A day away from the orphanage to learn about chimpanzees
Today we visited the Ugandan Wildlife Education Centre with 43 children from Raising up hope Orphanage in Uganda. The children arrived at around 9.30 in the morning and were very excited about the day.
We were warmly welcomed and the day was part of the support programs that are funded by Yebo and run as an outreach project by the staff from the Ugandan Wildlife Education Centre.
The children started the day by singing songs about wildlife which they enjoyed alot. They were then asked to draw pictures of wildlife that they had seen on their last visit so they all drew pictures of their favourite animals, which was great fun and the children all got really involved in the activities.
The children then had a break with some food and drink which they always thoroughly enjoy.
The children were then given a tour of the chimpanzee sanctuary and were taught all about the food that the chimpanzees get given. The children all appear to love these chimpanzees now as they get to know each one of them more every time they visit UWEC.
Helen, who works as a care giver to the chimpanzees, works with the children every time they come to the centre and helps them learn more about the chimpanzees each time. She showed them how she feeds the chimpanzees and what they like to eat at the different times of the day.
Esther, who is a 13 year old girl, used to live in the slums and suffered alot of difficulties in her life. She now lives safely at the orphanage and is seen in the picture learning how to feed the chimpanzees.
The children were then able to eat their own lunch and had some drinks which they all enjoyed. They watched other wildlife around them while they ate.
The children have 2 favourite chimpanzees at UWEC called Chan and Matoke. Patrick, who is the manager of the orphanage tells us that the children have found a lot of similarities in the chimpanzees stories to that of their own personal ones. He said this helps them to understand more about the chimpanzees lives, the way that they are feeling, and also that they are not alone.
After lunch, the children were asked to go back to the chimpanzee sanctuary to learn more about the chimps. We are really fortunate that every time we go to UWEC, we learn something new and different from the previous visit. For example, this time, Helen, the caregiver of the chimpanzees, told us that every morning chimps are given sugar canes to brush their teeth which we found really interesting.
We have found that the children are really wanting to help the chimpanzees and are gaining a bigger interest in their care and how they arrived at the sanctuary due to their history and backgrounds. For Yebo, this is great as we feel it is a good step in one of our aims of supporting primate conservation education within the Yebo projects.
Our aim is to continue these outreach projects and expand them every month so that the children are given more opportuities. The money for this particular day was donated by a previous volunteer who fundraised.
When our group of volunteers visit for 1 month in July 2011 we will aim to work together with Raising up hope orphanage and the sanctuaries further to increase the amount of support we are able to provide in various educational and therapeutic ways.
By isaac mujaasi, January 18, 2011 @ 6:56 pm
Good article, thanks for supporting the project
By Roger Mallins, January 19, 2011 @ 11:55 am
Exceptionally enjoyable article!! Well done all.
By Vicki Hollingsworth, January 19, 2011 @ 2:03 pm
Sounds like they all had an amazing time! Heart warming, to say the least!