Week 35 (18 – 24 Mar 2007)

The preacher at the service on Sunday was a bit long and boring but I managed to stay awake. I haven’t preached many sermons and only need to work on the structure, content, communicating to young people and speaking in an African setting. The stories were OK but I missed the real “hook” until thinking about it afterwards. Well, Andrea did the thinking. We didn’t manage to catch the readers until 5 min before the service was due to start and they were poor. Immediately after the sermon they had a fund raising competition. Hm. I think we have a bit of work to do here! We discussed some of these issues with the Principal over breakfast. Later we joined the Scripture Union Committee meeting to see what they were up to. At one point the Chairman turned to me and asked me to share my thoughts. Well, that’s what Andrea told me he said because I couldn’t hear him. But I had to ask, thoughts about what? A bit embarrassing really. Contrary to popular belief, I did have a few thoughts about future developments within the SU and shared those. After an hour or so (not of me talking!) the meeting ended. No decisions had been taken. Useful meeting.

Karen and Phil (from AIM, Kampala) were visiting the area and joined us with Anne Houghton, later in the afternoon for tea and a tour. They were a bit later than expected following a meeting with the Bishop but it was good to see them again and catch up – although I did most of the talking (for a change). Andrea did well with the cooking and the chicken was mouth-watering. We haven’t had much meat recently!

In the evening we had a phone call from Laura (it was Mothering Sunday) and an e-mail from Richard. It was good to hear from them – and plan Laura’s trip to see us in April.

Andrea is one of the two “Teachers on Duty” this week but we’re still a bit vague about the duties and responsibilities. We’ve tried asking but don’t get very helpful answers. We believe that at least one of the teachers must be available at all times in case of emergencies and also to monitor the behaviour, punctuality etc of the students. So we’ll see what transpires through the week. So far (on Monday) she has been working in the staff room leaving me all alone in the house. Peaceful really. Also, our temporary replacement house help, Biafa, came today. She did some ironing (I now have an uncreased shirt again) cleaned and made some excellent bread. Sadly, she’s only on loan for a week or so.

Tuesday is my quiet day with only the staff briefing at the morning tea break to break up the day. Except for a message that one of the girls had malaria, needed to go to the hospital and no transport was available. So off I went to the dormitory to collect the girl and a teacher to accompany her. But in true Ugandan style, three students, two teachers and a baby climbed into the car. The baby, Winnie, was carried. I managed to doze in the car - as I waited for news at the hospital, not as we were driving. The girl was admitted for observation but later was discharged and when home with her mother, a nurse. There are several students with malaria at various stages – it seems that with the rains starting there are more insects about and the number of malaria cases increases. We saw several other groups of school students on their way to the hospital. Interestingly they were all girls. It seems the boys take their medication sooner so don’t get so bad and recover more quickly. The girls keep going and only take the medication when they get really bad – so get even worse. So all those negative comments about men complaining about a cold being flu (or “man-flu” and the women call it) should stop. The men are much more sensible by recognising that they are not performing as they should and take appropriate action.

Well, that should get a few e-mails on the way then.

The only other item of note was that I listened to a recording of the Sunday morning service. I can now say with confidence that while the sermon was well researched, it was boring! I’ve found a website that tells about “storying” i.e. communicating in an oral rather than literary, analytical way with trials being done in African countries, among others. One of our friends in Arua is involved with a different project but based on storytelling so we might try to find out more from him. (See www.chronollogicalbiblestorying.com).

Wednesday and Thursday were fairly normal days although Andrea has been kept very busy with the Duty Teacher role. She has taken the morning Parade/Assembly on her own several times and has got the students singing the National Anthem (the Ugandan one of course) and the school song so that I can hear them from our house rather that the usual mumble. She has also given a brief talk or encouragement and motivation to start the day. At the end of the assembly on Thursday some of the S2 wouldn’t go to their class – they wanted to hear more of her stories! Bet they won’t say that to me next week!

I’ve had more time to continue preparing lessons as I won’t be able to do much next week and when our visitors arrive. I’ve nearly finished all of the S2 Chemistry which is encouraging. Now I just have to work out how to fit in some practical work and get more equipment so that we can actually do some. The S1 Physics tried their hand at measuring length and time (the “Spinners” experiment for those in the know). While they were very co-operative and well behaved, I wouldn’t trust them to measure anything for me! And most forgot to record any results. But then we only had two stop clocks between 40 students. I tried to prepare a solubility experiment for S2 and some carbonate reactions for S3 but have had to postpone both due to lack of chemicals.

Andrea was busy again on Friday and Saturday with the ‘Teacher on Duty” duties. There seems to be constant stream of students who need permission for this and than, especially for medication. We did the devotions on Friday evening again – I spoke but kept it brief and simple. We also took the opportunity of seeing some students individually as part of the mentoring programme we are introducing. It has been agreed by the staff and I’ve mentioned it at every staff meeting since before Christmas i.e. 5 times! The students don’t have a problem with it but it seems the teachers are finding it a challenge. We should be able to discuss it together in more detail at the end of next week.

On Friday evening we discovered that no-one had been booked to preach on Sunday in spite of our best intentions and assistance so that this wouldn’t happen. The only students who might be able to attempt preaching have all booked to go to another school (for ‘outreach’). In the end we agreed to do something. We’ll see what happens.

Week 34 (11 – 17 Mar 2007)

The early start on Sunday was a little painful. But as Andrea was preaching at the school service I felt I couldn’t miss it. I like Sunday lunches. She did well, especially as we don’t do this sort of thing very often. There were some visiting ‘pastors in training’ who wore there clerical gear and took the rest of the service. They will join us again for a few weeks soon. Andrea started a Bible study with some of our female neighbours and the first meeting seemed to go well with all contributing freely. I went back to town for a meeting with the clergy of St Phillips, a Church of Uganda we have visited several times in Arua. There were several of the mission partners present and the main discussion was about how to involve people more within the church, especially as there are three services every Sunday morning with around 500 people at each one.

Monday was – well, Monday. It’s taking a while to settle into the routines and some things have still not been sorted and/or communicated. But we’re working on these one or two at a time. At the briefing on Tuesday there were several new initiatives mentioned but so quickly that Andrea missed one completely. As there was little discussion it was difficult to tell whether these were items for discussion, consultation, information or implementation.

On Wednesday morning we discovered that at least one item was being implemented. As we had both woken early, we heard the school bell decided to get up anyway. It took us a while to realise that the bell had been rung an hour earlier than usual i.e. 5am! As we were awake by then we decided to so some work but the students were running around outside and making a fair amount of noise. The aim was to get them up early, do some exercise to waken them and then ‘encourage’ them to study in their classrooms for until the lesson started at 7.30am. Bear in mind that breakfast is at 8.50am, nearly three hours after they get up. It was thought that as some teachers are teaching additional lessons during the evening prep, the Senior 3 and 4 classes weren’t getting enough time for private study. So instead of dropping something less important during the day, they just get up earlier. We found this a bit difficult to cope with – and were ratty and tired all day anyway. The students seemed to enjoy it but time will tell if it is truly effective, how long it will last if unsupervised and how many fall asleep during lessons.

Thursday is a busy day for me as I have three consecutive double lessons (80 min each) starting at 7.30am. So I sleep in the afternoon, especially as it’s hot. Then try to do a little in the evening – but not always successfully!

There was another thunderstorm during the night and the rain was beating down on our back door. While the door is intact, we had to do some paddling to get to the ‘bathroom’ for a wash. It would have been easier to just open the ‘bathroom’ window and had a proper, but cold shower with fresh rainwater. But the wind kept blowing out the candles. The kitchen floor was bit wetter than it usually is after the (rare) times I manage to do the washing up. But we don’t worry about this as we would in the UK as the floor is concrete and soon dries.

Normally the temperatures return to normal a few hours after the rain but Friday was BLISS! Although it did reach a heady 27°C briefly, it was mainly a refreshing 22°C or less all day! Our colleagues were frozen, even when wearing their heavy coats. Andrea even resorted to a cardigan in the evening and I forgot to take my trousers off. I’d better rephrase that. When teaching I put on long trousers and as soon as I get back to the house I exchange them for shorts. I often remove my shirt and for the last few days have even delayed putting on the shorts. This is OK unless someone calls and I have to get dressed quickly. But not today. Long trousers all day and at last able to think straight during the afternoon. (“Think straight” is used in a relative sense here.) After devotions we both went over the end of last term exam paper with a class each, but swapped classes from last week.

On Saturday we went to a party. Another 2 year old (Joshua Asiki). It was very informal and I think Joshua appreciated having another male presence to really appreciate the finer details of playing cars, how they must be parked, driving on the correct side of the road with appropriate sound effects. This three sisters and their friends played less sensible games with the other mums. His Dad was away on a business trip. It was a bit hotter again today. Pity.

Week 33 (4 – 10 Mar 2007)

After a busy week we took advantage of the last quiet day before students returned and stayed on site pottering. On Monday the students started arriving at 8am. Andrea helped to check their belongings – that they had the ‘right’ things and not anything not permitted or too revealing! She spend most of the day doing this and by 7pm about 120 of the expected 150 students had checked in. I spent the day in town but helped with the checking in towards the end of the day.

Teaching started on Tuesday and it was good to get back into the swing of things. Andrea returned from her first lesson saying “I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed teaching!” My first lesson wasn’t until Wednesday, but I had a similar reaction. The classes are not identical to last term as there have been some leavers and joiners to them all.

We had our first staff briefing at the morning tea break. This is an attempt to improve communication and planning but actually seemed to leave us more confused about some things. It’s very odd listening to someone speaking in English for several minutes and then realise that you have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about or what point they are trying to make. Just like home, I suppose!

The rest of the week seemed to fly past (and the following week too, which is when I’m actually writing this!). Fortunately, the classrooms seem to be the coolest places on site and often have a breeze blowing through so the heat doesn’t seem to affect us while teaching.

On Thursday I had a brief meeting with the Principal to discuss several issues, mainly from the Monday briefing. This was useful but there are many many more things to discuss in order to help us really understand how things work here.

On Friday I spoke at the daily evening devotions. We will take it in turns to attend and speak each Friday and have chosen to do a single theme (the Lord’s Prayer). Sadly the Chairman of the Scripture Union has not been able to return to the school due to health reasons so things seem a little disorganised. Well, more so than usual! After devotions we both went over the end of last term exam paper with a class each.

Saturday started of very wet so we delayed our trip to town until nearer lunchtime. It was pleasantly cool when we set off but within an hour the clouds cleared and the temperatures rose rapidly. We manage to fit in a visit to our Canadian friends for some knitting first aid. We even have text messages asking for help. I pass on all my knitting knowledge freely. It doesn’t take long and then hand the phone to the Mrs Beaton of wool.

Week 32 (25 Feb – 3 Mar 2007)

For a change we visited St Philips church in town on Sunday then went to Heritage Gardens for lunch. The Asiki family were there too so we joined them for a special Sunday lunch. Chicken and chips with a cold soda (fizzy drink). Worth the enormous expense to be able to sit outside in civilised surroundings – a whole Ugs10000 (~£3) for BOTH of us, not each! I think we might be eating there again sometime. After lunch we went to Daguna – the German mission compound where they have Sunday tea which is open to all mission partners. The German cakes were excellent and we were able to catch up with some friends again. Sometimes it’s a hard life here, but we just have to bear these trials!!!!

Another visit to town on Monday morning for supplies followed by a visit to Andrew who works for SIL (Wycliffe) and is the British Consulate spokesperson for the area. He’s an ‘expert’ on many things, particularly technical and solar power systems so I checked out some things with him before making further ‘final’ decisions about how to upgrade our system, especially for the laptops. It’s more complicated that I had thought, especially the Physics bits but I’m getting there. We had been invited to the Asikis again for lunch (which was excellent as usual) in return for playing games with their children for the afternoon. Andrea also gave a further knitting lesson.

I’ve forgotten to put into the blog an account of something that has happened every day since our return to Arua. Partly because I was trying to find a different way of doing the blog and making it shorter for those with little time or concentration, such as busy students at Manchester Uni! (I didn’t want to mention you by name Hannah.) At dawn (around 7am) we hear drumming. It comes from different places around the site and beyond every day and is a very fast beating with no distinctive rhythm. It sounds like several people hitting empty plastic jerry cans as fast as they can and taking turns, hence the different speeds and tones. We discovered that that’s exactly what it is! Some boys from the villages try to simulate the rain falling on the ground to encourage the black ants to think “Oh! it’s raining, I’d better investigate!”. When the first few come to the surface the boys sprinkle a few drops of water on the ground so that the ants believe “It really is raining. We’d better tell the others.” Which they do, although I’m not sure if they use Lugbara or an ant dialect, and they all troop to the surface only to be gathered by the boys. We understand that the ants are a local delicacy, presumably after they are cooked, so the boys can either eat them or sell them. Noisy for us but enterprising for them although we think that the nutritional value is probably much less than the energy expended in getting them. We have eaten ants – but the white flying ants found in Nebbi. Not as tasty as the fried mealworms! Better go now as it’s nearly lunchtime! Don’t forget to look more closely at what’s on your plate – you never know!!!

At last, a quiet day on Wednesday – until the Director of Studies called us to the staff room to discuss the revisions to the timetable and meet the new Maths/Physics teacher. He has been teaching for a few years so is familiar with both syllabuses. We are fortunate to get him although it will take us a while to get used to calling him Lucky, even if it is his name! It does mean that our timetables are reduced again – but may be increased if we’re asked to help with the English.

Andrea celebrated her 50th birthday on Thursday with a trip to town and lunch with an American family (Waffler’s) who made a cake and sang happy birthday even though it’s only the second time we’ve met them! Andrea had given their two boys another Maths lesson while I helped their 4 year old to read her books! She is teaching herself to read so I didn’t have to do too much! We checked the e-mails and later watched a double episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” one of over 30 programmes Laura posted to us!

Back in town again on Friday for some shopping but also a further lunch (with the Vandermeers again) followed by another knitting lesson – six children and two adults. I worked on the laptop for a while rather than knitting!

The highlight of Saturday was the celebration of Andrea’s birthday on the school site. A relaxed and informal affair with started only 45min late as Lillian, Andrea’s Lugbara teacher and her family hadn’t arrived. They live three doors down. We had a good time eating cake and popcorn and playing silly party games. The games were a great success, especially with the adults as most ‘celebrations’ usually involve many long speeches and big meals that take all day to prepare. ‘Fun’ doesn’t feature much but it was great to see fellow teacher laughing and playing with their children and colleagues. We think it broke down barriers with some neighbours we haven’t been able to get to know yet. It would be worth repeating but might be more difficult with 150 students on site too!

To our regular readers (or reader?) the management apologise for the delay in posting this blog. The site has been updated and I've had a little difficulty in accessing it until now, with thanks to Keith. The next week will also be delayed, not due to any techinical difficulties but because I haven't written it yet. It was the first week of term too. And it's still hot.