Our own arrangements for a second student trip to Uganda have begun in earnest now, with nine successful applications from Year 10 students for an October 2015 departure.
As usual, my own preparations include lots of reading of African fiction and non-fiction. I am determined to read many of the books which are on the senior syllabus at our partner school, and am on the search for one of the main ones: The African Child by Camara Laye. It is proving quite difficult to track down!
Wrong part of the continent, but worth mentioning as it is just brilliant; I have just finished reading a book set in Zimbabwe and South Africa which I am considering for our KS3 curriculum here, Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams. It is a profoundly moving story of a young boy whose home and family are devastated by political upheaval leaving him and his older brother with no choice but to try to make a life in a new land. It deals with homelessness, family, mental illness, death, refugees, xenophobia, loyalty and...football. I couldn't put it down.
