An Alphabetical Retrospective of 2014

A is for Athletics - a growing and popular sport- (Eleven WTA students competed successfully at regional events); Adult Education (at The Bridge); Art and Craft - hugely popular activities

B is for Basketball - also super-popular; Beautiful Babies Born at The Rock (about 12 so far);  Barndance - the big fundraiser for Team Ignite

C is for  Computers newly installed at The Bridge; for Chella, our Dutch volunteer teaching friend, back for her 4th visit to WTA; for Cricket, introduced this year by Stan; for Community Visits - started this year

D is for the Dentaid Visit in early March; Desks Donated to Lukomera Primary; Debates, Dancing and Drumming - important additions to school life.

E is for Exams - an Essential and Exacting part of WTA life, Exam Results - soon to be released; Educate!, the Entrepreneurship programme; End Of Term Programmes - excellent times!

F is for Fees - an inevitable part of WTA conversations, meetings and school life;  Football - a major activity at WTA plus endless topic of conversation and discussion; Fantastic Film Shows - always popular

G is for  Guest House - now at the end of its first year; Goat - popular meat for Sunday lunches, Goats (in the plural) that live on site; Gomesi - necessary smart dress wear for attending weddings and formal events

H is for HE Space, who have partnered with SD providing computers and support to Science Teaching; HandsnFeet who supplied funding to support drama and music.

I is for Internet - an ongoing adventure, challenge, minefield, development - but also a headache at times; Immigration Department (Sue and Stan's favourite outing in Kampala!)

J is for Juno -  half of the new security dog team at WTA; Jam (as in Traffic) - an essential part of Kampala driving; Jinja - a great weekend destination on the Nile

K is for KISU (Kampala International School) who support WTA in various ways; Sports Kit generously donated for all the teams; Kampala - capital city, necessary for supplies, admin, bureaucracy - and cappuccino

L is for Lukomera (where WTA is situated), Luwero (the nearest regional town) and Lira (where many of the WTA students & Charles come from). Not to be confused with Luganda - the local language!

M is for Mosquitoes, Malaria, Mosquito Nets - an inevitable part of Ugandan school life. Also Microphones - essential part of the Sunday service!  Not to mention MDD (Music/Dance/Drama) and Mango Trees and Mpola Mpola  (Slowly, Slowly)........a useful outlook to hang onto

N is for National Anthem - sung before every assembly, debate & important school function; Networks, such as  MTN/Airtel/Orange ("Ahhh, sorry, there are network problems") necessary for phone communication, paying school fees & essential bills

O is for Option Subjects - part of S3 and S4 life;  Charles Opio's great Oratory Skills; OBs and OGs -aka school leavers (Old Boys and Old Girls) and Oranges -which are green in Uganda!

P is for our 'Project Guardians' (Sue and Stan); Phonics -  new focus for literacy lessons at The Bridge; Potholes  - no journey complete without them; Pineapples - just amazing;  Posho - the edible experience

Q is for Quality Education which WTA offers on a low cost basis. Good quality and low cost education is rare in Uganda - to say the least

R is for class Readers  - about 70 kg of readers were donated to The Bridge by teaching friends; Rwenzori - our favourite brand of bottled water (named after the mountain) - another necessity for staying healthy; Rolex - fabulous Ugandan snack for 2000 shillings (50p)

S is for Staff - without whom WTA could not function; for Sewing Machine + Sewing Workshops - brought to WTA by Team Ignite; Special Sunday lunches - greatly enjoyed and appreciated each week

T is for Theatre Trip  for  the Literature group; Team Trips - always a big success; Timetabling - an ongoing challenge; Tusker, security dog#2

U is for  Uniform - compulsory for all students; Umeme - providing WTA's all important electricity supply; Uglish - the amazing blend of Ugandan expressed English, in which we are all now pretty fluent.

V is for Volunteers who make such a difference to WTA, Visitation Days - monthly visits for parents; Vaccinations - necessary, important (but not always so popular) for our lovely Visitors, students and teachers

W is for Will (Rothwell) - innovative Biology teacher in October, and 'the What?' - a common addition to any question, 'we are studying the book, class. The what?, the book.'

X is for the Xtraordinary privilege to be part of WTA; plus Xtraordinary Xperience for any visitor to Uganda.

Y is for YouTube - check out the most recent film, made during the last team trip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODfhFaBb4yc&list=UUc8D_CvgkotxW7GRlRA27ZQ

Z is for Ziwa - amazing 'local' rhino sanctuary, the only place to get close to rhinos in the wild - just up the road.