Week 63 (30 Sep – 6 Oct 2007)

Photo: Our visit to Mary's home with Peter.


As I’ve got a bit behind with the blog again, I’ll be brief. Although I said that the sermon today would also be short as it was prepared at short notice. It wasn’t. But Dad always said it was harder to speak for 10 minutes than for 30 mins. I managed 35 mins but with more time would have been able to cut it down. (I’m sure Richard or Laura would say that I could have cut it down to about 30 seconds and then it would still be too long!) I was very very tired after that, having been so busy last week too. But a student came for a chat while the car had its first bathe of the term. We went next door to see the new baby – for a few minutes we thought – but were invited to lunch. This is difficult as there was no indication of when lunch would actually happen. We did say that I needed time to prepare for the Bible Study (put off due to the service preparation) and the study started at 2pm. It was very generous, but in my fragile state, the local food was more difficult to stomach than usual. We discovered that the prefects meeting had run over – it lasted more than three hours) and many of the students who come to the Bible study are prefects and they, understandably, couldn’t face another meeting straight after. Andrea was on duty and after we did eventually manage to start the study, there was a constant stream of interruptions. Most of which could have waited or been dealt with by one of the other teachers sitting outside the staffroom. Sometimes we feel that anytime we try to do something positive, the negative influences become more pronounced.

On Monday I tried a demonstration of electrolysis with my S3 class. It’s not easy for 40 students to see what’s happening in one small 250cm3 beaker. One of the chemicals not available and the lab assistant said he didn’t have any sodium chloride either. Andrea had some spare salt in the kitchen. I asked for wires and crocodile clips. One would expect them to be attached as the purpose of the clips is to make it easier to attach the wires to the electrodes. Not here. Fortunately, I partly suspected something like this and brought a screwdriver. And electrodes – carbon (pencil lead) and copper (electrical wire with the plastic insulation removed) – proved to be a bit troublesome too. It was hard work keeping the positive and negative leads apart too. I suspect this was the first time electrolysis had been demonstrated in the school. The lesson had started late too. The porridge (for the student’s breakfast) had not been cooked because the cooks could not find the key to the kitchen. Considering they students had been up from 6am or earlier, missed breakfast at 9am and it was now 10am, they were remarkably well behaved and philosophical. Then we heard that some don’t eat all day. After a brief break I took Brenda to Kuluva Hospital for a check up and went into town to collect the frames for the panels. One was ready. This means that one was not. Hm. I returned to Kuluva for Branda but as the doctor was on rounds we had to wait for a further hour. Meanwhile the rain started. And got heavier and I don’t like driving in the rain here or after it has rained. But there was no choice. On our way back we were stopped by someone asking if we had a jack. I couldn’t lie. So with reluctance we stopped in the rain and mud and lent the jack to the driver of a pick-up loaded with wood and on a slope. He had a puncture. I made it clear that we could only stop for a short time – the baby was waiting to be fed and the rain was getting heavier. Within seconds I realised that the driver hadn’t a clue. The wood had not been offloaded and due to the slope all the weight was over the back axle, and it was back wheel that needed to be replaced. The road was mud too – yes, the jack did sink into the ground. In the end, one of the local helpers almost wrestled the jack back from the driver so that we could continue on our way. Little progress had been made in 40 minutes. If it were not for the baby (and rain) I might have stayed. I was very relieved when we saw the school again without further adventures.

We collected Peter Thomas (the minister of our church in Brentwood) from the airstrip on Tuesday morning. It was great to see him. We had lunch with John Ondoma (Chair of Ushindi Board) before a very interesting meeting with Bishop Joel. It’s the first time we’ve had a formal meeting with him talk about our work and hear how he saw our role here. He had been in office for about a year and has been travelling around the diocese trying to build bridges and sort out his priorities too. He is a good man, very observant and has a vision for the church here but is under no illusions of the problems which need to be addressed. Later that evening during a conversation with one of the Ushindi teachers Andrea discovered that there is a definite difference, and disagreement, with the way we handle students. We have not been seen to punish them harshly. This is not news to us but is the most explicit expression so far as there are few if any opportunities to air differences of opinion, even if they were to be expressed.

Wednesday was a quieter day and we spent much time talking things over with Peter. We took him on a tour around the school and spent much of the evening discussing and drawing on his experiences with demons and other evil influences.

On Thursday Peter joined us for some lessons, sitting in with S3 electrolysis and S4 Maths revision. He took part in the S2 lesson on hard water by describing when a water pipe to his house was blocked and why. In the afternoon I met with the Principal, Deputy and Director of Studies. I have been trying to get these meetings to happen since February. This is the third one. We feel that this is an opportunity to challenge some of the ideas with those who influence the other teachers. The Principal is in agreement with our views and recognised that he needs assistance in putting them into practice. I’m not convinced that the others agree, partly because they say nothing. I tried to emphasise the importance of lessons. They agreed that it is important for students to attend lessons. But I was focussing on getting teachers to attend and teach lessons. This was not so well received and even though I gave opportunities for questions or disagreement there was none, possibly because the Principal was there and it is not good to disagree openly with those in authority. I think that there may be a silent disagreement and misunderstanding of what we believe is important in an effective school. This is hardly surprising as we come from such different experiences and backgrounds. The challenge is to find non-threatening ways to explore the differences.

We taught our lessons on Friday morning before setting off for lunch at Mary’s home. We went via her cassava field – at least as far as I could get along the path which was very overgrown. We also gave Brenda a lift to the hospital. It was a wonderful meal and a privilege for them to share their home with us for a few hours. We had another look at Tom’s wheelchair. His Dad, Isaac, had done a good job with the foam we provided and had re-covered the seat and back. The frame is starting to corrode and the straps need to be replaced – but we’re working on this. Mary does some sewing to earn more money but the machine was not working. Our local travelling engineer (Peter) had a look and made some adjustments so that the machine is working again. Mary and Isaac were both so pleased that it is working and without expensive repairs. We returned to school just in time for the assembly and formal introduction of Pastor Peter to the staff and students. He presented some First Aid books to the Health Prefects. These are much needed – especially with the pictures. Peter later spoke at the evening devotions for students. Now we know what we need to aim to do! He was brief, simple and direct. We find that hard to do in a maximum of 10 minutes!

On Saturday morning I felt a bit rough so we delayed our planned visit to town and eventually cancelled our coffee meeting with Cathy Asiki and family. Pity. However, after a rest, my stomach seemed to stop objecting to the prospect of another drive and we made the journey to Kuluva to see Ann and Allan. We really wanted to see the new car they had driven from Kampala yesterday. They had arrived in the evening and just as it got dark some of the local clergy arrived to bless the car! While we were showing Peter the view of Ushindi School from their balcony and working out ways of getting electricity from them to us (it flows downhill, by the way) a local craftsman came to show us his wares. We bought a couple of small pieces after the usual discussions.

Well, I did try to be brief. It was an eventful week.