Sometimes things happen that just entirely shift my frame of reference while being here. Now my schools were all pretty competitive, and by no means do I think that’s a bad thing. St. Jude is also a pretty competitive school. and I think a fair number of schools in Uganda ARE really competitive. Class rank holds a really high significance for a TON of people, and it can make all the difference for if parents are proud of you or not. So a common conversation with a kid can go like this (after all the introductions):
Me: What class are you in?
Him/Her: Primary __ class.
Me: Ahh, and are you going into this class? You were promoted?
Him/Her: Yes, I was 5th in my class. (or whatever number)
So it’s a pretty common conversation topic, particularly for highly motivated people, like a fair number of the poeple I interact with.
So anyways, these last two weeks, since school has been out, I’ve been volunteering with an NGO in Jinja called Adolescent Development Support Network (ADSN) (Shameless plug: like us on facebook and/or follow us on twitter!) and particularly working for one of their programs called the Child Headed Household Project. This is made up of kids (aged 12-22) who, for one reason or another, were forced into growing up more quickly than the average person. Sometimes their parents are really sick and they are forced into the parenting role to take care of them. A lot of them come from the northern regions of Uganda (particularly the Acholi and Karamajong regions—both areas which were devastated by the war), and tried to escape the highly dangerous situation by coming down south, either by working their way down as they gained enough money for transport along the way, or by sneaking onto a vehicle or something of the like. Many of these then ended up on the street, picking up metal scraps or charcoal to sell for some little money which could then get them a meal or maybe help pay the rent. Going to school is often WAY too expensive for these adolescents, so they try to exist on just getting by. ADSN then tries to find these kids as they are working on the streets and get them into better situations. So through external sponsors, they have 50 kids in the program who now have places to live with each other, they have rent paid, school fees paid, and they get food delivered to them once a month for the month. They also have the workings for some counseling and some other such help.
This week, they are having a holiday programme (as they spell it here), and I came along to help out. Typical Ugandan style though, things start late and slow. So I showed up and the kids were just watching some Nigerian movie, which was not in English, Luganda or Lusoga, so they weren’t really understanding most of the move. I had brought some colored paper and pens, and we made an “I am” poems. These are the poems that I made in elementary school and then again in Junior year English where the poem starts and ends with the person's name, then includes facts and information about the person in between. One of the questions I asked them to do was to write 3 things that they are proud of. This was a difficult question for them, because humility is a HIGHLY emphasized trait here. So I gave some examples, which included, “Winning such and such football match, being able to jump very high, being 5th in my class, etc” or something along those lines. And I talked about which position a fair amount--maybe gave 3 examples of it, kind of lowering the number as I went, trying to be sensitive, so that I didn't make those who did not get as high of positions but were still very proud feel left out; "I'm proud I'm 21st in school," etc.
I get all of the poems back, and the majority of them say,
“I’m proud I’m in school.”
Ok, paradigm shifted. I’m humbled, and again blown away by the people I meet here.
I can’t believe I’ve been here 4 months already! So, I have spent the last 4 months becoming fluent in… Ugandan English. And I thought I would share a couple of these gems with you, that those in our house often laugh about.
The first one which I have to comment on is the use of the mm’s and eh’s that get used. “Mmm” can be used in response to ANYTHING. It can mean yes, no, maybe, somehow (see below), I don’t know, I agree, I’m looking, I’m listening, I can’t believe that!, I’m sorry, and the list goes on. I think it’s funny how many parents try to break their kids of the habit of using grunts/mm’s in America, in relation to the fact that it is the most common sound/word used here.
Another thing about the way of talking is that you HAVE to greet anyone you know on the street, otherwise you are considered really rude. And greeting consists of this conversation (either held in Lusoga or English) But my favorite part of this is the fact that you absolutely do not have to remember almost anything about the other person, other than that you know him or her (even sometimes this is not necessary) because you don’t EVER use specifics. Note the uses of there, here, and they.
“Good morning! How was the night?”
“The night was fair. How was the night?”
“The night was good. How is there?”
“There is somehow. How is here?”
“Here is ok. How are they?”
“They are good. Well done.”
“Thank you. Also well done.”
“Mmm”
“Mmm”
And then sometimes
"mmm"
"mmm"
Then you leave.
The lack of specifics can also come in really high usefulness when it comes to conversations with strangers who you don’t really want to know where you live, because a common question to ask is “where do you live?” Luckily, you can respond to this question by “Ah, just that side,” waving vaguely with your hand.
Also, any time a word ends with a hard sound or an s, they will add a “ee” sound to the end of the word. What becomes whatee, bright becomes brightee, beans become beansee, you get the idea.
“Somehow”—this is used so often that I think I have entirely forgotten how to use it appropriately in American English. In Uganda refers to anything pretty much which is neither good nor bad. “How did the test go?” “Somehow” “How are you feeling?” “Somehow”
“By the way” – I still haven’t entirely mastered how this one is used. But it’s definitely not used in the sense that “by the way” is usually used. I think it just means, I’m adding on to what you’re already saying. Most recent example of this: Me: “It’s hot today!” A teacher: “By the way, it IS hot today!” Are you as confused as I am?
Also, in conversation, they LOVE repeating what you’ve just said, particularly in speaking Lusoga. One of my most common phrases is “I’m learning Lusoga slowly by slowly” to which EVERYONE responds, looking at me, “Ah, she’s learning Lusoga, slowly by slowly.” At least I always know I’m heard!
“But” – as far as I can tell, this is kind of used in the same sense that Americans use “by the way”… but in terms of something that the other person wants you to do/ thinks you should do. You will be talking about something entirely different, and then they’ll say, “but should you board this taxi now?” or something along those lines.
“Smart” – well dressed. Has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence.
“Sure” – This does not mean yes. If I said this, people would not think I was agreeing with them. Found this one out the frustrating way. Instead, sure kinda means “really?” and is often used like this. “You are looking smart today!” “Sure!” to which you have to respond “Yes! Absolutely!”
“Sorry!” – used with the same intonation for anything from you dropped your waterbottle to someone in the family passing away.
“Be serious” – means act like an adult. Is a really good phrase to use to get the kids to stop horsing around in class.
“Short call” and “Long call” –they both mean using the bathroom, I’ll let you figure out what means what.
“He/she” – used interchangeably. Doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl, you could get either descriptor. This makes stories incredibly confusing sometimes, but proves very useful in some cases because all the children here shave their heads and sometimes it’s really difficult to tell…
“We are understanding, but we are not hearing” – this one always makes me laugh, because it just doesn’t make sense. It just means they need you to repeat, because they have no idea what I just said.
“Tomorrow” – means tomorrow, but can also mean the day after tomorrow, two days after tomorrow, three days after tomorrow, a year after tomorrow, ten years from now, AND (this is the fun part) yesterday. Guess that explains a lot more about the African concept of time.
And my personal favorite, “what what” which basically means "etc". "We plant beans, casava, matoke bananas, sweet bananas, greens, sweet pepper, what what" In our house, we try to use this one as much as possible.
I know there are more, I just can’t think of them right now, so you can be assured I will add them as time goes on. (Tomorrow haha) But as for right now, I hope you are all enjoying your holiday season! I have to say, it’s very strange, there have been a few advertisements for Christmas, but I’ve only seen them in Kampala. Today in Jinja was the first time I’ve heard Christmas music coming from anywhere but Damian’s room, and I saw fake Christmas trees. This whole commercialization thing you all are dealing with in the US? Not so much here. It’s kinda nice. Also kinda nice because let’s face it, it doesn’t really feel like Christmas time when I’m putting on sunscreen every day and wearing skirts and t-shirts… and still sweating. Ironic song: “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas.”
Hope you all are doing well, and enjoying the Christmas cheer!
So over the past month plus, it has sometimes been raining early in the morning, meaning I’m walking to school either in the rain or in the intense mud. This is more than what a lot of the teachers do... for many people, it "disorganizes" them, as they say here. Since cars, raincoats, and umbrellas are rare, walking to school while it's raining is a definite ticket for getting drenched, and a likely passport to sickness. I'm lucky because I have a rain jacket . But, when it rains, school is often a few hours late starting. It's the Ugandan version of a late start due to snow. Because, as the Toto song tells us, rain in Uganda is not a light drizzle. It’s an overwhelming, pounding, so-loud-it-drowns-out-any-other-noise, drops-so-big-a-single-one-could-drench-you kind of rain. This then means that walking to school results in a slip-sliding endeavor that I consider successful if I don’t end up facefirst in the mud. Also, this means that if a car or boda or bus goes past, it splashes all the standing water and mud up onto you. Luckily, today the cars were relatively considerate, and not going too fast, which meant that the splash only got below the knees (there have been times where I’ve shown up to school with my shirt covered in mud splatters… ah the joys of walking to schools on the romantic dirt roads of Uganda). Anyways, I arrived at school today (morning mass on Wednesdays) looking like a splatter paint drawing from the knees down.
Mass was great, lots of singing and clapping and kids squeezed into the church, and then as soon as it was over, I walked outside, to find that somehow, I had provided enough material for laughter that the teachers already standing outside the church were giggling. “Anna! You were digging in the garden this morning?” There are two things I should explain from this statement about Ugandans that I’ve realized (not to make overarching generalizations or anything like that). 1. The whole idea of embarrassment is just not a thing here. If you make a mistake, or something happens to which you’d be mega embarrassed in the states, here people just kind of laugh it off, and others around you will get a huge kick out of it, but in a truly loving way, not a malicious sense at all. 2. Ugandans like things being clean. Their roads are pure red dirt, there’s nothing which isn’t covered in the dirt after about 15 minutes of cleaning it, but they LOVE having clean things. You will see people washing their cars every single day, (if they have enough money for cars, they have enough money for that much water), washing their houses and porches multiple times a day, and even looking “smart” or very well put together is a high expectation. Granted, this looking well put together thing doesn’t have anything to do with matching… sorry JQ, I’m going to come back even less capable of matching… but that’s another blog post for later. But overall what I’m saying is that looking clean is a high priority for Ugandans. And, what’s clear is at this point, I was anything but clean. And, due to my skin color, mud seems to show up MUCH more obviously than it does on my colleagues.
So, one of the nuns called a girl who boards at Jude’s over and asked her to bring her basin and Gerry can (a tub for water, used by Germans during the war) full of water for me to wash. It was as if the whole school was mobilizing to get the mzungu teacher clean again. And then, it’s always funny for elementary school kids to see their teachers doing things that shows them more human and like them, and then especially to see a mzungu washing her feet in a basin just like they do… it was a true spectacle. So, with at least 25 kids staring at me in amazement, I washed off my feet and legs. Just another day at St. Jude’s, adventures with Madame Anna. And then of course, due to the hot equatorial sun, by the time I was walking home, you never would have known that it had rained.
The other big news of the day… sometimes I get a little frustrated with the whole teaching system. Calling it unorganized would be equivalent to calling chocolate cake "ok." Yesterday, I was teaching about how to find the area of triangles. ½ Base x Height. Ok, figured this was simple enough, especially after teaching finding the area of rectangles, and showing them that a triangle was half of a rectangle. As I was correcting their books this morning, I realized, they have NO idea what "half" means. They never learned fractions. That’s one of the problems with coming in during the third term of the year. Fractions are listed in the book before area, but I guess they never were taught. Makes sense right? Ugh. So then I re-taught it today just using divide by two, and all of the kids got the majority of the questions right, whereas yesterday, not a single one got any of them right. A frustrating thing, but an interesting lesson I think in learning to reframe things and ideas, and seeing how what might appear as stupidity actually is just misunderstandings of particular smartness. Oh teaching, you are always such an adventure.
So, I just thought I would enlighten you with some of the wonderful things that make me smile every day here... for instance, one of my neighbors, named Jonah, is in kindergarten here, and every day when I come walking home, he comes running down the street, if I'm lucky, or at least just running from his house to meet me before my house, yelling, "NANA!" and then jumps into my arms. Then this is the common conversation that happens:
Jonah: "NANA!"
Me: "Jonah!"
Jonah: some words in Lusoga that I don't understand but he seems to think I do, because I do a good job of nodding and smiling.
Me: "How is the day?"
Jonah: "The day is good."
Me: "How was school?"
Jonah: "School is Monday." (No matter what day of the week it is, school is always Monday)
Me: "Noooo..."
Jonah: "School is, um, Saturday."
Me: "Noo..."
Jonah: "School is ... Friday?"
Me: "No... "
Jonah: "School is SUNDAY!"
Me: "No..."
Jonah: "School is cloudy day?"
So no matter what, he always seems to forget the actual day of the week it is... so I whisper it in his ear after all this, then he yells it proudly. But I'm pretty sure from now on for the rest of my life, whenever I hear someone ask how school was, my response will be, "School is Monday!"
Other than that, the day was good... I showed up to teach, and walked in for my hour, when I found out the half hour before me, the class didn't have a teacher (typical). Today's lesson was, "Join these two sentences using "...and..." When I finished that, it was break, then I was supposed to teach again, but another teacher decided to go in for an hour. After that hour, I asked the teacher next to me whether he wanted to teach the first or the second half hour next, to which he told me to just teach both. This kind of situation is pretty common here... but for the most part I don't mind. Especially because it's really hard to get any topic across in just an hour, to teach them and have them do exercises, which they have to do every day, otherwise they are very upset with me. Today was about finding the area of irregular shapes, so it was good to have the extra time. But the kids were being really frustrating today, and so I was about at the end of my rope when I was sitting outside, marking their books.
And here enters God: One of the children from baby class came up, and I was just too tired to say much more than, "Hi!" and then look back at my marking, entirely wrapped up in my frustrations and I'm not proud to say, not making too much of an effort, when the girl asked me, in a question I haven't heard my entire time I've been here, "Are you ok?" (It's just not a common Ugandan question). I looked up and my heart melted as the girl just pulled me into a hug, gave me the greatest hug in the history of all time, and then skipped off on her merry way. This is just one example of how when I'm tired/frustrated/homesick, God just steps in and tells me I'm so loved.
Sending all that love your way, hope you're all well! Praying for you!
So I figure I can write long posts and wait for a long time in between them now... or I can also write shorter ones that keep everyone up to date on a quicker fashion. So, sorry, fans, for being so MIA from the blogging nation... poor electricity and teaching means that internet time is generally limited, but I'm glad to at least know that whoever is following me now is for sure the real fans, right? Because you're still with me!
Anyways, all joking aside, the big thing right now (other than Gaddafi being killed, which is HUGE news over here, not sure what the sitch is in the US?) is that all of East Africa is in a gas crisis. Ok, in America, a gas crisis means that gas prices have risen to a ridiculous price. Here it means that there is literally no gas to buy. So, since we have a gas stove, this posed some... interesting predicaments... this last weekend, when we ran out of our last of two tanks of gas. We DO have a small charcoal cooker, about the size of a pot, so, we have had some interesting run in experiences with that. First of all, we have to boil all of our water so we don't get typhoid/other water borne illnesses. So... boiling water on a charcoal cooker? Less than easy. But we figured it out. Then Saturday, cooking dinner was an adventure. We decided that we would do our occasional Mexican night (surprisingly easy considering how far away we are from Mexico, due to the large amounts of rice, beans, and avocado in Uganda, plus there’s a fair number of tomatoes, hot chilis, green peppers, onions, and limes… what else do you need? Then we get some chapati and it’s ALMOST like they’re tortillas). So, Matt got some fresh beans and figured out how to start up the cooker and cook the beans, which took a lot longer than we expected. Then I started the rice, where the water wasn’t QUITE simmering, but it was hot? So it worked to a certain extent. Then Shane and I started the veggies, but realized that almost all the heat was gone from the cooker. Turns out apparently you’re supposed to keep adding charcoal. Who knew? Not us, that’s for sure. So, we added more charcoal. Which didn’t catch on fire or heat or whatever the correct terminology for that is. So then we added some paraffin (like lighter fluid? Is how it was described to me). Then cooked the green peppers and onions. Now I’m imagining that all of you who know how to use charcoal are laughing at us now… because APPARENTLY anyone who knows anything knows that you’re supposed to wait at least 20 minutes before cooking anything when you add charcoal and paraffin. A. We didn’t know that. And B. Dinner was already WAY late at this point because it had taken us so long, so we were a little impatient. So, we finished cooking, the veggies still a bit crunchy due to our impatience, and sat down to eat. Luckily we popped one of the veggies in our mouths before throwing them on our burritos… because it tasted exactly like lighter fluid. In an almost toxic sort of way. So… as one of the nuns who I told this story to said after she stopped laughing enough to get words out, you learn something new every day. So I hope you’ve all had a good chuckle at the things I learn while living in Uganda.
And since then, we’ve gotten an electric water boiler thing (my great way with words is coming out with this description), which we were actually talking about before, since we realized about 2/3 of our gas tank goes to boiling water, so we were thinking about pricing/conservation options, which has made having tea/coffee in the morning AMAZING, provided we have power. So, things are pretty good. And then gas is supposed to be back starting tomorrow (hopefully that’s real time and not Africa time), so my newfound knowledge will go latent for a little while. But I’m coming out of this experience wiser, and thinking that I might have been able to set my burp on fire.
I miss you all and am praying for you. Sending love from Uganda!
So, the teaching has begun. And boy, is it an experience. A lot more kids came to classes on Monday… so when I walked into class on Monday, my heart stopped for a second, there were SO many faces staring up at me! And at that time, there were only 54 kids in class. Today there were 61. And there are supposed to be between 68 and 74, depending on whether some of the kids can pay school fees or not. And that right thurr… that’s a lot of kids. So it’s a little intimidating.
I’ve started teaching Math and English—In Math I’m teaching my fourth graders how to isolate variables… which I thought I learned in middle school, but anyways, we’re working through that, and they seem to be getting it ok! Which is a great confidence booster. And in English, we’re working on sentence construction—things like to start every sentence with a capital letter and every one with a full stop (which is what they call a period over here). And then we’re working on when you put lists into sentences, using commas and an “and.” Today, I could tell that they were really getting into it, because when I asked them, “What does a builder need to make a roof?” they gave me 10 different materials that a builder could potentially need. It covered the ENTIRE board. Apparently lake sand is essential to housebuilding in Uganda. FYI. But I think the funniest was today, I had to teach them about the differences between words that sound the same. Which would be much more understandable, except with our accent, these words DON’T sound the same. The words I had were bin and bean, tin and teen, ship and sheep, chick and cheek, bit and beat, and lip and leap, among others. SO funny because they’re SO clearly different words in American English. But not so for Ugandan English. So I would pronounce them, sounding different, and they would say them back to me, sounding exactly the same. I couldn’t help but laugh in class. I know you’re “not supposed to laugh or smile in class until Thanksgiving” but sometimes, things happen that are just WAY too funny. (I try to channel a certain junior year History teacher… but I just don’t have the ability to hold in laughter like he does).
As for my schedule, a couple of the teachers finally figured out when they would have me teach. I am supposed to teach for a half hour near the beginning of the day and a half hour at the end of the day Monday through Wednesday, and then half hour near the beginning of the day, and an hour and a half at the end of the day on Thursday and Friday. But I have yet to actually teach that little. Monday through Wednesday, I definitely taught at least two or two and a half hours each day. Which I am definitely ok with, because a. it’s difficult to get anything accomplished in a half an hour, and b. I would be REALLY bored if that’s all I was teaching. But it’s an entirely different teaching atmosphere. Some teachers definitely teach at the times they should, but it’s much more the norm to teach kind of whenever you feel like it. So sometimes I’ll have a kid come into the staff room and say, “Madame Anna, there is no teacher in the room.” And I’ll go in and teach them. It’s just an entirely different system. And it can definitely be frustrating, particularly those days when the kids are particularly acting out and I’m supposed to have someone come in and teach right after me, but then no one comes to relieve me. But for the most part, teachers are teaching when they should. Although, as Shane pointed out today, “for the most part” would definitely NOT fly in America. So that’s different.
As for discipline, well, it’s been a little rough too. I don’t want to cane my students, but because that is how "discipline" is defined for them, they think I’m a big old softy of a teacher, and they can get away with most things. So it would be nice to be able to redefine discipline as easily as I define the word cheek, but sometimes it’s not always that easy. After school today, I asked some of the girls who come up and always ask for homework after class why the kids don’t pay attention to me as well as they do for some of the other teachers, and their responses were, “It’s because you don’t hit. Madame, you should start hitting. All the time, every person, and they will respect you.” Yup, that sounds like exactly what I want to do. Not. Sounds a little Machiavellian. So if any of you have any ideas on how to help this out, please drop me a line!
But overall, I’m loving the experience (I know, I know I’m SO experienced, a teacher for a whole week and a half! But this is just current reflections, so don’t judge me too harshly!). These are just the more frustrating parts. But overall, the feeling that I got when the first student was willing to ask a question in class was one of the greatest feelings ever. Because they are taught not to ask questions in general. And to have a kid ask me a question… wow. It was great. And a couple of times where I’ve been able to explain things so someone would be able to understand in a new way, and seeing that understanding was mega amazing too. I definitely am really enjoying it so far! And each day gets a little bit better too, every day I feel I have just a tiny bit better grip on how to begin to do what I’m trying to do.
So, now what you’ve been waiting for… the information which I hold that could very well save your life someday: how to get away from angry, potentially killing animals….
Leopard: Definitely one of the scariest to get away from, apparently. They’ll run after you, and when you’re running away, just keep dropping whatever you have with you, because they’ll pounce on it and tear it apart, buying you a little bit of time. They have a difficult time getting cloth out of their claws too, and they won’t run if they have anything stuck in their claws. So take that as you will.
Crocodiles: Serpentine running, all the way. And pray.
Snakes: According to the teacher, you don’t really have to be scared of snakes, they are really nice. Just don’t step on them. And even if you can, don’t walk directly in their paths. (I’m sorry, but yeah?!)
Lions: I am not sure I’d keep my head enough to actually do this, but… Run almost directly towards the lion running at you. Because lions hunt in packs, and they’ll try to run you right into their trap of their pack. So you’d rather run away from one that you have a little momentum on already than take on 8 waiting for you. Also, according to the teacher, only lionesses kill. So if faced with multiple lions, run towards the one with the megamane. But just hope that they’re satisfied, cuz then they won’t attack you.
Cape Buffalo: These are actually really mean animals. If you’re standing up, they’ll hit you right in the stomach and kill you. If you’re running away, they WILL catch you. And then hit you. So what you do, is just crouch down, and they’ll keep rolling you (so basically, what I gathered is…just do a bunch of somersaults) and then as long as you can stay in that position, they can’t hit you, and will eventually get tired of you.
Angry monkeys: In East Africa, in the bush area, dogs have bells around their necks. Monkeys fear dogs. So if you can get close enough, (I thought this was really clever), tie a bell around one of their necks. All the other monkeys will run away from this one monkey (reverse Pavlov’s dog psychology), and this one monkey will keep running towards his friends to be with them.Typical.
So thanks for reading and increasing your knowledge of how to survive wild African animals! And thank you so much for all the comments and emails and support from everyone... It really means so much. So until next time, webale! (Thank you!)
So, I figured a good, much more organized way to now update my blog is to tell the story of my first day of school teaching. Which I should probably rename to my first day of school as not a student. Because, it was more than a little bit of a joke of a day. Shane and I are teaching at the same school. we left home at 8:00, hopped in our awesome tricked out BMW, jamming to some Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson (two favorites here in Uganda), picked up the kids we’re carpooling, and arrived at school 15 minutes early to our perfectly decorate rooms, and began teaching on our smart boards… oh wait. Just kidding.
So here’s actually how my day went down:
8:03 – Shane and Anna walk out of the door of St. Joseph’s house on our trek to St. Jude’s after some really helpful and inspirational messages from some great friends. (Thanks for all those!) We just kind of assumed this would be a good time to leave, considering we had tried calling the headmaster 5 times the week before, but his phone was turned off the entire time. The walk is indeed a BEAUTIFUL one, with amazingly picturesque views of the rolling hills of Jinja province Uganda the entire time, and friendly children urgently screaming “MZUNGU!”
8:28 – arrive at the base of the hill in front of St. Jude’s, not sure if we are going to find anyone there yet.
8:33 – Finally make it up the hill and into the school, where we see maybe 4 students and one more official looking woman. She pointed us in the direction of the staff room. We enter the staff room to find three male teachers already seated and reading the newspaper. We begin a conversation with them about who we are, where we’re from, and how we’re finding Uganda. (A common conversation I’ve had approximately 382057849 times since being here. Understandable considering white people are not so common in these parts.)
9:45 – The headmaster rushes in, perhaps having just arrived at school, and notices us sitting there. Asks to be reminded of our names. We tell him, and he says, so glad to have you at school, I must go find the piece of paper on which I wrote all your information. Shane and I decide to walk a little around the campus of the school and introduce ourselves to whatever students and teachers were there. This takes about five minutes. There are maybe, MAYBE 30 students there… in a school of 450. Most of them are moving back into their dormitories.
9:52 – The teachers and us continue our conversation, this time, delving into the topics of the United States, Obama, and our involvement in Libya.
10:30 – The headmaster torpedoes back in, saying that he has not yet found the paper. We tell him, it’s alright, we can just tell you all the information. Because the paper he has lost really only has our phone numbers and our preferences for teaching. He brings us into his office, has us repeat our previous conversation about what we feel qualified to teach (my inner thoughts… um NOTHING?!? Haha), and then tells us that the teachers he needs to talk to aren’t here yet, so he can’t assign us yet, but as soon as they get here, we’ll figure them out. We return the staff room where I learn from one of the other three teachers (who haven’t really moved since we got there) how to escape from various wild animals in Africa should they try to attack me. Important information to know, I think, but funny, considering had you asked Anna of 2 years ago if she thought she’d be sitting at a table in 2 years learning how to escape lions, crocodiles, snakes, leopards, cape buffalo, and angry monkeys from someone who actually HAD to learn this information as a young child from his grandmother because he had a high probability of being in actual threat, I’d probably laugh a little. So, if you have any desire to learn how to save your life in the event of a possible angry monkey attack, just ask, I’ve got all the answers. I might make that the next blog post, in fact. So stay tuned for future life saving tips from East Africa.
11:25 – Tea time! Tea with lemongrass (SO good!) is served. We continue in conversation, moving more towards the differences in food between Uganda and the United States. It blew their minds that there’s no posho in America. (Posho is ground maize just mixed and cooked with water kind of as rice is).
12:15 – The teacher who kind of seems to coordinate all of the classes finally comes. She is a whirlwind of energy and really took the general sense of confusion and calm and yanked it back into a sense of control. It was actually really impressive. She figured out which classes Shane and I should be teaching… all in Lusoga. So we really had no idea about what was being decided, we were just generally confused. She then announced that she was going to try to find the book for me for the English class, to which I was unsure of what to do. Was I supposed to follow her? Was I supposed to stay there? So I chose to follow her, as she combined a sense of franticness (ßI had no idea that was actually a word until Word just now told me it is. Well done, Anna, well done) and control in a crazy mix that I’ve never before experienced. She said she couldn’t find it then, she’d have to wait for the headmaster to unlock one of the cabinets.
12:32 – I return to the staff room. We’re now talking football (as defined by the rest of the world… us Americans call it soccer) as the Ugandan Cranes had just lost one of the qualifying matches for the African Cup, but they have one more chance yet coming up. Shane seems to be taking over one of the other teacher’s classes, so they’re figuring that out.
1:40 – The headmaster returns from looking at the power lines… turns out that sometime during break, people were stealing power, so the power company came in and cut the power line that connected St. Jude’s to an electricity source. That same teacher finds the book I’m supposed to teach from (the student’s book, definitely not the teacher’s manual). She shows me what has already been covered in classes, and what I still need to cover with the rest of the term. She cannot find the math teacher or the math book, however, so I’m just going to have to wait until he comes to school, which will probably be tomorrow.
2:11 – Lunch (scheduled for 1pm) is finally served. It’s a HUGE dish of matoke, which is basically mashed and cooked banana. It’s the staple food here. I’m not the biggest fan of it, myself, but cultural sensitivity, right? I dig in. At this time, what has been definitely apparent for the entire day to this point becomes more than blatant. The entire day, I have been the only woman in the staff room. The whirlwind teacher is also a woman, so she has walked in and out, but has never sat down. The women are all seated down below (the school is on a hill, the higher grades are nearer to the top of the campus, and the lower classes near the bottom), and a woman comes in, serves us our food, then heads back down. A few minutes later, a student comes in and carries down enough dishes for the women. I looked pointedly and questioningly at Shane, who then asked the other teachers why the women didn’t eat with them. They said that they taught the younger kids, “the baby classes,” and they couldn’t come this far away from the kids, because they would get out of control. Which definitely makes sense. Just was an interesting division. I walked past there a couple of times trying to see if I should be sitting down there, too, but they were always talking in Lusoga, so I felt bad making them speak in English just because I was sitting there. So hopefully they were not too offended that this new white woman teacher was sitting up in the staff room with the other men.
2:41 – Every other teacher has finished eating. I’m still working on my dish. We are in the midst of an intense conversation about the differences in dating, marriage, burials, dowries, you name it, we covered most of it.
3:40 – I’m still picking at my food, deciding whether it would be worse to not finish it or to have it all come back up into the hole of a toilet that they have at school. I decide the latter would be worse, so, attempting to be discreet, stand up quietly and slide the plate into the pile of other plates. But, alas, the other teachers catch me and say, but Anna! You are so big! Do you not need all of it?! (There is NO sense of concern over calling people big or fat here in Uganda. I’ve gotten it multiple times. Unfortunately it’s because I’m nourished… and that’s what they have to compare it to)
4:12 – Shane and I look at each other and decide, we’ve sat here doing pretty much nothing except talking long enough, we can head home now. We walk home along the beautiful red dirt roads, to the chorus of “Mzungu bye bye!” and random taxi drivers stopping, hoping that we were too lazy to walk.
4:37 – we make it back to the house finally, and head over to watch the seminarians (our neighbors) play a game of soccer.
As for a few other notes of points of interest. Kind of the whole day, I was finding random things that I thought were funny when thinking about how different this first day was from any first class day in the US. Here is a brief list:
·On the walk to school, seeing multiple kids who barely looked as if they could walk, tottering themselves alone to school. It was really cute. And there were multiple other people walking down the road more than happy to help one of them if they had fallen or anything. However, would NEVER see that in America.
·Bringing my own roll of toilet paper to school… the toilets are… holes in the ground, with basic outhouse structures built up around them. I have to say, I’m so grateful to have grown up camping, and using the outhouse there so often (it’s like a palace compared to some of the “short call facilities” here.) It definitely doesn’t bother me, but it’s just funny… not on every first teacher’s packing list… a roll of toilet paper.
·The fact that there were maybe 30 students there for the first day of school. I saw one class being conducted. Other than that, there were simply not enough students to merit teaching them. It’s a vicious cycle. They’re used to being not really taught the first week of classes, so they don’t come. They don’t come, so there’s no one for the teachers to teach the first week of classes. CATCH 22!
·Tea break. It’s an awesome invention. Half hour break for tea? Yes please! For this, I will say, Thank you, England!
I’m sure there are others, but I can’t think of them so much right now. If I remember or notice more, I’ll add them later!
So, as far as I can tell, this first day of classes is almost identical to any other teacher’s first day of classes right? Oh wait… haha. So it was definitely… slow… but at least it was decided officially that I would be teaching 4th grade English (reading comp especially) and Mathematics. Which is exciting. It definitely can seem easy to judge this system, but I’m doing my best not to at this point. It is the way that they are working the education system right now, and it’s the best way they know how, mixing what they have right now with the culture and expectations of the country already in place. It’s what is allowing them to get by. They have so little resources, they do their best. There IS only one book, so it’s sometimes hard to find it. When things like power lines get cut, they have to be taken care of. And the best most qualified person to do that in the school is the headmaster. Students don’t come to school on the first day because they have spent their holidays helping out their families at home and haven’t yet had enough time to prepare themselves to come back to school. Their families expect a certain amount of help through the last day they are supposed to be home, so they have to prepare themselves for school after that. On top of that, many are scrambling to scrape enough money for school fees together. Due to the fact that the Ugandan schilling is the worst performing currency in the world currently and that the entire world is suffering economic hardship, money has become even tighter and the schools had to raise fees to feed their students, as the food prices are skyrocketing here. Things move slowly in Uganda. And that’s just the way things work. And it’s how they get by. And I know that pretty much everyone I meet has their own stories and hardships and difficulties, so I’m trying very hard not to judge, just to observe. And throughout it all, I didn’t get frustrated, because there were these teachers who were willing to talk to us, and I was so grateful for such good conversation where I learned a TON about our cultural differences (and how to escape attacking animals). I imagine there will be days that I am here where I am INCREDIBLY frustrated by the system and the lack of organization and the inefficiency of it all, but as for now, I’m not. I’m doing as best I can to keep an open mind, and *profile of a Jesuit grad at grad* be open to growth! So it’s just a very interesting experience. And ta-da! Anna finished her *revised statement* first day of school not as a student! I’m not going to my first day of school teaching… cuz I didn’t really teach. Except to tell the other teachers more about my own culture. But overall, a very interesting day!
And then day two was a good day: We showed up and as I walked up, was greeted by a teacher saying, “So what classes are you going to teach?” To which I responded, P4 English and probably Mathematics. And he revealed that he was the P4 math teacher, handed me a book, and said, “Go teach!” But then I asked if I could just sit and watch him instead for the day, as I didn’t really know what I would be doing, and he said that was entirely fine, and I watched him teach (algebra—we’re working our way up to variables). We had tea, and then I was told that one of the teachers for P4 was stuck in a line at the bank, and would not make it, so I should take her class, and then what would be my class right after it--2 hours of straight teaching. (Nothing like being thrown right into the fire when least expecting it!) So I walked into class and introduced myself, stumbling over my words only a little bit. The kids, whenever anyone new walks into the class, stand up and say in unison, “Welcome, Madame. This is P4 English. You are most welcome.” (Or something along those lines anyways, changed depending on the gender of the visitor and the actual current class). One of the biggest problems I knew I was going to face on the first day was the fact that I knew none of their names, and they are taught from a young age to be “humble” which translates into whispering into a hand in front of their face what their names are. So I had to get them up and out of their seats and trying to be loud, using some good old Jesuit Drama techniques, which was generally successful, loudly saying their names. They loosened up a bit as the class went on, and we went over the classroom rules, acting them out and seeing if there were any more which should be added. I did some very general review stuff, and then played a few games with them. (I decided to play a newly termed “Build the Man” instead of “Hangman” because I’m not quite sure of the cultural sensitivity on that one). What ended up being most difficult was the fact that they are just newly being taught in solely English in this grade, and an American’s accent is very different than any they are used to. So I was explaining everything about 4 or 5 times in different ways before a few students would get it enough to be able to show the other students what to do. Build the Man was kind of funny, they were really excited about playing, but one game they guessed the letter b three times, and they even guessed “double b” twice. I think I’m going to have to work on my direction giving skills a little bit! But overall, a good class period I think, where I got them to laugh some, and speak louder than a muffled whisper. So tomorrow I’m going to move on to actual material, and hopefully keep the progress I’ve made! And thus begins the teaching career life of “Madame Anna”…
