Week 52 (15 – 21 July 2007)
The students from Theological College at nearby Ringili came for their fifth visit to the school and took the morning service. It’s hard not to be critical but we couldn’t make out anything the preacher was saying. After our second breakfast, the car got its wash. Later in the afternoon the Bible Studies resumed using a booklet specially prepared for schools by Scripture Union (Kenya). There were 19 boys and 6 girls, eventually, so that was a good start. We got the students to lead the three groups and we just sat “in attendance” and kept them to a time limit. The feedback at the end was very encouraging although many of the students find it difficult to contribute in a group situation. They are much more used to being told what to write down. Later in the afternoon we were having tea with John and Brenda sitting outside at the back of our houses when a “visitor” arrived. It was Vita Patrick who was our neighbour until December. He has moved to a new school in Moyo District which boarders Sudan. We haven’t seen him since the Garners visited in April. He is still struggling with a lack of resources at the school but sees some improvements e.g. many subjects now have text books and the furniture is due to arrive during the next two weeks. There are 13 teachers but only two chairs in the staff room so they have to stand as they prepare their lessons! None of the other teachers are Christians and he is finding this a real challenge as their morals are very different. Vita told us that he could have got a better posting if he had bribed one of the officials – something he was not prepared to do and so ended up at one of the most difficult and remote schools. He just says that it’s where God wants him to be. He has just recovered from another bout of typhoid and is on his way to try to sort out his papers, something he has been trying to do for several years. He keeps being told that they can’t find his file but he is sure that if a bribe was involved it would be found quickly. Again, he refuses to give money to people who are not doing their job properly. He is still a quiet and gentle man and is a real missionary in his own country. If only there were more like him.
Andrea started another week of Teacher on Duty on Monday and spent much of the day in the staff room. Although the breakfast was on time many of the S3 students were late for my lesson – this has happened every Monday since we returned but has usually been because breakfast is late. This time the previous teacher i.e. the lesson before breakfast had given the class a test and many ran on into the meal break so were late leaving. The teacher concerned was the Maths student teacher who had told Andrea that he would not be setting a test. Hm. On a more positive note, the girls enjoyed the knitting club with Andrea fixing their “blunders” as they call them. The boys and a couple of girls enjoyed playing chess again. All the five sets we have are in constant use during the club time and some also enjoyed the Connect-4 travel game we have. It’s good to see them doing something other that studying, football or singing and have a chance for us to meet them outside lessons. Newton said that today was a day to remember – he won his first chess game! That’s Bayo, not Isaac Newton. I had a first later today too. I managed to pick my first lock! It’s amazing what skills one picks up as a “missionary”! I had just locked my phone away in the desk drawer when it rang. I must have tried to unlock it too quickly and was able to accidentally remove the key before it had fully turned and unlocked and then couldn’t get the key back in again. But a bit of wire did the trick!
Tuesday was quiet although Andrea probably doesn’t agree with me as she is on duty. At least it was quiet until heard during the staff meeting that a “group” was coming at 3pm to speak to the students. No one seemed to know anything about it nor what they would be speaking about. They arrived just before 3pm and turned out to be a group of university age students from different parts of the UK who were in Uganda for about 3 weeks with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Our students were hastily moved from lessons into the hall where the team of 7 spoke about careers and their background then opened it up for questions. We encouraged them to end the formal bit as soon as possible and spend the rest of their visit chatting informally with the school students. We then discovered that they are a very musical group and included one who is studying Drumming and Theology! If we had known we would have asked them to use that skill as it is a good way of making contact with our youngsters. We have asked to be kept informed of future visits and we can be “go-betweens” and organise events that would be different from the usual Ugandan format. We also discovered that not arrangements for refreshments had been made so we invited them to our home for a soda (or tea for the really English ones) and had a good chat with them. It was interesting to meet other white people and be able to talk more quickly with a wider vocabulary. I think the Ugandan’s who accompanied them and some of our staff were a little bemused and found it difficult to follow the conversations. We will remind them of this when they revert to Lugbara in our presence!
Not a lot happened on Wednesday apart from the teaching of one class each. The rest of our time was spent finishing of some lesson preparation, exam materials and other administration. I continued in the evening as the power was on again and discovered some boys practicing a dance to a “rap” style DVD to perform at the Open Day.
I taught two lessons on Thursday morning and the student was taking the third one for the last time today so I’ll have to get up early next Thursday! I seemed to be the only one teaching for both of the lessons. Three of the teachers have gone into town to buy the food and other items for the Open Day on Saturday and I think the others have just gone! I passed my observations on to the Deputy Principal indicating that it seems that Open Day and food are more important than lessons. I’m sure there are other ways to get the food even if it is more difficult than in the UK. I borrowed a “panga” to try slashing (cutting) the grass around our compound. I’ve used a number of methods for cutting grass but this seems to be the least effective! I’ll get the scissors out next time. The students usually do about an hour of slashing at a time and the workmen can be doing it all day. My wrist was painful after 5 minutes and took a further hour before I gained total control over my hand. I’m sure there’s a knack to it but don’t think I’m willing to learn it. In the (now hotter) afternoon I did some printing of our own as well as some for the Open Day.
On Friday we visited town to get both our supplies and some fresh vegetables for the Open Day meal. We also have a basin full of tomatoes and another of onions in our house delivered at 8am! Although we had lunch in town we still managed to return by 1.30pm thus giving us some time to recover and prepare for the school assembly at 4pm. The teachers on duty, of which Andrea is one, have some part in this. Because the Open Day preparations were in full swing with almost all the students involved in cleaning and moving furniture it was planned to be a short, 15 min assembly. It ended an hour and 15 min later mainly because when a Ugandan starts talking we are told that they seem to loose all sense of time! Teachers have this problem too so put the two together and you get a long assembly. Some time could be saved if we weren’t constantly reminded that the speaker was going to say little. It was a frustrating assembly, and in many ways sad, for other reasons also. Two staff commented on the misdemeanours of at least seven students, naming each one. We were in the position to see the reactions of most of the named students because the assembly was held outside and therefore brighter and more spread out. Perhaps we also know the students better and can read their body language more easily than before and we saw negative reactions. At the end, the Principal gave the opportunity for students to make comments or ask questions, as he often does. One boy, who we know to be quiet, trustworthy and reliable, tried to explain what had happened and that he was being wrongly accused. Another of the named students showed true character and maturity. He stood up to publicly thank Andrea for producing Mathematics revision question booklets for his class. We spoke to the Principal afterwards about whole incident and he listened to our concerns which not every Principal would do.
I woke up tired on Saturday morning. Andrea set off for the salad preparation at 9am and remained preparing food until around 5pm with a short break for lunch. All the other women staff including the secretary were also involved all day and took no other part in “Ushindi Day”. I toured the school mid-morning to see what was happening and to take photos. I got some interesting pictures of the food preparation which probably break every health and hygiene regulation in existence! I was trying to see if there was any why I could help in the preparations everything seemed to be covered so I returned to base. At 1.30pm I took up my duties in the ‘car park’ having been led to believe that there were likely to be around 60 cars and there would be a rush between 2 and 2.30pm. There was a ‘rush’ a bit later than that, but mainly because the two cars that came together were driving more quickly than most. I gave up at 3.30pm after the three students and I had successfully parked all 12 cars and one coach! People were still arriving at 5pm but the students managed well on their own. The programme started at 2pm with tours and the formal part at 2.30pm. The Guest of Honour arrived at 3.10pm and the proceedings then began with two welcome songs, hymns and prayers then the commissioning of the new prefects. This was accompanied by a 30 minute sermon and by the end of this section I realised that the commissioning of the one year of prefect duties was given more time and ceremony than our service in preparation for leaving our home for 2 or more years! The proceedings i.e. speeches, speeches and long speeches continued until 6pm. The food had been sitting getting cold from about 4pm. The Ushindi Primary students had been practicing all week to perform four songs/dances but there was only time to perform two of them – which were very good. And that was after sitting quietly for four hours. The secondary students had also prepared poetry, sketches and songs but after the food came a few students were able to perform their pieces but most of the guests left so some performed to empty chairs and others didn’t even get that opportunity. Even so, many of the students assisted to clear away the 600 chairs and other things so that by the next morning most of the school had been returned to normal. We have found the last few days more than a little tiring and difficult although we so have to remember this is a school and we don’t have to deal with issues that are met in hospitals or other more serious areas on a daily basis.
Andrea started another week of Teacher on Duty on Monday and spent much of the day in the staff room. Although the breakfast was on time many of the S3 students were late for my lesson – this has happened every Monday since we returned but has usually been because breakfast is late. This time the previous teacher i.e. the lesson before breakfast had given the class a test and many ran on into the meal break so were late leaving. The teacher concerned was the Maths student teacher who had told Andrea that he would not be setting a test. Hm. On a more positive note, the girls enjoyed the knitting club with Andrea fixing their “blunders” as they call them. The boys and a couple of girls enjoyed playing chess again. All the five sets we have are in constant use during the club time and some also enjoyed the Connect-4 travel game we have. It’s good to see them doing something other that studying, football or singing and have a chance for us to meet them outside lessons. Newton said that today was a day to remember – he won his first chess game! That’s Bayo, not Isaac Newton. I had a first later today too. I managed to pick my first lock! It’s amazing what skills one picks up as a “missionary”! I had just locked my phone away in the desk drawer when it rang. I must have tried to unlock it too quickly and was able to accidentally remove the key before it had fully turned and unlocked and then couldn’t get the key back in again. But a bit of wire did the trick!
Tuesday was quiet although Andrea probably doesn’t agree with me as she is on duty. At least it was quiet until heard during the staff meeting that a “group” was coming at 3pm to speak to the students. No one seemed to know anything about it nor what they would be speaking about. They arrived just before 3pm and turned out to be a group of university age students from different parts of the UK who were in Uganda for about 3 weeks with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Our students were hastily moved from lessons into the hall where the team of 7 spoke about careers and their background then opened it up for questions. We encouraged them to end the formal bit as soon as possible and spend the rest of their visit chatting informally with the school students. We then discovered that they are a very musical group and included one who is studying Drumming and Theology! If we had known we would have asked them to use that skill as it is a good way of making contact with our youngsters. We have asked to be kept informed of future visits and we can be “go-betweens” and organise events that would be different from the usual Ugandan format. We also discovered that not arrangements for refreshments had been made so we invited them to our home for a soda (or tea for the really English ones) and had a good chat with them. It was interesting to meet other white people and be able to talk more quickly with a wider vocabulary. I think the Ugandan’s who accompanied them and some of our staff were a little bemused and found it difficult to follow the conversations. We will remind them of this when they revert to Lugbara in our presence!
Not a lot happened on Wednesday apart from the teaching of one class each. The rest of our time was spent finishing of some lesson preparation, exam materials and other administration. I continued in the evening as the power was on again and discovered some boys practicing a dance to a “rap” style DVD to perform at the Open Day.
I taught two lessons on Thursday morning and the student was taking the third one for the last time today so I’ll have to get up early next Thursday! I seemed to be the only one teaching for both of the lessons. Three of the teachers have gone into town to buy the food and other items for the Open Day on Saturday and I think the others have just gone! I passed my observations on to the Deputy Principal indicating that it seems that Open Day and food are more important than lessons. I’m sure there are other ways to get the food even if it is more difficult than in the UK. I borrowed a “panga” to try slashing (cutting) the grass around our compound. I’ve used a number of methods for cutting grass but this seems to be the least effective! I’ll get the scissors out next time. The students usually do about an hour of slashing at a time and the workmen can be doing it all day. My wrist was painful after 5 minutes and took a further hour before I gained total control over my hand. I’m sure there’s a knack to it but don’t think I’m willing to learn it. In the (now hotter) afternoon I did some printing of our own as well as some for the Open Day.
On Friday we visited town to get both our supplies and some fresh vegetables for the Open Day meal. We also have a basin full of tomatoes and another of onions in our house delivered at 8am! Although we had lunch in town we still managed to return by 1.30pm thus giving us some time to recover and prepare for the school assembly at 4pm. The teachers on duty, of which Andrea is one, have some part in this. Because the Open Day preparations were in full swing with almost all the students involved in cleaning and moving furniture it was planned to be a short, 15 min assembly. It ended an hour and 15 min later mainly because when a Ugandan starts talking we are told that they seem to loose all sense of time! Teachers have this problem too so put the two together and you get a long assembly. Some time could be saved if we weren’t constantly reminded that the speaker was going to say little. It was a frustrating assembly, and in many ways sad, for other reasons also. Two staff commented on the misdemeanours of at least seven students, naming each one. We were in the position to see the reactions of most of the named students because the assembly was held outside and therefore brighter and more spread out. Perhaps we also know the students better and can read their body language more easily than before and we saw negative reactions. At the end, the Principal gave the opportunity for students to make comments or ask questions, as he often does. One boy, who we know to be quiet, trustworthy and reliable, tried to explain what had happened and that he was being wrongly accused. Another of the named students showed true character and maturity. He stood up to publicly thank Andrea for producing Mathematics revision question booklets for his class. We spoke to the Principal afterwards about whole incident and he listened to our concerns which not every Principal would do.
I woke up tired on Saturday morning. Andrea set off for the salad preparation at 9am and remained preparing food until around 5pm with a short break for lunch. All the other women staff including the secretary were also involved all day and took no other part in “Ushindi Day”. I toured the school mid-morning to see what was happening and to take photos. I got some interesting pictures of the food preparation which probably break every health and hygiene regulation in existence! I was trying to see if there was any why I could help in the preparations everything seemed to be covered so I returned to base. At 1.30pm I took up my duties in the ‘car park’ having been led to believe that there were likely to be around 60 cars and there would be a rush between 2 and 2.30pm. There was a ‘rush’ a bit later than that, but mainly because the two cars that came together were driving more quickly than most. I gave up at 3.30pm after the three students and I had successfully parked all 12 cars and one coach! People were still arriving at 5pm but the students managed well on their own. The programme started at 2pm with tours and the formal part at 2.30pm. The Guest of Honour arrived at 3.10pm and the proceedings then began with two welcome songs, hymns and prayers then the commissioning of the new prefects. This was accompanied by a 30 minute sermon and by the end of this section I realised that the commissioning of the one year of prefect duties was given more time and ceremony than our service in preparation for leaving our home for 2 or more years! The proceedings i.e. speeches, speeches and long speeches continued until 6pm. The food had been sitting getting cold from about 4pm. The Ushindi Primary students had been practicing all week to perform four songs/dances but there was only time to perform two of them – which were very good. And that was after sitting quietly for four hours. The secondary students had also prepared poetry, sketches and songs but after the food came a few students were able to perform their pieces but most of the guests left so some performed to empty chairs and others didn’t even get that opportunity. Even so, many of the students assisted to clear away the 600 chairs and other things so that by the next morning most of the school had been returned to normal. We have found the last few days more than a little tiring and difficult although we so have to remember this is a school and we don’t have to deal with issues that are met in hospitals or other more serious areas on a daily basis.
posted by J & A McAdam at 5:20 AM
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