Gorilla trekking, the workshop and home again...

Even though I am officially back in Canada I couldn't leave the blog without finishing off the rest of the trip and most importantly telling everyone about the workshop.
When I last left the blog I was on my way from Queen Elizabeth National Park to Ruhija in Bwindi National Park. The drive from QENP to Ruhija was a long one....7 hours in fact and in true Ugandan style there were 7 of us (including all of our luggage and all of the supplies for the workshop) in a van that was suppose to seat 5. It was mighty squashy but we made it work and even had many laughs along of the way. When we arrived in Ruhija that night we call couldn't wait to get out and stretch our legs and see where we were. The drive up had been several hours of switchback roads with a very large cliff on one side. (koodos has to be given to Ishamal, our driver, for his stellar work behind the wheel and for listening to 6 women for 7 hours in a cramped car!) We were welcomed by the staff of the ITFC (Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation) who were very helpful at showing us around and getting us settled in for the night. The ITFC would be my home for the next week because this is where the workshop would take place.
The next morning we were up bright and early to head to the ranger post for our gorilla trekking briefing. We also got our first look at our surroundings and they were beautiful!! When we met our guide he explained how the day would work, what to expect and that they wouldn't leave any of us in the rainforest! After the briefing we made our way to the entry point and we were off. Our guides (including our initial contact, our machete guy (the one who makes the trails) and our protector (the guy with the gun)) were in contact with our scout team (the group of trekkers who go out at dawn to find out where the gorillas are so that they can lead us on the most direct path). I think we were only on the actual trail for 15 mins before we took a sharp left turn into the actual forest. From there it was slow going because our front man had to cut through the dense foliage (it isn't called Bwindi Impenetrable Park for nothing!). It was also incredibly steep and slippery. It wasn't uncommon for someone to just fall over randomly! After a little over an hour of hiking, we got sight of our first gorilla! It was amazing!! I can't even begin to describe what it is like to step into the world of the gorilla, to see them just doing what they do. We got a chance to see the silverback (alpha male of the group), several females and even a young one! It was something I will never forget!
The next day it was time to start the workshop. The participants had traveled along way from home to join us and we wanted to make sure that they got the most out of the experience. In total we had 28 teachers from the surrounding areas. Over the next 4 days we worked with the teachers to help them learn about cooperative teaching methods, experiential learning, how to incorporate environmental education into the curriculum and we discussed many environmental issues that are affecting Uganda. We finished by helping them to create a school environmental action plan. A very detailed plan of a project that they would implement with their students and communities when they returned to their homes. We also talked about how they could teach other teachers from their schools what they had learned so that other teachers could get on board. The teachers that participated were very hard working and dedicated to the task at hand, it was great to see them so enthusiastic about what we were talking about.
It was a great 4 days and I believe that everyone involved learned alot (myself included)! A couple of my favourite memories from the workshop...
- The second night of the workshop Shannon (another Canadian teacher) and I walked into the nearby village with some of the participants. It was our first chance to talk to them outside of the classroom setting and it was really nice to get to talk to them on a more personal level. We all had tons of questions about the others that we wanted answered (how cold does it actually get in Canada...lol) and it was a chance for us to do that.
-The third day, we went for a walk into the forest with the participants. Some of them had never had the opportunity before and it was great to get them more involved with what we were talking about. Other people had grown up very close to the forest and had lots of great knowledge to share about the plants that grow in the forest.
-The last day, we asked the participants to put on a short play about an human/wildlife conflict that they saw in their community and present a solution to that problem. The participants got really into it. They even made costumes (which was great considering we didn't give them much prep time)! It was fun to see everyone so active and to see the issues that they faces. I don't think anyone over here has ever had to deal with elephants trampling their gardens!
The workshop was a fabulous experience and I hope that the Ugandan teachers are able to take what they learned and put it into practice. I hope that I can do the same!

Lion, leopards, and cheetahs, oh my! (and there were horses too)

I have just finished a fantastic week on safari in Kenya. We visited 3 national parks: Samburu in northern Kenya, Lake Nakuru in central Kenya and the Masai Mara at the very south of Kenya. Each park had very different environments and animals within. The safari involved camping to be close to the nature of the reserves. Unlike my last trip to Africa, there has been no "participatory" involved at all. Our camp sites had permanant tents and for the Masai Mara we even had tents with beds that were surrounded by a tropical garden. We got driven around in these little vans where each person had a window seat, and the roof popped up to get a 360 view. We would drive to the camp sites, and dinner would be ready for us. We didn't have any cleaning up to do --so basically we got catered to, and our only concern was finding all the animals we wanted see. I definately reccomend the lazy camping safari!

Samburu was the first game park we visited, and to get there we crossed into the desolate land of northern Kenya. Northern Kenya is another world --think dry, dusty scrub land that once was the land of highway bandits and gun runners from Somalia. There are 2 northern tribes that have pretty much been forgotten by the rest of Kenya --the Samburu and Turkana. We visited their villages and these people live in huts made of sticks and mud tied together with strips of acacia tree bark. The floor in the huts is dirt and animal skins, and the ceiling is so low that I had to bend in 1/2 to fit inside. The kindergarten class that serves several villages is basically a dirt area surrounded by acacia branches with one Samburu volunteer teacher. We saw some of their traditional dances and since I was wearing their warrior color, red, I got picked to dance with them. The people wear bright colors with lots of beaded plates around their necks and ears stretched so wide that their ear lobes dangle nearly to their shoulders. These people couldn't be more different from us --- male and female circumsion is a tradition at the age of 14; once circumsized, boys go live an isolated life in the mountains for 10 years, while girl are ready for marriage. Men have 4+ wives --the number of wives depending on how many they can afford (cows or goats is the payment) and whether wife number 2 gives the ok. They use stick and brush to light fires and food is cooked over 3 stones in their tiny huts. The only thing these people eat is meat (goat and cow), milk and blood. We actually watched them do a blood-letting of a goat --the blood filled a communal cup from which they drank.

In the Samburu game reserve I saw an animal that I had never seen before --the gerenuk. It is a slender deer-like creature that kind of looks like a mini-giraffe. It stands on its hind limbs to eat from the bushes (which is a really cool sight to see). The park was full of dik-dik, the smallest antelop that is super delicate-looking and about the size of a large domestic cat. We found a herd of female elephants with really small babies eating acacia trees and actually got quite close to them. We also saw cheetahs running away from lions that were on the hunt (the lion tried to catch a warthog, but their hunt was unsuccessful). Samburu park is also home to the northern five --five types of animals that only exist in northern East Africa; the Reticulated giraffe (has distinct hexagonal spots), Grevy's zebra (which is looks like a hybrid between a donkey and a zebra), the Somali ostrich (has blue legs), Besia oryx (which has a paler coat that the usual oryx) and the gerenuk. The male lions here also have no mane! This is an adaptation to the heat in the north. We were camping inside the park and since baboons would often try to raid the camp we had a designated baboon guard. At the top of the guard's tent was his trophy baboon skull from this one baboon that just wouldn't stop attacking the camp. On night we were eating fish and I had a serval (type of wildcat) almost jump up on the table where I was sitting to get to the fish!

We spent a day in Lake Nakuru, which has a large alkaline lake that is home to millions of flamingos. We got to walk right up to the water's edge to see both the lesser (pink) and greater (white) flamingos, along with plenty of pelican and spoonbill storks (their beaks are in the shape of a wooden cooking spoon). In this park there were plenty of rhinos --we got really close to 3 sleeping white rhinos, but also saw the elusive black rhino in the distance. We also saw some tree climbing lions!! It was a female lion perched up in an acacia tree. Lions that climb trees are quite a rare thing and this adaptation (to spot prey and avoid biting safari ants) has only occurred in very few places. We stopped at a mountain-top viewing point that allowed us to see the entire park and lake, and also had a stop at a waterfall that I was able to walk behind. At lunch we were severely raided by the vervet monkeys, which locals call the 'black-faced devils' because of their clever ways of stealing food from humans.

And finally the Masai Mara. This park is on the migratory route of 1.6 million wildebeast, 400,000 gazelles, and 200,000 zebras. In this park these animals cross the treacherous waters of the Mara river where a host of crocodiles await them. The main reason for doing this safari was to see this migration....and did I see it? Well, sort of. I saw 1000's of wildebeast and other migratory animals milling about ---but not millions, and none of them crossed the river. I actually paid to do a balloon safari (450 dollars, yes balloon safaris are a total money racket) hoping to see the migration from above and because I had fond memories of the ballon ride Dave and I had done in the Serengeti (where we saw a cheetah and lions in action), but the winds were so low that day that the ballon didn't take us very far and we saw next to no animals. But the Masai Mara wasn't all that disappointing, since we saw many cheetahs up close, a big pride of lions that included the dominant male lion (father of all the cubs in the pride), and 2 leopards sleeping the trees. The best sighting was of a bunch of 1 month old baby lions playing with their older (3 month old) brothers and sisters. Perhaps it's because of how much I like horses, but on this trip I am really liking the prey animals --topis with coats that have 5 different shades of brown, hartbeest that have heart-shaped horns and the thompson's gazelles that are constantly wagging their tails.

Oh yes, and there were horses. I will finish this post by telling you that I managed to find a horse ranch in Kenya. Horses are expensive and require a lot of maintenance, so they are very few around East Africa. But yes, I did find some and went for a horse ride too. The campground we were staying at next to Lake Nakuru National Park was also right next to a ranch that had 37 race horses. Less than 10min after arriving to the campground I went to the ranch, got the full tour and met all the horses. Plus, on the days we were there I would get up extra early to watch them exercise the horses and break-in the new ponies. After one of the game drives, me and the girl I am sharing tents with (Maleka, from Owen Sound Ontario), went for a ride by the fence surrounding the park (on the human-side of the fence that is). Since I knew how to ride they gave me a more advanced horse, which initially I was told was a 'mare' that was recently retired from the race track. On the ride I found a good spot to canter with the horse. Things were going so well that I decided to see what the horse could do and went for a bit of a gallop. The horse moved so beautifully --it was honestly like riding the Ferrari of horses. After galloping I was informed that I had actually heard wrong and the horse I was riding was actually a male, in fact a stallion! Stallions are known to be crazy loose cannons, so I was a bit shocked. As it turns out this was one of the few non-crazy ones that had won many races and was being bred because of good tempermant. So this was not only my first time galloping a race horse, but a stallion too. Yes, I am a horse-nerd.

Humans and their relatives

Ngamba Island is a place where chimps rescued from the illegal pet and bushmeat trade go. Since they have been in human contact starting at a young age they wouldn't do well if simply released back into the wild, so instead they go to Ngamba island. Ngamba is like a 100-acre retirement home for the chimps. There are 44 chimps on the island, with 4 new members on their way. There are also something like 200 species of birds, which include these Plover birds that would dive-bomb us if ever we inadvertantly came near their newly hatched chicks! A small area of the island has been fenced off for human activity, in which there is a chimp veterinary centre, a research area, chimp food storage and tents for guests that stay overnight. There is also an emergency meeting point in case a chimp escapes onto the human side! The rest of the island is a forest area for the chimps.

Shannon and I stayed at the sanctuary for 2 nights --and our visit to this island was so relaxing. We stayed in large permanent tents that are fully equipped --beds, a balcony, shower, etc. We were in the Mawa tent, named after the naughty chimp that doesn't want to integrate with the rest of the troop because he wants to be the leader and the current leader won't let him. Since we had signed up for the caregiver program --where you get a 'behind the scenes' look at what the chimp caregivers do --we would participate in the daily feedings of the chimps. The chimps would eat 4 times a day. Most feedings would involve propelling the food over the fence to the chimps that had come out of the forest . The chimps had a pretty stringent hierarchy and during these feedings the chimp leader Mika would scream and harrass all the other chimps to get the first choice and carry off more food than could fit in his arms and mouth. My favorite feedings were dinner, when all the chimps would enter a night-time enclosure that would allow the caregivers to do a head count. In the night-time enclosure the chimps would get porridge and fruit and each chimp would show their hands to receive their bowl of porridge and then would patiently hold out the empty bowls for the keeper to collect--all polite and prim & proper. The minute all the chimps finished dinner nest building would begin. The chimps would carefully lay hay into their hammocks, and the once noisy chimp enclosure would immediately become silent as the chimps went to bed (even though the sun hadn't even set yet). However, if one chimps started screaming or fighting with another over bed space, then they would all join in. These outburst were so loud that you'd think a chimp invasion had begun. We got to experience such an outburst at 2am on our first night, but the invasion wouldn't happen until the next day.

On our second day we had a chimp escape onto to human side! The chimp had snuck across by wading through the water at the periphery of the island. The fence extends into the water, but this clever chimp had commando crawled beneath the fence. Luckily the escapee was one of the more gentle ones that didn't charge immediately for the food tent or my face. I later saw another chimp try to repeat the escape, but it got about 1/2 way across before it touch the fence and got a small shock that convinced it to rethink its plan.

The highlght of our visit to the chimp island was the forest intergration walk. This is where we go into the forested area with the 8 most friendly chimps. The forest walk allowed us time to sit and play with the chimps, hold their hands, and for some of us even carry them. My favorite was Pasa, a female that was an excellant tool user and would carefully check each of our pockets for the peanuts we had hidden inside. When I would put peanuts in my hand Pasa and the other chimps would carefully remove them with their fingers or mouth ---so gently that I could barely feel it, even though they are at least 5X stronger than I am. Through this walk and the time spent with the chimps, it became evident that each of the chimps had a distinct appearance and personality. We share 98.7% of our DNA with chimps, but spending time with them has you thinking of them more as people than animals.

We also did a day trip to a rarely visited neighboring island on which there was small fishing community. We saw the mud and stick shacks the people on this island live in and the village school that has 5 very run down and barren rooms for 192 children. Most the children on the island are orphans because of the lack of medical care and prevalence of HIV on the island. When we arrived we had over a dozen children running up to us and wanting to hold our hands. I even got some giving kisses to my arm. It was truely heart-breaking and I found it very difficult to leave the children behind when we left the island. To support the villagers I bought hand-made beaded necklaces from a woman who had a goiter. Goiters are huge lumps that develop on the neck due to lack of iodine in the diet. Goiters haven't really been around since like the 1800's, because all salt made is supplemented with iodine. Meaning the people of this village had no exposure to table salt, so no processed or canned food whatsoever. Wow, what a world. I attach the picture of Praise, the little girl whose parents have died but has a grandmother to take care of her.

The next part of my journey is a safari in Kenya and Tanzania. To prepare, I returned to Entebbe on the mainland ---I found it hard leaving the chimp island. The atmosphere of Ngamba and its inhabitats has you feeling like you are in another world.

Working together for the environment

The environmental workshop was really great. The teachers we were giving the workshop were always willing to participate and enjoyed the many group activities we worked on. Actually the group activities and presentations by the Ugandan teachers were key because by day 2 of the workshop it became clear that over half of the participants couldn't understand most of our 'accented' english. Though they all speak (and read) english rather well, our pronounciation of words is quite different. For example the word 'circulation', they would pronounce 'sanitation', and often there would lots of zeh's added onto their words. Plus speaking in the past tense meant words like planted, would sound like plant-e-dee. To bypass such language barriers, we didn't spend any time lecturing. Instead, we would set up a group-based learning activities and groups would present the environmental topic to the rest of the class. Other times we would play word definition matching games and even had a few very competitive games of environmental Jeopardy. When groups got the right answer or finished presenting, Shannon, Aidan or I would say "clap for yourselves" and everyone would clap. All this participation gave the class a lot of energy and was overall a great way transfer the material, as it got everyone actively engaged in the learning process. Even I feel like I learned a great deal from giving this workshop --I am actually considering combining some of the cooperative learning methods we used and taught in the workshop in my own lectures at the University of Toronto (undergrads won't know what hit them ---parti-ci-pa-tion, whaaat?).

Aside from the laughs we had in class, some of the highlights included a visit to a primary school. We did this to identify the environmental concerns at the school. At this school there was this 5-10m deep gully that passed near the school and continued many kilometers across the Kasese municipality. This gully is getting bigger every year and started to affect the foundation of the school building. The gully was carved by water run off from the nearby mountains in combination with deforestation and soil erosion. Over the years ignoring the problem led to a deep gully that regularly injures children that fall in it and that serves as highway for thieves. Not exactly the greatest thing to have next to school full of young children.

The workshop also included a forest walk in Kalinzhu National Park. Now, by forest walk you may think 'a gentle stroll among the autumn leaves'...but no, what I actually mean is hike in the humid jungle surrounded foliage so dense that all you see is green everywhere. There were ~35 of us trekking and we saw strangler figs that grows by choking its host tree, vines covering every tree trunk, trails of safari ants marching, and even a Colobus monkey with its white fluffy tail. On this walk what really amazed me was that some of the local teachers had never been to a national park or even in a forest. In Uganda, they are literally surrounded by forest (well, jungle) and to never have step inside?!!?? Some of them have grown up with ideas that the jungle serves no real purpose, and the goal of the walk was to show them that so many things they depend on actually originates and requires on the existance of trees and wildlife. At the end of the walk we crossed through acres of tea plantations. Among the tea trees they are many, many snakes. To avoid lethal snake bites, they actually have to spray the crops with a chemical that will make the snakes lose their teeth! To collect the tea leaves, locals have to walk among the bushes with a hand-held clipper ---given that these tea plantations cover over a thousand acres I think I'd rather get gummed by a snake then have to collect tea leaves with a hand-held clipper.

The workshop wrapped up with a really interesting discussion on the major environmental issues faced by communities here in Uganda. Bush burning to let goats and cows eat the tender grasses, poaching of wildlife for food, elimination of forests for crop farming, not to mention an exploding population with very mixed reviews on the ideas of family planning. Actually the population of Uganda is 30million, the same as in Canada, except their country is only the size of Southern Ontario. Christianity is the predominant religion here, which may partly explain the resistance to family planning, but on the otherhand Christainity has led to men having only 1 wife (in contrast to the East African tradition of 4+ wives), and on average families range from 6-20 children (can you imagine producing 20 kids!). In general, Ugandans are good a debating and enjoy discussing current issues and politics, so our workshop environmental discussion had some really good points about how the best way forwarded is to conserve the environment while still allowing people to benefit financially (for example, giving poaching villages an source of income through ecotourism that has them now actively guarding against poachers).

By the time the workshop ended I have to say that I was completely exhausted. The hostel we were staying at was really noisy and neither Shannon or I were getting much sleep. Plus the local food we had been eating was ummm, well let's just say that the standard local food is stuff that is high in starch and tastes like dust. For example, ugali, rice or matoke (green banana paste) with nothing on it. Pasta noodles with no sauce or flavoring. Cassava and potato roasted until its lost all possible moisture and tastes like dust. There was jam at breakfast but they would spread on your piece of stale bread less than 1 teaspoon of jam so that you could barely see it. It was getting to the point where I was having trouble choking down one more starchy dry meal. Our meals at home are so sauce based that you really don't realize it until you are without. Well, I should complain so much, there was beans (yuck) and the meat option was mainly goat ---and I mean a stew with all parts of the goat, intestines all the innards (which I passed on). Ok, ok sometimes there was a ground peanut sauce, but in all seriousness, people here write the textbook on 'plain diet' -- and they love it too.

With the workshop over (and a great success in my view!) it was now time to see the wildlife we are trying to protect. Off to Ngamba island and the Chimp Sanctuary. Yes that's right, an island protecting chimps that have once been illegally kept as pets in implorable conditions. More adventures to follow.

On the Road again...

Things have been going absolutely fantastic!! We have been very busy and seen a lot of different things!! I hope everything is well at home, keep me updated as to what is going on!

Since getting back from the island, we headed to the Primate Lodge in Kibale National Park which is know as the "Home of the chimps", this place is literally in the middle of the rainforest. Everything was powered by solar which really taught me the pros and cons of solar (it is not that much fun when you run out of water halfway through a shower). We got to hike in the rainforest and see the chimps in their natural habitat...it was very cool. We also went on a swamp walk and saw a lot of other types of monkey's (black and white colobus, red colobus, grey cheeked etc) and a million species of birds! There were also something like 100 species of butterflies but I don't think I got any good pictures because they move too much (sorry!). Our guide, Ivan, was very knowledgeable. He splits his time between teaching in the swamp and teaching environmental education in the local school. It was great to get another perspective on being a teacher in Uganda.

Today we traveled to Mweya lodge in Queen Elizabeth National Park, it was a long hot drive...but we made it. Our driver, George was great. He stopped to show us points of interest and was really nice about the fact that it took us much longer to get there then we originally thought. We went for a boat cruise this evening and I got to see buffalo, hippos, elephants, lots of birds, and crocodiles. It was absolutely amazing!! This morning we went on a game drive and got a chance to see some more of the wildlife. We saw lots of elephants (including some babies), warthogs and kobs. The scenery was beautiful. I think I have seen the sunrise more in the last week then I have in the last year!!

This afternoon, Aiden is coming to pick us up and we are heading to our next location (Ruhija) to do gorilla trekking and our workshop!! I can't wait to meet the teachers that are coming for the workshop.

As I mentioned before, I'm not sure about the internet access when we get to Ruhija so it may be the end of the week before you hear from me.

The Web of Life

We had been given a week to prepare for the workshop, and on the last day it was ...time to go to the zoo! (well we did do a final review of material prior). At the zoo they had shoebill stork, which are massive birds that have a beak that actually looks like a shoe. They also had a lion situated in an enclosure right next to that of the hyena. The male lion and the hyena hate each other and I saw an across the fence stand-off, where the male lion was making these roaring and woofing noise --the hyena lost and sulkingly went to the side of its enclosure furthest from the lion. I also really liked the otters that swam about so playfully. With their tiny eyes and oil slicked fur they are really strange yet graceful looking creatures. They also had a large chimp enclosure with plenty of toys, trees and a moat. There was one trouble-maker chimps that seemed to bully the others and caused some major ruckus among the troop (yeah, the jerk in the family). Chimps really have a intelligent disposition --I saw one use a branch to get a rock from out of the moat and another showed concern when 2 tourists approached the baby chimps in the nursery area that was separate from their main enclosure. At the zoo there was also close to a thousand kids on school visits and with the amount of attention I got from the kids (re: they wanting pictures with me and to shake my hand), I had the feeling that I was the newest zoo exhibit. If I got a dollar every time I was called a Mzungu (it means white tourist), well, there would have been no need for me to fundraise for the Jane Goodall workshop!

The next day was the long haul to Kasese where the workshop is held. We packed the SUV with all the material for the 3 workshops and had so much stuff; information binders and notebooks for the participants, activity guides for their schools; that the SUV looked like it was on the brink of exploding --did I mention we also had 6 people traveling (Shannon and I, the driver, Aidan, her daughter and her daughter care-giver). It was a long a hot ride, but the highlight of the day happened when we stopped at the house of Aidan's cousin, Grace. She and her family of 8 had prepared a nice local-food lunch for us and her family was so welcoming! It was truely a great experience to sit and chat with them --I was really impressed with how warm and friendly they were to a stranger.

I stayed up late that night, chatting with Aidan about the corrupt politics and difficulties of life in Uganda --the most prevalent message was that getting a job and making money is really hard for Ugandans (with bias for some tribes over others), and when you do have a job, you suppport your younger siblings' education costs and support the children of friends of the family that have been orphaned because their parents have died. It seems that with all the struggling here, people still go to great lengths to help each other and I found that this was something positive that comes out of all this hardship.

Today it was our first day of the workshop, and I started the day off by attending a Catholic mass --what the ....? Ok, ok so I haven't been to a Catholic church ceremony in like 13 years (since my parents decided it was up to me to decide whether I wanted to go at the age of 18). You could say that it was a choice between unpacking really heavy boxes from the car to the workshop hall, or going church...but also I was curious to see what the ceremony would be like in Africa. At the church, men and women were literally dressed in their Sunday best --suits for the men and bright colored dress and headscarves for the women. There was singing and music through the majority of the mass, with hands waving in the air as they sang Hosanna. It was actually, and unexpectedly, really heart-warming --to see how everyone was so happy to be there and with a real sense of community. The church was a large airy structure and that was so full of people that there were attendees listening and participating on the wide grassy area outside. During the announcements we got a special welcome to the foreign visitors, and Shannon I had to stand before the congregation as they clapped and welcomed us. Afterwards, we were greeted and welcomed again by the parishioners, the priest and a nun --wow what a warm and friendly community!

The workshop has been really fun so far. We have prepared lots of interactive activities and games that makes it fun for both us and the teachers attending. We played a 'Web of Life' game that the teachers really liked --this involved using a long piece of string and starting our with a source of water. The water source holds the first piece of string and then all the creatures and plants in the food chain that relies on the source of water holds the next parts of the string. If you polluted the source of water, you could see --like domino effect --how each living thing would die.

So I sign off this post with a few thoughts --the web of life may have been just our little workshop game, but the 'web of life' and our interconnectedness was also made visible in the way people help each other out --from welcoming us foreigners in their homes, at their church, and how people here support younger siblings and orphaned children even though they have so little to being with. That's the kind of web that even the most jaded person can smile about.

Viviane

Be The Change

Viviane and I wrapped up Workshop One at lunch-time today. It is hard to believe it's done already. When we opened the workshop on Sunday, we were unsure of what to expect or if our planned presentations and activities would be well received, or fall flat! We were delighted that most of the workshop participants arrived right on time on that Sunday - being a traveling and family day, we weren't sure if people would be able to make it on time or not. The workshop venue was quite lovely. It was a large treed compound with two meeting halls and basic rooms to stay in. We used the larger of the two meeting halls for our workshop and the smaller hall for breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

29 teachers including the two Education Directors for Kasese Municipality attended. It was great to have the ED's there as it demonstrated the level of support and commitment from the district level. One of the highlights of the workshop was a visit to a local school to conduct a group environmental analysis and discuss possible solutions to the issues arising. The school campus faces flooding issues caused by building directly up the hill from the school. Poor drainage from these building sites have caused a mass of water to funnel directly into the school yard to the point where the school buildings are in danger of being washed away. Many ideas were shared and discussed to help this school mitigate this problem.

Another highlight was the "field trip" to the forest education centre in the hills outside of Kasese. An education program led by the forest guides, a walk through the forest and follow up activities demonstrated just how serious the issues of deforestation, the illegal pet trade in primates and the bushmeat trade are, and the fact that action needs to be taken immediately to save the environment and our precious species of wildlife. The forest centre is also run by the Jane Goodall Institute in Uganda and welcomes school children from throughout the region to share the same message and experiences we had.

For me, the best part of the workshop was getting to meet and know the participants. Not only did I learn so much from them, but I feel I made many new friends as well. I also know that together, we brought the Knowledge - Compassion - Action cycle full circle, ending our time together with enthusiasm, hope, new knowledge and many plans of action to change the world for the better. Think global, act local!

Be the change you want to see in the world (Mahatma Gandhi). Watch out world, I think some change is coming!

A World Away

I have just returned from 3 days and 2 nights at Ngamba Island. What an experience!!! It is such a peaceful, beautiful place. It was very hard to leave. I am inspired by the work that they do and the dedication of the staff. I can't wait to apply the new knowledge to both my teaching here and my teaching back at home.

I'm not going to go into great detail about the specifics about what we did because I don't beleive I can do them justice. I am going tell you that we had the opportunity to prepare food and feed the 44 chimps that live in the island and that we were privileged to be able to go for a walk in the forest with 7 of the chimps that live there. Walking through the forest with a chimp on your back at sunrise is an experience that I will never forget. It was amazing to get the opportunity to interact with them on their level. Each of the chimps has a very distinctive personality, that even in my short time at the island I could see. My favourite chimp was a male named Tumbo which means 'stomach' in Swahli. He has this really interesting grey colouration to his hair. As the chimps started to head to the bed for the night, Tumbo stayed close by trying to get everyones attention. If he got your attention he would becken you forward and then push you in the direction of the papaya tree (his favourite fruit). He tried it with several of the caregivers, he was very persistent!! Unfortunately for Tumbo there was no papaya to be had that night.

The staff at the sanctuary do amazing work. They are an incredibly dedicated, knowledgable and friendly bunch of people. I learned so much from them while I was there, not only about the chimps and their different personalities but also about Uganda. It renewed my passion for the environment and conservation.

I hope to be able to tell you more about Ngamba Island when I get back, show you pictures and tell you more stories!! Tomorrow, Rakhi and I head to Kibale to the Primate Lodge. From there we will head to our workshop location. I am not sure if I will have internet access from this point until I return to Entebbe on the 23rd. If I am able, I will definately keep you updated!

'Pole Pole' is the name of the game

In the last two days we have been busy preparing for the workshops. On Wednesday our journey to Kampala for workshop supplies was delayed because of protests and the resulting closing of stores. Instead, we spent the morning brainstorming ideas on how to best present the material for the workshop. The workshop will teach teachers about environmental issues and about methods on how to most effectively deliver environmental education in their classrooms (moving from a lecture-based approach to a cooperative and interactive group learning method). We came up with lots of fun ways to run the workshop and I was really impressed on how creative our teacher group is.

In the afternoon we got the go ahead for our supply run in Kampala. Kampala is like so many over-populated 3rd world cities--hot, busy, traffic jams at every hour, people everywhere, and the continuous fragrance of diesel fuel. The presence of army and police was very prevalent and we saw huge army tank-like trucks and armed police in riot gear. We got the binders we needed for the workshop, made a visit to a mostly closed craft market and headed back. Kampala traffic is snail-like (stop and go pretty much everywhere) and many touts weave among the cars at red lights wanting to sell you phone cards, sunglasses, or food (yeah like anyone would eat food that been covered in a day's worth of sun and traffic smog). The best part of our visit to Kampala was that we had a tout trying to sell us maps of Africa at the car window while we were waiting for a red light. This tout was funny because Shannon agreed to buy a map, which he handed over, but then the car took off before she could pay! So we had this skinny tout wearing 80's fluorescent pink sunglasses chasing the car, as he held up a pack of maps that billowed behind him as he ran to catch up with the car. He got his money but he really had to work for his $2.

That evening we went to a nearby resturant where I had pad thai (yes, pad thai in Africa) and a peanut butter-banana shake with ice cream that reminded me of home. Earlier that day we had chapatis --a tasty naan-like flat bread -- that unlike my previous experience with chapti was not made by a warrior. By the time we got home the power in Entebbe had died again, so our group lit candles, joked around, and listen to a bird that definately sounded like a donkey.

Yesterday we prepared our workshop handouts and were so efficient that we were done by lunch-time. We had planned for a quick visit to pay for the visit to the Chimp Sanctuary (re: an island full of orphaned chimps) that we will be doing next week. However, it took nearly 4 hours to get the credit card payment machine figured out and working (gawd!). Getting used to "Africa time" has been one of the things I've had to adjust to the most. In the month leading up to the trip Africa I was working 12-16hr days (plus weekends) with everyday feeling like a race against time to meet deadlines and to get a fraction of the heaps of experiments I had to do. So the adjustment to the slow pace of Africa (from the shower that only trickles water (think Chinese water torture) to the daily power outages), well it's time to extend the 'best before' date on my patience and reiterate "pole pole" (swahili for slowly slowly, a common slong here).

Today we doing a review of our workshop material and some of our group is leaving for a canoe adventure in south-western Uganda --time has gone by so quickly! Also today Shannon and I will be going to the Entebbe zoo. Tommorrow we leave for Kasese, the location in western Uganda of our education extravaganza.

Viv and Shannon

It's been almost a week in Uganda! Can't believe how time flies! Since our last post, we have been busy preparing for our workshops. Wednesday all 5 of us (minus one who was sick) ventured into Kampala with Aidan to get supplies for our workshop. It was a hot, dusty and at times very interesting journey. Kampala is a huge city marked by incredible traffic. It was a sea of buses, bikes and people all competing for road space. I have to give credit to our drivers, who not only got us there and back safely, but in great time! We also managed to stop at a grocery store where we picked up some more dinner supplies including Carla's long sought after cheese. We dropped Aidan off as she lives in Kampala and headed home.

Once home, we quickly realized that once again our hydro was out. It has almost become expected that at some point during the day we will be without power. Our dinner plans appeared to be ruin as we looked forward to a hot spaghetti dinner, however, Angela and I quickly discovered that the stove was gas, so no power needed! Armed with a match, tongs, headlamp and of course the gas, we successfully lit the stove! Dinner was revived!!! It was delicous. Viviane and Shannon arrived home and the 5 of us spent the night on the balconey chatting and laughing.

Today was a rather productive day. The morning was spent putting together the workshop binders and finalizing our plans for facilitating the workshops. It feels great to be getting a better grasp on what we are teaching and how the days are going to play out. Lunch was excellent as usual. After lunch all 6 of us decided to head to the Ngamba Island office to secure our visits and pay for them. This turned into a half day affair as the Visa machine was tempermental and there was a lot of information to be passed on. I have to admit that I am very excited for our visit to the Chimp Sanctuary at Ngamba Island. They have a great website if you wanted more information.

Power is on tonight, planning is complete and all in all everyone seems excited and ready to go! Carla and I head out tomorrow at noon (ish) for our canoe trek in Kabale. I am rather excited for this and ready to explore another part of Uganda. Hopefully there is internet access so we can keep you up to date!

A match, a pair of tongs and a headlamp.....

It is amazing how time flies when your running around trying to figure out exactly how things work in a foreign country! Trying to figure out how to make dinner when there is no power, how to get supplies when no shops are open, how to make the rooster stop crowing so that you can get some sleep....it never really stops and you never really know what is going to pop up out of the blue and throw all of your plans into disarray.

Wednesday had all of us (minus Rakhi who wasn't feeling so well) sitting around the table on the upstairs patio going over the material for the workshops. It was great hearing all the different ideas and working together to make the content flow. Everyone comes from such different places that the huge amount of experience is amazing. Carla did experiential teaching in Micronesia, Jenny is a teacher in Kitchener, Shannon helps home schooled families stay on track with the curriculum in Vancouver, Rakhi is a law professor in Ottawa and Vivianne is a post-doc at UofT in epigenetics (not sure if I spelt that right). If you have ever sat around with teachers before you know that there is A LOT of talking!! But we are right on track for the workshops! Later that day we went back into Kampala to get some supplies for the workshops. This was hindered a bit because all of the shops were closed in protest of rising inflation but Aiden (our fearless leader at JGI Uganda) had arranged for us to meet the shop keeper at a gas station. I think I mentioned it in my last post but if I didn't driving in Kampala is crazy!! I'll leave it there and I'll explain later if I didn't tell you about it earlier. In the evening, we had no power again at the office so that really threw a wrench in the plans of Carla, Jenny and myself who had planned to make a spagetti dinner. Luckily, we learned that the stove is gas so we could still cook!! Jenny and I had a system to light it using matches, a set of tongs and a headlamp. We may have been a little nervous we were going to lose our eyebrows but we got it lit and we got our dinner!! The rest of the evening was spent on the back patio chatting over candlelight.

Today, we spend the morning putting together binders for the participants and making anchor charts for our workshops. It was an incredibly productive morning! The afternoon got a little away from us when we went to the Ngamba Island office to check about our visits to the sanctuary. We got to meet Josh (a vet from the island) who told us all about the island and other projects that they run around Africa. They do some pretty amazing work. If you would like to know more check out: http://www.ngambaisland.com/

I think that that is all for now. We have power tonight which is fantastic because it means that I can post! I hope everyone is having a good July and I will post again asap.

I heart Ugali

This blog post tracks Viviane's adventures in Uganda.

I arrived in Entebbe, Uganda after a 20-something hr flight. My flight went from Toronto -Amsterdam - Uganda and I spent the distance shifting in my seat trying to revive parts of me that had fallen asleep due to loss of circulation. Because I had no one sitting next to me from Amsterdam to Uganda I lorded it up by hogging 2 tray tables --one for this netbook I am typing on and one for the various dodgy-yet-edible KLM meals, the best of which was ice cream. The flight had a whole host of missionaries that went by the label "The Chosen" and there may have been some intermittent singing on their part...umm yeah, was I ever glad when the plane landed. I got to the Jane Goodall Institute at around 11pm and everyone was asleep already, but the dogs alerted the security guard to let us in the fence enclosure. The Jane Goodall office is a large house, the upstairs of which has a big den and rooms for people to sleep. My room is rather large and contains a bed with a mosquito net, which is a good thing because there are bars on the windows rather than glass panes. Because of the open windows I hear many bug/cricket/frog noises.

Yesterday I was up at the crack of dawn (thank you local roosters)--showered and ready by 8am AND wondering where everyone one was. Eventually people trickled in and I met the very welcoming workshop coordinator, Aidan. I also got to met all the other volunteer teachers. Everyone is really nice and come from very different teaching backgrounds.

In the evening I went with the other teachers for my first walk outside of the enclosure. We walked by the zoo at the end of the road and I saw vervet monkeys (lots of babies with their mothers) and a Marbou stork. We are at the end of the town of Entebbe, right by Lake Victoria and this place has a small town feeling --there are paved and dirt roads, lots of vegetation and dragonflies. We had dinner in a fancy resort where Bill Clinton stayed at in his visit in Uganda. The buffet was good --local stews and a dessert table. On this first day I have already enjoyed 2 meals that have Ugali in them (oh yummy *eye-roll*). Ugali or Posha as it called in Uganda is this cornmeal + water that is made into a mash-potatoey paste that tastes like a combo of glue and over-boiled potato. It is a major staple food source here --high in carbs, low in flavor. Locals here love it and I guess in a way I do too because I reminds me so much of when I came here 2 year ago with Dave on our 4 month African honeymoon adventure. During dinner --as I was guilty on my way to the dessert table-- the power went out in the town. The group of us had a interesting time trying to find our way back to the Jane Goodall hotel in the pitch black. We did get to see fireflies along the way back. I didn't sleep all that well that night, around 3am I heard something foraging in my room and I was up until 6:30am --still having trouble adjusting to the time changes and night time visitors (one of which was a bat that Carla describes having an encounter with).

Today we went to an elementary school and saw children from kindergarten to grade 6. Classes average from 40-60 with only 1 teacher. When I asked the kids walk to school an hour each way. At the school they were preparing for a music competition --this competition has school within a district competing for best choir song, instrumental music piece and traditional dance. The best schools within the distrcit then go to the national competitions where it is a great honor to win. We got to watch some of the traditional dance they were practicing (heavy on the rapid hip swaying) and the choir sang a few song for us. I also got to go into the science class and speak with a few students about what they were working on and wanted to be when they grow up --I met several future engineers and future teachers.

In the afternoon I went with Carla to the Botanical Gardens. After dodging the ever-eager guide, we got to wander around and see lots of local plants and trees. The botanical garden was more like a park with labelled trees (ie: a sign saying that this is the cinnamon tree), then an organized manicured garden. There was an area that had lots of tall trees covered in vines, the perfect setting for Tarzan. There we saw some Colobus monkeys --monkeys that have a white fluffy tail (yay fluffy tail!). And when we came by a forested stream we saw a Genet. A Genet an elegant and sleek wild cat, spotted like a leopard but that is about the size of a domestic cat. It is an excellent tree climber. Normally it's noctural and I have never seen one before, so I was super excited. It was drinking in the stream I got to get pretty close to take a picture, which I've attached.

Tommorrow we are off to Kampala to buy supplies for the workshop. More to come soon!

In To Africa!

After an exhilarating few days in Nairobi adjusting to the heat, the time change, early darkness (7:30 p.m.) and the reality of actually being in Africa, I am now in Entebbe at the JGI. I am thankful to my friend in Nairobi, Ray, for taking me under her wing and showing me "the real" Nairobi - meeting her wonderful friends and family and being invited to her home.

Here in Entebbe, the pace of life is certainly much slower than Nairobi, or Vancouver, for that matter! It is very peaceful here - except for the caucophony of birds that sing, tweet, screech, whistle, hoot, caw and honk night and day. As I write this, at 11:00 p.m. there is some sort of bird hee-hawing just like a donkey outside. I had read that Uganda is rich in bird life and a top location for bird watching, but I really didn't expect the variety of species or abundance of our feathered friends that reside here.

The JGI office is set up so that visitors can stay upstairs while all the office activity is located on the main floor. There are 4 bedrooms upstairs, two bathrooms, a common area and a large balcony overlooking the trees and lake below. We are all sharing bedrooms with another teacher. Unfortunately, the chicken coop is directly under the window of the room Angela and I are sharing...a fact which neither of us are particularly keen about!

As the saying goes - it is the simple things in life that often bring the greatest joy and I can certainly say that that is how I feel about seeing - for the first time in my life - fireflies! They are everywhere! What a wonderful sight at night as we walk along the road or simply stroll on the JGI grounds.

Since arriving, the 6 of us have all been discussing and working on our workshop preparations. I am humbled by the wealth of experience my Canadian colleagues have and the lengths everyone went to in order to come to Uganda and give of their time and energy.

Definitely the highlight of being here so far for me was our visit to a local elementary school - St. Tereza's. The children and teachers there were absolutely lovely and so gracious in their welcome to us. One of the classes sang a few songs, another class performed a dance, and every class welcomed us with warmth and enthusiasm. We learned that here in Uganda class sizes are 80 - yes eighty - and textbooks are allocated 1 book for every 6 students. Students attend school from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day.

Tomorrow, we travel to Kampala to purchase the supplies we will need for our workshops - stationery, markers, things like that. After that, we will be preparing all the workshop packages for the participating teachers and making our final arrangements before we head to Kasese.

Primary School Visit

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Today we visited St. Theresa's Primary School in Entebbe. It was a great experience being able to see a variety of grades and subjects. Both staff and students were very welcoming allowing us into their classrooms - often disrupting the lessons! It is funny how similar yet different these classes were to ours at home. They had anchor charts, student exemplars and plenty of writing lessons. Most classes had on average 50+ students, I told Aidan (our JGI contact) that I would never again complain about my class size of 23!!! The students are so well behaved and respectful. They had a great Roots and Shoots project going on where they were germinating and growing mushrooms to sell. A fundraiser for the school as well as a great Science lesson for the students. We got back to JGI headquarters around 1ish, just in time for our tasty local lunch. I have really enjoyed these lunches!

The rest of this week is dedicated to organizing our workshops as well as get ready for our upcomming adventures!

Stay tuned for more to come!

We made it!!

After all the planning and fundraising we have finally all arrived in Entebbe!! Thank you again to everyone that donated and supported my trip!
So far this week we have been planning and prepping for the workshop. Today, we visited a nearby school to see what it is like to teach in Uganda. It's always interesting to see the similarities and differences between schools in Canada and other countries. It was awesome to see student work, exemplars and anchor charts up on the walls, it reminded me of my classroom at home. Although the open air concept and super large classrooms are definatly different. The largest class had 75 students and the average was around 45-50....I don't think that I can complain about having 31 students ever again. In one of the younger classes we sang Old MacDonald and they were so into it. It's amazing what things cross borders!
Tomorrow we are heading into Kampala (a larger city north of Entebbe) to buy supplies for the workshop and then spending the rest of the week prepping the supplies and figuring out exactly how we are going to present the information for our workshops.
After this week, I start the touring portion of my trip. I am heading to Ngamba Island (a chimp sanctuary), then to a place called the Primate Lodge (to see chimps in the wild) and then Gorilla treking (treking into the forest to see a family of gorillas). I'm also hoping to fit in a safari somewhere in there! After all of that, I head to my workshop in the Kibale. I get to spend 4 days in Kibale working with Ugandan teachers and I can't wait!! It should be a great learning experience!!
Power in Entebbe isn't really reliable which makes getting on the internet a challenge. I apologize if the blog isn't updated as much as I would like but I will try my best!

We have arrived!

One passport security check, three flights (one with many screaming children), a day and a half travelling and  a short layover in Brussels and we have arrived at the JGI in Entebbe. Well we actually arrived Saturday night local time but it has been a whirlwind of exploring, sleeping, meeting new people and power outages in the past two and a half days. Our first day was spent exploring the zoo, which is along the lake and the animals are the closest I have ever seen - rhinos 3 feet away, monkeys sitting at and on our lunch table and camels and donkeys roaming freely. We also had the opportunity to watch a school group of African children see a large body of water for the first time. A strange idea indeed for us who have grown up along the great lakes to remember some people have  never seen water you can't see across. We  experienced our first power outage sunday morning at lunch, but the ingenious cafe owners just cooked a bbq buffet for us of local fare - local potatoes, seasoned bbq fish, spicy rice, bananas, watermelon and pineapple (and some green thing that might have been seaweed, I'm not sure). It was all very delicious and we enjoyed sitting by the lake while we acclimatized to the idea of being in Africa. Later that afternoon we explored town and found the important stuff - hospital , bank, grocers, and pharmacy. Everyone seems very friendly and the weather albeit a little humid is beautiful.

Yesterday we met the woman in charge of the enviromental education programs here at the Ugandan JGI, Aidan. Aidan has made us feel quite at home and is very friendly, thoughtful and is working hard to arrange all of our individual travel plans and needs for the next few weeks. The office here has lunch together everyday so we are taking full avantage of the safe, cheap yummy local food. We are also being kept company by two dogs who act as  security and entertainment. In addition there is a cat who catches birds and bats and a chicken and a rooster that act as our alarm clock at 6:00 am. Today we  are looking forward to visiting a local school and planning our workshops in the afternoon. I have also become quite the bug catcher (although I still screamed like a little girl) saving our new friend Shannon from a dropping overhead spider and later catching a wounded bat in a basket. Although miss rough and tough still had  to ask the housekeeper how to use the oven. The more things change the more they stay the same :) Jenny and I are doing very well and seem to remember what the other forgets, and its great to be doing this together. I'm sure we will have much more to report once we actually get out and about. Stay tuned!