The beginning of South Africa

Here we are in South Africa,  waking up to a view of the Drakensburg mountains.

5.30 AM and the alarm goes off, and bleary eyed we wake up and have a very quick breakfast, pack our lunches for the day and go for a meeting with the teachers at Letaba special needs school where we will be working for this trip.  It was a short 10 minute drive from where we are staying and Chris, our driver got us there for 7.10am which we had been asked to arrive for this time.

We met the teachers in what they call their morning assembly which is just for them.  On arrival to the school we are greeted with a lot of bright excitable smiles from a big group of children before we spoke to the teachers.

The teachers start their own assembly with a prayer and a song which was a hymn.  (Something you would never see in a staff room in the UK!) The meeting was great and we spoke about the children that the teachers would like us to work with and who would benefit from the work we would be doing with them, which had been explained to them in a previous meeting when we were having discussions with the school. Since visiting the school in March they have started a great process to investigate and try to improve why there are no therapists in the schools for children with disabiliities.  They thought that our project would fit in nicely to what they were trying to acheive.

The teachers that we spoke to as a group had given us 25 children for us to work with us, who had been selected as those who may be able to best benefit our work.  We discussed with Susan, one of the teachers who would be helping to coordinate this project while we were here, how we could recognise all of the children, so we had a meeting and were introduced into the room that we would be working in while we waited for her.  She began to write down all of their ages and disabilities and names for us so we were able to have more of an idea of the needs of the children.

In an earlier meeting the staff had let us know that we could start whenever we were free. Luckily we had brought with us some art and craft materials, as while we thought we were waiting for Susan to arrive back to the room, we were greeted with 25 excitable and curious children of a wide range of disabilities, looking forward to having some time with us to work on activities.  We decided that this day would be better spent using activities to introduce ourselves to one another so that we were able to bond better with the children before we started the further activities with them.  This would help us build up a good understanding of their needs so we would be able to work well with them in their groups.

The activities started with a ‘Hello’ song to introduce everybody to each other.  Everyone went around singing and telling us their names, and those who could not talk were helped out by their freinds who would sing their name for them.  They would then communicate with us through smiles and laughter.  We then introduced a game using a ball which was passed around the circle giving us a chance to remember names of everyone we passed the ball to.  The ball was thrown to different children, and we tried to help those who we thought would struggle,including a young boy who did not have any arms.  He laughed at us and shook his head as he balanced the ball with his chin and picked it up and kicked it with his legs! This showed us that most of these children were very independant and capable, and it was us that were more worried about them and their abilities affecting the activities.

We then played a game of duck duck goose and whizzed around the circle with the children in the wheelchairs, being chased by the more able bodied children.

Through all of these activities, we were able to build more of a relationship with the children to familiarize ourselves with the level of support that each individual child would need.

We then went to plan activities and were split into 2 groups, one of us planning sensory activities and the other planing the arts and crafts which would then be used on the different disabilities of the children.

We then looked forward to the next day where we would be able to put these activities in place with the children.

Ngamba Island chimpanzee sanctuary…with the children

Today was an amazing day as we set off early with 16 children from Raising up hope Orphanage Uganda to Ngamba Island Chimpanzee sanctuary.

None of the children had ever experienced a boat trip before so this in itself was an amazing experience for them and for us to be part of this with them. The children seemed nervous but excited getting onto the boat, not knowing what to expect as they all put on their life jackets ready for the journey which took nearly 2 hours.

On arrival to the island, the children appeared very silent and when getting off the boat were just looking around them, taking in the scenery and the amazing experience of being at Ngamba Island which, in itself is a very unique and special place for anyone to visit.

We went with the children to have a drink and then they had a talk from Silver about many of the rules while they were on the island and also a bit about chimpanzees.  All of the children were around 10-14 years of age so had a good understanding and were very eager to learn about chimpanzees. The talk was given from Silver in a great way, which focused on feelings and traumas to match the work that we had been doing with the children. The children seemed well focused and listened well to what they were being told.

As soon as this had finished after lunch the children were given a tour of the sanctuary, looking at all the different things that harm chimpanzees like snare traps and were shown how the integration of chimpanzees can help them live happily after their traumas.  Silver showed the children how they teach chimpanzees who have not been left with their mother in the wild, how to build nests, as they would do this naturally in the tree.  In the rehabilitation cages they have hay/straw in the bottom and then have a hammock at the top for them to sleep in, encouraging them to sleep in a bed like other chimpanzees do and making it like a nest.  The children were told that this is a bit like their bunk beds!

The children were shown where the vets do their work if a chimpanzee gets sick or needs treatment for some wounds.  This seemed to be a great place for the children to see as they asked many questions to Silver about chimpanzees and veterinary treatment.  They appeared very interested in everything that they have been told.  After this the children were asked what they would like as a career when they are older.  Many of them said they wanted to work with animals to help them, work with chimpanzees and help make it better for them in the wild. Other children said they wanted to be vets.  This was great as it showed us that they were also being educated through the activities that we were helping them take part in.

We were then able to see the chimpanzees at feeding time which was a great experience for all of us.  Some of the children appeared very overwhelmed and scared at first as the chimpanzees were very noisy as they came over very excited for their food.

We spent around 30 minutes watching the chimpanzees and the children appeared very excited and interested in seeing them.  Patrick and William again talked to them about the chimps.  Silver was pointing out to them the different noises and behaviours that were going on while they were there, and showed them the different ranking of the group of chimps.

After this Silver then took us all to play some chimpanzee games with the children where we had chimp masks and played games such as making a nest, where the children had to try and collect as much food for their nests as they possibly could.  These all aimed to have an educational yet different approach to the children as the stories were related to their lives.

After lots of fun and a great day the children and volunteers all got back onto the boat for a long ride back to UWEC ready for them to get on the bus and go home to their orphanage.  The boat ride was a fantastic one and great fun as the children , Patrick and William taught us great songs which we were singing for the whole of the journey.

As we reached the shore and the children got on the bus there was a lot of cheering and laughter and GOODBYES! shouted and waved.  As the bus drove off, we all suddenly became silent and realised this was the last time we would see the children on this trip.

The Yebo world cup!

Today we had great fun, playing football against the local school which was organised by Silver who works for CSWCT.  The volunteers were greeted with great hospitality from the staff and pupils of Kusubi high and we set out for our football match, many of us were very worried about playing as we had never played before!

Heidi and Theo took off to a flying start, keeping the ball well controlled.  With Emmy in goal things were looking great, but then went down spiral as the first 2 goals were scored by the very good school team, who had been told to play an easy game for us!

Half way through the game, we were given 2 players from the school to have on our team as we were doing very badly! But these 2 boys had to have their arms tied behind their backs to be fair to the others. They very helpfully scored us 2 goals which was great!!

A great game was enjoyed by all of the Yebo volunteers and we very much enjoyed meeting the school, the teachers and pupils who made us feel so welcome.  We had a great day and a lot of fun was taken from this. A big thank you from all of the Yebo team to Kisubi high staff and pupils and also to Silver for helping to organise the day.

It was a great experience to visit a different side of children, to the children we had been working with from the orphanage and we really enjoyed the day.

A visit from the Raising up Hope children’s community project

Today we were lucky enough to have a visit from Raising up hopes community project. The children from the community project are part of an out reach programe run by Patrick, William and their team from Raising up Hope Uganda.

The children from the community project are still living with their families but receive outside support from Raising up hope such as providing them with clean clothes, food and washing/hygeine, which the families are unable to provide the children for varius reasons.  This program enables children to stay in their families where they are loved and cared for, but being provided with all the basic needs that they need support with.

The community children are involved in other support such as fun games of football matches that are organised by Raising up Hope, giving them a chance to interact with other children in the same position as them and to gain confidence in themselves, and most importantly to have fun!

When visiting us at UWEC we enjoyed taking them around to see the animals, and again stopped at the chimpanzees a bit longer than the rest of the animals.  This group of children were told that the chimpanzees also need lots of care just like them, as their families couldn’t look after them as well, but still loved them.  They were explained that they get nice food and lots of care from their care givers.

In the afternoon, the volunteers worked with the children with various creative activities.  Lots of painting, expressing themselves through art and making puppets and drawings.  The older group took part in building a cartoon story board.  The children were all asked to write a story of a chimpanzee.  Each child without anyone asking drew pictures of chimpanzees and other animals from the zoo that hadn’t got any food.  The pictures expressed that when the animals were sad, they didn’t have any food, and that when they were happy the animals did have lots of food.  We found this a very interesting observation which was told by Patrick, saying they did not have much food at home.

The day went really well and we all enjoyed working with the children.  At the end of the day, Patrick and the children made a big poster for us that said ‘Thank you Yebo team’ which we will put on our wall in the UK.

We hope now to support the community project in the future through our community programs.

The children who live on the street visit us for the day

Today was a very special day for the Yebo team as we had a group of special visitors.  25 of the children who currently live on the streets in the slums were picked up by our bus and brought to UWEC,  the wildlife centre where we are staying.

Most of the children have never been outside of living on the streets as have been born into them.

Having visited their home the day before, we did not know what to expect of them, and because of the place they were living, we automatically presumed that the children would not be happy at the centre which made us quite anxious.  However when the children arrived they were the most beautiful bunch of children.

Patrick and William, who work with the children on the streets had chosen 25 children who they have known for a while to attend the day with us where we would be doing some activities with them and meeting the wildlife and chimpanzees. They had been to the street slums early that morning to wash and dress them in clean clothes ready for the day which we were all looking forward to.  For most of the children, this was the first time they had been out of the slums as many of them had been born into  the streets for many different reasons. The children each have their own individual life story, many orphans, abused, victims of prostitution etc.

We started the day by introducing all of us to them and vice versa.  What we didn’t realise was that most of the children had already met us the day before on the streets, but just looked incredibly different in another environment.   We took the children around the wildlife centre spending a lot of time at the chimpanzee island.  The children all sat on the steps by the chimpanzees home and were told that the chimpanzees also had gone through difficult backgrounds, but they had now been given the chance to have a better life, and although they were not near their old friends, they had now made new ones and it wasn’t a bad place.  The children were told that they shouldn’t ‘give up hope’ and that the chimpanzees had now been rescued and brought into a different environment, even though they may have not known what would happen to them.  They told the main thing they should take with them from this visit was the feelings of the chimpanzees before and after they arrived at the sanctuary, and to never give up hope.  The children were all very silent when listening to this.

After looking at all of the animals the children were provided with a meal for lunch with a drink.   We were told by Patrick that this was the most exciting part of the day for them! He told us that the children will normally get their food from garbage bins, bags and sometimes if they are lucky will take the left over garbage food from the local hotel after they have closed. The water that they drink is not clean.

The children said that they really enjoyed their meal and drink and couldn’t stop talking about it after they had eaten it.  We were glad that we were able to provide them with a meal.

After lunch we proceeded to the activities room where we had organised a number of different activities.  They were slightly different from the children we had been working with before, as we made animals, primates etc out of garbage, and also used different forms of art that would be more suited to their abilities and ages. The activities were very creatively put together by the volunteers, and the children were drawing pictures of things that they thought they had learnt about the chimpanzees and their homes.  Every picture in that age group we observed drew a picture of a house, with a family, dogs, trees etc outside, which we found very interesting.  One of our volunteers, Dani, used her social work training skills to observe and identify different behaviours in all of the groups of children that we had been working with on the different visits to the centre.

The day went really well and the children appeared to have had a great day. They loved bubbles and balloons and it was great to see them having fun.  This opportunity for them to use art to express their feelings also showed us how talented many of them were and what wonderful skills they had, and how clever many of them were.

A couple of the children had just laid down on the floor of the room we were in and had fallen asleep. Patrick and William let us know that these children don’t normally get a lot of sleep and that the smooth floor in the room we were in was a very comfortable place for them to sleep than what they are used to.

So this day had taught us a lot of things, one being that we should never judge a young person or child from where they are living and their behaviours.  Allowing room for both of these things enabled us to work well with them, and get to know them each as ‘talented’ and ‘beautiful’ children, rather than the same children we had just ‘walked past’ the day before in their home in the slum.  How grateful we all were to have been given the opportunity to work with these children, and to get to know them as individuals.

As we said goodbye, we felt very sad, some of us even shedding a slight tear as the children were driven off in the bus, as we suddenly realised they were being taken back to their streets in the slums.

Living on the street to having a future

In the afternoon after visiting the slums we were able to travel about 2-3 hours away to a piece of land that  has been donated to Raising up hope Uganda orphanage.

The land is in a rural area and far from where the children are living on the streets. Patrick describes this as being an important environment and that being far from where they are living now is vital.  He explains that sometimes the children living on the streets will run back to where they are living on the street due to having their friends there, and knowing where they are.  This project aims to help the children’s recovery in a different way.

Patrick and William, directors for the orphanage who support the street children living in the slums, are planning to use this piece of land to become a small sanctuary for 5-10 children from the streets, to enable them to gain new skills looking after animals, taking care of them and being around nature etc.  The land also would like to be used for growing vegetables so the children are also learning about sustaining their livelihood. The overall project aims to give the children a chance to take responsibility for themselves and animals.  The local community are also able and welcome the care and support that the children will need from them, by teaching them social skills and other behaviours that the children have not had the opportunity to be taught.

The community also provides a therapist who is able to help the children with the traumas that they have faced.  This may work well in conjunction with the animal section.

Our volunteers had a great time meeting the community and also helping to dig up some vegetables that they are growing on the land to take back to the orphanage.

We hope to support this project in the future.