Today we all had an early start eating
breakfast and getting ready to leave for 8:30am so we could travel to the Acholi
Community. After a 20-minute drive we arrived at the small church where we were
going to learn about bead making. We spent about an hour learning how to, and
then making our own beads, which required a lot of concentration. The beads are made by rolling up pieces of
paper over and over again and then squashing them into bead shapes. They are then strung together and then
varnished and dyed different colours. For the record, Michael is the best at
bead making (so he thinks). We then went on a tour of the community. The first
stop was to visit the home of one of the ladies who makes the beads she was
called Lillian. It was quite shocking to see what small and poor living
conditions her and her two children live in. She told us the story of her life,
about how she is originally from North West Uganda but had to flee to the south
to escape the war that was taking place in that part of the country. The story
she told was quite emotional. It was quite a shock to see the living and
working conditions that people in this community live in. It’s very different
to what we are used to! At the end of the tour we were at a quarry, where
members of the Acholi community work collecting and smashing rocks. We learned
that the women who smash the rocks all day only earn the equivalent of 50p a
day! And if kids do it rather than go to school then they only get 10p a day. Some
of the team had the opportunity to smash some rocks themselves, which was much
harder than it looked.
After we had lunch, we headed to another
part of the community where we played a lot of different games with the Acholi
children. The children were really excited to see us and joined in with
everything we had on offer for them! We played games like football, elephant
football, beanbag races and lots of other fun activities. In the middle of this
it started to rain – HARD!!! So we had to all take shelter. This didn’t stop
the fun though as the children and us took part in sing-alongs both in English
and in the language that they speak in Acholi. For the rest of the evening we
just chilled back at John’s house, regaining our energy for tomorrow’s
activities. We brought lots of beads back from the ladies and set up our own
shop where we could buy some souvenirs and things to remember our bead making
experience.
That’s all for today, Michael!
p.s. Kayliann’s the king!
p.p.s. We love hearing your comments – so
keep them coming :)
6 comments:
Glad you are all having such a fantastic time.
Love to Mitchell x x x
Looks like you have had such a fun but busy day today.love looking at the pictures. Love mum and dad. Miss you like crazy kayliann but we no what your doing makes a difference. Xx
I think nanny jean would like the beads Mitchell xxx love you loads xxx stay safe and have fun xxx
Love looking through your photos! I would love to try making beads. Looks like you are all thoroughly enjoying this wonderful experience. Way to go KING Kayliann ;D. Xxx
well done all of you team Uganda. I am so happy to hear that you had a great time at Acholi Quarters - one of my favourite places in the world! have you met Harriet yet, and her little baby son - please get a photo of them for me.
I hope you've had a good time at Maya as well - another very special place.
You are making so many people happy, and bringing smiles to so many faces in all you are doing - keep up the good work and be proud of yourselves. You are stars, each one of you. Enjoy the rest of your time in the wonderful Uganda - God bless you all.
Sure do expect some of those beads, Mitchell
.
Post a Comment