Week 70 (18 - 24 Nov 2007)

Photo: Andrea, Joyce and Mary sorting through our very own home grown soya beans. We ate them in the next few meals - and survived!


On Sunday morning Andrea was feeling better (but not yet 100%). I knew she was improving because she was starting to point out some things that she found irritating. I wasn’t responsible for all of them! We even managed to sing a “new” song with two of the students during the service. Well, they sang while I made strange noises with a guitar. Some readers will know it, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God”. Hardly new to us, but the students do have a limited repertoire which we’re trying to extend. Adaku John, Deputy Principal and neighbour, preached the sermon – and included three songs! Later we discussed the initial plans for the Advent service planned for next week. John told us that someone had been booked to preach next week and asked if we could delay the Christmas service until the following week, the last Sunday of term. This is when we wanted it anyway but were told that the last Sunday of each term was reserved for the Principal. We asked John to remind the Principal. Also, last year the “carol” service was an additional service on Sunday afternoon. “Why?” we asked. No obvious reason was the reply – a reply we’ve been given several times now. Our spirits lifted considerably when John said that he had been wondering why the morning services were at 8am. He had come to his own conclusion too. No guesses – “no obvious reason”! So he was very amenable when we suggested that the Advent service begin AFTER breakfast, say 9.30am or even 10am. The food that often accompanies such special services could be taken at the normal lunch time and not an extra meal and the kitchen staff could prepare it rather than the girl students, with the female teachers who would then miss the service. I’m not brave enough yet to suggest that the male teachers and boys prepare a meal. So we’ll see what happens. Students were busy preparing for the examinations so the Sunday afternoon Bible study didn’t happen. I talked with the few that turned up (30 minutes late) about future studies and if there was a better time as Sundays seem to be so busy for them. The study we were going to do was on the Sabbath – the day of rest.

Andrea managed to teach on Monday morning, but slept for a few hours afterwards. For those who might be concerned, it’s not malaria or typhoid but seems to be a virus like flu resulting in some aching, tiredness, loss of appetite and diarrhoea. There seems to be something going around. Mary and Joyce (our thrice weekly helpers) have been looking after our plot and harvested some soya beans. So they were put out to dry in the sun. It seems a lot of effort for a few beans which would cost around £3 to buy, but if you have no money it’s worth it. For us it is an experiment, so Mary and Joyce will be given some beans and we’ll eat the rest. Andrea is Teacher on Duty this week but as we discovered that some of those scheduled to be on duty during this week and next will not be around I volunteered to swap to this week so that I could cover for Andrea if she could not manage some duties.

The power is back on at Kuluva – after two weeks. So on Tuesday I hurriedly packed our various electrical bits and pieces and looked forward to working in a quieter place than our house. The electricity is fine, but the usual occupants of the house at Kuluva, Ann and Allan, will be returning from Kampala at the end of the week. So we have Michael digging outside and Lucy cleaning inside. They also have long and loud conversations with each other and anyone who passes by. But talking to people is more important than working and if you’ve never had the opportunity to study beyond primary school it’s hard to understand the need for quiet when working. But at least I’ve been able to catch up on some things that don’t require as much concentration. That’s my excuse for any spelling, typographical or grammatical errors in the blog for the last 7 days.

Little did I know how busy the next few weeks would be – this is the first chance I’ve had to write the blog and it’s now Dec 11th, and we’re back in the UK so I’ll have to mentally make the jump to a different continent and time zone!

The exam period started on Wednesday with the S3 Chemistry practical – three shifts of 1 hour each. The students were great and there were no problems. I met with the Principal for a couple of hours in the afternoon and discovered that the Director of Studies will be out of school for most of this and next week. He is responsible for organising the examinations. I offered to take over and make sure that the things we discussed on the training day were implemented. We also discovered that the BBC World Service were now broadcasting on FM and that we could receive a clear signal fairly easily. It was wonderful to hear the clear British voices reading news with some longer words and standard grammar!

On Thursday Andrea invigilated her S2 Maths exam while I marked the S3 practical paper. We went to down for lunch and some supplies before returning in time for Andrea, as Teacher on Duty, to supervise the student’s communal work. Most of the lessons have stopped now even though only S3 have the practical exams. We’re not sure why S1 and S2 lessons have stopped and we plan to teach them at least once each on Friday.

We have been noticing that the students have been more reluctant than usual to attend the morning parade at 7.10am. This could be because the teachers on duty are not always there to supervise and that there are no lessons or other activities until the exams begin at 9am. On Friday morning the Head Prefect suggested that the parade be cancelled for the exam period. There are advantages and disadvantages of this but I mentioned it to the Principal later in the day. He was not at the assembly but the Deputy Principal and Director of Studies arrived in school just as the afternoon assembly was starting. We didn’t have time to discuss the morning parade with them but the prefect on duty made the request in his report of the week. Both the DP and DoS told the students that the parade was important and would not be cancelled. At 7pm a student, Elnai James knocked at our door. He had been bitten on his foot by something a few minutes earlier and his face was starting to swell. It was swelling visibly as we spoke to him. We arrived at the hospital within 45 minutes and by this stage he couldn’t see out of one eye. He was treated quickly and the allergic reaction was halted so he was able to return to school with us by 9pm. That must be the quickest trip to and from the hospital yet and I think the car is still recovering from the flight over the bumps! Our stomachs were still trying to return to their usual place a few hours later. We wondered what would have happened if we weren’t there to recognise the allergic reaction (Richard had a similar reaction some years ago) and to act quickly. We think there were no other teachers on site at the time.

Andrea spent most of Saturday working i.e. marking in the staff room and being available for the students. This gave me a quiet day in our house where I was able to catch up a little. In the afternoon the Deputy Principal decided to sort out the chairs – many have been left out around the site overnight. Each student was to be given a numbered chair to look after. I missed the main activity but Andrea described the resulting chaos in some detail – even some of the student suggested better ways of organising the activity. We wondered why it could not have waited until Monday when other teachers would be around and all the students would be sitting on the chairs rather than being spread over the whole site and in the middle of other jobs such as washing their clothes. Someone had also decided that the S2 could do their exams in two rooms to give them more space – there are 48 in this class. Last week I had suggested, and I thought it was agreed, that S2 should do their exams in the hall and the spare chairs stored in one of the two vacant classrooms. The need for an extra invigilator had been overlooked. I reversed the decision and arranged for the students to set out the tables in the hall. On Sunday the Principal came and I explained why I had done this – he understood and was happy with the change. Just as we were settling down to watch a DVD at 8.30pm there was a knock at the door. Not unusual but we had a strange feeling that this would mean another trip to the hospital. We were right: one of the girls had collapsed 30 minutes earlier and hadn’t come round. It took a while for her to be admitted – and stayed two nights. We returned very tired at 11pm