Visiting Mubende

Last week I had the opportunity to visit some of the rural ARM schools in the Mubende district. Our mission was to take hundreds of Bibles and some teaching resources to help improve the religious education curriculum at the schools. We left early in the morning to start our 2 ½ hour trek out to the first school. Some of the roads were paved, but you know the roads are bad when the driver drives on the dirt shoulder rather than the paved road because of the numerous potholes.
Our first school visit was to Agape Christian School. Abby, the director of schools, met with the teachers to tell them what we had brought and her expectations for using the new curriculum. She also asked them what their biggest difficulties were. The consensus was the lack of text books- something that would never happen in the U.S. When we passed out bibles, the students were so excited to open them up and read them. Something about the children out there in the village is different. The children have this genuine thankfulness that is so sweet. Before leaving, we visited the ARM staff at this location and ate lunch: matooke, posho, beans, greens. The same thing could be said of the staff as the children: there was just something rejuvenating and exciting about being around these people. They were so gracious that we had even come to see them.
As we were leaving for the second school, it began to rain. In a matter of minutes, the dirt roads became muddy and slippery. Now, it would be a challenge just to make it to Grace Christian School in Kachungwa village (which means Orange and made me think of home in the OC). As we slipped and slided along the small dirt road, I was thinking we would definitely slide off the road and fall over into a ditch. We did get stuck a couple time in the deep mud puddles, but the teachers, ARM staff, and pastor came to the rescue and pushed us out.
The best part of visiting this second school was that my sponsor child, Ruth, goes to this school. This was the second time I have been able to visit Ruth (the first time being last summer when I was here for two weeks) but this time I was in her home village. I met her two sisters, who also go to the school. Then, while it was still raining, we traveled to her grandmother’s house, whom the three girls lives with. The path to the house was muddy and slippery as well. Renee even took a tumble. At the house, I met Ruth’s grandmother (jaja) and another elder sister who live in the small dirt floored home. I walked in and saw two small benches, a radio, a mat on the floor, and a jug that is used as a type of refrigerator. There was another small room they showed me, where the girls sleep. There were 3 mattresses covering the entire floor of the room and a rope strung across the middle of the room with all of their clothes hanging from it. The kitchen in the back of the house had just collapsed due to the rain- smoke still rising from inside. We sat in the front room and the grandmother told me about raising the girls on her own and how much she appreciates my help through Ruth’s sponsorship. After speaking with the grandmother for a while, the girls went to get my gift. They came back carrying a chicken! I didn’t want to take their chicken since I knew they needed it much more than I did, but it is rude to refuse a gift. They were so excited to give me this token of their appreciation. I left Ruth with a small gift as well, but I felt is was nothing in comparison to what they gave me.


Driving back we had to take a different road, because the one we came in on was too steep to take with the roads being so slippery. A boy from the school came along with us to show us the way. Only, he thought he’d take us down a shortcut that was only as wide as a village walking path. We were tearing through tall grass and bushes until we slid off the path and into a matooke tree. For several minutes the driver tried to maneuver around the tree, but the road was too slippery and we kept sliding right back into the tree. More and more children came to watch, so they were recruited to help push the van. We managed to get around that tree but then came up to another one we couldn’t get around. The wheels sped around in the mud creating a deeper and deeper trench that we could not get out of. All of a sudden the men from the school/church came around the corner to help us. Abby go out in her high heels to help as well, but we were told just to stay, so we did, despite our guilty conscious for not helping. All of a sudden a man with a machete ran at some of the children scaring them down the road. Apparently it was the landowner. We were ruining part of his field. He was told he would be compensated, and then he was all in on helping us out of the ditch we had created. It took a lot of manpower, spinning wheels, and prayer to get us out. Then, we slip-slided within centimeters of a house before getting back to the main road. By the end of it all, I was glad to be home, but so thankful for the experience.

Notes on the First Week of School

So, I finally had my first week of school. I was supposed to just be observing in several of the classrooms, so I could get a feel for how things are done in Ugandan schools. I got more than I expected. I realize that there are going to be some differences between American schools and Ugandan schools, but some of the things I saw just didn't seem right. I think I've got my work cut out for me...
1. Students are in school from 7am-5pm (technically, although I think some sneak away or are sent away on occasion), yet I think only about 2 hours of work is actually accomplished. A typical class goes like this: the teacher stands at the front of the class and writes exercises on the chalkboard for about 15 minutes while behind his or her back the students are talking, hitting each other, throwing things, moving around, etc., then the teacher has the students read what is written on the board at least 5 times outloud, then the students spend about 45 minutes copying the exercises into their notebooks, which would only take 5 minutes if they were given 5 minutes, but since they have 45 min. some will take 45 min. to copy it down while others take 5min. and then sit there doing NOTHING for the other 40 minutes.
2. I was asked to teach, impromtu, an English lesson on the topic of building. You know when you are ASKED to do something, but you feel like you don't really have the option of saying no? Yeah, so I was in front of 70 students, doing my best to get them to understand my accent and actually learn something. I was the crazy white teacher asking students to EXPLAIN their answers- not something they are used to doing, ever. So, when a student gave an answer and I said, "How do you know?" I was getting blank stares. I was also left in a classroom by myself several times with no instructions. The kids had nothing to do but create chaos. So, once again, the crazy white teacher took over and made them learn something or at least use their minds. I do have to say, it is difficult to manage 70-80 kids in a class, especially when you don't know their names yet.
3. Behavior management is a little different here. Ok, completely different. There basically is no behavior management other than beatings. Teachers threaten it constantly and then will select a student at any time to receive a beating. Students will be acting crazy and the teacher will do nothing. Then, a student reads a word wrong in front of the class or doesn't give an answer in a complete sentence or doesn't write neatly enough in their notebook and they are beaten with a stick. And they whack hard! It is difficult to watch. Students become scared to even answer basic questions in fear of being wrong and then beaten. No one's perfect. Making a mistake doesn't warrant a beating in my book.
4. Break time and lunch: The schools here provide students and teachers with a snack at breaktime and then lunch in the afternoon. I was a little nervous to eat the village food, but I at least tried it. I ate matooke (similar to plantains) with peanut sauce and posho (maize flour) with beans. The food is served on pre-prepared plates, in no small amount. So, I would put about a quarter of it on a different plate to eat and leave the rest for someone else. When asked about it, I said I was not used to the food yet so eating just a little matooke or posho made me very full, which was mostly true. They are very filling, since they are all carbs, but it's not my favorite either (especially when there's a gritty-ness to it that I'm pretty sure is dirt).

Next week I get to visit some rural schools, so that should be interesting. I'm also hoping to start some reading groups. I'll let you know how it goes!

Some Pictures

To the disappointment of some, I was not able to upload the aerobics video to blogger yet. But, here is, at least, a couple still photos to give you an idea of what it is like. I know the pics are great, but notice people facing in all directions! haha!

A couple people also asked me to include some pictures of my new room. Well, I've been in it for a few weeks now, but I guess it's still new :) I moved out of the original room when another guy from the USA came to stay for the next 4 months. He couldn't go in the outside room because there were already two girls (the Ugandan girls I live with) outside. Not bad...it's actually a little quieter out there, except for the rooster!

Any other picture requests? I'll take some of the school I'm working at soon. I'm also going to visit a couple rural schools next week, so maybe some from there. Let me know and I'll do my best to include more photos!

English Class

Today, I learned that in Uganda the words hut, hat, and heart are homophones (sound the same but have different meanings/spellings). So are born and bone, first and fast, bird and bad, and cat and cut.
I also learned that said and called are two syllable words: "say-id" and "call-ed"
Good to know...

Month One...

You know you've been in Uganda for a month when...

1. All your shoes are starting to have a nice reddish-brown coat on them.



2. Your feet have more blisters and soars on them than you thought possible (these are just a couple of the pics- there could have been more!).



3. Your very STRAIGHT hair all of a sudden starts to get WAVY in the humidity.



4. Your taxi driver almost runs into a wall when you tell him to turn left because he thinks you want him to turn right.


5. You've gotten multiple marriage proposals from Ugandans who say they "love you".


6. The rooster becomes your alarm clock WAY earlier than you want to get up.


7. A chicken runs at you when you walk out the back door (thinking I had food?!?) or you see an occasional monkey sitting on the fence. And your pet turkey is soon going to be Thanksgiving dinner.


8. Ugandan aerobics becomes a part of your weekly routine (oh how I wish I could have included the video on this one!).

Sorry, guys. I tried to include some videos on a couple of these, but the connection is just too slow to download it. If anyone else has a suggestion, I'll take it because I was letting about a 5sec video of the rooster download for about 4 hours before I gave up. I didn't even try the 20 sec aerobic video.

Aerobics: One More, Two More, Thank You Very Much!

A couple of friends and I have decided to start taking an aerobics class. It is always entertaining. The class is mixed with Ugandans and westerners. The music is always funny mixes and the instructor speeds them up so they all sound like Mickey Mouse. It is a mixer of Ugandan local and international dance music. Unfortunately most of the experiences fall under "you had to be there" but here are some things that we as a collective have experienced or seen.

1. An instructor with a huge belly coming into the workout room, dropping his pants turning around to give a full Monty view before changing into his sweat pants. I am not sure if this is to inspire us to run... mostly out of the class room.
2. Ugandan men flailing their arms around trying to keep up with the instructor with zero rhythm and doing their own unique steps. Thus, destroying the myth that all Africans have rhythm.
3. The instructor flirting so much with the Ugandan girl who contorts her body in strange directions with every move she makes. I don’t know how she twists and turns like that without breaking her back. But I want to tell them to go in the back an just do whatever it is they need to do so we can focus on class.
4. The mother daughter duo who always lay down about fifteen minutes into class.
5. The ancient Ugandan man who has a phobia of using the step during step class. He prefers to run in place and kick at random intervals. Always moving in the opposite direction as the rest of us. Often almost kicking me as he seems to always take up residence beside me.
6. During every class there are very large men who come by and watch the class donned in blue sheets nice and wet from the steam room leaving little to the imagination.
7. Our instructor doesn’t know how to count often he calls out 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 2, reverse. Of course it took us a month to figure out what he was saying. Or "one more, two more, five more." Doesn’t he know if it is only one more he can’t ask us to do five more and then make us do three? But he always thanks us for our excellent work and for trying.
8. Flailing arm man wears very interesting work out outfits- last week he had on a bright red t-shirt tucked into blue swim trunks while wearing trainers and black dress socks.
9. The instructor will randomly stop class and give us a break for 2 minute break so he can go and change out of his pants and into shorts because he has sweat so much. During this time my motivation disappears with my heart rate.
10. More often than not the entire class gets lost as the instructor switches to advanced mode adding twists and turns.
11. Mosquitoes manage to stay away during "cardio" section of class but swarm by your legs and head when you are trying to do crunches. You know you will be eaten alive if you notice them swarming when you are jumping around with your arms flailing.

All in all in we have a great time and everyone tries really hard and we are always enthusiastic it is just sometimes difficult not burst out laughing in class although sometimes that laughter is what keeps us going! We are aggressively attempting to get some video of this so you can experience it first hand.

--Renee and Beth

Working Hard or Hardly Working

Which is better or, for that matter, worse: to be busy working or having nothing to do? To be working so hard that you miss the little moments to just BE in a place, to just BE with people, OR to feel like you are not being productive or useful at all? For the last few weeks, the children have all been on holiday from school (they are between terms), which means no work for me. Sure, I should enjoy relaxing, reading, walking around town, etc. But, it has also been a struggle. Many times in the last couple weeks I have questioned myself. What are you doing? Sure, I've gone in to the school several times to speak with the Headmistress, Director of Academic Studies, and Director of ARM Schools to try and solidify my purpose, goals, schedule, and action plan, but things have gone slowly. I've done some prep work, but until I am in the schools and can experience their education system, it is hard to truly prepare. So, I am learning to just be patient, to slow down and learn about the culture and my surroundings. In many ways, it is actually a blessing that I was not thrown into the fire to fend for myself. I am starting to feel more comfortable with the village paths, the taxi routes, the stares and calls, expressing my expectations, etc. all which simply take time. I'm sure the exhaustion from working with students all day long will be here soon enough. Then, I'll look back and wish I was hardly working! ha! Interesting that the theme in my devotions this month is contentment. Be content with where God has put you in this moment for whatever purpose He may have... I am reminding myself that all the time now :)