Boring stuff

Wednesday, June 4^th:
We’re back to teaching now. Last term our most of the lessons with the primary kids were on HIV/AIDS, puberty, and reproductive systems. This term we’ll probably spend most of the time on drug abuse, STIs, and gender. We can do more of the life skills topics like relationships and decision-making with the secondary kids, but the young ones seem to have a lot of trouble grasping those lessons.

There’s some sad news around Magamaga this week. First, the daughter of one of our parishioners was killed by a car as she was crossing our paved road on Sunday. She was five months pregnant. Thankfully Lucy, Dennis and I weren’t around when it happened – I wouldn’t have wanted to be there for the accident scene. Kagoma Primary lost a P4 student to tetanus on Monday. She had missed the school vaccination day a few weeks ago.

And, less drastically but closer to home, Darcy is leaving Uganda this weekend. Since her antimalarials don’t seem to work and she reacts badly to quinine, it’s not safe for her to be here and she’s going back to Canada. She made it back from Dubai for a week to say goodbye. We are all really going to miss her.

On a happier note, Dennis and I had a good lesson at Kalebera this afternoon and our proposals have been approved, so Lucy’s women’s group will be having a model farm visit and we’ll be setting up a youth resource center, hosting two video workshops, and making talking boards at Kagoma as a group this month.

Lucy and I just had a nice training session on the field with Kenneth. Just two months to shed this African tummy before I get home!

Friday, June 6^th:
Shockingly little to report this week. Dennis and I had a really good lesson at Muguluka Primary this afternoon, on abstinence and drug abuse. We did a “myth or fact” game with the P6 kids (Coffee, tea and sodas contain drugs. Alcoholism is a disease. Smoking will hurt a pregnant woman, but not her baby. Etc.) which the kids were massively competitive about.

Lucy went in to the office today, but they didn’t have our proposal money for some reason. So there will likely be another trip to Jinja in the near future.

This weekend should be fun. We’re having a last night with Darcy at the campsite on Saturday, and Jack’s having a birthday party at his placement on Sunday. Those of us leaving on the first flight have two months left now. I’m excited about going home. Every time I look around I think of people and things that I am really going to miss, but home is home. The prospect of a beach trip the week after I get back has got me pretty revved up.

Some dancing flower girls from a wedding last weekend: