Day 11 - Crochet, Phonics Teaching, Meeting New Students and Games at NVI

Today’s focus was the official meeting of the new students at NVI.  Some of the team went early to give crochet lessons, attend hair-dressing classes and give phonics teaching to students prior to the days main activities.

Sheila, Angie and Gill were delighted with the enthusiasm with which the students took to learning crochet, despite using pencils rather than crochet hooks.  Visiting them a second time opened up the opportunity to develop relationships that could be built upon.  The subject of homelessness in the UK was discussed.  The students were appalled that this is possible in the UK or and other developed country when we have so much.

Sheila, Angie and Gill also attended a hair-dressing lesson where they were given instruction on hair extensions and received a new hair style.  The students were fascinated at the texture of their hair.  The team noted the facilities were woefully inadequate and yet the students were still delighted to be there.

Ness and Pauline have spent the last week making phonics resources, using plastic water bottles and cut up cardboard boxes, in order to deliver phonics training to the Evelyn, the Head of NVI teaching section and her students as well as to Betty and her staff at Victoria Baptist School.   They were delighted to learn about how phonics is taught in the UK and particularly pleased with the emphasis on using available resources.  We all had lots of fun and the students joined in with each activity enthusiastically.  Jan will be visiting Betty’s school next week and is looking forward to seeing that some of the activities will already have been implemented.

In the afternoon it was time to finally meet each new student and pair them with their individual sponsor (if they have one).  Each new student was given a gift bag by the Ugandaid team which included things like toothpaste and soap.  It was heart warming to see the joy of each new student when they met their personal sponsor for the first time.

Some of the existing students were also given gifts which included hand made post cards by the children at Broadoak School in Partington, UK.  There were various different designs which reflected British traditions such as poppies, red busses and full English breakfasts and the relationship with Uganda.

The day ended with a sports afternoon including netball, volleyball and football.  The football match was played between new students versus old students.  The new students won 2-0.  The Ugandaid team was then invited to compete in a tug of war against the NVI staff, where, to the delight of all the students, Ugandaid won.