports festival and as we got off the bus we witnessed around 40 children pour out of 10 seater buses-not a sight you see everyday! When we walked into the field we saw that some of the children had already arrived with the sports equipment set out on the field. What stood out in particular was the fact that they had even made their own goal posts out of wood. After a while all the children from the 5 different schools arrived and the sports festival began after some of the teachers had said a few words; including Parker. The different sports that the children competed in included tag rugby, volleyball, football, end ball and rounders. All the games were played in good spirit with the younger children playing in the morning whilst the older children played in the afternoon. What amazed us was the talent that the children had for the sports especially since they had only been playing them for two years. The weather was extremely hot so several of us went back to the bus to get some water. However, there was a nasty surprise waiting for us in the form of cockroaches and beetles; some of which had crawled into our belongings! Charandeep was not so manly about the situation and instead made Bianca go into the bus to get his bag whilst he waited outside screaming... What a man.

The unreal talent the kids behold was proven at the sports festival by Bright Future who took the winning titles for  Rounders and Volleyball! All of us were extremely proud of the children who competed, they are truly an inspiration. Bright Future proved the pride they have of us in return by waving a huge Coventry City Football Club flag around; something that will stay with us forever.

Day 6 in Uganda.

Day 6 in Uganda. 

Today consisted of a true range of events. In the morning,Bianca, Courtney and I assisted Miss.Kirk on a visit to Ronald's office; several yards away from Bright future School. Ronald works closely with Bright Future and runs an organisation that aims to -and has been very successful in- providing sustainable development to the surrounding community. The local community consists of 9 tiny villages and despite the absence of funding that Ronald receives, he has performed a small miracle over the past 2 and a half years by supporting 40 of those families. He uses his own salary to maintain the organisation and is continuously looking for donations from other organisations that share his emotion. He does not just provide aid that would be ungratefully and immediately accepted, instead, he provides contacts and skills to boost self sufficiency; a much more sustainable plan that can help those families to help themselves. It is a wonderful example of how countries are able to develop and progress. Ronald then gave us a small tour of the surrounding 'villages' where many of the non-boarders at Bright Future school call their 'home'. Soon after, we came to the realisation that the children do not need to be in the depths of the slums to live in horrific conditions that make you question from an outside perspective whether life is worth living. In reply to that thought, I just want to share what I heard Ronald say today; ' Here, we lose no hope. If you lose hope you are dead. You are a dead man walking'. 

The day then continued by taking a back seat and allowing the sports leaders from Bright Future to take over and teach some sports games we had taught to them (only two days before! ). They were brilliant and ignoring some slight prompting , they conducted the class as if they had hundreds of times before. It was a proud moment seeing evidence that our work would be continued after leaving. Then finally, the afternoon consisted of a volleyball competition between Bright Future and Stoke park, although, I say competition lightly as we got well and truly 'smashed'. However, you could look at it in the sense that they are perfectly prepared for tomorrow's sports festival! 

Good luck Bright Future! 

Day 5 :D

Day 5 in Uganda - Today was another successful day working at bright future school with the children as well as the teachers! Jayna, Courtney and Amhan trained some of the older students to become reading mentors for younger students. It was incredible to see how quickly they picked up the needed skills to be a successful mentor. To see them develop confidence within the space of 20 minutes of us training them was unbelievable and left us with a sense of accomplishment as we felt as though the skills gained can be passed on further and students can continue to develop their skills after our visit is over. Whilst Connor, Bianca, Tasha, and Brittany were doing the sports training, Charandeep focused mainly on the technology side by helping Martin to set up the new laptops which were sent over by stoke park school. What we found amazing about this, is the ideas that Martin had with the laptops. He wanted to create an entire ICT suite with wifi Internet connection so that the children could easily access the Internet which would definitely help them in the future! The sports training was also a success as we got through to the older students, and had them trained to compose and teach playground games.  After lunch, we got involved in match of N-Ball. Again it was Stoke Park school Vs Bright Future school. We are proud to say we did not loose however we also didn't win. The match ended at a draw with a score of 5-5. This was a great way to end the perfect day at bright future school!

Day 4! :)

Today is day 4 in Uganda and it was our first full day teaching at bright future school. Amhan, Jayna and Courtney worked alongside Miss Kirk and had roles as reading mentors working with children aged 3 to 4. The rest of the group were leading sport sessions with primary 1 and primary 2. 

The aim of the reading mentoring was to teach the children phonics. At first the mentors struggled to get to grips with it due to the language barrier but after the children began to understand the mentors felt it had all been worth it. The aim of the sports sessions were to get the younger children playing with the equipment we had bought over for them. We started off with a variety of games such as parachute games and dodgeball. Unfortunately at first we faced problems due to the language barrier again but we soon got around this by explaining the games to the teachers and sports leaders who then translated it for the children.  In the afternoon we played against some of the older children in a rounders match who will also be playing In the sports festival. Stoke Park lost graciously against the extremely talented and modest Bright Future students. A particular stand-out moment was when Mrs Osman-a P.E teacher for the last 29 years was shown by a sports leader how to throw a ball during the match. However everyone enjoyed the game and there was a really nice atmosphere between the two teams. 

While in the evening, Miss Kirk won the   Prize Prat of the Day award for asking 'What is Twitter?'. 

Day 3!!

 

To start the day off, we drove to Bright Future School where we met 3 of the teachers who gave us a tour of the slums! After a quick and bumpy ride we arrived surprisingly just down the road from Bright Future. This then became evident that some of the children have to return back to the slums after being at school. Yet they are considered as one of the lucky ones for having the opportunity to gain an education.
When first walking into the slums, what hit us all was the stench of stagnant sewage, the hectic atmosphere and the cramped, horrific living conditions. To say it was shocking would be a complete understatement. However, what we went to see next was something quite distressing to come across. Prostitution runs rife throughout the particular slum we visited and isn't something that can be ignored.  Yet to understand the reasoning behind the desperate act it had to be experienced. Following on from a short conversation we found out that the sexual exploitation taking place is happening because they have no other way of surviving. This to all of us was extremely hard hitting and upsetting.
Our group then went onto visit several of the local markets where the conditions where equally shocking. With the range of fruit and meat laid out on mats which swarmed with flies. Again the smell of the sewage was horrendous with the sewage ditches going through the market. Yet the people there seemed unaffected by the conditions as this was there everyday life.

Day 2 reflection- First visits to the school

So! It's the end of day 2 here in Uganda and it has been a truly exceptional day that none of us will ever be able to forget, and after meeting the inspirational children of both Bright Future and Foxford's partner school, I'm sure we will never wish to forget. We visited our twin school Bright Future firstly and were greeted with a ceremony full of song, dance and prayers! It was a welcome like no other and the thorough pleasure in being able to welcome us to their school showed true appreciation from the very first moments. We then had a tour of the school and got to see the classrooms, which were extremely simple but decorated best as possible with colours and motivational quotes. Each class greeted us with a perfectly synchronised speech or song - the effort they went to to welcome us was touching! The sports ground we were shown waa unbelievable, it was tiny and uneven; yet they made do. That is questionably the most inspirational thing- that each and every one of those children and teachers use every opportunity and facility they have to it's full potential!
We also discovered that the water tanks that Stoke Park raised the money to build are now being used for much more than just clean drinking water! They have been so productive with the facilities and it is so good to see how our previous hard work has helped them to live a better life.
 After visiting Bright Future school, we went to Foxford's twin school and were once again, swarmed with love and affection! The improvements that have been made in the school over the last 2 years are phenomenal, they have again used the opportunities to expand and develop their school as best as they can.

Today it all became real! What you see only through a screen does not come close to the reality of the sights, smells and emotion that you experience when you are here for yourself. Today gave us a real insight of what our previous work has gone towards and what the work over the next few days will hopefully achieve!
Tomorrow we will be visiting the local slums in Kampala and be able to see yet another way of life; I'm sure broadening our appreciation further.

our first day

Our journey to Uganda

Everyone arrived at the airport in plenty of time for the first leg of our long haul flight to Entebbe. We had to rejig the books around in the bags as we were slightly over our weight limit but we have managed to get all of the donated books and resources out to Kampala. After a few tearful farewells to parents we set off on our whistle stop tour of various airports - first stop Amsterdam, then our major journey to Nairobi and finally onto Entebbe. all students and luggage arrived safe and well! We were picked up by our driver where we had to have the luggage in a separate van as we had too much to fit in one. The bus drove us through Entebbe on what, surprisingly was a main road, despite it not being properly tarmacked, to Kampala. This gave us a huge insight into the working and living conditions in these big cities - street sellers, shops on the road, piles of bananas and pineapples for sale next to the traffic, the shops were basis shacks open onto the street and the traffic! roundabouts are a free for all! people on motorbikes cutting in between the vans and lorries that obey no speed limit or laws of the road! Cattle roaming around the side roads along with the goats and the chickens. Huge contrasts between the gated brick houses and the shacks and slum areas that surround the railway line. At one point all traffic was stopped for the President and his motorcade along with military officers with guns to pass us by!As we came nearer into Kampala we found ourselves skirting round Lake Victoria. The roads became more like dirt tracks as we neared our destination. The hotel is situated on the  top of a hill up a winding dirt track with views over the lake, Miss Kirk has made sure we will not be roughing it during our stay.

Tomorrow is our first day visiting Bright Future School. We are all quite shocked by the scenes we have seen so far - so very different from home. Tomorrow is what we have all been waiting for - meeting the staff and students of the school and beginning the next chapter of our twinning venture.

Amsterdam safe and sound next stop nairobi

ONE DAY TO GO!

ONE DAY TO GO!

10/07/13
We are all busy with last mintue packing and book signing, especially Miss Kirk (who hasn't even started yet)! We're all super excited to go and we can not believe that the wait is nearly over! Thanks for your support... we'll keep you posted!

Stoke Park Bright Future team 2013-

So. Our bags are packed, the donated books have been labelled and packaged and the sports kit has all been tried and tested. The students are working on a video today in school, to give the students at Bright Future School a glimpse of life at Stoke Park. A huge thank you to the ICT boys for the generous donation of laptops and hard drive.

preparation for our visit to Bright Future School

In the last two weeks the students of Stoke Park School - Natasha Burns, Courtney Scholes, Amhan Kaur, Connor Slater, Charandeep Rai, Brittany Harrison, Bianca Ross and Jayna Parekh have been trained by Neil Parker on playground games that they will coach in Bright Future School next week. From funds raised by all of the students of Stoke Park School we have purchased playground equipment and even raised the funds for a playing field for the school in Kampala!

Last week the students had their coaching sessions and then went to Good Shepherd Primary School (our link primary) to test out their skills with some of their students from reception and the lower years. This was co-ordinated by Karen Vince from Good Shepherd school. As the photos show the students have put in a lot of effort to make sure they are fully prepared for their coaching sessions when we are in Uganda!