Uganda Team: First day teaching and the fun really begins!

Team Monkey- Lucy Hurst, Megan Sanders, Ali Clarke, Hannah Willcox and Emily Edwards

Before we start this blog we just want to say that this is our second draft because we forgot to save it.

Early Morning for us as we needed to finish all of the last minute preparations for our first day at Tudabejja. Tudabejja is the halfway home between starting the children’s life off of the streets at the clubhouse and being rehomed.

Breakfast was at 7am. We knew that because Laila walked in really grumpy. We got into the mini buses and sang for the whole hour and a half and annoyed Jimmy. At first we were nervous because although we had loads of resources we didn’t know how we would be welcomed into the class room and by the children. We started the day with a welcome, showing the children where we came from and introducing ourselves. Throughout the rest of the day we made name badges, built big ben and the spinnaker tower using blocks, played football (Lucy, Hannah and Ali managed to kick a ball for the first time still with no direction), decorated a monkey collage as we are team monkey, Emily took a dance class (Megan had the best moves by far) and we played jigsaws due to the rain. Yes rain in Uganda! :O.

We really enjoyed our first day and meeting the children. We are now about have a team meeting to discuss tomorrow’s itinery.

Megan: Today was a really good first day in Tudabejja! My favorite part of the day was interacting and getting to know the children who we will be working with. One of the younger boys in the group told us we were all his friends and wrote that he loved me on his name sticker. This was a good moment on the trip because it reminded us how much we were influencing the lives of the children who started off on the streets and how much the retrak program helps to change their lives. The hardest part for me was trying to interact with the children who had recently moved from the clubhouse because they would not talk to us. Our aim is to try and get him to take part in the activities we have planned. (Hellooo Mum, Jim, Jack, Cody and George. Just to let you know I have a whole new bracelet collection! Missing you all and will see you soon! Tell Jim to stay strong haha! Dont drink too many coffees!xx;))

Lucy and Hannah: Today, for us, was amazing and so much fun! The children and teachers at Retrak Tudabejja were so welcoming. You could really see the children’s social and academic improvements from Retrak Clubhouse to the half way home where they are now. When we went on the outreach walk, we saw the most shocking sites and it really shows that Retrak is such a worthwhile organization. When we left the children all ran up to the mini bus, asking if we were coming back tomorrow. The best part for me was seeing the childrens smiles, however the worst part was finding out how the children there ended up on the streets in the first place!

22^nd October 2013

Clubhouse

Jess West

Cobi Collyer

Hanna Masanjika

Another early start and our second day at Clubhouse, although it was our first day of lessons. When we arrived at Clubhouse, we set up our activities and introduced ourselves to the children. The children were placed into one of the three teams (Chameleon, Zebra and Universe) based on their abilities. Within our teams we did our activities for 30 minutes before heading off on the outreach walk through the streets of the slums, which the Tudabejja group did yesterday. Because the other group did it before us, we knew what to expect but were still very nervous of what we were going to see. The most shocking things we saw were drug use, violence and injuries. On the way back to Clubhouse we were followed by many children, some of which stayed with us for the rest the day. Hopefully they will have a positive experience at Retrak. After this we started the lessons, however they were shortened due to our outreach walk. The lessons were based on topics relating to the theme 'habitats', such as the desert, oceans and animals. Some of the activities we did were mask making, football games, shaving foam fun, hopscotch and playdough. The children especially loved playing with glitter, shaving foam and painting. At the end of day all of the Clubhouse teams gathered together for a game of volleyball. Overall, it has been a very exciting day.

Cobi: Mum i ate a sandwhich in normal bread today! It wasnt too bad, and just to let you know my stuff takes up most of the room, its so messy, like my bedroom. Miss you mum, dad, lana, frank, ned, gerbals, cookie, muffin, arther, fish, (tell nan im fine, dont worry to much). Love you,  see you monday xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jess: Amazing time so far. I am feeling very tired most of the time but the buzz with working with the children is keeping me awake. Not missing home only my ipad. Mum, I have heard the comments you left on the blog and well done on working out how to use it. Say hello to Nanna from me. See you Monday. :)  

Hanna: We've reached the half way point of our trip and I've already gained so much out of this experience. The children are fantastic and the people are generally very welcoming. Mum (if you've managed to figure out how the internet works) I have soooo much to tell you when I arrive home and I hope the house hasn't been too boring without me. I'm missing everybody a lot but not enough to come home just yet xxx