Every Saturday morning, the school bike club heads out onto the bumpy roads through the villages on the outskirts of Kampala. The club consists of a feisty bunch of girls and boys who are not afraid to take a tumble and get their clothes a little dusty. For many of our children, it is the first time they have had contact with 'the real Uganda'. Normally, they view the villages through the tinted windows of a four by four, en-route to a luxury safari. Along the way, we pass by children playing in the streets, men pushing matooke laden bicycles up hills and goats and chickens aplenty. In the UK, such a club would never be allowed - I can't even begin to imagine the Risk Assessment form! We have to deal with swerving bodas, unpredictable matatus, random animals that wander across the roads at will, rough terrain, the odd drunken Ugandan and the clouds of dust would have many a wheezy kid reaching for an inhaler. We certainly attract a lot of attention too. I wonder what the villagers think as they see a couple of muzungu teachers pedal by accompanied by a mixture of European, Indian and African kids on shiny geared mountain bikes. Last week a half Sudanese, half Egyptian girl got quite rattled when some men shouted 'muzungu' at me. She had experienced similar comments when she attended a local school in Uganda, as her skin is a few shades lighter than the average Ugandan. She thought it was very unfair that I should be marked out for the colour of my skin. I explained to her that it is just curiosity and that I have never felt that these remarks are ever untoward, but she still did not like it.
The club is also a great example of learning taking place outside of the classroom. Besides the fitness and learning how to manage the gears on hills, the kids are exposed to so much more. Every week, there are countless questions that we do our best to answer. 'Why is that man pedalling his bike and going nowhere?' 'What happened to the grass on the side of the hill?' 'Why do they burn rubbish like that?' They are getting a glimpse of Ugandan life and starting to realise that not everybody has the same advantages as they do. It may seem very obvious, but it does not seem real until they witness these things first hand.
This week, we strapped a video camera to one girl's helmet. It's very shaky footage, but it will give you an idea of what we see.
