Week 51 (8 – 14 July 2007)

It rained last night. That makes the “roads” wet and muddy. It also makes me very jittery about driving. It’s not so much the driving as the trying to drive, the wheels turning but the car not moving. It only happens when the local road engineers re-surface the roads with an additional layer of – mud. Once it has been compacted and dried the new rain just washes off most of it. We wanted to go to Kuluva to the baptism of Jonathan, Mary’s youngest son. In the end, Andrea decided to walk even though it was raining lightly. I tried the car with the intention of turning back if there was any possibility of getting stuck then walking later. Lillian was just setting out at the same time and going in the same direction as me so, thankfully I had both company and a Luganda speaker. But, although the roads were wet and muddy in a few places, there were no problems other than negotiating the additional potholes and crevasses which have appeared since our last trip on Friday. Andrea arrived at the Kuluva church at the same time.
We were told that the service would start at 9.30am, which is when we arrived. We still haven’t learnt. It actually started at 10.15am and ended at 12.45pm. And it was the Lugbara service. Fortunately the first person we met on our arrival was Emmanuel, the Deputy Head of a local primary school and speaks very good and clear English. He translated the relevant parts of the service and helped us to find the right places in the service book. He was one of the three God-parents and was able to assist Andrea as she too is a God-parent to Jonathan. I suppose that make me assistant God-parent! The translations made a huge difference and we did feel more a part of the proceedings than we had expected.
While at Kuluva, we visited Molly and Isobel who were in the UK for much of the same time as ourselves. We had lunch together and it was good to catch up again. At 4pm we then moved to Mary’s house for a meal with the God-parents, pastors, relatives and friends. They have three straw-roofed huts: one for the lounge and sleeping area which leaks when it rains, one for the cooking and one as a workshop for Isaac, Mary’s husband who is a carpenter. We had duck and beef for the meal and were up to Mary’s usual standard of cooking! It was the first time I had met their eldest son, Tom, who is 15 years old and in a wheelchair as he has cerebral palsy due to brain damage at birth. Although Tom can speak very little he seemed to be able to understand when to smile for the camera and enjoyed having his photograph taken! His wheelchair is in need of some repairs and we took some photos of it so that we could ask advice both locally and further afield. Tom can’t feed himself so his Dad has to help him but of course they don’t use cutlery as we do. It was clear how much his parents cared for him and how much he was accepted by the other children – about 10 from the area joined us, they were about the same age and Tom’s second brother, Godwin who is 5 years old. In between eating and taking photos we were able to chat with the pastors and other friends, mainly about the corruption in the area and, sadly, by those in positions of responsibility in Christian organisations. It was very interesting to listen to them describe and analyse these issues in their own community. But as always, what is the right thing to do about it?

The main event of Monday was the second meeting of the Chess Club. We had about 10 boys playing until they were called for a compulsory practice run for a forthcoming athletics competition. All students will run for training and the best will be selected during the next two weeks. Some came back quickly and continued with the chess!! The girls were knitting quietly nearby but didn’t return after the run. During the club time, I was able to look at one of the S1 Physics exercise books to see what the student, Samuel, had been doing with them. I wish I hadn’t. He was doing a topic that is no longer on the syllabus and although I had pointed this out previously he, and the Head of Science who was also present when we talked about it, clearly thought this didn’t matter – it will be useful for them to know it and it comes up in exam questions. None that I’ve seen so far. But the mathematics associated with the topic is much too difficult for these students who are very weak at Maths anyway. It’s pointless, even for the brightest. SO what to do about it? Challenge again or leave it? It may depend on how much longer he stays on that topic. We were wondering why so many classes seem to get behind with the syllabus!

On Tuesday the main events were the staff briefing and the staff devotions. Perhaps I’m getting even more deaf or slow but I seem to be finding it even more difficult to hear what is being said – raising your voice to be heard seems to be confused with shouting, which is not polite here. And even when we can hear the words they don’t seem to make much sense. They also have a habit of making comments which do not follow from the previous speaker and are often on a completely different topic. Towards the end of the meeting the teacher in charge of sports and games apologised for the disruption the training and practice runs were having on other after school events. No one could answer my question about the longer term effects on practical science sessions (4 days every week) and the debates, also timetabled for after lessons and previously planned. We left the staff meeting exhausted and confused but grateful it only lasted 30 minutes. The talk at the staff devotions was more than a little depressing too. It seemed to concentrate on gloom and doom, suffering and persecution (and the passage was taken slightly out of context too). Another teacher made additional passionate comments – later I discovered that Andrea had no idea what he was talking about either!

The chemistry practical I had been planning for Wednesday afternoon had to be postponed at the last minute because another school was coming for a debate! The topic was “Foreigners are responsible for all Uganda’s woes”!!!! Ushindi were proposing. We sat at the back of the hall as we didn’t intend to say for the full two hours and left after the first speaker from each team, mainly because we couldn’t hear or make out anything they were saying! Ushindi eventually won. But the students are still speaking to us. We would like to have heard their arguments but they spoke too quickly.

I decided to use the lesson time on Thursday for the postponed S3 Chemistry practical (their first titration). It went well and they learnt quickly otherwise they had no sense of time or urgency about getting to their next lesson! Still, they seemed to enjoy the experience. The resulting calculations will be a different matter! After lunch, Andrea went to speak to Samuel, the student taking her S3 Maths class. She had looked at their books and was concerned. She came back fuming. It will be a disservice to the education system if he passes his practice – but it’s best not to say any more! She also spoke to the Head of Science and Maths to explain what had happened. Later in the afternoon, Andrea went for a dig with a neighbour to learn how to use some local tools. I looked after the house – after all, I had taught two lessons today compared with her none! We returned to the staff room block to recharge the laptops. I hadn’t used mine during the day so was fully charged and after doing a little work I watched a little rugby (Ireland v France). I don’t care that I know the result or that it’s several months after the even or that I’ve already watched the first half.

On Friday we went to town as usual but it started getting very hot and we got back more in a puddle of sweat than rain. I can’t remember anything else of note except the opportunity to watch two episodes of a DVD of “Upstairs Downstairs” (Series Two).

Saturday began with a welcome quiet morning of reading and pottering only interrupted by the students chatting as they washed their clothes near the pump. In the afternoon, we took the knitting and chess sets up to the classroom area and had a full house of keen students for over two hours.

In the evening we started to watch a DVD of “Round the World in 80 Days” but the laptop power expired before the end of the first of two DVD’s. We’ll have to wait until next weekend for Part 2. The excitement and anticipation is hard to bear! But it’s a gentle film and just what we need.