Cockroach! (9/4)

Being silly for a photo!

Our day started with our first of many (to come) unwelcome visitors, a cockroach.  After the initial freak-out, Katie killed it with a shoe.  And then I was on clean-up duty.  It was a horrible, traumatizing experience, that by now (since I’m writing this almost two weeks later) happens was too frequently. 

Today at school, I spent the day observing in one of the three Nursery classes at the school.  Nursery would be like our kindergarten classes.  The class I was in was called Top, which is the last kindergarten class before entering P1.  There were only 10 of the 22 students present in this class today.  As soon as I entered the classroom the children sang me a welcome song.  This is how they great their teachers every morning in every class.  It is absolutely adorable, and I hope to get it on video someday.  In the morning I observed an English lesson where the kids were learning different vocabulary words.  The way they learn to spell them is through chanting and repetition.  For example, this is how the students went through the spelling of the word “bag”:

Jostus trying on my sunglasses (He is in my P1 class that I am now teaching in).

Teacher: “Who can spell the word bag?”

Students: (all stand) “We can spell the word bag.  It is, B-A-G. The word is bag.”

Grace, Ruthie, and Lovin. (Lovin is Doreen's daughter)

After our hour-long lunch break, the teacher whose classroom I was in told me she needed to take a lunch and that she wanted me to teach reading.  We were told that we shouldn’t be teaching the first week, and when I explained that to her she insisted that I just read the book to the class and ask questions.  So, that’s what I did, because whether or not I was supposed to, there wasn’t going to be a teacher in the classroom and I figured I would rather have the kids listening to a book than doing nothing at all. 

Throughout the rest of the day, all of the teachers were very friendly as they greeted us and asked how we were doing.  The kids are a little slower to warm up, but we were invited to play some cards during games time.  The girls also taught me their handshake.  And, we even received a few letters from students who were excited to have us at their school and who wanted to tell us about their families, while also asking questions about ours. 

After school Katie and I went for a jog.  When we returned from our jog the neighbor boys were sitting waiting for us.  They told us they had a song they wanted to sing for us.  After being just a little camera shy, they sang the song and even added in some dancing.  It completely brightened our day!  I have a video of it, but for some reason am unable to post it on here. :( I will try again another day

First day of school (9/3)

The dorm rooms at the school where some of the students live

Today was our first day of school.  We arrived at the school at about 8:40 am.  All the kids and teachers were outside just kind of hanging out.  Right away, we met with the head teacher, King James.  King James talked with us and told us how excited he was to have us.  He explained that while here, we are to work collaboratively with the teachers so we can all learn from each other.  He said, “To be a good teacher, you must be a good learner, ” which I find to be completely true.  King James also wanted to remind us that this experience would be like none other that we have had in the United States, because this isn't the United States, it is a third world country.  This is something that is constantly in the back of my mind,  King James then told us that the first week at school we would be observing in all the classrooms, and then on Friday we would decide which room we wanted to teach in for the remainder of our time here. 

Rwentutu Christian School

After talking with King James, he held an assembly for all the students.  He welcomed the students back, as this was their first day back in a few weeks.  They finished their 2^nd term about a month ago and were just starting their 3^rd term today.  Because of this, King James explained, that only about 60 students were there of the 200 plus that were supposed to be there.  And also because it was the first day back in awhile, King James asked the kids to help clean up the school.  So the kids spent about 2 hours cleaning out the classrooms, moving desks, tables, and chairs around, picking up trash in the school yard, cutting the grass (with a machete), sweeping, mopping and so on.  

Everyone working together to clean up the school

Taking a little break

The playground equipment includes some swings, a carousel, and a soccer field  

The view from the school

About an hour into clean up, King James held a meeting for all the teachers.  The meeting started with an opening prayer.  Then King James introduced us to all the teachers and they introduced themselves to us.  The teachers really struggled with saying my name, as almost everyone here has, since in Uganda they only know Daniel, a boy’s name.  Most times when I introduce myself everyone laughs.  The teachers also gave us our Ugandan names.  Mine is Muhindo Danielle since I am the second child in my family and I followed a child of the opposite sex.  Then the meeting moved on to King James talking to the teachers about some of the school values.  These included spirituality, punctuality, professionalism, personality, responsibility, and organization.  After about the first 20 minutes of the meeting being in English, it quickly crossed over to the local language of Lukunzo.  At times the teachers would shift back and forth between English and Lukunzo, so we got the gist of the meeting.  The teachers were voicing their concerns for the school.  Some of them that we picked up on were that the teachers wanted the school to hire some men to help clean up the school as opposed to the students doing it each morning, the teachers wanted to make sure all staff are attending chapel, and the teachers want to have meetings at the beginning of the terms so that they can remember their teaching methods and strategies.  The final suggestion that one teacher made, was that this meeting that they were having should take place before the term begins.  This seemed to make a lot of sense to Katie and I, as the entire time the meeting was taking place, the kids were just outside playing, unsupervised. 

Meeting Ruthie for the first time

After the meeting the kids were served a late lunch and then they played volleyball.  We left at this time, as King James told us no learning would be taking place today because there was just too much to work out on the first day of the term.  Needless to say, our first day of school was a little disappointing, but it was all a learning experience.  We learned about the vast differences between the school system in the US and the school system in Uganda, and have come to realize that we cannot compare the two, because they are just too different.  We are looking forward to seeing some learning tomorrow!  

Meet the neighbors! (9/2)

Because of some communication problems, we slept through church this morning.  Our day was rather uneventful, but it was another nice and relaxing one.  We did more reading, blogging, and skyping.  We also had a nice little visit from some of the neighbor boys when returning from a run.  Apparently they were friends with the last group of Wisconsin teachers that were here.  There are 3 boys who visit us daily, Ramadan, Nobat, and Allan.  They told us they would go for a jog with us someday and that we can play football (soccer) with them on Sundays.  For dinner we made guacamole!  We figured out that with all the fresh ingredients we have, we could make guac.  The only problem is that there aren’t tortilla chips here.  We also had Irish potatoes for dinner, which are just what we call potatoes. 

Me with the neighbor boys. The one in the white shirt is Allan, brown and blue is Nobat, and brown and yellow is Ramadan.

Before we went to bed we made sure our suitcases with all of our generous donations, were packed up and ready to bring to school.  At this point, I am anxious, nervous, and excited for the first day of school tomorrow!

Let there be light! (9/1)

Katie and I were so excited to have nothing planned for Saturday!  We were completely exhausted from our traveling and then the non-stop activity since arriving in Uganda, that we were ready to relax a bit.  Well, we did have one thing on our agenda and that was laundry.  Doreen taught us how to do our laundry.  Basically the clothes starts in a soapy basin and are scrubbed in that one, then they move to another soapy basin and are scrubbed again, then they are moved to a water basin where you start to work the soap out, and one final basin where all the soap is removed.  Then we hang out to dry.  The process was long, but Katie and I decided it was a little relaxing, and fun when the three of us do it together.  It was however, a little uncomfortable having someone wash your underwear.  I kept telling Doreen she didn’t have to wash my underwear for me and she laughed and said “Danielle you don’t like me washing your knickers?”  In fact she laughed and laughed throughout the process as Katie and I didn’t quite have the form down yet for scrubbing clothes, and then our form of rinsing the clothes was ringing them out which apparently was also poor technique.  By now (since I am writing this a week later), I have gotten more comfortable with the idea that someone is washing my knickers!

Katie and Doreen doing the laundry, yes, I helped! (This is on our front porch)

After our laundry was hanging out to dry, Katie and I did a yoga DVD that we put in our computer.  We even got Doreen to try it with us!  And once again she was laughing and laughing.  Her laugh is infectious and in seconds all three of us will be howling with laughter. 

Doreen and I doing some yoga! (Also note this is our living room)

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and working on our blogs.  I should also note that I wore my Badger gear today in honor of the Badger’s first game!  We later walked to the market to buy some of the ingredients for guacamole, as we realized this is something we can make here!  I was able to call the cabin Up North and talk to a few people there today as well.  It was nice to talk to everyone and hear how the annual weekend up there was going without me.  Miss you all! 

Making the chapati. Notice the lantern and the soda bottle as a rolling pin.

The other highlight (or not) of our day was that it was our first full day without power here.  After it had been off for a while we kept bugging Doreen asking her when it would come back on.  She told us it would be back on at 7.  Well 7:00 pm rolled around and there was still no power. So we brought out our lanterns and headlamps and cooked dinner.  For dinner we made something new, which is now my favorite Ugandan food, chapatti.  Chapatti is like fried dough/flat bread.  One trick I learned while making it, is that a bottle of soda (preferably a glass bottle) makes for a great rolling pin!  And then the three of us had a "candlelight dinner."  So after giving Doreen a hard time, she said to us “Oh, the power did not come back on at 7, then it will come back on at 8 then.”  This had Katie and I laughing and without confidence in Doreen’s knowledge of electricity.  Well sure enough, at 7:53p.m. the power came back on.  All three of us started clapping, high fiving, and laughing. 

The finished chapati, with rice and pineapple. 

Muzungu! Muzungu! (8/31)

This morning we met Sam.  Sam is Amos’ brother.  Amos is the man who founded Rwentutu, the school we will be teaching at, with his wife Edith.  The house that we are living in also belongs to Amos.  Doreen, our “house mom” is Sam’s daughter.  Other relatives of Sam, Amos, and Doreen also live in the quarters behind our house.  Sam is in charge of arranging our driver, house mom, and some things at the school.  He is also the pastor at the school.  See, everyone knows everyone here! 

We also had a little excitement this morning as a little lizard came into our room while we were getting ready! 

On the top of the hill overlooking Bwera

The private quarters of the hospital

Our first stop of many for the day was Bwera.  Bwera is about an hour away and is the town where Enoch, Edson, and Janet are all from.  We picked Enoch up at his home and then went to the Bwera hospital.  Each district has its own hospital, according to Enoch.  The way the hospital is set up is that there are two sections.  In one wing of the hospital it is private, where people pay to stay and receive care.  The remainder of the hospital is for the public and to my understanding is for free care.  The reason that Enoch took us to the hospital is because it is situated on the top of a hill that overlooks the rest of Bwera.  It was beautiful and we were even able to see some of Congo from the top. 

Our next stop was to a secondary school in Bwera.  This is the school that Enoch went to, and that he is now on the board of.  He believes it to be one of the nicest schools in the country.  We walked around the school and were able to go into a few empty classrooms to see the set up.  The school even had a computer lab that we were able to see and a library. 

Secondary School in Bwera

Classroom in the Bwera Secondary School

After the school we started making our way towards the border of Uganda and Congo.  As soon as we got nearer to the border we checked in with security letting them know of our intentions to go to the market.  We walked a little further and again checked in with more security.  At this point we were told not to take any more pictures, so I have very few pictures of the chaos that was the Uganda/Congo border/market.  We walked right up to the border of Congo and Uganda, literally right on the line, and then had to turn around.  Enoch told us the color bar is the reason we cannot enter the Congo.  This means that we are barred from entering because we are white.  The walk to the border was rather crazy with people everywhere carrying goods towards the border to exchange, and people coming back with newly purchased goods.  This included cattle, fish, goats, chickens, pigs, water, fabrics and so on.  Not only were people walking toward the border, but there were large trucks driving, and of course the boda-bodas.

Heading towards the border

Also heading toward the Uganda/Congo border

The Congo/Uganda market

More of the market

We then made our way to the market, which was right next to the border since the market contains a lot of goods from Congo as well as Uganda.  The market is another one of those indescribable experiences that I have had while here.  Like all markets we have been to thus far, we ended up walking through what seemed like a little secret passage way that lead to a wide open buzzing market.  It was completely overly stimulating.  My senses were in complete shock.  As we walked through the odors shifted from that of fresh produce to stinky fish and meat.  The sounds were a mix between animals and people.  The people speaking in their native Lukunzo language, or yelling “Muzungu” at us.  And the sun was beating down on my exposed skin.  And all my eyes could see were colors, beautiful, bright, natural colors.  The colors of the produce, the animals, the people, the fabrics, the sun, and the dirt.  The way the market was set up was that as soon as we entered we were by the fresh produce.  This included tomatoes, potatoes, jack fruit, pineapple, ground nuts, beans, onions, garlic, mangoes, among so much more.  The produce is laid out on blankets and then women sit behind the blankets and collect the money and put the purchased food into bags.  Katie and I did not buy anything as we had just been to our local market, but probably more so because we were just completely overwhelmed.  Then we moved into the meats and fish.  There were “fresh” cuts of meat and fish just laying out for purchase.  And there were men wheeling through the market with freshly killed animals to bring to the vendors to cut up and sell.  I was almost run over by a headless pig on a cart.  There is really no way to describe it, but the market was packed.  There were people EVERYWHERE.  There was hardly any room to move.  We just shimmied our way through.  This made it a little scary as we were carrying our purses and cameras.  Let’s just say I had a very firm grip on my bag the entire way through, as Enoch warned us about pick-pocketers right before entering.  After all the food choices we entered the fabrics part of the market.  This section was much less busy than the food, but still busy nonetheless.  Katie and I were in awe of all the beautiful fabric choices.  We were a bit rushed in our decision making, but probably for the best otherwise we would have probably stayed for hours picking out fabrics.  We chose two fabrics that are from Congo and were brought over to Uganda to sell in the market.  And then we will take the fabrics back to town and have skirts made from them. 

The fabrics part of the market

Some of the beautiful fabric choices

As soon as we left the market, I was instantly able to relax a little bit.  It was definitely a very stressful situation being in such a crowded, chaotic place, where we had no hopes of blending in with our pearly white skin.  Our next stop was lunch.  We went to lunch with Enoch.  For lunch Katie and I had chips (French fries), a plate of delicious, fresh, fruit, and coke.   The lunch lasted two hours as Enoch, Katie, and I were having such great conversation.  Enoch gave us so much information on Uganda and the culture.  I will share all the interesting things I have learned about Uganda and the culture in another post as this one is going to be far too long with everything we did!

The Congolese beer

After lunch, we went for a beer at a cute little bar/hotel.  Enoch really wanted us to try a Congolese beer and then he wanted us to compare it to a Ugandan beer.  The beer was actually quite tasty, but Enoch warned us that even though it is very smooth, it has 5% alcohol.  We just shared one beer between the three of us (it was a large one, see photo), and then we were back on the road.

Enoch in front of his mango tree

Because every day is a marathon day when you are with Enoch, we still had more planned for the day.  We drove Enoch back to his house to drop him off, but not before we got a walking tour of his 6 acres of land.  The land is beautiful.  It is so green!  And everything planted on it is planted with a purpose, for food.  He walked us through the land and pointed out all the different trees and plants he has and gave us bits of information on each one.  Some of the plants/trees he has include: mangoes, jack fruit, passion fruit, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, potatoes, tomatoes, oranges, lemons, papaya, plantains, sweet bananas, bananas, matoke, pineapple, and papyrus (and I’m sure more that I am forgetting).

Enoch's home

Matoke tree

Our next stop for the day was to the equator!  That’s right, Uganda is right on the equator.  It was on our way home, in fact, it is only about a 10-minute drive from where we live.  So of course we hopped out and snagged a few pictures of ourselves standing in both hemispheres at once!  Whoever said you can’t be two places at once?

Katie and I on the equator!

And we still had one more stop in us.  We went to the supermarket again to buy some of things for the house/us that we forgot such as laundry soap, dish soap, and dishrags.  But once we were finally home Katie and I were excited to make some pasta, as we found some macaroni noodles at the grocery store.  We had some noodles, tomatoes, onions, and olive oil and called it pasta.  Both of our bowls were clean in a matter of minutes.  Doreen on the other hand, tried the pasta and as always whenever she tries American food, she said, “it’s too sweet!”  I should also mention that Doreen watched us as we cooked the pasta and she could not stop laughing.  First she thought it was hilarious that our small portions of pasta was all we were having for supper, and then she laughed at the small amount of oil we used.  Ugandan cooking requires A LOT of oil.  After dinner Katie made some of her tea that she brought with her.  And again, we had Doreen try it.  She said she loved it!  As soon as we finished up with dinner the power was out so it was time to call it a night. 

The reason this post is entitled Muzungu is because this is what we heard ALL day.  All over the market and then from one place to the next in the car we heard, “Muzungu!” “Muzungu!”.  As I mentioned, Muzungu means white person.  But today we came to more of an understanding as to why people literally drop everything they are doing to point, stare, laugh, scream, whistle, run to tell others, and smile when they see us.  Edson, our driver, explained to us that most Ugandans probably only see one white person per year.  And if a Ugandan were to ever shake hands with a Muzungu, it would be a story that they would tell for years.  Enoch even went as far as to say to me while we were sitting drinking our beers, that if I were to stand up and start dancing with my sunglasses on the top of my head the way they were, that if I came back in a year I would be sure to see Ugandans doing the same thing!  This gave Katie and I quite a laugh.  And later, when we were at Enoch’s house we snapped a couple pictures of some of his grandchildren.  Well this turned into a photo shoot because they just loved it.  And as we were leaving Enoch said, “Do you think they will ever forge this?  The day that two Muzungus took their photos?  Because they won’t.  They will never forget this.”  Katie and I have plans to get these photos printed and sent to Enoch. 

Kids running up to the car yelling "Muzungu!"

Enoch's grandchildren

It’s really quite a bizarre feeling being treated as if you are a celebrity just because of your skin color.  It definitely has provided me that feeling of being part of a minority group that I desired to experience in hopes of having a better understanding for minority children that may be in my classroom someday.  But with that said, I can only relate to a degree.  We are by no means treated poorly because we are white or made fun of or are disrespected.  Rather, we are treated like royalty and with the utmost respect, which is rarely the way minority students are treated.   

Kasese here we come! (8/30)

We are leaving Kampala a day earlier than planned.  We found out yesterday when talking with Gillian that the schools were on holiday this week.  The original plan was to visit some schools in the city today so that we could compare what we saw in those schools to the school we will be working in, which is in a much more rural area.  Because Gillian sees this as a very valuable comparison to make, we have decided to leave Kampala a day early only to return a day earlier at the end of our trip so we can visit the schools.  

Mark eating his cow skewer

We left early this morning for Kasese, the town where we will be living.  The drive took about 6 hours.  6 hours in a car in Uganda feels like 12.  The roads are filled with potholes, and every town that you pass through also has several speed bumps in it.  And because there is only one road that leads to Kasese, you pass through every town and go over every speed bump.  There are also several police check-ins set up along the road.  The police check-ins are designed to ensure that the cars are not carrying more passengers than the car holds, or to check the driver’s permit.  And as I will talk about in a later post, to charge cabs a fee.  Not only do you stop at police check-ins, but you also stop for food along the way, as each town seems to have something that they sell cheaper than anywhere else.  The first stop we made was for Enoch, Edson, and Enoch’s grandson Mark Ray to get some lunch.  The three of them bought liver skewers, cow skewers, plantains, cassava, and fruit.  And as the three of them munched away, Katie and I looked at other thinking “I hope they still plan on stopping for lunch for us,” as they did not offer for us to buy any food, nor are we supposed to be eating from street vendors.  Our next stop was for Mark Ray who had to go to the bathroom.  That was a quick stop, just open the door and go on the side of the road.  And apparently the stop wasn’t just for Mark Ray, but for Enoch and Edson as well, as they both hopped out of the car to go too.  Again, Katie and I looked at one another thinking, “what if we have to go?”  Then we stopped two more times and Edson and Enoch bought food, and lots of it, to bring home to their families.  And our most exciting stop was when we passed some baboons on the side of the road!  Edson pulled over so we could snap some pictures.  The baboons came right up to our car!  And then to get them going even more, Edson threw out a piece of his cassava for them to nibble on.  Katie and I passed some of the time in the car by letting Mark Ray (he’s 10), play with some of our things.  First Katie showed him how to play Angry Birds on her Kindle Fire.  Although Mark didn’t talk much at all, you could just see his face light up as he passed levels and his anger when he was struggling.  Mark ended up playing for about an hour before we stopped and the game ended.  I later brought out my pack of markers that I had and my journal and let Mark draw some pictures.  He was quite the artist!

Baboon on the side of the road!

Upon our arrival in Kasese we registered with the town, basically making them aware that we are here and what we will be doing.  This has been something that is quite common, informing people that there will be two Muzungu in a certain area at a certain time. 

We then ate lunch at yet another traditional Ugandan food place.  At this point Katie and I were rice and bean-ed out and all we wanted was some of the peanut butter we brought.  On a more positive note, this was our first time being served avocado with our meal and it was a delicious addition!  Also, feeling drained from the food, I ordered my first Pepsi.  I told Katie it made me all warm and tingly inside-oh the little things. 

Our lunch meal: Rice and beans, pumpkin, sweet potato, matorke, and avocado

Next we went into the town where we would be living and went to both the supermarket as well as the local market.  The supermarket is not what we typically think of when we think supermarket.  It is a very small store with a few shelves filled with some food.  Here we bought some pasta, bread, nutella, Pringles, groundnuts, water, rice, and toilet paper.  We then went to the market where we bought beans, onions, tomatoes, Irish potatoes, pineapple, and sweet bananas.  We went to the market with Edson, and he was able to tell us who to buy what food from.  And on top of that he was able to negotiate the best prices for us.  We wrote down the prices of everything we bought so that the next time we go there we will know how much everything should be. 

Finally, we arrived at our house!  The house is quite large and very well kept.  There are cement walls surrounding the house and a gate to get in.  There is a living room type area, a kitchen, and four bedrooms with bathrooms in them.  Two of the bedrooms have 3 twin beds and the other two bedrooms have 2 twin beds in them.  The bathrooms contain the toilet, sink, and shower all in one.  In other words, there is no tub for the shower.  In fact, the showerhead is not attached above you, but rather you pick the showerhead up and move it around as you shower.  Definitely different, but on the plus side, there is warm water here!  The house already felt homey, as there were little traces of Americans living here lying around the house.  There was also a very nice little note left for us from a Canadian man who was the last to stay at the house.  Enoch has explained that the house is kind of like a hostel with Americans and Canadians frequently moving in and out.  Katie and I started unpacking all of our stuff right away.  We managed to make our room that we are sharing quite cozy and are both quite content with the set up. 

After spending hours unpacking and organizing the school supplies we brought, Janet taught us how to prepare rice and beans.  Janet is the woman who lived here and helped the previous groups adapt to live in Uganda.  Janet will only be with us tonight and is then going back to live with her family in Bwera.  Tomorrow, Doreen will be our “house mom,” although she is here tonight.  Once again, Katie and I would be eating rice and beans.  But we felt that it was necessary so that we could learn how to do it ourselves.       

I also tried a new Ugandan food at dinner.  Doreen and Edson were both eating Tapeoke.  The best way I can describe it is as grainy, sticky, dough.  And the way you eat it is by first wetting your finger, then ripping a piece off the large ball of it that is served, dip it in a fish soup, and then swallow it.   You do not chew it at all.  So when I tried it, of course, I choked on it as I tried to swallow it.  This gave Janet and Edson a good laugh! 

The tapeoke

After dinner we showed Janet and Doreen our picture books that we brought with us, and they really seemed to enjoy seeing our family, boyfriends, and friends.  Then I slept great in my new bed!   

"Kids are kids internationally" (8/29)

A main road at the University

We woke this morning and had some breakfast-toast, pineapple, and mango juice (yum!).  We were feeling much better after sleeping for 12 hours.  Enoch came and gave us a little tour of Makerere University.  We first visited the bookstore, where the students who attend buy their books.  It is much smaller than our University Bookstore, but the books are still very expensive.  We then went to the library, which actually looked pretty similar to some of our college libraries.  I have been surprised to see that the students here seem very similar to students in the States.  They actually dress similarly, walk around talking on their cell phones or with friends, and some even have laptops that they use.  I guess this goes with the quote (that I will describe in more detail later), “Kids are kids internationally.”  Enoch told us that nowadays, university students do not use books much, because much of what they need can be accessed on the Internet.  He kept saying that they have a poor reading culture.  After the library we walked around campus a bit and Enoch showed us the residence halls for the students.  There are separate dorms for the boys and the girls, as well as residences for the staff.  With that said, many of the students do not live on campus, but in the city and commute to school.

Library at the University

Next we walked to the education building on campus to meet with Dr. Gillian Kasirye (She is a doctor in the Department of Foundations and Curriculum at the University and has also spent some time in at UW-Madison).  Before meeting her, Enoch showed us what a typical lecture room looks like.  It looked similar to ours, just on a smaller scale.  He stressed that most, if not all, university courses are taught in lecture form, with the teacher just talking for the entire period and students taking notes, with no interaction between students and teachers.  We then met Gillian.  She had a wealth of knowledge to share with us about the Ugandan school system.  I will do my best to summarize what she told us. 

Education building at the University

Students first attend Primary School.  Primary school is what we consider elementary school.  And primary school is “grades” K-7, or what they call Nursery-P7.  So the way they say grade is P1 (first grade), P2 (second grade), and so on.  At the end of P7 the students must then take a national exam that determines whether or not the students can go on to do more schooling.  If the students do not pass, they are either done with school, or they can repeat P7 and try again.

If the students pass the national exam they then move on to Secondary School. 

Secondary school is like our high school.  This is where things got a little fuzzy, but I think there are four years of secondary school, S1 through S4.  After S4, the students take another national exam.  If the students pass this exam they can go on to Pre-University School where they prepare for University.  Also at this time, depending on the scores of the exam, the students decide on a career path.  Once the career path is decided on, they are pretty much stuck with it.  If they do not pass this exam, the students can either repeat, chose to get a certificate (similar to like a technical college certificate), or they can stop with school all together. 

If students go on to Pre-University, they complete two more years of school.  And once again after these two years, they take a national exam that determines if they are ready for university.  If they pass this exam they can go on to university.  If they do not, they may repeat Pre-University, go for a certificate, or drop out of school. 

Besides the national exams that the students take before moving on to the different schools, the students also take exams after completing each year of school.  If a student does not pass these exams, they must repeat that year in school.  As can be expected with the importance of the exams, there is a lot of stress put on the kids, parents, teachers, administrators, and schools for kids to pass these exams.  Gillian stressed that everyone is ALWAYS thinking about the exams.  The pressure is so much, that teachers teach almost directly to the exam.  Telling the kids everything they know that will be on the exams and the students memorizing these things.  Gillian expressed that this leaves very little room for natural curiosity or opportunities to experiment, question, and explore, as is so important in the development of a learner.  In addition, when the teachers teach directly to the test, student-teacher relationships are poor.  The teachers don’t take the time (because they don’t think they have it) to get to know their students both as learners in the classroom and as individuals outside of it.  Students also do not interact or communicate much with their teachers, as the teachers do all the talking.  In this way, the classrooms are very much teacher-centered.  For us, this means that the students are not used to being asked to share their ideas or their thinking, something that we stress so much in our education, so this will be a challenge that we will be working towards overcoming in our classrooms.  And finally, the exams leave no room for extra curricular activities or even elective/specials courses.   

Another interesting topic that Gillian touched on was the fact that most of the teachers in Uganda do not actually want to be teachers.  She said that it is likely that most of them did not pass their S4 exams that would have allowed them to go on to Pre-University, so they got a certificate in teaching as a fall-back.  In fact, Gillian believes that only about 1% of the people that are teaching actually chose it as their career.  This is mainly for the reason that the profession just doesn’t pay enough.  And as I think we all know, when we don’t love what we are doing, we don’t give it 100%.  The problems this creates in the classroom are significant, as the teachers never go above and beyond what is scripted for them to teach.  The teachers receive a script of everything they are to teach every day, and the teachers read directly from it, write the notes on the board (which are the exact same as what was read), and then read from the board again.  This obviously leaves the students bored and uninterested, which often results in students dropping out of school.  It is also notable that not all kids attend school.  Gillian said the recorded number is that about 85% attend, but Gillian thinks it’s closer to 75%.  She said the main reason a child does not attend school is related to money.  Even though public schools are free, parents are unable to buy uniforms, books, and so on.    

Gillian explained that the school system is just a vicious cycle, because if a teacher were to try and change how they teach then the students will fail the exams.  So even though they know it’s not right, it’s just how the system is and they don’t feel they have the power to change it.  It through small efforts like bringing in teachers from other countries (us!) , that schools are slowly being introduced to different ways of teaching.  And because the school we will be teaching at, Rwentutu, has had several student teachers from my same program as well as others from Canada, Gillian tells us it is not very reflective of a typical Ugandan school. 

Despite all the differences in our education system and the Ugandan, Gillian left us with some words of advice.  “Build relationships with the kids, some of them need it.  Hold a child’s hand, it might keep them in school another year.  Do what is right.  Don’t let the system bring you down.”  And my favorite thing she said, “Kids are kids internationally,” a statement that has proven true over and over again just in the few days we have been here, and one that will probably stick with me forever. 

After finishing our meeting with Gillian, I was left feeling both excited and nervous about starting at the school on Monday.  The way she described the kids left me completely excited, but the challenges that I know I will face in the school also left me a little nervous.  It helps knowing that the way we teach is highly respected, but it also puts the pressure on!  I’m looking forward to just starting and not having to keep guessing what it will be like!

Following our meeting with Gillian, we headed to our lunch destination.  On our way there I had a bit of a scare/shock.  We were stopped in traffic, as is frequent when driving through the city, when a man came up to the right side of our van and started gently pounding on it.  This of course caused everyone in the van to turn and look at this man and watch him, and while everyone’s attention was on him, a man came up to the left side of the car (where I was sitting), and grabbed at the necklaces I was wearing.  I let out a little yelp and instantly grabbed towards my neck, not really sure what was going on.  I looked out the window and saw a man running away and in my lap sat one of my two necklaces.  What I pieced together was that the men must have noticed my necklaces while sitting in traffic and sent one man to distract us while the other reached his hand through my half-open window to try and steal my necklaces.  Luckily he did not get either of them, but he did break one of them, the cross necklace that was given to both my mom and I before I left.  It left me pretty rattled for about an hour.  I became much more aware of my surroundings, and ended up taking my other necklace off.  And I did not ride with my window down for the remainder of our time in Kampala. 

For lunch we went to a restaurant that served the traditional Ugandan cuisine of matoke (a different kind of banana that is picked before it is ripe and then is boiled or steamed), rice, beans, Irish potatoes (same as what we call potatoes), sweet potatoes (different from what we call sweet potatoes), fish (thus far has always been tilapia), cabbage, ground nut soup, greens, and cornmeal-and, yes all of this was on my plate.  Out of all this food, what I am finding most enjoyable are the rice and beans, the Irish potatoes, and the groundnut soup. 

Uganda Museum

After lunch we went to the Uganda Museum.  It was definitely interesting and I appreciated learning more about the country’s history.  And because we had Enoch with us, we did not have to read much at all, as Enoch served as our own personal tour guide.  He simply used the images and objects in the museum as his talking points.  We learned the history of the people, the government, politics, clothing, cooking, tools, hunting, leisure, and so on. 

Craft shop in Kampala

We then stopped at a craft shop, where there were all kinds of bags, jewelry, decorations, knick-knacks, and so on that we could buy.  Enoch told us we would only be window-shopping today and that if we wanted to come back here when we return to Kampala in October/November we can make purchases then.  Katie and I are anxiously waiting to return to buy some gifts!

Our next adventure for the day was to see a cultural dance and music show.  On our way to the show, we stopped at Enoch’s brother in law’s house to drop off some food he had brought with him from Kasese.  While we were waiting for Enoch, a little neighbor boy climbed right into the car with us.  This was our first interaction with children and we couldn’t stop smiling at the little cutie!  Across from the house there was also a group of boys playing soccer.  It was refreshing to be a little ways out of the city and to get a glimpse of what life is like more in the country.

We then arrived at the dance/music show.  The show was entertaining, beautiful, and long.  The show lasted three hours and consisted of traditional Ugandan dancing with lots of hip shaking and stomping and clamping, music throughout with all sorts of unique instruments (especially drums), and jokes from the host who also happened to be the town mayor.  The final dance of the evening, the host invited everyone down to dance.  Katie and I were reluctant, but we made it out on the dance floor only to be showed up by Edson’s amazing dance moves!  

There is a short video below to give you an idea of the music and dancing.

Yes, all of this happened in one day.  Every day so far has been jam-packed!  So as usual, Katie and I were exhausted and went right to bed.