I love the sounds and colours of the small creatures in and around my Ugandan home particularly the numerous lizards and the colourful geko with their nodding heads. I brush my teeth each morning behind the home and beside the sugarcane field and love to watch the geko racing from the field and up the brick walls stopping, I like to think, to nod a good morning to me! And at night under clear starlit skies I brush while listening to the Cicada singing away in the trees. Sometimes Innocent and Judith have come out to see what is taking me so long and find me just stood absorbing it all.

So, OK I love love love my Uganda home but there are limits! I found a mosquito floating in my tea! I’ve had a stubborn cockroach in my room. First time Innocent came and rescued it then four times I have captured it under the jug I use for bathing and with the help of a piece of cardboard I have taken it outside. One night I found it or one of its relatives sat on my camp loo and had to ‘deal’ with it and left a bit of a mess in my ‘bathroom’! I’m not scared of these creatures but I just would rather they went elsewhere and last time Judith was busy cleaning my room while I was sat typing on the laptop and one raced across in front of her which was very stupid of her as she immediately ‘disposed’ of it!

Then I was eating my supper the other night and one of the flying monstrosities flew into my mouth, see photos. They are 2-3 cms long and sometimes have a female attached! Fortunately I didn’t bite down on it! BUT mosquito in my tea no no no! Love Uganda! X

I got this explanation from the internet: Most people

who see Africa’s “sausage flies” wouldn’t pick that they are actually ants. In fact, these monstrous insects are males of the common Dorylus driver ants. They fly at night to gain a chance to mate with a queen from another colony.

Out for my evening exercise down to the trading centre of Nawanyago for a Nile Beer at the end of a happy but tiring day. The children spot me easily even at night with my white skin “Mzungu” or “Madam Gerry” can be heard from every direction but I can never see them! It’s always good to reach the relative privacy of Innocents bar, Wallet Pub, though really I love being recognised. These people are lovely. X

A cold Nile Special and salted g-nuts still warm from being roasted by Judith, Innocent’s mum who is looking after my every need. She is wonderful! A mix of African and western music blasting out adds to the atmosphere! Innocent drinks Club but prefers a Guinness!

Thank you Hollies Pre-School in Poynton for your Hands of Friendship and the mosquito nets some of your mums and dads and teachers have bought for the children in Uganda. These photos start in the school office – my teacher friends might find it quite interesting! They loved the Friendship Tree of hands you made for them and have sent their own hands of friendship back to you. It was the first time they had ever painted! Of course we had to play the Hokey Cokey and sing the Jambo Song but they are not as good as you yet! Handa’s Surprise made them smile. They looked so shocked as all the animals stole the fruit! See you all when I get back to Poynton. Sending lots of Jambo’s from Uganda! Just click on the first photo to view.

Debbie and I with the Friendship Tree made by members of the Hollies Pre-School Poynton for their new friends in Uganda

Brain Trust School Office

Presidents of Uganda!

World map. The UK looks a long long way from Uganda!

Teachers Duties. Flattened cardboard boxes are nailed to the wall in the office to make a notice board.

School mission, aims and objectives

School calendar 2017

Teachers Duty Rota

Departmental Heads

School Motto. Do your best to have the best!

My little pal met me in the school office every morning!

Lots of hands reaching out for friendship

The children at the Brain Trust Nursery want to be your friends too!

Hand printing is a new experience for these children

Open our fingers!

One, two, three, four, five fingers!

Wow, that’s a colourful hand!

They’re painting quicker than the teacher can help them print!

When is it my turn?

The blackboard shows they were learning about shapes before Madam Gerry turned up!

Madam Gerry says this is fun!!

They enjoyed using the crayons donated by friends and schools in the UK. Please start saving pencils, pencil crayons and was crayons for my next trip to Uganda!

A helping hand from an older school friend

Lots of Friendship Hands which will travel home with me to Poynton and then to the Hollies Pre-School. They are held down with stones in the warm breeze

Moving the heavy desks to the outside play area

Many hands make light work!

With the help of their teachers I taught them rhymes such as 5 Little Peas in a peapod pressed

One grew, two grew and so did all the rest

They grew and they grew and they did not stop

Until one day the pod went POP!

Handa’s Surprise – I don’t suppose these children have ever had a story read to them before.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes!

Hokey Cokey in the midday sun!!

You do the hokey cokey

Knees bent, arms stretched

Jambo Hollies Pre-School

I will bring the Hands of Friendship to the Hollies when I return to the UK

Mat-making to earn extra money to feed her family

one little hand

then another

then another

my hand is shaken a lot her in Uganda

a handful!

This family say thank you Hyhana and Tehya for their mosquito net!

Dear friends, I will gradually bring you up to date with the posts I wrote while in Uganda! So here goes with the first one ‘There will never be enough mosquito nets – help!’

When I decided that my main project this year was to provide as many people as possible in the local community with mosquito nets, because the biggest killer of young children and mums-to-be is still Malaria here in Uganda, I had not envisaged the demand and desperate need there is for them. I had been told that the Ugandan Government had recently provided some nets but no where near enough, sometimes only one per family of nine!

My team Innocent, Fazie and John, have been out twice spending all day going around the tiny villages giving out mosquito nets from dawn till dusk and sometimes after dark. We were offered the ‘loan’ of a car by a good friend of Innocents and although I was not keen to take on the role of driver, needs must as none of the others drive! Fazie was the one who knew where all the tiny homes were ‘hidden’ in the ‘bush’ and proceeded to direct me – “Slow Madam slow, next turning  on the right”. (There is a mosquito sitting on my laptop screen!) I don’t see any track whatsoever but they say go on so I slowly push through the bushes trying to avoid the goats, chickens, cows and toddlers that appear. I don’t think I got above 10-15 kph! I have been driving for almost 50 years and wasn’t keen to use an automatic but once I had had a lesson by its owner who was very complimentary and said I was a quick learner, I am very grateful because the tracks I have been driving one have been narrow (very!), deeply rutted and almost non-existant in places!

Thank you to all of you who have donated a net or more – one lady donated 20! They are going to save many lives! Such a simple gift but with serious consequences. Please spread the word of the need for more and more nets and I will try my very best to meet the needs of as many families as possible during my short stay. £5 that’s all it takes. x

The photos are just a few of the nets we delivered!

At the end of each day we had to park the car in front of the home of a local policeman as it would have been ‘at risk’ outside Innocent’s home because there is no boundary fence. The policeman’s home had no boundary fence either but was obviously thought to be more secure! So we would leave the car and walk up to Innocent’s bar Wallet Pub where he had left his motorbike and return home on that.

When we went to collect the car next morning I was just about to open the door when a voice from inside the house stated ‘flat tyre’! I was not surprised at this as the routes through the bush had been particularly uneven to say the least! The boys knew exactly what to do and directed me to a row of simple houses at the trading centre. They spoke to some man or other and within minutes a big machine was bought out to re-inflate saying it would be fine for the next days deliveries. Who am I to argue, I’m just a Mzungu on one long delightful adventure! They were correct the tyre did last us the next day and the owner has promised to have it fixed before the following day when we would be delivering in another district much further away from here.

Thanks Debbie. This young man is profoundly deaf

Thanks Pam and John

Thanks Mailies

Thanks Liz and Bill

Thanks Liz and Bill

Thanks Jess

Thanks Jeannie

Thanks Jean

Thanks Helen

Thanks Gareth

Flat tyre was soon re-inflated!

But the other front tyre has no tread at all!

The tyres these children were playing with were as good or even better than the ones on the car!

It was getting dark by the time we finished the first day of delivering and the men in the village were sat in groups supping the local brew

I had a sip of this years ago and never again!

Dear friends

I’m home now after three happy fulfilling though sometimes difficult weeks in Uganda. As my husband explained to you in the last blog, it was difficult to add to the website or even send emails though I was able to Facebook and use Messenger very easily. So sorry you missed my ‘adventures’ as there were a few! I plan to copy and paste my posts on to here over the next days so you won’t escape my rambles!

In the meantime I have a VIP to care for! You may have heard that my darling husband had an accident early hours of Saturday morning leaving him in a bad way. He’s suffered a broken wrist and nasty cuts and bruises to his head and other parts of his body. He cannot recall any of the accident but eventually came to and called our daughter Sara who then called the ambulance. It was rather a shock coming home yesterday morning as although I had seen this photo, the bruises had come out even more. Poor darling looked like he had been in the ring with Frank Bruno! But dear man is cheerful as always but happy I’m home. Roles have been reversed as he normally spoils me with care and attention when I come one from Uganda!

So while I am hubby caring Im sure I will find time to add to the website.

X