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.
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.
posted by J & A McAdam at 9:59 PM
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