There has not been one day over the past year, when I have not admonished the children several times with the sentence “Don’t put in your mouth”. The pencils we share, their files and whatever comes into their hands almost automatically finds its way to their mouth.

The first routine that was implemented as soon as we moved to the new premises in October was washing hands before starting class. Hush, hush, a quick dip in the water, forgetting the soap or hardly touching it, without supervision it was a quick business.

They also learned since last year to cough into their bent elbow rather than in everyone’s face.

It all improved with time but only with constant reminders. Who would have known the need would become so compelling?

The corona virus has not arrived yet to Uganda but the first cases have appeared in all neighbouring countries: Congo, Kenya, Rwanda and now in Tanzania. As the WHO representative said a couple of days ago, “there is no reason to think that it will stop at the border of Uganda”.

Time to prepare and reinforce the good habits:  For once and to make sure that the urgency of the context was well understood Joel translated the explanation in Swahili. It seems that they have finally realised the meaning and purpose of these permanent demands.

On Wednesday the government announced strong measures: closed borders and as of Friday, March 20 all schools will be closed for 32 days.

This is the topic of the week with a couple of photos.

School year in Uganda officially starts in February but we couldn’t wait! The Learning Centre started on January 13th. Meeting some children on the main street of Kibutika in the previous week, all were eager to know when we would start.

We thank the members of the Royal Malta Golfclub for a welcome donation of 500 euro's. Collected this Thursday after the Happy Gilmores competition.

Happy Gilmores is a relatively new section of learner Golfers and welcoming back older members and people who have been off golf for illness or other reasons.