Overview

The main building is set well back from the front gates and there a couple of round African shelters with chairs and tables set in the front where guests can enjoy a cold drink and  have their lunch served. A large covered area has recently been completed and there is a TV, pool table, darts and seating areas

There are four bandas of different designs down the left-hand side of the compound with two toilets just to the rear. Another four bedrooms are at the rear of the main house and the kitchen is across to the right hand side.

Behind this is a large hall that is used by the local community for meetings, trainings, seminars and the occasional party. We have over 100 plastic chairs and a few tables. The roof is constructed of iron sheets and the walls are papyrus matting.  Eventually we hope to brick the walls up at least to half-way.  

           Further down are   three new individual houses, making this a very quiet area for guests, especially backpackers and volunteers . On the left hand side of the compound, past the bandas is the large craft centre/workshop that we are trying to raise enough money to get completed  (April 2009 - about  £2,000 is still needed)

  Banana plantations flank either side of the compound and hills are seen rising above both sides of the valley a few hundred metres away from the lodge behind the villages.

The Nursery School  is a short walk through the plantation on an adjoining compound, and it is here that we can offer guests an area to camp if they wish to be away from the main complex. We are currently striving to complete a septic tank and new toilet/shower block.

We have put in the foundations for additional classrooms for older children  – particularly orphans and others who may need to board.

Nursery School

We started our very own Nursery School at Uganda Lodge in May 2008 and now have over 40 students attending each day. They range in age from 2 – 7 years and we aim to have them speaking, reading and writing some English  by the time they reach primary school.

Volunteers have brought in a variety of  reading books (Ladybird Series are especially good) plus wall posters,  colouring books, crayons, pencils and pens, and various toys (dolls, toy vehicles and building bricks)

We  took advantage of  Woolworth’s  closing down sale in the UK and bought a selection of navy blue trousers, pinafore dresses and white shirts. Now the children are very smart in their new uniforms.

They arrive at school at 8am and have a break for breakfast – a mug of weak maize meal porridge called posho – at 9.30am.

Lessons continue until 12.30 when some return home and others  stay to either eat a lunch they have ordered from the Lodge kitchens or one they brought in a plastic bucket. The afternoon session begins at 2pm until 4pm and  usually usually includes sleep time for the youngest children.

We have set the school fee  low as we appreciate many villager parents/carers have little disposable income. We have  explained that teachers salaries, breakfasts and teaching aids must be covered by charging fees, because although the school was built from  ‘Mzungu’  funding they cannot expect handouts forever – they must be self-financing.

Primary School

There are two primary schools within walking distance of Uganda Lodge, and many children from the surrounding villages attend for at least a few years. Although these government schools are ‘free’ for the first four children in a family, they still have to pay for uniforms, lunches, writing materials and donations towards building funds plus teachers salaries. If this is not paid up, they are often chased back home.

The children are usually expected to collect water and wood both before and after school, or alternatively you see small children in their school uniform walking along the road with a rake or a hoe.  But they are all very keen to attend and never play truant – unless the parents purposefully keep them away to work on the farms or look after younger siblings.

Senior School

There is one government senior school in the locality which pupils who have completed and passed all the exams from seven  years of primary schooling can attend. Many of these pupils come from great distances so they board either weekly or for the whole term. In theory lessons are held in English, but in practice they often have to be translated as many primary teachers do not have a high standard of English themselves.

A new private senior school has recently been opened in Nyamahani and so far classes are held for the first two years of high school  – S1 and S2  The headmaster is requesting me to find a full-time qualified volunteer teacher to assist at his school.

Volunteers

This is an area where English-speaking volunteers can be especially helpful  to students of all ages simply by assisting with reading or having conversations with them. No previous teaching or TEFL experience is needed, although if you do have a TEFL certificate you will have more understanding of exactly the best way to help.

Students also love volunteers to join in with playing sports or sharing in art and craft subjects.If you happen to be staying at the Lodge during school holidays (Dec+Jan; mid April-midMay; mid Sept- mid Oct) we have many parents who would like their children to attend informal “holiday classes”.  Depending on your skills and interests we can help you organise these activities

Even if you have no teaching skills or other qualifications, but simply have a western education, then you can do such a lot to help both children and adults alike in Africa. There are five schools within walking distance of the Lodge with pupils aged from 2-20 and they all are wanting practice with speaking English and thus get better grades in their exams.

The lessons in the two senior schools are supposed to be wholly in English but often teachers find they have to keep translating. In the primary schools – some of the teachers themselves do not speak good English.

I met the child in this video when he was staying in Ruhanga during the holidays and he spoke more English than the 20 or so local ones all put together

Here is  Moses, a schoolboy from another town, who has benefited from having volunteers at his school.