The past 2 Fridays in December (the 12th and 19th) we have been running Christmas parties for the children at our 2 venues where we usually have kids clubs. The First one was at Blessed Word of Life Church on the 12th, and the second one was at Family Believers Church (19th) in Nabulagala.
At both parties we put on a nativity for the kids, played games, gave out sweets, ate cake, sang songs, did face painting and gave out gifts! This year we were able to give the kids soft toys that had previously been donated to Smile! All in all it was a VERY hectic time!! Here are some pictures to let you see what happened!
I can happily say we are now on holiday for the Christmas season! We have been having a very relaxed time, yesterday going in to Kampala (to KFC!!) and also spending time relaxing around the house and catching up on much needed sleep. As our visas expire at the end of the month, on Saturday (the 27th) we are heading to Kigali in Rwanda for a couple of days. This is to leave the country and then renew our visas for another 3 months (I can't believe how fast time has gone!). So I will have plenty to blog about over the next few weeks!
Kenneth :)
When the school holidays began at Ruth Mother Care, it was decided that we would run a "catch up class" for the children at Family Believers Church in Nabulagala where we do the Slums outreach. A catch up class is basically a school run during the holidays to try and help kids go over things they find difficult etc. We were teaching Maths and English.
The first few days of the school holidays we spent preparing lessons and materials as well as visiting the people in the area to spread the word and let them know what was going to be happening.
We ran the classes from the 8th to the 17th of December, teaching on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
On Monday the 8th of December we arrived and waited for the children to turn up. We weren't really sure how many would come along, so it was perhaps it was a little overwhelming when 100+ kids turned up! As we only had 2 blackboards we split the children into two groups, those who were baby aged up to those in P1 and then in the other class p2+. I led most of the lessons for the p2+ class, with Kathryn helping in crowd control and marking etc, whilst Ruth taught the 'baby' class with the help of Moses a local volunteer. We mostly taught sounds and how to write basic sentences and parts that make up a sentence. In the mathematics we taught about fractions, addition and subtraction, and about time.
As I had a class ranging from p2 to p7 it was quite difficult to set lessons that would be appropriate for all the kids. Usually I would try and set easier examples that would progressively get harder so the older ones would find some sort of challenge, but also ensuring the younger children could do some of the work. I think I have found this the most challenging project we've worked on. One day we had about 150 kids turning up! 80 of which were in the older class, certainly quite a challenge to teach and control all of them. Though we got through it and survived! Despite the stresses it was also quite a rewarding experience. especially when teaching one on one with some of the kids. It was very rewarding when the children understood what you were teaching them, when they had previously been getting the wrong answers. We could actually see that we were indeed making a difference.
It was a very intense couple of days, and it definitely left us in need of a holiday! Though after the holidays we are hopefully going to start some sort of school at the church, thus allowing us to work with only the children that don't get the chance to go to school. Obviously this is still in the planning stage, but I am quite excited about the potential of working with the kids who need it most.
Overall it was a very good experience, and I really hope that we were a blessing to the children and helped them in their work.
Hope you're all having a great week!
Kenneth :)
Hello! So I realise I have not updated the blog in the past month but we have been crazy busy and haven't had much time to update you all! We are now on Christmas break for a couple of weeks so I will post a few updates of what we have been up to over the past month or so!
On the last two weekends of November we attended the 'Speech days' at the two schools we have taught at. Speech days are an end of year show, where the kids sing, dance and act for their parents. There is often someone who gives a short speech or talk. The speech day is also an opportunity to celebrate the children 'graduating' from Top class in nursery into Primary 1.
Center of Hope Junior School
On Saturday the 23rd of November we returned to the school in the village Kalanamu. We were greeted by a very excited bunch of children happy to see us once again! It was nice to be back and see all the kids and teachers again! Almost felt like we hadn't been away!
Each of the classes performed a couple of songs and dances. Then the guest of honour... Not entirely sure who he was.. gave a speech. It was a long day, but it was good to see the kids and listen to them sing. Here are a couple of pictures and videos to let you get an idea of what it was like!
Ruth Mother Care
On the 30th of November we were at the speech day at Ruth Mother Care. We were told it would start at 9am, though we knew this would be highly unlikely... We decided to go along for 9:30am expecting it to start at about 10ish or so.. However.... When we arrived, we were as expected the first people to arrive... Though just as we got in side it started to rain! And boy did it rain..! So for the next 4 hours until 1pm! We were sat inside waiting for the rain to stop! (it is a legitamate excuse not to go anywhere when it rains here....) Thankfully we were given lunch and didn't get wet! But it wasn't exactly the most exciting way to spend a Saturday morning..! So at 2pm when the parents finally arrived the show got started! It was nice to see the kids singing and things, even though we'd already seen them practice! We also got up and gave a short introduction to the parents as we will be teaching the kids again when we start after the holidays. Here are some pics to let you see what happened here!
I will update about what else we have been up to every soon!
Hope you are all well..
Kenneth :)
P.S Sorry Barry if this was too long for you.. I know you struggle with reading ;) I put in lots of pictures for your benefit....
