MISSION:
UGANDA WITH
TYSON CHANDLER
Games from Uganda
One player is chosen as the cook, who (gently!) uses a long
• stick
as a wooden spoon to “stir the food.”
All the other players sit in a row on the floor with their legs
• straight
out in front of them. Their legs are the chicken bones
and they are being cooked in a soup for dinner.
taps their legs one by one from one end of the line
• toThethecook
other.
Meanwhile the children chant the words the “Kakopi Kapoki” to the tune of a popular song.
• (You
can substitute any other song or chant, e.g., “Food glorious food”).
When the song ends, the leg that the stick lands on is a burnt chicken leg, and so that child
• must
tuck that leg under him/her.
• When both chicken legs are burnt, he or she is out.
• The winner is the last child to remain in the game, and they are titled the “night dancer.”
Students in Uganda play during break time.
Suggested adaptations: Use a foam noodle instead of a stick to avoid injury. To make the game more
active, have students stand instead of sit. When they are tapped once, they have to balance on one
leg. When they are tapped a second time and are “out,” they run a lap or two around the group to
simulate stirring the pot.
Jonah: Have students sit on the floor behind each other in two rows with their legs in a V shape
— as if on a rowboat.
Everyone sings a Lugandan rhyme that goes, “Sika, sika luma ata chilo tunatuka”
• (Meaning,
“Let’s row even if we reach land by night”) to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”.
hile singing, everyone sways forward and backward, rowing against the waves of the sea. This
• isWlike
the boat being moved up and down.
When the rhyme ends, they start to sway from side to side, as if the boat is going into a storm.
• The
swaying becomes stronger until pupils start to lose their balance and fall out of the side.
© UNICEF/UNI17847/UNKNOWN
Kakopi Kakopi or Chicken legs: For this game, have all
players sit in a row.
MISSION:
UGANDA WITH
TYSON CHANDLER
Those who fall out or lose their balance are in the water and must “swim” to safety. The winning
• team
is the boat with the most rowers after an allotted time.
To add a twist, one person can be a crocodile in the water who ‘preys’ off those who have fallen
• off
the boat. If they are caught or tagged by the crocodile, they can no longer swim to safety and
are out – once out, they can count as negative points against their team.
Suggested adaptations: Play this game on an elevated surface, such as a bench, and on top of a
padded mat so that it is easier for students to “fall out” of the boat.
Prisoner!: Participants stand in two straight lines facing each other. A length of rope is used to
mark a line between the two teams. Each side represents a Ugandan village.
tudents march forward and back from the rope in turn chanting, “We have come to take a
• Sprisoner
from your village and his name is . . .” A person from each side is chosen by their team.
Teams try to pick two players who roughly match each other in size and strength.
opposite each other, the chosen pupils must try to pull the other one over the line while
• Salltanding
the children count to 10.
• If a pupil is pulled over the line then they are a prisoner and they have to join the opposite side.
his continues until there is only one player left in a village or a certain number of pupils are
• Treached
on either side.
Suggested adaptations: Instead of pulling each other, have students use a jump rope (or similar
item) and engage in a tug or war. Instead of choosing one “prisoner” at a time from each team,
select groups of three.
Note: As an additional safety measure, you may wish to conduct on padded mats or grass.
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