Worldwide Veterinary Service

JOY BACK TO UGANDA WITH TEACHERS – AUGUST 2007

In August I headed back again to my beloved Uganda, to see yet more progress at the Buhoma Community and Karangara Community primary schools in the Kanungu district of the country.This time I was delighted to be travelling with Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) which is a registered UK charity that supplies veterinary resources and aid to animal charities around the world. These resources include volunteer vets, support staff and medical supplies.

WVS is committed to improving the treatment and welfare of all animal species throughout the world. Their mission is to help prevent and relieve suffering and to improve the moral perception of animals whilst benefiting the people who live alongside, or are dependent upon, these animals.

Human health is inextricably linked with animal health and disease control, particularly in developing regions. Many human diseases, such as rabies, can be controlled by improving animal health and controlling feral populations by neutering. In addition, many people rely on working animals for their livelihood. A greater knowledge of animal care leads to a healthier, more productive life for the animal, providing owners with the means to support themselves.

As education is essential in order to achieve these objectives and is the key to ensuring the sustainability of their work; Worldwide Training Service (WTS) has been formed which is the educational arm of WVS.

In the months leading up to the trip I had been in close contact with Hannah Westen the International Projects Co-ordinator of WVS who was leading the trip of two UK teachers and one recent Ugandan Graduate.

We discussed the purpose of the project which was to provide training for teachers at the Buhoma Community Primary School and to spearhead an education programme to improve the moral perception and welfare of animals in the area. We had arranged to liaise with Gladys Kalema, a good friend of mine who is a Veterinary Surgeon for the Ugandan based charity Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH – www.ctph.org), for project ideas and collaboration.

The UK teachers were a supply teacher from Harrogate Anne Creen and a friend from my Pilates class Jacqui Foulger who is a special needs teacher in Wolverhampton. They had both kindly given two weeks of their annual leave, as well as funding their own expenses. We were also to be joined by Ronald Asiimwe who had very recently graduated from Makerere University in Kampala with a degree in Biomedical Science, Ronald was eager to give something back to the community having kindly been sponsored by Felicity in the UK.

We reached Entebbe on Saturday afternoon 4th August and as Hannah, Jacqui & Anne had booked to trek Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi on the Sunday, we had no time to spare and literally headed straight to Bwindi. Due to heavy (unseasonable) rains we had a long and difficult drive ahead and eventually reached Buhoma Community rest camp at 4.30 am! With a couple of hours sleep we were awake and I sent them off on their adventure….

The team had a fantastic experience Gorilla trekking, whilst I took the time to visit all my old friends in Buhoma.

On the Monday we all went to school for a planning day and to present all the books and resources we had carried with us. It was great to introduce the team to all the wonderful staff at Buhoma and show them the classrooms we had opened back in February. It was wonderful to see the school looking so good.

Sadly a recent landside following heavy rains had collapsed the boy’s latrine but following a wonderful donation by Paul Archer it was great to see a new latrine already under construction.

During the planning sessions we confirmed that the teachers had 6 full days of teaching ahead of them, starting at 7.00 am and finishing at 5pm! The school day consists of:

7.00 Arrival
7.00 – 10.00 Lessons
10.00- 11.00 Breakfast break
11.00- 13.00 Lessons
13.00– 14.00 Lunch
14.00– 16.00 Lessons ( very young children have a 2 hour sleep!)
16.00– 17.00 Games

On the Tuesday the teachers spent their first full day of teaching at the school. While the teachers were on duty, Hannah and I had planned to take the opportunity to visit Karangara Community School and children now sponsored at secondary school, as well as meeting with CTPH to discuss animal welfare issues and how to integrate this into our programme. From the moment we arrived we were all planning to be very busy…

So on the Tuesday Hannah & I Visited Butogota Secondary school to see Emmy & Brian who are sponsored by Iain Perry. We then travelled on to Karangara School where we met some parents, staff & pupils. It was wonderful to see the progress made. The site is now looking so different and the foundations have been completed for the three classroom block.

The school gave us the most amazing welcome and as we walked the site, we saw the floor being laid on the foundations already in place for the proposed classroom block, as well as the first stage of the proposed poultry farm. Charlie Garratt MRCVS is aiming to fundraise for the school to provide 50 laying hens and build suitable housing and a run for the birds. The long-term aim is to provide sustainable methods for the school to make income for itself.

Having seen the very poor conditions that chickens are kept in in the markets of Uganda, I am eager to ensure that the welfare of the birds is a major consideration. Good hygiene and un-crowded conditions is particularly important as the site is at a primary school and disease risks must be kept at a minimum, particularly with recent concerns about bird flu in other African nations.

While we were there I took the opportunity to arrange the new sponsorships and it was lovely to be able to hand out some of the gifts that many kind people had given. Very special thanks to Mary Anne Reel’s mum who had knitted more lovely little jumpers for the children, which I distributed to the smallest children and babies. It was lovely to still see children wearing the ones she sent out last time! I also had clothes and toys to distribute from Nita Wedge’s kind friends. It is wonderful to see barefoot children suddenly have a pair of shoes. It is far easier to distribute items under the supervision of James to ensure that the neediest receive them and that there is no jealousy between the children. All too often I see tourists handing items out of car windows with no thought of the consequences, we muzungus can help so much but we can also cause harm without careful thought!

During the visit the children also put on a wonderful show of dancing and singing for us and we were again a fascination to the audience. It was during the show that I noticed a baby with a hare lip / cleft palate again, having first seen her six months earlier. She looked so well and her mother was obviously doing a wonderful job of feeding and caring for her. I asked James to discreetly find out if the mother wanted the surgery to be performed and whether it was purely due to finance that the baby remained without surgical repair. James returned with a very happy looking mum who introduced herself and her baby Rabecca and through translation we managed to arrange for her to visit the medical centre the following day for assessment.

We later visited Kemigisha Maurice Prose at Nyamiyaga Primary School and Ndymuhaki Bonanza at Nyamiyaga Secondary School. Prose was previously a pupil at Buhoma School but on the death of both of her parents she moved to live with her grandmother and hence changed schools. Bonanza is now at secondary school having attended Buhoma primary school previously. Bonanza had originally joined San Giovanni Secondary school, but due to recent ill health of unexplained fevers, it was decided to move him to a school nearer his home. I was therefore delighted to find out that his health had vastly improved and all tests had concluded that there was now nothing to worry about. His present teacher felt that perhaps it was due to unhappiness at a boarding school far from home! It was so lovely to be able to visit them both in their own schools as it made them feel so special that we had made the effort to do so, it is also reassuring to be able to meet with their teachers and confirm that everything is going well with their education. I had not seen Bonanza for well over a year and was amazed to now see a young man and not the boy I first met and now looking so well!

On the Wednesday, again the teachers were at school and Hannah and I took time to observe the teaching in progress, but we knew that throughout the trip it would be very important NOT to disrupt classes, so we observed as unobtrusively as possible and made our informal visits only during break times.

We also took time to visit the medical centre to hand over second-hand spectacles and hand crocheted blankets made by Lisa Gudgin and her family. The manager of the store was very grateful and promised they would be put to good use.

Just as we were about to leave, baby Rabecca arrived and it gave me the opportunity to make arrangements with Richard the medical centre Administrator. I was delighted to find out that she could join a project to have free surgical repair and with a relatively small amount of money I could support her with her travelling expenses etc to ensure the procedure was done. Since returning home I have kept in contact and Rabecca had her hare lip surgery on 28th August, which went very well and later in September she will have to go to Kampala to have the cleft palate repair, so on my next visit I hope to see a smile from beautiful Rabecca!

Earlier that day we had met some tourists in the camp who had shown an interest in visiting the school, so when Hannah and I returned at 4pm for playtime they joined us. It always gives me a lot of pleasure to share the wonderful experience of meeting these wonderful kids and to see Sharon, Eleanor and Clive from the UK as moved by the experience as I was on my first visit was so rewarding. It was especially enjoyable as Sharon is from Kidderminster so she was absolutely amazed to see Brierley Hill Rotary Club on the wall, on the notice board and on 50 desks, it was a real shock for her, as she lives about 10 miles from where they meet!

A very very special moment of that afternoon was when Penlope the headmistress introduced them to Scalet, Hillary and Darius, as they all decided to sponsor a child. It was very special for the children, as so few of them will ever hope to meet their sponsors in person and I know they will treasure the photos of them together.

At the end of the school day we all visited the Buhoma Medical Centre for a tour with a UK volunteer nurse. The tour was really informative and we learnt more about the medical issues of the region including HIV, Malaria, and TB and protein malnutrition.

That evening our group watched the dance show at Bwindi Orphans’ Group and it was heart-warming to notice Priscilla in the group, who is the young girl that Becci sponsored when she travelled with me as a Vet Nurse volunteer working with Gladys and CTPH last autumn. Priscilla just smiled at me throughout the whole performance, she looked delighted that I had recognized her! She was such a star of the show and performed two solo songs as well as showing wonderful dance skills. She was even more excited when I rushed over to talk to her at the end of the show and promised to visit her at school, later that week.

By Thursday the teachers were now settled into their teaching routine, so Hannah and I arranged a guided tour for them by CTPH to see the Ecocabin and Lab so that they now could become more aware of how we could integrate all the objectives of the trip.

Hannah and I also took the opportunity to visit Priscilla and her friend Florence who we also met at the show at Mukono School which is the only Government primary school in Buhoma. It was so nice to see them and take them a small gift and meet with the headmaster and Sam who used to teach at Buhoma school. Sam was so excited to meet again as he wanted to hear all about Lesley and Robin who helped him with his studies when they met him during the ecocabin building trip. It was really useful to talk to them more about what is really happening with school funding in Uganda. If you believe everything you read you would think that ALL children in Uganda receive free education, but we confirmed some very interesting facts:

• There is NO government funded secondary school in the region, only the Senior 1 & 2 fee-paying classes being held at Buhoma community school in one of the classrooms.
• Mukono School receives part support only from the Government and only has a P1, P2 and P3 government class with any child above this having to leave the area to attend boarding school and the boarding fees and travelling expense would have to be found by the guardians of the child. Or they can continue their studies at a private school in the area or pay fees at Mukono.
• P1 at Mukono has 151 pupils and the whole school has only 5 teachers in total for all classes (over 550 children), compared to over a dozen at Buhoma School.

With all of this in mind, I was content that our support of the non-Government schools was a very worthwhile cause and I am very happy to say that Emmanuelle the head of education for the region has remained a good friend and fully aware of my involvement with both schools and was delighted with the WVS teaching project, so I am happy that the Government will not stand in our way when we wish to continue our efforts. He has also promised to give any government support available to private schools to Buhoma and Karangara when appropriate, so I am busy keeping officials on side too!Hannah and I gave a lecture on Animal Welfare and the work of WVS to the school wildlife group in the afternoon, which was so rewarding and we then made plans for a visit to the school by Gladys the CTPH vet on the Monday.

On the Friday after leaving the teachers at school, Hannah and I joined Musunguzi James, chairman of Karangara School and ex-headmaster of Buhoma School to visit Mwesigwa Nathan at San Giovanni Secondary School. The teaching staff gave us a great welcome and were delighted that Nathan is so lucky to have full sponsorship at secondary school from his sponsor David who previously supported him at Buhoma School. It was wonderful to see Nathan again and we planned to collect him on our way back to Bwindi to take him home for the weekend, so that he could see his brother Herbert who teaches at Buhoma School. This would also mean that he would be able to join us for the party we had planned at Buhoma School on the Saturday.

He could also receive his text books that his sponsor had donated and were going to be delivered by the Kabale Rotary Club as one of their members owns a book store and can order books for us. Whilst at San Giovanni we also met Musunguzi Brian another ex-Buhoma pupil.

After San Giovanni we headed off to see Ayesigwa Benjamin at Kinkizi High School. I was eager to see Benjamin as he had recently transferred from Buhoma, so he was very new to secondary boarding school. We received a very warm welcome from the school headmaster and he seemed particularly touched that we had not only wanted to sort out clerical matters but that we genuinely wanted to meet with Benjamin and talk to him about his progress and give him presents. I was saddened to hear that when other muzungu (whites) charity reps visit, they show no real personal interest in the children themselves, so the headmaster congratulated us on our care and told Benjamin how lucky he was that there were people in the UK, including his sponsor Claire, who loved him so much. At present Benjamin has only one sponsor but I hope in the future to find two more sponsors, who can share the £180 yearly fee, compared to £60 for primary school and I have told his Headmaster I will do everything I can to help this wonderful young man.

From there we called in at the Great Lakes College, where Musunguzi Alex is very lucky to be in full time education, thanks to generous sponsorship, along with all the other teachers my kind supporters sponsor on their ‘in service’ courses, which they attend during school holidays. It was nice to be able to show Hannah the site and to be able to collect the latest course fee price lists from the Bursar.

Alex is a primary school teacher at Karangara Community School and is extremely lucky to have received sponsorship to attend college full time. He has just passed his certificate in Early Childhood Development and will commence his Diploma Course from September.

Well the week was over and now we had a weekend of fun to look forward to as I had been busily making all the arrangements for children’s parties at both schools. The idea being, that with so many children now sponsored by my wonderful supporters, it would be lovely to have a full day of fun together, where I could give out all the sponsor gifts and make sure everyone got a present, without the children not sponsored by us feeling Left out.

On Friday evening we were visited in camp by Joseline and her husband Ismael who wanted to meet us and hear all about Charlie and Janice who sponsor his wife, it was so nice to meet him and we knew we would meet many more family members of the teachers at the party the next day.

So on Saturday during the morning the teachers went on a guided village tour and visited the Batwa (Pygmy) Community and the natural healer, while I worked with a wonderful team of teachers and friends to get set for the children’s party at Buhoma Community School.

We had the most wonderful afternoon with the Buhoma children and Mathious also attended who is now a pupil at secondary school in Kabale, as did Nathan and Brian from San Giovanni and Brian and Emmy from Butogota. Mathious is another very lucky young man who has also received full sponsorship for this year at secondary school from his sponsor Irene.

The party was great and the children had so much fun playing with all the toys I had been posting out ahead, over the previous months. Many of them received letters and gifts from their sponsors and I hope you can all imagine the delight on all their faces. We had arranged cooked food for the adults and the children had fruit and sodas and biscuits and sweets and their faces said it all. We played skittles and skipping and football and volleyball and they just adored the glove puppet teddy bear I took with me! Which I bought in Covent Garden from www.befordbears.co.uk. When I explained why I wanted the bear they very kindly reduced the charge, so a big thank you to Bedford Bears!

The children even had a lesson in road safety from teacher Herbert who explained about how to use the reflectors that had been kindly donated for all the children by Hateley Heath Primary School in West Bromwich who sponsor Agrey and Brian.

The children didn’t want to go home and it was so lovely to see them all walking home clutching their ‘Winnie the Pooh’ party bags and presents. They even took their paper plates home with them, so Winnie, Tigger & Piglet are now “Big in Buhoma”! They were all so excited, so a very big thank you to all their sponsors.

During the day we also met Joseline’s children Amanya Junior, a little Girl of 4, and Abaho Oswald, a baby boy of 18 months, Penlope’s mother Alice Karuhize and Rukundo Prosper her brother. Patience’s Husband Byarugaba Robert and their daughter Ekyathheire Desire a little girl aged 3, Herbert’s Mother Irene Ekyaryampa and his aunt Nsimenta Jonah, Milton’s girlfriend Jecenta Kyompirwe and his mother Violet Tumusiime, so it really was a family event.

As the party came to a close our friends from Kabale Rotary Club arrived for the evening and I was overwhelmed that 18 of its members had made the effort to make the 6 hour journey to visit us. That evening we talked and at breakfast we had a full meeting to discuss future projects at Buhoma and it was decided that syllabus text books were the next essential item and I hoped to secure support for books for both schools from our good friends at Brierley Hill Rotary club. They then headed off for a meeting with Buhoma School committee while I started party planning all over again, this time for Karangara school.

We all headed off into the mountain region of Karangara, with the minibus loaded with food & drink and several friends, like Augustine from Buhoma who had had so much fun at the Buhoma party, they had offered to help me in Karangara too, bless them! We arrived at the home of James and his lovely wife Rester to be met by all the ladies ready for church and wearing the beautiful hats donated by Tom in the UK, whose wife had passed on, leaving the hats unused. I only hope his wife was smiling down on the scene as they really did look wonderful in them! The teachers attended church with the community, whilst Hannah and I took charge of arrangements for the children’s party at Karangara Community School.

It was to follow the same format as the party at Buhoma, except this time it would be “Scooby doo” taking centre stage! The party was also attended by Prose, Benjamin and Bonanza who we had visited earlier in the week.

While we set up for the party Kabale Rotary Club attended a wonderful reception put on by the school and they all pledged their support for this wonderful new project. Already James has recruited an engineer to advise them with forthcoming building plans and he has promised the services of a vet to check and vaccinate our poultry for us in the future.

We also met with teacher Willis and his mother Beatrace, sister Costance and Brother Simon and teacher Enoch and his girlfriend Ampeire Annet and teachers Alex and Moses and the rest of the staff.

Sadly the weather was not as kind to us in Karangara, but in some ways the heavy rains were an incredible incentive for me to get fundraising for brick classrooms at Karangara. Having had the Buhoma party in one of the beautiful classes so kindly donated by my supporters, especially St Bede’s Prep school in Staffordshire and Brierley Hill Rotary Club, can you imagine having a party in a bamboo class when monsoon rains start? Well mud is an understatement, but those wonderful children still had so much fun, probably because they were all laughing at us crazy muzungus slipping around in the mud, handing out treats and gifts and covering their heads with our coats when the rain came through the walls! I have no idea how children can concentrate on school work when they are literally sitting in mud floored classrooms… so by next year’s party I want to have at least one classroom finished and with the foundations already completed and the floor laid, this is within reach, so if anyone has ideas for fundraising please let me know. I hope that friends such as Brierley Hill Rotary Club, St Bede’s School, Bishops Wood Parochial Church Council and Dragon Vets in London may consider helping again and I am delighted to have had interest from a number of other organisations, who are interested in funding projects that I regularly visit, and can report back on.

Well the weekend was over, so back to school for the teachers on the Monday. In the afternoon Hannah and I ran an afternoon workshop for the wildlife group taking them all to visit the Ecocabin Gorilla Clinic and laboratory where they were met by Steven Rubanga Veterinary Technician for CTPH who lectured all the children on the work of the organisation. It was wonderful to talk to the children about wildlife and the animals they keep at home and of course the endangered Mountain Gorilla. Steven from CTPH teased them that it took a muzungu to travel 4,000 miles to tell them about wildlife that lives next to them. The children had no idea that only around 720 Mountain Gorillas are in existence in the mountains of DRC, Rwanda and almost half of them in Uganda. This was put into prospective for the children when I explained that there were less than two gorillas for every child in their school and that it would be them not the tourists who would save this wonderful animal. This was particularly relevant when you consider that the Gorilla massacre had only just happened at the hands of rebels in the DRC!

As we finished our last tour Gladys arrived from her long drive from Kampala, in time to set up to give a power-point presentation to the children and teachers at the school. Of course now you will recall that we do not have electricity at the school but CTPH provided a petrol generator for the event, so imagine a school with no electricity now sits down to watch a slide show about Gorillas and wildlife and the work of CTPH to prevent the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis and scabies.

That evening we were all invited to the home of Levy who is the Batwa Outreach project co-ordinator for the medical centre and father of Mathious and Hellen who we sponsor. It was a wonderful evening of traditional food and entertainment and watching Levy entertain a houseful of children with a few modelling balloons given to him by a tourist was a delight… no TV, play-station or computer in sight!!

Well Tuesday arrived and it was the last day at the school and it was indeed the end of term, so with some of the books and stationary and writing equipment we had carried out with us thanks to the generosity of the airline Emirates who allowed us an extra 30kg free, we arranged awards for top achievers in each class and an end of term award ceremony.

It was a wonderful way to end our time with the school and really very emotional as the Ugandan teachers had made more friends and were so happy with everything they had learnt. The awards were very special to me, particularly when two of the children Shallon and Anthony were prize winners and they are sponsored by Christine and Falconers Hill Primary school.

That evening the teachers came to our camp and we had a lovely time with them and Gladys and Steven from CTPH, we said our goodbyes and in particular we wished teacher Patience well as she is due to have her second baby in September, which is unreal, when you consider that she was still walking 2 hours to and from school and teaching all day! Her little daughter Desire is so beautiful so I am looking forward to seeing her lovely family with husband Robert grow and grow. She is so dedicated as she will continue her college studies for her diploma in September too!

Well Wednesday morning arrived and we had to say our goodbyes and as we drove out on the main road we kept meeting well-wishers who wanted to say goodbye, but I for one will certainly be back soon and you know what? I know that Hannah and Jacqui will be back for sure, I think they may have caught the bug I caught several years ago.

The team left Bwindi to take a short safari in Queen Elizabeth Park on the way back to Kampala for a Saturday flight and they got rewarded for their work with two beautiful tree climbing lions in Ishasha and a small herd of elephant, and then in Mweya they had the wonderful boat trip and lion on a kill.

So it certainly was a packed programme and it was really rewarding, it was wonderful to see all the children that are sponsored by my friends and supporters and the children were so happy that we had taken time to visit them, especially those which we had to make special journeys to visit.

Hannah from WVS returned inspired by her meetings with CTPH with lots of ideas of how we can help in the future and Jacqui has busily lined up a number of possible new sponsors and with continued support I hope to see a library full of books at both schools, a three classroom block, an office & library and a poultry farm at Karangara by our next WTS visit next year, so another busy fundraising year for me…