Thursday, 7 July 2011

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.

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