The welcome dance

The mothers of Atanga Primary School students in Pader District, Uganda greeted me with songs and a welcome dance in October 2009. I was visiting their children, some of which had been removed from exploitative labor and enrolled in school for the first time.

The students were working towards their end of year examinations, confident that they would pass because they had been to school "every day" and the "teachers were good." Previously, during the conflict in the region, most teachers were not trusted - they were either corrupt, asking students for money, or worse, expecting sexual favours for good exam results. The government, and time, have gradually implemented policies to reduce corruption and to train teachers on alternative forms of discipline instead of using the cane. Some schools had counsellors with psycho-social training to counsel students and teachers.

Parents, especially mothers, were pleased with the different attitude of the teachers - providing classrooms conducive to cooperative learning. The School Management Committees and Parent Teachers Associations were also working with the community to save money for school development projects. Some had contributed to new blackboards, money for extra hours of electricity so students could study in the evening, and the construction of new classrooms.

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The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

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