The Adventure Starts Here

The planning for the Weald School’s inaugural visit to Uganda is underway.  The stage is set: the students have been selected; as have the teachers - myself (Mrs Gooda in the English department) and Mr Woodman, headteacher,  and now we await confirmation and details.

Mr Woodman’s aspiration to establish a new East African link for the school looks like becoming a reality: A reality in the not too distant future.  If all goes according to plan then we are just three months away from departure to the Pearl of Africa.  I didn’t know that Uganda was known as that until today, but a pearl is something precious and cherished, rare and beautiful, brilliant and lustrous. I hope so.  The Visit Uganda website promises ‘stunning landscapes, incredible wildlife and unforgettable experiences’ which is what the students (and I) have signed up for. But we are all quite clear that (get ready to join in with the chorus) ‘this is not a holiday’. We will all be out of our comfort zones, for much of the trip.

Uganda: A country where savanna meets jungle, and both straddle the equator. I have dusted down my travelling boots after a good few years, and this is a part of the world that I have never been to before. The fact that we are staying in a school will be another factor that will make this trip special: the privilege of seeing, first hand, an education system within a totally different culture.

I am delighted and excited and terrified and overwhelmed, all at once.  That’s quite a lot to handle. So I want to capture the experience on this blog as precious memories are created. I hope that some of my fellow travelers will wish to contribute, too.

Here begins the adventure!