The Mighty Soft Power Education Centre!

2007-09-03T04:43:00.001-07:00

Sorry.....!

Apologies to those who have been trying to access the blog.

The problem was that Blogger (those folks who run this here blogging site) thought we were a spam blog and not a real blog. Pah! How dare they!

Anyway, as you can see, all sorted now.....thanks to those of you who emailed to let us know!

And soon, we promise, there will be further posts!

2007-07-03T05:58:00.000-07:00

We're going to be on the telly....!

In June the Education Centre hosted some lovely folks from SKY NEWS who popped over to Uganda and filmed our project! How exciting...! The fabulous Victoria (producer), Natasha (reporter) and Matt (cameraman) came along and spent a week with us, filming the school children at the Centre, interviewing everyone from school teachers to school kids to parents and grandparents...and they even interviewed some of the Ed Centre staff!

The "package" (as it is called, dontchyaknow) will be screened very soon on a satellite tv near you - the date will be posted as soon as we know - but it will hopefully also be available on YouTube forever thereafter.

And not only that but Matt-the-cameraman is going to use the acres of footage that he shot to make us a fundraising and information DVD to be shown to all and sundry...the date for completion of this longer DVD will be confirmed soon (no comedy extras unfortunately - not even the bit where one member of staff forgot that he had a radio mic on and went to the toilet, much to the horror of the cameraman who still had his headphones in). If you would like a copy to help fundraise for us, please let us know at the usual address (speducationcentre@gmail.com).

For a taster, here's the news crew in action...firstly, scaring the wits out of the District Education Officer who thought we were from a newspaper til we turned up with a HUGE spotlight and a massive camera!

Here they are filming at Lukolo Primary School who very nicely allowed us to follow their pupils around for a couple of days - both at the AEC and at the school. Here's the wonderfully helpful and ever-accommodating Mr Moses being interviewed outside the classroom.

Here we see an Outreach Learning session being filmed inside a classroom at Lukolo Primary.

We can't thank Victoria, Natasha and Matt enough for their interest in our project and we hope that they had a marvellous time whilst with us in Uganda....maybe they'll come back and do a follow up one day?!

Keep your eyes peeled for the date we will appear on Sky News....or contact us if you are desperate to know!

2007-07-03T04:11:00.001-07:00

We never said thank you....for the paint job!

Alex-Dot-Com, Peter, Julius, Shariff and Bob-the-girl are wholly responsible for the excellent and funky paint job that the AEC was given...ands it's about time that we got around to saying THANK YOU to them all!

One of the most stressful decisions about the Ed Centre was what colour to paint it! Imagine that we had finally constructed this amazing building only to then ruin it by covering it in a hideous design... after many hours spent staring at the building and failing to come up with a suitable idea we decided to enlist some professional help! Luckily 'Dot Com' was on hand to save the day. He used his artistic eye to create some amazing patterns (based on New York graffiti art) and together with his trusty sidekicks (Peter, Julius and Shariff) turned the Ed Centre from whitewashed drabness into the funky palace we have today!

Here we see Alex a-top some screamingly unsafe African scaffolding whilst he paints the Soft Power logo on the tower...

And here we have Shariff, Julius (with a sun-screen cardboard box hat) and Peter putting the finishing touches to the back of the building...

Then along came Bob-the-girl and her artistic eye (and hands) who managed to paint the Nile onto the side of the building...from source (Uganda) to sea (Egypt). An incredible mural but also an educational and amazing piece of art! We all know that geographically the Nile flows south to north but for the purposes of the Ed Centre Bob turned it on its side and now it flows along the building west-to-east (next time, she asked us to build a 20m high structure instead of a 2om long one). Here she is in action back in March, getting the building ready for the community open day....

And here we have the beginning of the mural where we can see Tanzania (yellow), Uganda(pink) and Kenya (purple). It's not only to-scale but it looks ace!

HUGE thanks to all of them for their hard work, paint-covered clothes, ideas, colour schemes, artistry and miracle working....the place looks great!

2007-07-03T02:39:00.000-07:00

Dramarama.....!

On Friday 11th May 2007 the Amagezi Centre Theatre Department held an inaugral Drama & Theatre Show in the Centre.

Robert Matovu (The Ed Centre's 'Theatre Man') and Penny Shoubridge (a long-term volunteer with special interest in theatre) worked incredibly hard over a number of weeks with a large group of budding local actors, actresses, singers, dancers, musicians and dramatists to produce a massively successful (if a little stressful) evening! Here are Robert (in red) and Penny (in green) prior to the event (with Silagi in the back dressed in yellow and a stranger at the front....answers on a postcard if anyone knows this man!).

As this event was really the first theatre event to have taken place for the local community Robert and Penny were unsure of the interest local people would have and if they would even come along.....but as you can see from the photo below, the only problem with attendance was fitting everyone into the theatre!

In fact, it was so packed that people were relegated to watching through the windows!

It is not every theatre in the world that can boast an evening with such variety...we had a Ugandan version of Macbeth mixed in with some hip-hop together with traditional drumming & dancing and much, much more!

It was a superb event and a real success for the Education Centre so big, huge thanks to Robert, Penny, the AEC staff who helped corral the crowd and all the local artists for their hard work and enthusiasm!

2007-04-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

Community Open Day...31st March 2007...

...and what a day it was! Over 650 people attended our Community Open Day a few weeks ago (we at the Centre are still recovering from the experience). As you will see from the photos below, we had quite a hectic day of it. There was music, dancing, speeches (many, many, many speeches!), ongoing tours of the Centre, food for everyone, drinks, video shows, drama from a local theatre group, singing from school children....and an enormously long queue of people who wanted to go up the tower!

We had finished painting the Education Centre so it was ready for action (doesn't it look Amagezing!)....

We invited people from the communities of Kyabirwa, Ivunamba, Buwenda and Bujagali - and they turned out en masse and were so excited by the project it really was worth all the effort. I have personally never been hugged by so many old African women in one day! We also learnt a lot from the day as the community told us what kinds of educational programmes would be most beneficial to them...so now we can start looking into how the Centre can meet the needs of the communities around us. But mostly we had a lot of fun...as you will see!

There were plenty of young folks enjoying themselves........and some older folks, too (these women had just travelled up the spiral staircase, they were very chuffed with themselves!)We had some fantastic entertainment from school groups. These are pupils from Kivibuka Primary School...Our cooking crew provided a feast of vegetables, meat and rice for each person in attendance - no small feat when you see the 'kitchen'!The community were extremely excited about the prospect of IT classes and there was a constant gaggle of people in the ICT room answering our questionnaires and signing up for classes! This is the sign for the ICT Dept. - there's no word for 'computer' in the local language here so people say "Kalimagezi", which translates to "The Machine That Knows Everything". But the highlight of the day for everyone was the staircase up to the tower. We ended up having to police this unexpected attraction - letting 20 people up for 5 minutes at a time. This was the queue that stretched as far as the eye could see!
...we didn't have enough time in the day for everyone to go up the stairs but these were some of the lucky ones who made it! Everyone enjoyed the view from the top!But the day had to come to an end! Here we have Venus (Administrator), Herbert (Agriculture) and Robert (Theatre) performing the final task of the day - delivering the hired chairs and tables back to town. They look pretty exhausted, but still smiling!

Our next Community Day is planned for 2012. Should be about enough time for us all to recover!

2007-03-06T02:42:00.000-08:00

Happy pupils......phew!

The pupils from Nawangoma Primary School - at the end of our very first day!

2007-03-05T23:52:00.000-08:00

Well...we finally opened! Crikey!

Below we see the first 60 primary school pupils arriving for our first day at the Amagezi Education Centre!

These first pupils are from Nawangoma Primary School in the sub-county of Budondo - a school situated in a beautiful but quite inaccessible location at the top of a hill. However, despite the distance they had to travel, all 60 pupils arrived at school very early and were ready to be collected by the Soft Power trucks! Here they are arriving....a very exciting moment for everyone who has been involved in this project!

When they arrive, the pupils enjoy a quick warm up game which is great fun and allows them to relax in their new environment. Many of the head teachers who visited said that their pupils would feel intimidated in such an amazing building - so we do our best to make them feel
at home!

Following the game we split the 60 pupils into 5 groups and they go off to their first learning session of the day. Each session is almost an hour long and at the end we bang a big drum and they rotate to their next session!

Here we see a group enjoying their session in our Theatre/Drama department. This department will be used for highlighting issues that pupils learn about in Social Studies. Here they are watching a DVD about 'Life Choices' which highlights issues surrounding peer pressure and HIV/AIDS. During the DVD the pupils decide which 'choices' the characters make and we follow the progression of the story and then discuss what they have seen afterwards. This method of using audio/visual equipment is something the pupils have never seen before in their desperately under-resourced school. They loved it!

After their first session the pupils rotate to the next department. Here we see a group heading up the spiral staircase to the Agriculture department - at the top of the tower! Here they learn about sustainable agriculture and organic farming. These issues will not only help the pupils pass their exams, but will be extremely useful in their day-to-day life as most of them are from farming families. They are quite brave to even go up the tower - when we had a sensitisation day for head teachers, some of them refused to go up as they were too scared of the height! It really brings home how much simple things make an impact - many of these pupils have never been in a two-storey building!

In our Art department, pupils get to use art equipment in a way they never could at school due to lack of resources. Here the pupils are learning about primary and secondary colours whilst creating a huge picture onto cloth. At the end of term we are stitching all the pieces together from the 22 schools and making a back-drop for the theatre.

After three sessions...it's time for lunch! Schools in the rural communities here in Uganda are unable to provide lunch...so these pupils really enjoyed their lunch hour!

After lunch and a quick energising game, its back to work...here we see pupils enjoying the ICT department. None of the rural schools we work with have any form of ICT equipment (most do not have electricity) but these pupils have heard of 'computers' and are so excited to finally get to use one for themselves. It is wonderful to see how thrilled they are at even typing their names! Once we get the internet at the Education Centre, there'll be not stopping them!

And finally, we see some pupils enjoying their lesson in the Science department. It is difficult to stress how incredible the pupils find this session. They are amazed by the life-size skeleton and by the anatomicl models of human hearts/brains/lungs/eyes etc). But they are most excited about looking through a microscope!

And then all too soon it's time for them to leave! We play one last game and then the pupils go back to school...but they'll be coming again next term for the second of four developmental learning sessions in our departments!

We would like to thank the children of Nawangoma primary School for being such a wonderful first group!

2007-03-05T23:22:00.000-08:00

The Head Teachers visit.....!

Each Head Teacher from our 22 partner schools visited the Education Centre on Wednesday 14th February (a very romantic occassion!)

We spent the day chewing over a few issues and showing the teachers our learning sessions and our plans. We also had time for some silly games and a really amazing lunch...so everyone was happy, as you can no doubt tell....

Here we see Amagezi Centre staff and the Head Teachers celebrating a successful day and toasting our future partnership!

2007-01-06T04:30:00.000-08:00

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

In December 2006 we received some help from two very special ladies from one very special company!

Even though we had employed our staff for the Education Centre we were in a bit of a pickle in early December...how could we carry out an amazing induction and some initial training that would have everyone not only excited about the prospect of working at the Centre but also ready to provide innovative, creative, fun and interesting learning sessions?!

Luckily a forunately-timed email from us landed in the Inbox of "Happy", a training company based in the UK (www.happy.co.uk). We had read about their style of training on the internet and it looked just the ticket - they provide not only learner focused, creative IT training in-house but they also go around and teach other people how to provide such training! We initially asked if they would share some ideas and resources with us...but they went one better than that and sent us two of their workers instead!

In December we welcomed Nicole and Nicky to Uganda and together began planning how they could help us! On December 11th our 10 members of staff arrived for their first day at work and over the next two weeks Nicole and Nicky took us through the most amazing training that showed us exactly how we could turn our lil ole Education Centre into a vibrant, exciting, innovative and learner-focused environment! Everyone learnt so much during this training from Happy - whilst also having loads of fun and doing lots of stupid things like pretending to be witch doctors, playing confusing hand-twisting games and even getting into a bit of a tangle together.....

At the end of the two weeks we had not only discovered what a marvellous, fun-loving and committed bunch we had employed but they had all learnt an incredible amount from Happy and are desperate to get back to work in January and start making things happen in the Centre!

We would not and could not have done anything even remotely as effective as the training that Nicole, Nicky and Happy provided for us. It really made us come together as a team and discover what we want to achieve in the Education Centre.

So...an ENORMOUS thank you to Nicole, Nicky and to their boss, Henry, and all at 'Happy', UK.

And, if anyone can help us persuade them to come back next year and do some follow up work with us we would be overjoyed!

2007-01-06T03:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome Amagezi Centre team!

Here they all are....finally! The wonderful Amagezi Education Centre team!

Following a lengthy and difficult national recruitment campaign (during which we received over 300 applications for jobs and held over 50 interviews) we are very pleased to introduce you to our new team!

At the back, from l - r we have.....Dave - Project manager, Ernest - Science department intern, Fred - Handyman and agricultural support, Charles K - Community development intern, Chris - Pottery and art tutor, Silas - ICT intern and tutor cover, Robert - Theatre tutor, Herbert - Agriculture tutor, Venus - Administrator, Amos - Science consultant
At the front, l - r, Nic - Project manager, Charles M - ICT tutor, Hannah - Soft Power founder

This photo was taken on everyone's first day on the job! Since then we have experienced 2 amazing weeks of training and induction during which the team really bonded and took on the vision of the Amagezi Education Centre. We truly believe we have a remarkable team capable of taking this Centre and making a huge success of it; providing primary school pupils, local people and local communities with access to a whole variety of exciting and creative educational opportunites which will enable them to improve their lives both now and in the future.

We can't wait to start working again on 8th January and really see this team develop!

A huge round of applause and a big WELCOME to everyone!

2007-01-06T02:49:00.000-08:00

Mr "Dot Com".....

This is Alex, or "Dot Com" as he is known - he is our resident painter/decorator extraordinaire!

He is called "Dot Com" by most of the people in the sub-county because he paints all of the 'www.softpowereducation.com' signs that we have around the place on billboards, buildings and vehicles.

Alex and his team of painters and decorators are currently working morning, noon and night (including New Years Day - by choice!) to get our building ready as quickly as possible. Hopefully in early January so we can start some work!

Check out the first completed room (except for the floor, which will be the last thing to be painted throughout).

This is our ICT Suite and it looks GREAT! The bespoke desk for the computers is being fitted next week (w/c 8th Jan!). Then we can haul our computers up from their hiding place in town and get them set up!

Check out the blog in the future for more photos of the painting progress!

2007-01-06T01:48:00.000-08:00

Pathways....

Here we see the guys starting on the pathways around the site a few weeks ago...

...and we now have almost-completed pathways leading from the car park to every aspect of the site...so no more trudging through red, wet, ankle deep mud to get into the building! As you can see from the photo, they're not quite finished (gravel/murram needs to be laid inside them) but they have made a huge difference to the site already and once we get some flowers planted and some grass grown, it's going to look great!

2007-01-06T01:20:00.000-08:00

Thank you to the International Women of Kampala....

The International Women's Organisation (IWO) in Kampala generously agreed to fund the equipment we needed for our Science Laboratory.

Just before Christmas I went to meet with Susan Brownings, treasurer of the IWO, at a school supplies shop in Kampala where I collected everything we needed...and the IWO took care of the bill!

I left with 3 microscopes, 2 bunsen burners, measuring cylinders, anatomical models of human brains/digestive systems/ears/eyes/hearts, a rain gauge, weather vane, hydrometer, thermometers...and a life size human skeleton!

As you can see, Susan and I got along famously with the skeleton! We have decided that the very first group of school pupils who use the Science Lab are going to be charged with the task of naming him/her! We'll keep you posted on the chosen name....

We can't thank the IWO enough for their generosity and we hope to see some of the International Women at the Centre sometime in 2007 so they can see their equipment in action!

2006-12-11T07:18:00.000-08:00

Work, work, work.....

Is it any wonder the building has taken so long with the builders doing this every day?!

Well, to be honest - they deserve the rest! We have worked them very hard over the last few months and its thanks to them that we have such a superb structure. These are the last remaining builders from a large group of guys who have worked on the building since last year. Look out for photos of them when we throw the enormous 'end of building' party early in 2007 - apparently to truly celebrate this momentous occasion we have to slaughter one chicken for every man who has worked on the job.

Watch out the poultry of Uganda, your days are numbered!

2006-12-01T00:56:00.000-08:00

Let there be light...!

THE most exciting development on-site in recent weeks has been the installation, connection and final switch-on of our solar power system!

Dave worked with Joseph, our electrician and general know-hower, for a long and slightly worrying week. They twiddled with wires, connected this to that, tested and retested connections and generally scratched their heads and painstakingly checked everything over and over....

But then at the end of the week, in a Frankenstein's monster-like scenario, they cranked a lever and lo and behold, the Centre was flooded with lovely, renewable, sun-given electricity!

Here are our lovely solar panels....(in a rather arty shot!)......

The panels generate a load of power (email Dave for exact kilowattage) which is stored in our lovely batteries (kept secure at the back of the building in a little cupboard!)

The power then travels through to 'The Magic Box' (as I like to call it - I think its a actually called an 'exchange switch'?) which enables us to change from solar power to the generator (should we be in a position where there hasn't been enough solar energy to generate enough power for our batteries we will use our back-up generator)

And, with the switch turned to 'Solar', in early November we turned on our first light! Yay!

This is Joseph, our master electrician (on the left) and Sam, Joseph's right-hand-man testing out our very first working light bulb!

It is amazing that we are situated deep in the heart of the bush and yet we will have our own power to be able to run our computers, microscopes, lighting systems, music systems, projectors etc. and be able to provide amazing educational experiences for so many people!

BIG thanks to Leeds University (again!) for stumping up the cash for this system - it didn't come cheap and we thank you!

2006-12-01T00:41:00.000-08:00

First things first....

To whet your whistle before we get into the serious posts full of information....this is how the Centre is currently looking.

Wow!

2006-12-01T00:26:00.000-08:00

SLACKER!

In response to the many people who have - quite rightly - berated me via email I would like to send a million apologies to all and sundry for the shocking lack of attention I have been paying to the development of this blog.

It was SEPTEMBER 16TH when I last entered a post. I am shame-faced and sat in the corner facing the wall as I type this. I am very sorry. I would like to blame being too busy but there are no excuses when it comes to this blog and all I can say is that I am very sorry for the lack of recent posts.

However, like all good things, it is about to come to those of you who have waited...and its going to be worth it. Oh yes.

Coming soon...posts about solar power, electricity (yes, electricity!), pathways, successful recruitment, project development and then probably some posts about rain because we have had SO MUCH of it I can hardly begin to tell you.

So...Ugandan internet connection allowing...please revisit over the next two weeks for continued and exciting updates - which, finally, will start to include photos of people and not just of roofing materials or guttering.

I hope its worth the wait! Thank you for your continued interest and for all the tellings off - I deserved them.

2006-09-16T02:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, you guessed it, more about the tower....

Andy-the-builder, who headed off to Australia a few weeks ago, emailed me some photos and even though the chronology of the blog will be in tatters if I post them I can't help myself!

This photo is of the tower...pre-plastering and pre-roof. Here you can see some of the builders, Peter, Fred, Richard and Jimmy, gearing themselves up for a few days of mixing plaster....and you can see Andy doing something (?) with the poles on the roof.

And here we have a ma-har-ve-llous photo of the Centre! Roof done. Tower plastered. Building undercoated. Sunshine. Blue sky. Lovely! The roof looks amazing, doesn't it?

2006-09-11T05:13:00.000-07:00

Memory jogger....

For those of you who have as bad a memory as I do, here's a little reminder of how far we've come since this blog was started in March.

And, also, here's a little reminder of how far we've come since the blog was started in March (did I already say that? I forget).....

Photo 1:At the end of February the building had some walls. The only other thing that had been completed was that we had laid the slab at the top of the tower (the slab acts as a ceiling in the tower and as a floor to the platform above). It had been laid by a team of 15 burly men who mixed the cement by hand, filled mortar pans with it and passed each pan through a chain of men standing on some dodgy scaffolding to the top where the pans were tipped into the base at the top of the tower. It took two full days (10 hours each day) of continuous, monotonous, back-breaking, hand-wrecking, knee-bending torture...nothing else that has been done on site has caused so much misery but been so rewarding (apart from chiselling, maybe. everyone HATES chiselling).

Photo 2:
This photo was taken at the end of April. Biggest difference to note is that we had finished the walls and added a roof. The roof was a really big, complicated job and was another head-scratching/beard stroking period for Dave and the builders, especially the guttering aspect. But they got there and we haven't had a single leak all through the rainy season so all the deliberation and headaches paid off! This photo also shows that the window frames had been designed, made, varnished and fitted (with only minimal shouting at carpenters on our part...oh, alright, loads of shouting, but we got there) . The rendering had begun on the outside, inside all the walls had been plastered and the electrics had been installed. Then came the chiselling....but I won't talk about it because even to talk about it brings back images of very manly-men holding their just-walloped thumbs, tears glistening on cheeks and chisels being launched across rooms angrily. It was a very difficult time for everyone.

Photo 3:This was June....as you can see all the rendering and plastering is now complete on all the walls. We also have windows in the frames, the doors and doorframes have been fitted and varnished, the tower had its first 'hat' fitted to dry out the walls ready for plastering and the water catchment tanks had been installed and connected. We had even started on the landscaping by trying to remove the bricks and rubble that lay like a carpet all around the site. What you can't see inside is that the floor has been laid in one-half of the building and the science lab has had the concrete workstations built.

Photo 4:The latest incarnation...wow! Obviously we have an incredible roof and platform in the throes of being built at the top of the tower (please see previous excitable and detailed post about this) and the tower has been rendered and plastered, but we have also started painting the building inside and out. The landscaping is coming along with most of the site cleared. Unfortunately you can't see the rest of the site but we have also built some new walls and trenches that connect the water catchment pipes to the enormous underground tank. Since the last photo the building has also housed over 50 student volunteers, seen over 150 meals cooked by our amazing Ugandan chefs, one instance of malaria, many bouts of dodgy-tummies, hangovers galore, lots of clean pants drying outside in the sunshine and, mainly, loads of smiles and friendships formed between volunteers and builders!

And that's that...hasn't everyone done well?!

We still have a fair way to go...and this blog will be here to keep you informed....but for now I reckon a quick thank-you wouldn't go a-miss to....

ALL the Soft Power builders that have worked on-site
The lovely, hardworking, fundraising-marvels of Leeds Uni
Johan-the-plumber
Andy-the-builder
James-the-digger
John-the-artist
Julianna-the-American
Countless volunteers who have helped us out for a day
Our chefs-extraordinaires Isaac, Fred, Porciano, Santos & Julius

2006-09-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

Painting frenzy....

Can you believe we are already painting the Education Centre?

Seems only a few weeks ago that we had nothing but partially-built bare walls, and now we're PAINTING!

These are the passengers from an overland truck company Exodus.

Whilst on their trip through Africa, they spent a day volunteering with Soft Power and luckily for us they came and spent the day working at the Education Centre! I am reliably informed that they worked their socks off all day long....and I can believe it, just check out how much painting was done!

Here they are in action...

Big thanks to them all for their hard work.

2006-09-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

The Tower Gets A New Hat.....

If you have seen the previous post about the tower, you'll understand how integral it is to the Education Centre (if you haven't seen the previous post, just scroll down and have a quick look, it's worth it...I promise).

In terms of the work that has been done this year on the Centre, the only thing we have done with the tower so far is to lay the ceiling in it (which is also the floor of the look-out platform above). Other than that, the construction work has focussed on the two sides of the building rather than the tower...until now!

Over the past few months we have enlisted the help of Andy, a volunteer builder from the UK, who has helped Dave to design and construct our look-out platform and roof on the tower. It was a tricky job, so I am told. One problem was that the tower is circular - so decisions had to be made about whether to have a circular roof or a thatched cone or a flat thatch or a blue metal roof to match the others or a glass dome or a retractable stadium-type roof or yadda yadda yadda. This alone was a major decision but we also needed a roof and a platform that would allow people to see the amazing view but not get soaked when it rained. It also had to be 100% safe and secure, so little children wouldn't topple off the sides. And if all that wasn't tricky enough...we also needed to be able to use our telescope at night, but we couldn't have a hole in the roof because of the rain, so some kind of opening/closing hatch needed to be factored into the design too. Phew!

It was a confusing and head-scratching time. Andy and Dave grew long beards to stroke and practised nodding with their eyebrows furrowed...but eventually from all the discussions (which mainly took place in the bar, of course) and the dodgy drawings of roof designs, they came to some decisions and the work began.

Here we see Andy, Dave, Joel and Ed (two other volunteers who pitched in to help) in the throes of roof construction.
Doesn't it look ACE?!

It is almost finished and this is the view from the front of the tower as the roof looked last week (end of August 06).
Work has already begun laying the final layer of the floor in the platform and the telescope is itching to be hoiked up into its new home.

BIG thanks to Andy from us for all his invaluable help with this aspect of the building. And also big thanks to Joel and Ed for their labouring!

2006-09-07T04:10:00.000-07:00

The Tower......

The Education Centre is a funny shape. Everyone comments on it and they're right; it is a funny shape. It isn't your average-shaped building, especially in Uganda where buildings are usually very, very square and very, very straight.

Our Centre is a sort-of V-shaped building but with curved walls. The central point of our funny-shaped building (the bottom of the V, if you like) is in itself also quite a funny shape (well, ok, it's round - but round is funny, just look at the Rolly Pollies). This post is to explain in some detail about our tower, why we have a tower, what we will use it for, how it will amaze and astound our visitors and ultimately be the 'high point' (geddit?) of a visit to the Centre. The tower has also recently received a makeover (which has prompted this post dedicated solely to the tower), but you'll have to go to the next post to see news/photos of that!

For now, to refresh your memory....this be the tower (as it looked in July)....

The tower will have many purposes. It's the main entrance to the building for one thing (framed by some really large and incredibly beautiful hand-crafted wooden doors, thanks to Nile Vocational College). The tower is also the foyer of the Centre and will hold information about the Centre, what we do, where to go, who to talk to and where to talk to them. The curved walls of the tower will act as a gallery space where we will hang artwork and photos to show some of the work that has been done and to inspire visitors to get involved. The tower, being the central point, really is the heart of the building as it connects everything with everything else!

The piece de resistance, the cherry on the cake, the vodka in the coke, however, is the rather spectacular, locally made, wrought-iron spiral staircase that will lead children and adults up and onto our look-out platform above.....

The staircase might not look spectacular from this photo but once the walls have been painted and the floor laid, it will look superb! It also might not look like much to you because stairs are, well, just stairs, aren't they? And stairs are inherently not very exciting, this is true. However, when you think that the vast majority of the children that will visit the Centre will never have climbed stairs you see how, of all the staircases in the world, this is a pretty exciting staircase!

Not only that, but the staircase leads to this view....
Imagine never having seen the view above your village before, even though you have lived there your whole life...and then seeing this! This staircase idea just gets more and more exciting doesn't it!

And not only THAT (can you believe there's more?!), thanks to the lovely George.....

...we also have an amazing telescope. There will be amateur astronomy a-go-go from this tower with teams of local children and adults able to stargaze and get to know the universe around them....and all from our little tower thanks to our little staircase!

So, I think you'll agree that the tower is a special part of the building and deserves some pampering and attention...please see the next post where the tower receives not only a makeover but a new hat!

p.s. any budding astronomers out there are very welcome to come and lead these star-gazing sessions...contact us if you're interested! And huge big thanks to George for his extremely generous donation!

2006-09-07T02:54:00.000-07:00

OK, brace yourselves for updates.....

Are you ready for an onslaught of visual treats? Are you ready to be wowed and amazed by the Education Centre in all of its current glory? Do you think you can handle it??

The following few blog entries are loooong overdue and as blog-doer, I apologise for the delay. However, I think you'll agree that it was worth the wait when you see how far we've come and how incredible the building looks at the moment.

There is one important blog entry that is missing and it should, by rights, be the first one I put on. It's the entry about Team C, our third and final Leeds University group of volunteers. Unfortunately, I am unable to post an entry about them as I don't have any photos to show you, and what is a blog entry without photos? However, I have sent out an emergency email to all members of Team C requesting photos and so very soon I will hopefully be able to complete an extra-specially-long post all about Team C. I don't want them to think we have forgotten all about them or didn't appreciate them or liked Teams A and B better or anything like that....Team C, you will get blogged very soon!

For now, check out the next post as we fast forward to the past few weeks and the construction of the ROOF on the tower....I can hardly contain myself....

2006-08-30T03:45:00.000-07:00

Temporary halt in the proceedings......

The three regular visitors to this blog may have noticed a distinct lack of posts over the past four weeks.

The reason for this situation involves an embarrassing combination of an evening at the bar, a piggy back that went wrong, a comedy few weeks at the hands of Ugandan doctors and ultimately, a trip back to the UK for treatment on some broken bones. There's no need for details I don't think (especially as I end up looking like a bit of a muppet when you know the whole story!).

The project is still progressing at a pace in Uganda - I am just unfortunately in the hands of evil physiotherapists in the UK so am unable to take photos of progress and post information on this site. Big apologies for that, this is our way of communicating with you about the project and we do take this blog seriously so we're really sorry that we have been remiss in our updates of late! That said, Dave is in the process of emailing me some photos of what has been happening so very soon I'll be able to post some information and photos of recent events and fill you in on all the things that have been going on since I left. For one thing, I know we have a near-completed roof on the tower and I am really excited to see it - it was designed by a British builder, Andy, who has been volunteering with us for a while and it includes a hatch that we can open to use the telescope at night....how swanky is that?!

Anyway, please feel free to email me for any information and I will try and escape from the physio long enough to respond to you before I am dragged back into the torture chamber and made to lift my arms up again.

Cheers and sorry again...Nic

2006-07-10T00:48:00.000-07:00

Team A....

This is Team A, our second group of volunteers from Leeds University. They have been living on site for a week now and are still hard at it....

The site is still being cleared to make way for the landscaping to begin (yet MORE digging, clearing, burning etc.) so unfortunately the tedium of shovelling and hoeing to get annoying bits of twig and twine out of the ground continues.

But, ever cheery, Team A are tackling the work with enthusiasm and even managing to dig whilst hungover (you can't hear the groans from this picture but I think they were all a bit delicate this day...!)

...and not only digging up of roots but the discovery of yet MORE cement lying under a thin layer of grass has caused a further delay to the proceedings - this has been a constant theme of the Leeds volunteers' experience this year; it seems that whilst the building was being constructed the builders mixed cement, plaster and mortar all over the place and we have to pick-axe through these layers of cement to get to the earth below so we can eventually plant some flowers! This involves many people with shovels and many trips with a wheelbarrow (easily the most difficult job on-site) breaking their backs and sweating like billy-oh ridding our site of big piles of cement and rubble! It might not feel like it at times but we are getting there...slowly!

But Team A have also been busy digging trenches. Honestly, there are trenches everywhere at the moment, some for laying pipes to carry water off the roof into an underground water catchment tank, some for laying small walls around different sections of the site and some trenches I think have been dug just for fun because Team A are trench-crazy!

Here's one trench being modelled by the trench diggers themselves!

2006-07-04T06:15:00.000-07:00

Didn't they do well...?

Out first group of volunteers spent two weeks with us and worked themselves into the ground plastering, digging, hoeing, raking, burning, shovelling and wheelbarrowing. Here they are in action...

They plastered very long walls

No fancy modern technology like earth movers for our volunteers, all digging

and clearing of the land was done with shovels, hoes and wheelbarrows.

Not a pleasant task to undertake for two solid weeks!

You see? So much digging was done that shovels were splintered into tiny fragments!

Trees were felled using nothing but brute strength!

When you work on a Soft Power site, you also get to clean your own long-drop toilets! Quickly.

We are sorry that the first group of volunteers had to have such a tedious time clearing our site and didn't get to do anything pleasant or fun but it was very necessary and now it is almost done...so big, huge, massive thanks to all of them!
This group have now left us to go and work at one of our schools and we have the group that were at the school with us for the next two weeks. Apparently there's fierce and ongoing competition between the two groups which seems to mainly focus on which group can drink the most in the bar but which also stretches to which group works hardest on site....check out the blog again to see some photos of the next group working and judge for yourselves!

2006-06-27T01:17:00.000-07:00

They're here.....

Our first group of volunteers from Leeds University arrived on Monday 19th June. Here they all are ready for a hard days work. This particular group get the enviable task of clearing the site. This means that they get to do loads of hard graft all day long like shifting cement, digging up trees and clearing rubble. Subsequent groups will get to do the nice things like laying pathways and planting flowers! We are very sorry that these guys get the rubbish end of the stick but they are working like dogs and we are very grateful.

One of the luxurious bedrooms. Everyone gets their own mattress and a space on the floor. Not unlike prison in many ways. Except in prison you probably at least have access to a inside toilet.

For those parents who are footing an expensive university education bill and who may want to see their children suffer, please revisit the blog in a few days to see some photos of them toiling away!

2006-06-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

Quick! They're coming.....!

Over the next two months we are expecting 50 students from Leeds University to come and help us finish off the building and landscape the grounds. They are coming in groups of 15 at a time and will all live on site in one side of the Centre. The first group were arriving on Monday 19th June and the days and weeks leading up to their arrival were quite fraught as we tried to get the Centre semi-habitable for them....

We finished laying the floors...

...the windows arrived (just in the nick of time) and were fitted...

...doors were sanded, varnished and hung...

...and we were done (about 10 minutes before they arrived, granted, but still we made it!).

Check out our lovely corridor.....

..and our beautiful science lab!

It was hectic but we made it, well done to everyone who helped (and who put up with us being a bit stressed and shouty!).

2006-06-25T04:17:00.000-07:00

No-one escapes....!

Even friends and family can't escape the evil clutches of the Education Centre. Here we see our mate Claire and Georgie's dad Dave hard at work varnishing the doors to the theatre.

They both came to visit Uganda under the pretence of a lovely, relaxing holiday. They were lured here with stories of swimming in the Nile, relaxing with a book by a pool, maybe even seeing some animals in a game park....ha! Suckers! They soon discovered that visiting a Soft Power person entails nothing but hard graft and misery. So be warned all friends and family members who may be considering visiting anyone connected with Soft Power, we take no prisoners.

We did really appreciate their efforts, though, so big thanks to them both!

And it was a very good job we had Claire on site, as it happens, because we had a bit of trouble fitting a tap to our water catchment tank - none of the big burly Ugandan builders could squeeze inside to ensure the fittings were in place. Luckily we had Claire who managed to slither into the tank and get the job done!
Now we have running water at the Centre! So big thanks to Claire and her skinny shoulders and also big thanks to Johan, our resident Swedish volunteer plumber seen here in very patriotic yellow and blue, without him we'd still be scratching our heads and wondering what to do!

2006-05-31T23:28:00.000-07:00

Meet a fundraiser # 3.....

For all of you who say you can't find the time to fundraise you should check this guy out...he managed to raise a whopping load of cash and he was extremely busy being born at the time!

This is Max and he qualifies as Soft Power's youngest ever fundraiser!

Unbelievably, he did a 12km sponsored run....!

I kid ye.

Serious-leee...

Max's mom and dad, Jon and Meg, kindly asked for donations towards the Education Centre as presents when Max was born...and the cash keeps rolling in!

We would love for Max (one day) to come and visit the Centre that he helped to create and to see the difference that he made so we are going to put his money towards landscaping the site. When he visits in the future there will be well-established trees and plants that are only there because of him!

Thank you Max, Meg and Jon!

2006-05-25T05:20:00.000-07:00

"What's happening now?", we hear you cry....

Well...this is how the centre is looking at the moment - this photo was taken last week, on May 19th 2006. If you take a quick look back to the beginning of this blog you'll see a big difference in the state of the building!

Since Feburary we have completed the walls, layed a concrete slab at the top of the tower, the roof has been put on, the guttering has been attached and is working, the whole of the inside of one building has been plastered, the position of the electrics has been decided upon and the wires fitted, plastering has begun on the outside, window frames have been made and fitted to every single window, slabs and brick towers have been built to hold the water catchment tanks, the tanks themselves have been specially designed, made and delivered....erm, what else?! On June 19th we have the next influx from the 'Leeds University Soft Power supporters club' coming over to LIVE in the centre for 2 months and help us finish the building and landscape the whole site! We are itching for them to arrive - but not until we have laid the floor and fitted the door frames/doors (next week's job!). As you can see, there is so much that has happened already and yet so much that is going on at the moment...and that's just on site....

Off-site loads more work is happening to ensure that the Omugezi Cultural Centre (as the Centre will be called - Omugezi means Wisdom in the local language) will be a success from the word go. We are aiming to open in September so work has begun to make the grand unveiling of the building a bit of an event...Soft Power is holding a fund-raising 12-hour cycle marathon culminating in a full-moon party at the centre on September 23rd! There'll be a post about it soon on this blog if you want more information - or visit Soft Power's website for details of how you can join in or sponsor the event.

Also, there is a lot of planning going on to make sure we will be providing the best facilities, equipment and experiences to the most amount of people possible when we do open!

We are in the throes of fundraising for equipment to fill the computer room, science lab, theatre and library and also embarking on an ambitious fundraising quest to enable us to employ the 13 Ugandan members of staff we will need to run the Centre effectively. Our links with the primary schools, street children project and Soft Power Health are progressing as we design the services we will be offering to children and adults from the local and wider communities. Budgets are being drawn up, job descriptions written, funding bids being put together, solar power energy requirements being calculated, brows being wiped, sleepless nights being had, ulcers developing...but generally our plans for world domination are finally taking shape!

So...any and all help (both financial and practical) that you can offer would be gratefully received!

And now you can stop asking because THAT is what's happening now!

Now leave us alone, we are very busy!

2006-05-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

Warned you....

A post about guttering.

Dave has tried to romanticise it by taking arty shot of it but let's face it, it's still guttering and I can't think of anything to say about it...except that we can now add our water catchment tanks which will at least make all this rain we're having more worthwhile.

Speaking of water catchment tanks...here's one of ours being modelled by Dave in the exact position it will sit when installed.

I don't know - plastering, guttering, water catchment...it's a wonder this blog hasn't won some kind of award.

2006-05-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

Women's literacy group....

Last week we visited Masese, an area just on the outskirts of Jinja where the most desperately poor and/or displaced people live (those fleeing the war in the north of the country usually end up in Masese if they come to Jinja). It's a terrible place with awful sanitation and ramshackle housing with huge families living under tarpaulin or in badly built mud huts. People do not have any land to farm and cannot find work so they subsist on what little food they can get. Many of the children cannot afford to attend school and some end up living on the streets of Jinja trying to beg or steal to get enough food to feed themselves. We visited Masese with a representative from the Child Restoration Trust, they work trying to get street children back into school through counselling, support and education (we are hoping to do some more work with them in the future when the Education Centre opens).

All in all it was quite depressing to spend time in Masese - but then we visited a women's literacy group and we were blown away! This group meet twice a week under a tree and between 25 and 30 women regularly attend - this in itself was an inspirational thing to see, so many women of all ages desperate to learn despite their poverty and situation. Unfortunately they have no resources and were learning to read and write by scratching in the dirt with twigs....

Well, we thought, we can't have this...so we offered to make them some small slate blackboards.

I spent the next two days - with volunteers Michelle, Alison and Isaac - sawing, sanding and painting 36 small slate blackboards to be given to these women. We really wanted to show them that the inspirational effort and commitment they had shown in learning to read in order to improve their lives was an amazing thing and should be celebrated!

Check out the master carpenters at work...!

Yesterday we delivered these blackboards to the literacy group. They were pretty chuffed!

In total, apart from our time, the whole project cost around £15! So often we hear people say that they "can't afford to donate much" - this goes to show you don't have to be a millionaire to make a difference!

For more information about this project - and the work we plan to do with the Child Restoration Trust - please contact us.

2006-05-08T05:17:00.000-07:00

Windows and walls.....

The windows in the theatre

Work is motoring along on site with all of our lovely wooden window frames now fitted. Look at them! Aren't they lovely?!

And not only that but there has been non-stop chiselling as the guys readied the walls for the electrician's handiwork before plastering one whole side of the centre - it is now finished and is looking superb!

Salim plasters the wall in the computer room - check out the smooth finish

Granted, this is perhaps not the most thrilling post we have ever put onto this blog and you may not exactly be overcome by the the progress....but Dave and I are wetting ourselves with excitement!

Log on again for more exhilarating updates and photos....

Next time...guttering!

2006-05-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

It's not all work, work, work.....

We do spend a lot of time elbow-deep in paint, mud or cement but sometimes Soft Power people like to scrub themselves with a wire brush, get rid of all of that nasty red mud and put on their glad rags.

Here we all are celebrating Chris's (the John Travolta-like figure at the back of the photo) 35th birthday on the 'Hairy Lemon' island. As you can tell, the theme was 'posh' and we all rose to the challenge remarkably, especially Erin who donned a rather fetching gold lamee number which was the envy of all the girls. George, the absolute bounder at the bottom of the photo, didn't manage to snare himself a tasty filly all evening, despite stroking that rather lovely mustache continuously, the cad.

A fantastic evening was had by all so thanks to Rob and Erin at the Hairy Lemon and happy birthday Mr Travolta!

2006-04-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

Rains stops play......

Did someone say rainy season?

This was the state of our site last Thursday for many hours....

And the aftermath...

But even with all the rain we are having our amazing roof has kept every single drop on the outside of the building!

Now, would someone like to donate a boat so we can get back to work?

2006-04-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

Building borders......

Now, we are community building and everything but this week we added the first twiglings to what will become our boundary hedge...not to keep people out, you understand, but to make the place look nice (it will only be waist height, not a six-metre high thorny barricade).

A willing bunch of volunteers lent their breaking backs and clean fingernails to the task and spent all day digging, planting and getting very sweaty indeed, all in the name of landscaping.

Many thanks to them, here they are in action.....

2006-04-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

Meet a fundraiser # 2.....

You can't see her very well but this is Jackie in the throes of her TWELVE AND A HALF KILOMETRE sponsored swim!

Crikey!

Jackie is Soft Power's accounts manager here in Uganda and she put herself through the torture of swimming that far in order to raise funds to pay for a new computer....so far she has raised over 700 quid and more than paid for all the equipment needed. We are all very proud of her...and thoroughly ashamed of our lazy selves for not being able to do something this energetic for Soft Power.

She survived her ordeal and here she is pictured a few hours later....

Nice one Jackie!

2006-04-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

Our first course.....!

Even though we are still a few windows short of a building that hasn't stopped us from starting work on the courses that will take place within the Education Centre when it is finally finished!

Pictured below - our first group of willing volunteers who took part in Soft Power's very first 'Leadership, Team Building and Successful Teaching' course. The course ran from 3rd April until 10th April and its aims were to inspire teachers to use creative methods of both working together and providing a student-centred service within their schools.

Those pictured are teachers from Kyabirwa Primary School, Kyabirwa Children's Centre, the manager of Soft Power's Endowoza Art Centre and Paul Daniels, the course facilitator.

We are hoping this pilot course will form the basis of many more Leadership courses to come and will enable us to provide similar courses to the 'high flying youth' of Uganda in order to foster a sense of social responsibility and to promote leadership skills.

For more information on this course and any other aspect of the Education Centre please contact us.

2006-04-11T04:58:00.001-07:00

Meet a fundraiser # 1....

This is Aimee, she lives here in Uganda with her family and she is a big supporter of Soft Power. Aimee is pictured visiting one of Soft Power's pre-schools for orphans. She is currently back in the UK on a fund raising mission, trying to drum up support for our projects and we are very grateful for all her efforts! When she returns to Uganda Aimee is going to do a sponsored swim to raise money for us so if she asks you to donate, please give generously..!

Hopefully Aimee will write something for the blog about her trip and her fundraising when she gets back to Uganda in a few weeks...

2006-03-27T07:14:00.000-08:00

What is the fundamental problem with this building?

No. It's meant to be that shape - something to do with accoustics and sound baffling, or some such.
Yellow Jack! You're right! There's no roof on it!

But wait, whats that I hear, is it bird? Is it the sound of a hammer wielded by a skilled craftsman?

By jove.....it's a ROOF!

Big, big thanks to all the guys pictured - Salim, Peter and Fred - who worked so hard to get it done and big, huge, enormous thanks to Gordon Durward who donated the funds to pay for the materials and construction of our beautiful new blue roof!

Keep your eye on the blog for more exciting developments here in Uganda!

2006-03-23T02:44:00.000-08:00

So, what's this all about then?

Do you remember being at primary school? Of course you do. And so you remember that even if you loved school or hated it, going to the same place every day and sitting in the same classroom with the same teacher usually got a bit boring (no matter how much of a big geeky swot you were).

Presumably, then, you all remember those few golden days every year when you got to leave school and go on a school trip...you must remember the excitement as you put on your 'own clothes', boarded a big coach and ate your sandwiches before leaving the school car park…and then the fun of spending the day wandering around Jodrell Bank or a nuclear power station or a farm or a museum or a castle or a nature reserve...or anywhere else! And it was great. And it wasn't just great because it wasn't school (although for some that was the major attraction), it was great because you were somewhere completely different and you were learning through experience...seeing things come to life that you'd only read about in the classroom. Like seeing how electricity really was made or looking at clothes that really were worn by Vikings! And then you’d buy a bookmark for your mom and a fridge magnet for your nan and be on your way back home, absolutely exhausted, sometimes covered in mud, but having had a fantastic day.

Just to jog your memory....this is a British school trip...remember now?

We all have fond memories of our favourite school trips…and who knows, maybe it was one school trip that convinced you of what you wanted to be when you grew up, or at least opened your mind to the endless possibilities out there.

Well, that’s what we want this education centre to be about. To be a place where children in Uganda can have that whole experience…leaving school for a day, going somewhere different (albeit on the back of a big truck and not in a Wallis Arnold coach) and experiencing their curriculum (and beyond) come to life. Also, for them to be inspired and to go away from their day with us having seen and felt a little bit of magic…and yes, having learnt something too. We may not be able to sell many bookmarks or fridge magnets but hopefully the children will go away with something much more beneficial; a renewed excitement for learning and for life.

Together with this – yes, unbelievably there’s more – this centre will be a focal point for the village of Kyabirwa where adults can access classes, where families can gather and watch plays in the theatre or films projected onto a screen and, more generally, where people can come together and celebrate community events.

So…that’s what it’s all about. Follow our links for more information about our charity and our work. And if you like what you’ve read…follow our links and donate some cash!

And, well, you've seen the photos, so now come and see the real thing...we always need volunteers and you'd be very welcome...

For those of you who never got to go whilst at school...this is Jodrell Bank.

2006-03-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

Hey there interested viewer, be you a Soft Powerer of the past or an itinerate blog browser it's a pleasure to have you here.

This blog is intended to keep all Soft Power volenteers past, present, and future up to date with whats going on at the Soft Power Education Centre site in Kyabirwa Uganda, and to hopefully generate interest in our work in the passing blogger.

For those who don't know, Soft Power is a British registered charity working to improve educational environments in the Budondo sub county of Uganda. Most of this work focuses on school refurbishment, but due to the fund raising efforts of Soft Powerers around the globe we have branched out and are now building an education centre. If you've never seen her, or haven't seen her recently, here is a picture - ain't she a beauty?

The site, which also houses the Soft Power Medical Centre and Endowoza pottery, has been up and going for approximately two years. Construction work started on the education centre last year and has been undertaken by our trusty team of local guys (too numerous to name but the hardcore at the moment are Peter, Fred, Salim and Mohaba - featured in the pictures in the next post) and numerous volenteers including The Leeds University Soft Power Massive (you know who you are) many overland truckers, Dan Payne, Gid and Kez Fischer, myself and the wife.