Thursday and Friday this week I visited 7 local primary schools with results from their readings tests from the end of last term. It was the first week back at school so I wanted to start the term off visiting teachers I am working with and encouraging them to ‘soldier on’.
Here are some of the sad realities and interesting comments I received during my school rounds:
- A P1 (reception/kindergarten) teacher was absent because she was visiting her father, potentially nursing him to his death in the village.
- Another P1 teacher was absent: with her baby son in hospital – he was suffering pretty badly with malaria. The class had joined P2 for the day.
- A P3 teacher was absent. Her sister was close to giving birth in the hospital and she was her sister’s ‘attendant’.
- A head teacher was nowhere to be seen. One of the teachers told me they hadn’t been paid for teaching ‘extra lessons’ and she thinks he is ‘dodging’ the school.
- One teacher told me the children were slowly returning from holidays. One day there were only 9 children in the class so she thought there wasn’t any point in teaching (this provoked a long conversation between her and I).
- Another teacher told me she hadn’t started teaching yet. The school inspector was ‘on her neck’ about lesson planning and scheming so she was spending the whole week writing lesson plans whilst the children just sat there (provoking another conversation).
- A P2 teacher (year 1) was absent: she had fallen on iron sheets (tin) and cut her right hand quite badly.
- Another teacher told me how the children were returning to school but the head teacher kept sending them home for ‘requirements’ (toilet paper and a broom). They were not permitted to stay in school until they had their requirements (separate to school fees).
There were also many positive stories from the visits. Teachers were enthusiastic; seeing the results made them want to work even harder this term and some were determined to prove to me that their children would improve much more this term.
But what I found even more encouraging was the freedom with which I now move around these local schools. Many head teachers and teachers greet me with a hug, one teacher even gave me a bunch of bananas when she saw me. I have a good relationship with both the head teachers and teachers and we can be ‘frank’ with each other. They recognise I am here to help them and appreciate the encouragement. It doesn’t mean it’s an easy journey, but we are making progress. Slowly slowly…
About seven weeks ago I posted about my frustrations of dealing with a particular person in authority who evidently wanted a bribe before they would do their job. Well… today I finally got the letter I was after! I wouldn’t have got through it without my colleague Catherine, regular ‘office banter’, and persistently calling on them. Admittedly I wrote the letter for them and saved it on their computer at their request. I was told after I left the office that I completely missed the bribe request at the end: “You give this small person something and then we are done with everything” (referring to his colleague who was much shorter than him). Didn’t even hear it, hence my non-response (probably best). But, with letter in hand, out we walked.
“Your body is different, it is now shiny and smooth. I can see you have had a happy journey.”
“Spencer, you know I have to say it: you have grown seriously fat!”
“Daniel has been seriously suffering without you. But now I can see he is happy you are back.”
This week I returned to Gulu after a two and a half week visit to the UK and was greeted with these lovely ‘welcome back’ comments. I possibly only put on about two kilograms, maybe 100g for each day. I certainly over indulged in everything dairy, desserts and seafood. One of our neighbours even added further: “If you were to stay out there for one month, you would look like her” pointing to somebody who was about 20kg heavier than me.
Thank you Gulu for your kind sentiments.
I made a last-minute decision to attend a lovely friend’s wedding in Richmond, the UK this month. And I had a blast! To be honest I was a little bit wary: I had feared that maybe I had changed a lot; maybe my friends had also changed; what if I had an emotional breakdown?
No breakdowns (yet – at least it wasn’t Christmas). I had changed, so had my friends, but I felt like I was dipping back into my old UK community – it was absolutely splendid! I don’t think I realized how much I needed it until it was over.
Dan didn’t come with me, I went alone (the timing just wasn’t good for him). By the end I did start to feel guilty that I was regularly sending him photos of me with friends and food. hmmm
Thank you UK for your love, your dairy, keeping me up late, and looking after me. I plan to dive back in to education work here tomorrow. It’s the middle of the wet season and I was a little shocked to see our road deteriorate quite significantly whilst I was away. I guess we need to wait until another election until it will be worked on. We have also moved, about 10m away, into our old neighbours hut, let’s just say it’s the ‘big hut’. Getting used to more space, but quite excited to now have hot showers and a fridge: perfect since I brought back 2.5kg of cheese with me.
Jody
The road to our hut in Gulu, Uganda
A by-product of a corrupt police force is what is known as mob justice (civilians taking the law into their own hands) here in Uganda. This is something that I hear of regularly but have always wondered or feared what my reaction may or may not be.
Our neighbour is not known for her temper or aggression, although with the help of another neighbour we had the experience of witnessing both of these attributes turned up to 100%, aimed squarely at a local village youth who at this stage was under suspicion of stealing her mobile phone. There were punches, kicks and beatings with whatever they could lay their hands on; that included sticks, shoes and, most worrying, a sharp piece of metal (local slasher). When I arrived he was bleeding from his head, was stripped half naked and had very predominant welts on his back and legs. I tried to reason with them but with the heightened emotional state of the crowd that had now formed, that become impossible.
To my surprise, while I was trying to reason with them he admitted stealing the phone and told them he would show them where he had hidden it…which he did!
I left feeling quite chuffed with myself that I had helped resolve this issue and tension…
Unfortunately that wasn’t the end. I later asked our neighbour what happened after they found the phone. “We beat him seriously and then took him to the police”, was her response. I was interested to hear the Police response (Police are an enigma… to put another way, a waste of time!), their response was: “you should have beaten him more before bringing him here!”
Not many people have any faith in the police force or justice system in Uganda and unfortunately for good reason, Often the so-called justice is carried out by the victims or victims’ family.
This boy was lucky as it often ends in hospitalisation or death.
Dan
We have lived in Gulu for long enough that nothing seems to surprise us in the newspaper these days… or about life for that matter 🙂
Here’s four articles in the one edition of a recent newspaper.
One of my uni readings is the first chapter in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. During the introduction, Freire discusses the problematic nature of the oppressed, their search for freedom and liberation but how all they know is the life of the oppressed and the oppressor, there is no alternative in their eyes. Even when their situations change, they often become oppressors themselves and emulate what they have seen around them.
The oppressed yearn for freedom, and liberation means becoming free, but often they have a fear of freedom. According to Freire, change begins with both the oppressor and the oppressed, with relationships and solidarity being the key.
During this reading I am reminded of our own situations in life. Are we oppressors or the oppressed? I tend to think we are both, in different situations. How do we, as the oppressed, seek this freedom and restore our humanity or rather what Freire calls ‘being human’? I am reminded of our saviour, Jesus Christ, how he came to free us – he was (and is) our revolutionary leader! The liberation referred to by this educationalist reminds me a lot of the process we go through when we accept Jesus and what he did for us.
However I am still deep in thought about the oppressor and the oppressed. What ways in our life are we the oppressor? We neither want to be the oppressor nor the oppressed, but the liberated one. However I want to be more than a passive liberated one, I want to be part of the liberation process. I want to continue the liberation process in my own life, but also be part of the process in the lives of others.
One of my workers came up to me today and said: ‘If you want me to work, you need to work with me because when I am by myself, I become somehow lazy.’
Dan
So what do you do when you wait for your motorbike to get fixed? Play cards for a couple of hours with the shop owner, his wife and staff from the neighbouring shop while the mechanic works on the bike 🙂
A few days ago we said goodbye to Emma Alguire, a brilliant intern who came out to Uganda from Concordia University in Canada. Emma stayed for three months and helped out with the early grade reading tests in 20 schools in Gulu. It was brilliant to have an extra pair of hands, but especially her expert skills in data analysis, report writing, and preparing detailed reports for teachers. She has helped a lot in improving the education standards in Gulu primary schools! Emma will surely be missed by the education community here, but we were very blessed to have us serve the community here for those three months. Farewell Emma!
Dan and Jodes... in Gulu, Uganda 