The other day I noticed that I had a really itchy patch on the bottom of my foot, I thought that it was just another mosquito bite so I applied some anti-itching cream, unfortunately that didnt really seem to work! so a couple of days later it still hadnt gone away and by this time I coulnt walk at all on the side of my foot. The spot was all red and then whitey/yellow inside...I just presumed it was puss or sthg inside. so anyway I went to ask the nurse what she thought it could be, she said it was probably a spider bite or sthg! YUCK! she wanted to ask Mama Maggie what she thougt it could be. turns out its a jigger! definition "The female chigoe, jigger or sandflea bores into the skin, usually of the feet, causing extreme irritation. If Tunga penetrans is not removed, it can cause an infection, which may become gangrenous"
So Mama Maggie - the jigger expert gets a syringe needle to poke the 'spot' and try to extract the jigger whole, unfortunately it's too thin! so she gets a safety pin and sticks that in twisting and turning it trying to get the jigger out, unfortunately the jigger is burrowed to deep into my skin to get it out with a safety pin, so instead she uses a scalpel and cuts around the jigger (into my foot) and then once she had a big gaping hole she pulls the jigger out whole! YUCK! and yes it hurt, she gave me a piece of wood to bite down onto so I wouldnt scream and wake all the babys up! So yes, I am now a true Ugandan!
Saturday, 25 August 2007
Genocide - Rwanda 1994
I decided to go to Rwanda to visit a friend who is working with an NGO in Kigali. The NGO is aimed at bringing women out of the cycle of prostitution. They train women to make things so that they can earn money themselves. Many of these women suffered rape or witnessed atrocities during the genocide so she is also interviewing them in order to write a book and the UN would also like the information. I also wanted to visit the genocide memorial centre in Kigali to learn more about the Genocide since we had only studied it briefly in school. What I saw and learnt was very insightful, it also shocked me and kicked my thought processes into action!
How many people are actually aware of what happened in Rwanda in 1994? This country suffered so much hardship so many wound still need healing.
I'm still having difficulty understanding how such an atrocity could have occurred on so many different levels.
Firstly, where was the international community when Rwanda needed us the most? The UN declared after the Holocaust 'Never Again', yet the whole world sat and watched while atrocities on an unimaginable scale took place. The UNAMIR force was made up of 2500 troops, however, their 'monitoring mandate' disabled them from intervening. The UN spent 8 hrs discussing the crisis in Rwanda never once mentioning the word 'genocide'. Had they used this term the UN Security Council would have been legally bound to intervene and prevent and punish the perpetrators. Arguments over costs and the provision of equipment delayed the UNs decision to send 6800 troops and police to help defend the civilians. It wasn’t until June that the French decided to send 2500 troops to Rwanda. On July 4th the RPF captured Kigali and set up an interim government, the Hutu government fled.
Why did it take so long for the world to respond? What could be more important than saving the lives of 3 million innocent people? How can you put a cost on these lives?
Quote: "When the UN declared 'Never Again' was it meant only for a certain group of people?"
People weren’t just murdered in the genocide they were tortured and died in the most horrendous ways. Machetes, clubs, arrows, spikes and many other items were used as well as shotguns. The H's went on a killing spree throughout the whole country sparing not even the youngest babies. Heads were smashed with clubs and sliced with machetes, limbs were amputated, women were raped, children were shot, killed with machetes or clubbed to death. The H's behaved like animals killing their prey. These acts aren't just acts of war or genocide they convey pure hate and evil. It amazes me that people can generate so much hate towards each other and kill others in such brutal ways. The H's hated the T's so much that they smashed babies against the walls - swinging them by their legs until their skulls cracked, they stuck a pole through one women’s vagina until it came out her head this was after they had gang-raped her...How cam people hate each other so much that it cause them to commit such acts? These acts convey animalism and pure evil.
Today it would seem that the H's and the T's are living happily together, in any case they aren't classified as such anymore - they are all Rwandans. I asked a few people and they all say that there aren't any more problems. Surely there must be feelings of anger? Things like this don't just blow away. Perhaps there still is conflicts happening in Rwanda but the "world" just doesn't deem it important enough to put in the headlines, after all surely things like Pitt and Jolie's marriage mean so much more to us? Or the latest evictee on BB? Asking one man, who was 1 of 10 survivors in a 4000 people massacre, how can you carry on living here knowing that you family's murderers live right next door to you? He replied that he had forgiven them by the grace of God. Wow! What a powerful statement - all his family died in this particular massacre, he was injured and had to hide for many days - yet 14 years on has he forgiven the perpetrators and life just goes on - obviously grieving but not dwelling on his past so much so that it hinders him from working, raising his children and being a guide at the very sight were he witnessed so much bloodshed.
As we were walking towards Nyamata (one of the massacre sites) (in the region of Nyamata 40,000 were murdered) I couldn't help but feel this overwhelming sense of guilt. All these crowds we were walking through knew why we were here in Nyamata - they know the only reason Mzungus come to their town is to visit the genocide sites. As we got closer I just wanted to turn around and walk away. I guess I was scared of what we might see but I also didn’t want to be that tourist who just comes to look and take photos. Often we visit countries and behave like we are visiting monkeys in a zoo. We have in our culture a need to visit places where atrocities took place: Auschwitz in Poland, WTC in NY, even the dungeons in London or Edinburgh (I'm guilty too!) Why do we visit such places? Does it make us feel less guilty? Is it our way of helping? Remembering? Why are so many of us fascinated by such morbidity? We come and look, we point, we take a few photos and leave a small donation forgetting what really took place.
I left the church feeling heavy-hearted knowing that the world had just turned a blind eye to all that had happened. But feeling guilty and heavy-hearted isn’t enough, I wish there was something I could do, something real, something meaningful.
I found it so hard standing in the churches knowing that so many people had died there whilst seeking refuge, knowing that so many atrocities had been committed in my lifetime in the very spot I was standing. What made it harder was seeing the skulls all lined up by the hundreds, the thousands of bones. The clothes all piled up on top of each other in a small room is what made it all seem so real - the smell of death, the bloodstains...the schoolbooks, exactly the same ones I use with my kids, torn and covered in blood.
I felt that as I was walking away, out of the church that I should look solemn. I felt guilty standing there and laughing with my friends, knowing that for the people around us the genocide was so real, it felt like I was disrespecting them in a way. But then I also felt l shouldn't feel sad because these people have been through so much - their tears are filled with vivid memories and physical pain yet my tears can be perceived as tears of pity and sympathy.
In any case, I don’t regret visiting either of the sites, one of the men who survived told me that they welcome visitors, they want people to take photos and tell others about what happened in Rwanda. So this is what I'm doing, and rather than giving you just facts I felt that maybe recounting my visit with my feelings might help you understand or at the very least learn a little bit more about what took place here in Rwanda. Perhaps in the vain hope that we can all learn what hate may eventually lead to, and understand what happens when we turn a blind eye to our fellow humans around the world. Perhaps we will learn from history?
SOME STRIKING FACTS: UNICEF stats 1995
99.9% of children in Rwanda witnessed violence
79.6% " experienced death in the family
69.5% " witnessed someone being killed or injured
61.5% " were threatened with death
90.6% " believed they would die
57.5% " witnessed killings or injuries with machetes
31.4% " witnessed rape or sexual assault
87.5% " saw dead bodies or parts of bodies
How many people are actually aware of what happened in Rwanda in 1994? This country suffered so much hardship so many wound still need healing.
I'm still having difficulty understanding how such an atrocity could have occurred on so many different levels.
Firstly, where was the international community when Rwanda needed us the most? The UN declared after the Holocaust 'Never Again', yet the whole world sat and watched while atrocities on an unimaginable scale took place. The UNAMIR force was made up of 2500 troops, however, their 'monitoring mandate' disabled them from intervening. The UN spent 8 hrs discussing the crisis in Rwanda never once mentioning the word 'genocide'. Had they used this term the UN Security Council would have been legally bound to intervene and prevent and punish the perpetrators. Arguments over costs and the provision of equipment delayed the UNs decision to send 6800 troops and police to help defend the civilians. It wasn’t until June that the French decided to send 2500 troops to Rwanda. On July 4th the RPF captured Kigali and set up an interim government, the Hutu government fled.
Why did it take so long for the world to respond? What could be more important than saving the lives of 3 million innocent people? How can you put a cost on these lives?
Quote: "When the UN declared 'Never Again' was it meant only for a certain group of people?"
People weren’t just murdered in the genocide they were tortured and died in the most horrendous ways. Machetes, clubs, arrows, spikes and many other items were used as well as shotguns. The H's went on a killing spree throughout the whole country sparing not even the youngest babies. Heads were smashed with clubs and sliced with machetes, limbs were amputated, women were raped, children were shot, killed with machetes or clubbed to death. The H's behaved like animals killing their prey. These acts aren't just acts of war or genocide they convey pure hate and evil. It amazes me that people can generate so much hate towards each other and kill others in such brutal ways. The H's hated the T's so much that they smashed babies against the walls - swinging them by their legs until their skulls cracked, they stuck a pole through one women’s vagina until it came out her head this was after they had gang-raped her...How cam people hate each other so much that it cause them to commit such acts? These acts convey animalism and pure evil.
Today it would seem that the H's and the T's are living happily together, in any case they aren't classified as such anymore - they are all Rwandans. I asked a few people and they all say that there aren't any more problems. Surely there must be feelings of anger? Things like this don't just blow away. Perhaps there still is conflicts happening in Rwanda but the "world" just doesn't deem it important enough to put in the headlines, after all surely things like Pitt and Jolie's marriage mean so much more to us? Or the latest evictee on BB? Asking one man, who was 1 of 10 survivors in a 4000 people massacre, how can you carry on living here knowing that you family's murderers live right next door to you? He replied that he had forgiven them by the grace of God. Wow! What a powerful statement - all his family died in this particular massacre, he was injured and had to hide for many days - yet 14 years on has he forgiven the perpetrators and life just goes on - obviously grieving but not dwelling on his past so much so that it hinders him from working, raising his children and being a guide at the very sight were he witnessed so much bloodshed.
As we were walking towards Nyamata (one of the massacre sites) (in the region of Nyamata 40,000 were murdered) I couldn't help but feel this overwhelming sense of guilt. All these crowds we were walking through knew why we were here in Nyamata - they know the only reason Mzungus come to their town is to visit the genocide sites. As we got closer I just wanted to turn around and walk away. I guess I was scared of what we might see but I also didn’t want to be that tourist who just comes to look and take photos. Often we visit countries and behave like we are visiting monkeys in a zoo. We have in our culture a need to visit places where atrocities took place: Auschwitz in Poland, WTC in NY, even the dungeons in London or Edinburgh (I'm guilty too!) Why do we visit such places? Does it make us feel less guilty? Is it our way of helping? Remembering? Why are so many of us fascinated by such morbidity? We come and look, we point, we take a few photos and leave a small donation forgetting what really took place.
I left the church feeling heavy-hearted knowing that the world had just turned a blind eye to all that had happened. But feeling guilty and heavy-hearted isn’t enough, I wish there was something I could do, something real, something meaningful.
I found it so hard standing in the churches knowing that so many people had died there whilst seeking refuge, knowing that so many atrocities had been committed in my lifetime in the very spot I was standing. What made it harder was seeing the skulls all lined up by the hundreds, the thousands of bones. The clothes all piled up on top of each other in a small room is what made it all seem so real - the smell of death, the bloodstains...the schoolbooks, exactly the same ones I use with my kids, torn and covered in blood.
I felt that as I was walking away, out of the church that I should look solemn. I felt guilty standing there and laughing with my friends, knowing that for the people around us the genocide was so real, it felt like I was disrespecting them in a way. But then I also felt l shouldn't feel sad because these people have been through so much - their tears are filled with vivid memories and physical pain yet my tears can be perceived as tears of pity and sympathy.
In any case, I don’t regret visiting either of the sites, one of the men who survived told me that they welcome visitors, they want people to take photos and tell others about what happened in Rwanda. So this is what I'm doing, and rather than giving you just facts I felt that maybe recounting my visit with my feelings might help you understand or at the very least learn a little bit more about what took place here in Rwanda. Perhaps in the vain hope that we can all learn what hate may eventually lead to, and understand what happens when we turn a blind eye to our fellow humans around the world. Perhaps we will learn from history?
SOME STRIKING FACTS: UNICEF stats 1995
99.9% of children in Rwanda witnessed violence
79.6% " experienced death in the family
69.5% " witnessed someone being killed or injured
61.5% " were threatened with death
90.6% " believed they would die
57.5% " witnessed killings or injuries with machetes
31.4% " witnessed rape or sexual assault
87.5% " saw dead bodies or parts of bodies
(l to r)
bloodstains on wall where kids were killed whilst sheltering in their Sunday School building
skulls lined up by the thousands
bones piled up the millions
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Saturday, 11 August 2007
child abandonment
This week I have been inquiring about some of the kids and trying to learn more about their past and their stories.
Jereniah is about 3 years old he is in baby room 2. He has some physical developmental problems - he cant yet sit up on his own, he doesnt communicate at all. His story is a very sad one although unfortunately not uncommon in these parts. He was abandonded at about 6 months - thrown in a pit latrine to die - obviously he cant sit up so he just lay there for 3 days while people crapped and pissed on him. (sorry to be so crude) And then he was eventually found. It took a good week for him once he had been found to open his mouth as he had kept it sealed shut the whole time he was in the pit latrine. Jeremiah has had these developmental handicaps since birth and that is why is mother abandoned him to die. Here it is a burden for many different reasons to have a child with disabilities so most of them are thrown into pit latrines to die unfortunately only few are found alive. Jeremiahs future is very uncertain, it is unlikely that he will be adopted or fostered and he can only stay at this orphanage untill the age of 5, at which point he may just go to a mental institute or be locked up for the rest of his life.
I wrote about Asheraf last week the new boy abandoned at the bus park. We later discovered that he had been sat there waiting 2 days for his mother to return! He is doing really well and seems to have settled into life at the orphange quite well. I am quite attached to him and Nathanial the other new toddler who is also doing well. Its so hard to imagine how and why anyone could abandon these kids but I suppose...(I cant find a suitable ending to this sentence, sorry!!) Its easy for us and for me to judge these mothers, question thier motives and question their love for their kids but I guess...I hope...I would like to think that these mothers did it with the best intentions to give their children better lives then they could ever provide at least for the sake of these kids that is what I wish and hope for them. Maybe in time I will have more insight and understanding about the issues of child abandonment and be able to answer some of the questions I am asking myself. I guess one thing I do know is that there is no one simple answer. I also know that abandoning a child in a pit latrine to die is one of the most horrendous acts a mother could ever commit - and will never understand how a mother could do this to their child.
Sorry about this but this update seems to be more my thought processes than any news really!
Jereniah is about 3 years old he is in baby room 2. He has some physical developmental problems - he cant yet sit up on his own, he doesnt communicate at all. His story is a very sad one although unfortunately not uncommon in these parts. He was abandonded at about 6 months - thrown in a pit latrine to die - obviously he cant sit up so he just lay there for 3 days while people crapped and pissed on him. (sorry to be so crude) And then he was eventually found. It took a good week for him once he had been found to open his mouth as he had kept it sealed shut the whole time he was in the pit latrine. Jeremiah has had these developmental handicaps since birth and that is why is mother abandoned him to die. Here it is a burden for many different reasons to have a child with disabilities so most of them are thrown into pit latrines to die unfortunately only few are found alive. Jeremiahs future is very uncertain, it is unlikely that he will be adopted or fostered and he can only stay at this orphanage untill the age of 5, at which point he may just go to a mental institute or be locked up for the rest of his life.
I wrote about Asheraf last week the new boy abandoned at the bus park. We later discovered that he had been sat there waiting 2 days for his mother to return! He is doing really well and seems to have settled into life at the orphange quite well. I am quite attached to him and Nathanial the other new toddler who is also doing well. Its so hard to imagine how and why anyone could abandon these kids but I suppose...(I cant find a suitable ending to this sentence, sorry!!) Its easy for us and for me to judge these mothers, question thier motives and question their love for their kids but I guess...I hope...I would like to think that these mothers did it with the best intentions to give their children better lives then they could ever provide at least for the sake of these kids that is what I wish and hope for them. Maybe in time I will have more insight and understanding about the issues of child abandonment and be able to answer some of the questions I am asking myself. I guess one thing I do know is that there is no one simple answer. I also know that abandoning a child in a pit latrine to die is one of the most horrendous acts a mother could ever commit - and will never understand how a mother could do this to their child.
Sorry about this but this update seems to be more my thought processes than any news really!
Saturday, 4 August 2007
more new kids and homesick :(
Well, this week has been a bit scary! I have still been ill so on Wednesday I think it was the nurse told me to go to the clinic to get checked for malaria - and so I did - and fortunately it was negative for malaria. The question that remains is - whats wrong with me? Why am I still ill? So the nurse gave me something stronger to kill the parasites and worms! So hopefully that will work. We'll see!
This week has seen the arrival of 2 new kids. The first to arrive is called Ashraf (sp), he is 2 1/2 and was abandoned in the local bus park - where the police found him and the probation officer brought him to us. He also suffers from Kwashikor so his face and tummy are swollen. The other day he was sat on the toy boda-boda and was collecting wood (from the tree that had just been cut down) was breaking it on his knee and making a little firewood pile! This gives us some idea that he comes from the village and that this may have been one of his daily chores! He is a very good football though and we have been playing at kicking the ball around.
The other new kid is approx 11 months old, however he weighs only 8 pounds! He is severely malnourished, his ribs sticking out from his chest and his limbs stick thin. We didn't think that he would make it through his first night, however he is being well taken care of by one of the volunteers and seems to be doing better.
Pre-school os going well, although I've not been teaching much this week, just doing lesson planning and organising things. The mad-venture people have been doing a fantastic job and Im so glad to have them here.
Im finding it hard to understand the Mamas at the moment - and I don't mine in literally. They can be so affectionate with the kids and so loving and caring, yet they can be the complete opposite - they can just beat the crap out of the kids because they think they are disciplining (sp) them. Now there's disciplining and beating them - these Mamas make no distinction. The other day I was upstairs in the baby home doing some planning and I hear one of the kids screaming - so I look out the window to see whats going on and I see two Mamas pinning down one of the boys, pulling his pants down and hitting him at least 6 times on the bum with a wooden spoon, and we're not talking a little slap - I mean a proper hard whack so much so that I could hear it from where I was! I know that if you do smack your children - you should never do it in anger - but these Mamas are so cross when they punish them. On the positive side I think that the reward chart is having a positive affect on the kids and I think that the kids really understand the concept. Even one of our naughtiest kids has been so good this week and for the first time since we started this she was able to come out with us on reward day.
Yesterday I visited another orphanage in a more rural part. I wanted to see how other orphanages compare to ours and how they do things. I realsie that our kids are very lucky compared to many others. Our kids are very clean, they always have clean clothes and 3 meals a day, lots of love and attention from the Mamas and the volunteers. I know that things like clothes is superficial but its important to Ugandans that kids have one set of 'smart' clothes. In many ways our kids are spoilt - they cry if they cant have a coke, they cry if they cant have their own way. Yet the kids in the village are so used to having nothing, yet they're so happy and content having very little. Our kids are so americanised! I wish they were more Ugandan because when they don't get adopted and they have to go to an orphanage for older kids which is less priveleged or back home with their extended families these kids are going to learn life the hard way - they are going to have to work hard, they're not going to be able to throw tantrums because they want coke and not water, or because they want more food.
I forgot to tell you all last week about the agricultural fair I visited with a friend. I decided to take Duane along - as it always does him some good to be out of the orphanage and walking! So the fair was basically peope selling their fruit/veg and various other products as well as craft stalls. There were also cows, goats and chickens on show as well as a few tractors. There was also a few fair rides. Now Im very wary of fast and very dangerous looking rides at the Loughborough Fair, so there was no way anyone was going to get me on an African fair ride! And as it turned out I made the right decision...I saw a man on a ( I cant remember the name - but it spins around really fast and your sitting in a sit and I think the ones in England go up and down and spin indivdually, anyway it was a really simpe version of that, but the seats were so big and there was a measly metal rod that you pull done on top of yourself - to supposedly keep you from falling out!) the ride was going really really fast and then I turned to see this man holding onto the bottom of the seat - he had slipped and was dangling from the bottom of the seat! he was screaming and yelling and they didnt even stop the ride or slow it down - they just waited - for what felt like 5 minutes to stop the ride and get him off - so anyway this guy had managed to swing his little seat - which was attached to the top of the ride by chains - to the nearest one to him which happened to have someone esle in it - so comsequently his little seat was swinging and twisting around and he ended up screaming at the guy to let go of his seat and the poor guy ended up slipping out of his seat - so twi guys were hainging on to the bottom of the seat for dear life!! suffice to say Im never going on a fair ride again!! EVER!
This afternoon I am moving out of the volunteer house just for the weekend - as I need some peace and quiet and a bit of time on my own. It's been about 5 weeks that I lived at the v-house with about 20 other people so I am going to enjoy a full nights sleep undisturbed by people singing at the top of their voices at 2.30am, or people screaming or running around the house like headless chickens! Ill be staying in the house above the orphanage - so Ill be able to hear screaming babies and such but its got to be better than hearing a high pitched American screaming at the top of their lungs! It also means I'll have access to MSN over the weekend - yeah!
Yesterday whilst out in town with the kids I saw the biggest insect I have ever seen in my whole life! It was about this big (c lines) --------------------------------------------------I wish I was exagerrating too but Im really not! One of the locals said it was a cockroach - As long as it can't fly I dont care what it is!!
This week has seen the arrival of 2 new kids. The first to arrive is called Ashraf (sp), he is 2 1/2 and was abandoned in the local bus park - where the police found him and the probation officer brought him to us. He also suffers from Kwashikor so his face and tummy are swollen. The other day he was sat on the toy boda-boda and was collecting wood (from the tree that had just been cut down) was breaking it on his knee and making a little firewood pile! This gives us some idea that he comes from the village and that this may have been one of his daily chores! He is a very good football though and we have been playing at kicking the ball around.
The other new kid is approx 11 months old, however he weighs only 8 pounds! He is severely malnourished, his ribs sticking out from his chest and his limbs stick thin. We didn't think that he would make it through his first night, however he is being well taken care of by one of the volunteers and seems to be doing better.
Pre-school os going well, although I've not been teaching much this week, just doing lesson planning and organising things. The mad-venture people have been doing a fantastic job and Im so glad to have them here.
Im finding it hard to understand the Mamas at the moment - and I don't mine in literally. They can be so affectionate with the kids and so loving and caring, yet they can be the complete opposite - they can just beat the crap out of the kids because they think they are disciplining (sp) them. Now there's disciplining and beating them - these Mamas make no distinction. The other day I was upstairs in the baby home doing some planning and I hear one of the kids screaming - so I look out the window to see whats going on and I see two Mamas pinning down one of the boys, pulling his pants down and hitting him at least 6 times on the bum with a wooden spoon, and we're not talking a little slap - I mean a proper hard whack so much so that I could hear it from where I was! I know that if you do smack your children - you should never do it in anger - but these Mamas are so cross when they punish them. On the positive side I think that the reward chart is having a positive affect on the kids and I think that the kids really understand the concept. Even one of our naughtiest kids has been so good this week and for the first time since we started this she was able to come out with us on reward day.
Yesterday I visited another orphanage in a more rural part. I wanted to see how other orphanages compare to ours and how they do things. I realsie that our kids are very lucky compared to many others. Our kids are very clean, they always have clean clothes and 3 meals a day, lots of love and attention from the Mamas and the volunteers. I know that things like clothes is superficial but its important to Ugandans that kids have one set of 'smart' clothes. In many ways our kids are spoilt - they cry if they cant have a coke, they cry if they cant have their own way. Yet the kids in the village are so used to having nothing, yet they're so happy and content having very little. Our kids are so americanised! I wish they were more Ugandan because when they don't get adopted and they have to go to an orphanage for older kids which is less priveleged or back home with their extended families these kids are going to learn life the hard way - they are going to have to work hard, they're not going to be able to throw tantrums because they want coke and not water, or because they want more food.
I forgot to tell you all last week about the agricultural fair I visited with a friend. I decided to take Duane along - as it always does him some good to be out of the orphanage and walking! So the fair was basically peope selling their fruit/veg and various other products as well as craft stalls. There were also cows, goats and chickens on show as well as a few tractors. There was also a few fair rides. Now Im very wary of fast and very dangerous looking rides at the Loughborough Fair, so there was no way anyone was going to get me on an African fair ride! And as it turned out I made the right decision...I saw a man on a ( I cant remember the name - but it spins around really fast and your sitting in a sit and I think the ones in England go up and down and spin indivdually, anyway it was a really simpe version of that, but the seats were so big and there was a measly metal rod that you pull done on top of yourself - to supposedly keep you from falling out!) the ride was going really really fast and then I turned to see this man holding onto the bottom of the seat - he had slipped and was dangling from the bottom of the seat! he was screaming and yelling and they didnt even stop the ride or slow it down - they just waited - for what felt like 5 minutes to stop the ride and get him off - so anyway this guy had managed to swing his little seat - which was attached to the top of the ride by chains - to the nearest one to him which happened to have someone esle in it - so comsequently his little seat was swinging and twisting around and he ended up screaming at the guy to let go of his seat and the poor guy ended up slipping out of his seat - so twi guys were hainging on to the bottom of the seat for dear life!! suffice to say Im never going on a fair ride again!! EVER!
This afternoon I am moving out of the volunteer house just for the weekend - as I need some peace and quiet and a bit of time on my own. It's been about 5 weeks that I lived at the v-house with about 20 other people so I am going to enjoy a full nights sleep undisturbed by people singing at the top of their voices at 2.30am, or people screaming or running around the house like headless chickens! Ill be staying in the house above the orphanage - so Ill be able to hear screaming babies and such but its got to be better than hearing a high pitched American screaming at the top of their lungs! It also means I'll have access to MSN over the weekend - yeah!
Yesterday whilst out in town with the kids I saw the biggest insect I have ever seen in my whole life! It was about this big (c lines) --------------------------------------------------I wish I was exagerrating too but Im really not! One of the locals said it was a cockroach - As long as it can't fly I dont care what it is!!
more new kids and homesick
Well, this week has been a bit scary! I have still been ill so on Wednesday I think it was the nurse told me to go to the clinic to get checked for malaria - and so I did - and fortunately it was negative for malaria. The question that remains is - whats wrong with me? Why am I still ill? So the nurse gave me something stronger to kill the parasites and worms! So hopefully that will work. We'll see!
This week has seen the arrival of 2 new kids. The first to arrive is called Ashraf (sp), he is 2 1/2 and was abandoned in the local bus park - where the police found him and the probation officer brought him to us. He also suffers from Kwashikor so his face and tummy are swollen. The other day he was sat on the toy boda-boda and was collecting wood (from the tree that had just been cut down) was breaking it on his knee and making a little firewood pile! This gives us some idea that he comes from the village and that this may have been one of his daily chores! He is a very good football though and we have been playing at kicking the ball around.
The other new kid is approx 11 months old, however he weighs only 8 pounds! He is severely malnourished, his ribs sticking out from his chest and his limbs stick thin. We didn't think that he would make it through his first night, however he is being well taken care of by one of the volunteers and seems to be doing better.
Pre-school os going well, although I've not been teaching much this week, just doing lesson planning and organising things. The mad-venture people have been doing a fantastic job and Im so glad to have them here.
Im finding it hard to understand the Mamas at the moment - and I don't mine in literally. They can be so affectionate with the kids and so loving and caring, yet they can be the complete opposite - they can just beat the crap out of the kids because they think they are disciplining (sp) them. Now there's disciplining and beating them - these Mamas make no distinction. The other day I was upstairs in the baby home doing some planning and I hear one of the kids screaming - so I look out the window to see whats going on and I see two Mamas pinning down one of the boys, pulling his pants down and hitting him at least 6 times on the bum with a wooden spoon, and we're not talking a little slap - I mean a proper hard whack so much so that I could hear it from where I was! I know that if you do smack your children - you should never do it in anger - but these Mamas are so cross when they punish them. On the positive side I think that the reward chart is having a positive affect on the kids and I think that the kids really understand the concept. Even one of our naughtiest kids has been so good this week and for the first time since we started this she was able to come out with us on reward day.
Yesterday I visited another orphanage in a more rural part. I wanted to see how other orphanages compare to ours and how they do things. I realsie that our kids are very lucky compared to many others. Our kids are very clean, they always have clean clothes and 3 meals a day, lots of love and attention from the Mamas and the volunteers. I know that things like clothes is superficial but its important to Ugandans that kids have one set of 'smart' clothes. In many ways our kids are spoilt - they cry if they cant have a coke, they cry if they cant have their own way. Yet the kids in the village are so used to having nothing, yet they're so happy and content having very little. Our kids are so americanised! I wish they were more Ugandan because when they don't get adopted and they have to go to an orphanage for older kids which is less priveleged or back home with their extended families these kids are going to learn life the hard way - they are going to have to work hard, they're not going to be able to throw tantrums because they want coke and not water, or because they want more food.
I forgot to tell you all last week about the agricultural fair I visited with a friend. I decided to take Duane along - as it always does him some good to be out of the orphanage and walking! So the fair was basically peope selling their fruit/veg and various other products as well as craft stalls. There were also cows, goats and chickens on show as well as a few tractors. There was also a few fair rides. Now Im very wary of fast and very dangerous looking rides at the Loughborough Fair, so there was no way anyone was going to get me on an African fair ride! And as it turned out I made the right decision...I saw a man on a ( I cant remember the name - but it spins around really fast and your sitting in a sit and I think the ones in England go up and down and spin indivdually, anyway it was a really simpe version of that, but the seats were so big and there was a measly metal rod that you pull done on top of yourself - to supposedly keep you from falling out!) the ride was going really really fast and then I turned to see this man holding onto the bottom of the seat - he had slipped and was dangling from the bottom of the seat! he was screaming and yelling and they didnt even stop the ride or slow it down - they just waited - for what felt like 5 minutes to stop the ride and get him off - so anyway this guy had managed to swing his little seat - which was attached to the top of the ride by chains - to the nearest one to him which happened to have someone esle in it - so comsequently his little seat was swinging and twisting around and he ended up screaming at the guy to let go of his seat and the poor guy ended up slipping out of his seat - so twi guys were hainging on to the bottom of the seat for dear life!! suffice to say Im never going on a fair ride again!! EVER!
This afternoon I am moving out of the volunteer house just for the weekend - as I need some peace and quiet and a bit of time on my own. It's been about 5 weeks that I lived at the v-house with about 20 other people so I am going to enjoy a full nights sleep undisturbed by people singing at the top of their voices at 2.30am, or people screaming or running around the house like headless chickens! Ill be staying in the house above the orphanage - so Ill be able to hear screaming babies and such but its got to be better than hearing a high pitched American screaming at the top of their lungs! It also means I'll have access to MSN over the weekend - yeah!
Yesterday whilst out in town with the kids I saw the biggest insect I have ever seen in my whole life! It was about this big (c lines) --------------------------------------------------I wish I was exagerrating too but Im really not! One of the locals said it was a cockroach - As long as it can't fly I dont care what it is!!
This week has seen the arrival of 2 new kids. The first to arrive is called Ashraf (sp), he is 2 1/2 and was abandoned in the local bus park - where the police found him and the probation officer brought him to us. He also suffers from Kwashikor so his face and tummy are swollen. The other day he was sat on the toy boda-boda and was collecting wood (from the tree that had just been cut down) was breaking it on his knee and making a little firewood pile! This gives us some idea that he comes from the village and that this may have been one of his daily chores! He is a very good football though and we have been playing at kicking the ball around.
The other new kid is approx 11 months old, however he weighs only 8 pounds! He is severely malnourished, his ribs sticking out from his chest and his limbs stick thin. We didn't think that he would make it through his first night, however he is being well taken care of by one of the volunteers and seems to be doing better.
Pre-school os going well, although I've not been teaching much this week, just doing lesson planning and organising things. The mad-venture people have been doing a fantastic job and Im so glad to have them here.
Im finding it hard to understand the Mamas at the moment - and I don't mine in literally. They can be so affectionate with the kids and so loving and caring, yet they can be the complete opposite - they can just beat the crap out of the kids because they think they are disciplining (sp) them. Now there's disciplining and beating them - these Mamas make no distinction. The other day I was upstairs in the baby home doing some planning and I hear one of the kids screaming - so I look out the window to see whats going on and I see two Mamas pinning down one of the boys, pulling his pants down and hitting him at least 6 times on the bum with a wooden spoon, and we're not talking a little slap - I mean a proper hard whack so much so that I could hear it from where I was! I know that if you do smack your children - you should never do it in anger - but these Mamas are so cross when they punish them. On the positive side I think that the reward chart is having a positive affect on the kids and I think that the kids really understand the concept. Even one of our naughtiest kids has been so good this week and for the first time since we started this she was able to come out with us on reward day.
Yesterday I visited another orphanage in a more rural part. I wanted to see how other orphanages compare to ours and how they do things. I realsie that our kids are very lucky compared to many others. Our kids are very clean, they always have clean clothes and 3 meals a day, lots of love and attention from the Mamas and the volunteers. I know that things like clothes is superficial but its important to Ugandans that kids have one set of 'smart' clothes. In many ways our kids are spoilt - they cry if they cant have a coke, they cry if they cant have their own way. Yet the kids in the village are so used to having nothing, yet they're so happy and content having very little. Our kids are so americanised! I wish they were more Ugandan because when they don't get adopted and they have to go to an orphanage for older kids which is less priveleged or back home with their extended families these kids are going to learn life the hard way - they are going to have to work hard, they're not going to be able to throw tantrums because they want coke and not water, or because they want more food.
I forgot to tell you all last week about the agricultural fair I visited with a friend. I decided to take Duane along - as it always does him some good to be out of the orphanage and walking! So the fair was basically peope selling their fruit/veg and various other products as well as craft stalls. There were also cows, goats and chickens on show as well as a few tractors. There was also a few fair rides. Now Im very wary of fast and very dangerous looking rides at the Loughborough Fair, so there was no way anyone was going to get me on an African fair ride! And as it turned out I made the right decision...I saw a man on a ( I cant remember the name - but it spins around really fast and your sitting in a sit and I think the ones in England go up and down and spin indivdually, anyway it was a really simpe version of that, but the seats were so big and there was a measly metal rod that you pull done on top of yourself - to supposedly keep you from falling out!) the ride was going really really fast and then I turned to see this man holding onto the bottom of the seat - he had slipped and was dangling from the bottom of the seat! he was screaming and yelling and they didnt even stop the ride or slow it down - they just waited - for what felt like 5 minutes to stop the ride and get him off - so anyway this guy had managed to swing his little seat - which was attached to the top of the ride by chains - to the nearest one to him which happened to have someone esle in it - so comsequently his little seat was swinging and twisting around and he ended up screaming at the guy to let go of his seat and the poor guy ended up slipping out of his seat - so twi guys were hainging on to the bottom of the seat for dear life!! suffice to say Im never going on a fair ride again!! EVER!
This afternoon I am moving out of the volunteer house just for the weekend - as I need some peace and quiet and a bit of time on my own. It's been about 5 weeks that I lived at the v-house with about 20 other people so I am going to enjoy a full nights sleep undisturbed by people singing at the top of their voices at 2.30am, or people screaming or running around the house like headless chickens! Ill be staying in the house above the orphanage - so Ill be able to hear screaming babies and such but its got to be better than hearing a high pitched American screaming at the top of their lungs! It also means I'll have access to MSN over the weekend - yeah!
Yesterday whilst out in town with the kids I saw the biggest insect I have ever seen in my whole life! It was about this big (c lines) --------------------------------------------------I wish I was exagerrating too but Im really not! One of the locals said it was a cockroach - As long as it can't fly I dont care what it is!!
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