rothwellsmission: June 2014

Mpola, mpola - be still and know that I am God

Psalm 46 : 10

Hello everyone

Difficult to believe we have already been here for four and a half months. So much has happened, is still happening and will happen, so we are forcing ourselves to make time 'sit down and smell the coffee', or, as they would say in Uganda, mpola, mpola (slowly, slowly).

So, for everyone, but especially Steve Richardson who planted our garden, here are some photos of it, with Sue sitting down and smelling the coffee, or, in this case my gin and tonic. Steve is also responsible for Sue's acquired taste for gin – she never liked it in the past!

Answers to prayer -

Despite many cuts and bruises Hafswa had nothing broken, so preparations for her introduction and wedding ceremony on 22^nd June are in full swing. We are honoured to have been invited so now desperately thinking of what to wear (not a problem for Stan because Levis are considered very smart and trendy!).
The students are returning, in fact we understand more returned in the first week than ever before. We are now up to 501, so praise the Lord for that.

TERM END, TERM START

Term finished with cleaning of the dorms (you will see from our photos of the rubbish from the boy's dorm that it was needed!), packing boxes and tying mattresses (that go home with the students on top of the buses. Term started with clearing of the compound. Grass is either kept very short or removed completely (snakes hide in it). Two implements (both lethal) are used – either a slasher (for,surprisingly, slashing the grass away), and a panga, for cutting and chopping. All the work is done by the students and it was terrifying to see them cutting and slashing just a few inches away from each other, and of course wearing flip-flops! Health and Safety? Humbug.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

Film and book club – started on Saturday with the book (Sue reading) and film extracts (Stan), plus some context setting and additional information. Up first, Oliver Twist, added bonus was that it is one of the A Level set books. Biggest surprise for the students? That England treated the poor badly in the 1830's.

English – we are now doing some teaching with Senior 4 (O Level class) on how to construct an essay. Will see how successful the planning lessons have been when the the complete piece has to be written next week and we collect it in – only 117 to mark! It was whilst researching in the library on essay construction that we found the instruction we have photographed, see below. We knew no one would believe us otherwise.

Adult Education – started with one person, but we were expecting that as we had already been warned that it would be mpola, mpola, it is just not done to turn up for the first session! We now have five lovely people from the community and are having great fun.

Theatre trip – we found out that one of the set texts for Literature O Level is The Government Inspector by Gogol. If you don't know it, Google Gogol. (Sorry, couldn't resist!), and it was being shown at the theatre in Kampala the following Sunday.

Mad dash to see if (a) the six students studying literature wanted to go, and (b) to see if we could get tickets. The answer to both was a resounding yes so off we went on Sunday, funding courtesy of ServeDirect (and a contribution from the students), lunch courtesy of Stan and transport courtesy of Opio Charles who lent us his car.

On the way there we did a book study, also taking the opportunity to show how useful mind maps are as a revision tool, and a 'Word for the Day' at the student's request as they missed the sermon because we had to leave church early!

We all agreed the play was great, very funny and very well performed, and very useful in helping them to understand the story. We were expecting some of the students to say that they had never been to a theatre before, but we were surprised and very humbled that one of the boys said that it was the first time in his life he had eaten a meal with a knife and fork, (he insisted that I show him how to do it).

On the way back we had an interesting discussion on the parallels with the government officials in Uganda, followed by a great sing-song of Soul Survivor songs that they have been learning.

We are now looking at the A Level set books for the six students studying literature for A Level in the hope that the theatre will be performing one of them next term.

New to us, but not to the students, we had elections for the new prefects and head boy and girl. Campaigning was fierce and the results were followed by a (four hour) handing over ceremony at which we were asked to make speeches. There are prefects for everything, from the compound prefect, to the timekeeping prefect (who rings the bell for lessons), the religious prefects (one Christian, one Moslem) and our favourite, the latrine prefect. The handing over of the badges was taken very seriously, but some fun was injected by the dormitory prefect who also handed over his brooms, followed by the sports prefect who handed over a football!

We still continue with Activate (this term looking at and discussing the book Jesus is....by Judah Smith), tennis and cricket.

SCHOOL LINK

We are fortunate to have a link with Kampala International School Uganda (KISU) and they have been very welcoming and encouraging.

Earlier this month Sue went with a group of nine secondary teachers from WTA and two primary teachers from The Bridge for a teacher training day which was well received.

This week Stan was invited to take a group of 18 students (along with Juliet, the PE teacher, and Danny, her assistant) to play netball, basketball and volleyball. They had a great day organised by the students with activities in the morning and matches in the afternoon. Apart from the sport the high points (according to the students) were having fish and chips for the first time and being invited to have showers after the sport – Stan couldn't get them out!

In September a group of teachers and students from KISU are spending the week at WTA to do sport, seminars and workshops organised by the students.

Last week we had a lovely lady, Scovia, staying with us at the guest house. She is a Ugandan teacher married to a Yorkshireman, a teacher at KISU, and she agreed to come and carry out some teacher observations and provide feedback on how they may move forward with their teaching practice. Next step is to get them using the internet for research – mpola, mpola!

OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL

At The Rock we are looking at the use of stock cards and stock control to help us with drug ordering (instead of the current system – looking through the cupboard!). The nurse is planning health talks for the students this term to cover some of the issues that have come up this year so far.

BLESSINGS

We have been blessed with two public holidays this month, Martyrs Day and Heroes Day, so two much needed rest days for the students where they didn't have to get up at 4am for prep. It also gave us the opportunity to have some fun – watching two Mr Bean films! In addition, Elspeth and her friend Phillipa, visiting from Nairobi, gave some impromptu and very encouraging talks to the students on the subjects of doing the right thing, never giving up and focusing on what you can do, not on what you can't.

VISITORS TO THE GUEST HOUSE

In addition to Phillipa and Scovia we have also had a visit from Jake, (Elspeth and Jerry's son) and his two pals Jim and Fred. They stopped over on the way to the rhino sanctuary at the start of their post-university trip on motorbikes.

PERSONAL LIFE

Will has taken his last university exam, graduation on 24th July! We will back to England on 14^th July for three weeks, so will hope to see some of you. Thanks to internet help from Celia we have secured day tickets for the last three days of New Wine. No camping for us, so I will be turning up daily wearing white trousers and looking clean a la Helen Richardson!

SLOWING DOWN – MPOLA, MPOLA

Took a day out on Monday to go to Kampala, hoping to send the blog (the signal is better in the coffee shop there!). Unfortunately the battery on my laptop 'refused', as we say in Uganda, so trying again today! We celebrated Stan's birthday by having a lovely meal out with Michele and Phil. Elspeth and Jerry kindly loaned us their house whilst they are away. We collected birthday cards from the PO Box, there were many. Thank you to all of you who sent one, Stan was delighted. After all, at 59 you need all the friends you can get!

HERO OF THE MONTH – AND PRAYER REQUEST

One of the boys who had previously been a student at WTA and came back to join Senior 5 this term. He supports his siblings, of which there are many (both parents are dead), by breeding and selling goats. He uses the money to pay their school fees, which he says must take priority, and his own schooling takes a back seat. Consequently it has taken him some time to reach Senior 5 as he does a year, goes away for a year to raise more goats, then comes back and does another year. He is determined to complete his A Levels so please pray that he is successful. He is a delightful boy who is such a great role model to the other students, showing them what you can achieve if you are determined, and he is also an active member of the CU.

FAVOURITE PHRASES THIS MONTH

Mohamed – I am going to choose a wife for Parliament. (Elections for the local MP – four women standing).

Now – means sometime today.

Now, now – means immediately.

Without further delay – means we have at least another two hours to go.

And finally - someone asked us the other day why we were here if we didn't get paid. We were explaining that we felt it was part of God's plan for us and we talked about how sometimes we just have to take a leap of faith. Just remembered I had in the back of my Bible the napkin from the coffee shop where Steve Richardson sketched the guest house - here is the photo to prove how easily we can be persuaded!

And very finally - hot off the press - or birthing bed in this case - is our latest delivery at The Rock. Nada was born at 9am this morning, we took the photo at 10am! Congratulations to mum Shakira and our nurse Zahara for another successful delivery.

With love and blessings

Sue and Stan