+"Is your mom Ugandan?"
*"Nope, she's Black American."
+"Is your dad Ugandan?"
*"No, he's Black American too!"
+"Nooooo, you are Ugandan! Look...[grabs my hand] We are same!"
^^^^This is a conversation I have had numerous times with my students, other students at the school, and adults in the village haha. Everyone is so amazed and still a little skeptical to the fact that I am such a dark complexion yet I'm not Ugandan, or at least African. I then try to explain to them that African Americans have a spectrum of skin complexions. They kindly listen, but the conversation usually ends in them making the conclusion that I must be Ugandan. I don't fight it though, because they are a beautiful people and it would be an honor to be like them.
Lets rewind a little bit and I'll let you in on what's been going on with me. So we had a 13hr plane flight from Washington DC, to Ethiopia. As much as I love international travel, I am not a fan of the extremely long flights. After about 6hrs I get so antsy and need to walk around. On top of that our plane was filled with babies and young children. But, the service was amazing and I'm convinced Ethiopian Airlines has the most beautiful flight attendants. They look like they should all be in a magazine somewhere. One time when the flight attendant came by and I asked for water and she gave me wine. But, don't worry she simply misunderstood me, Jesus is still the only one who can turn water into wine haha.
About 18-20 of us live in a house with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. I think it's one of the nicest houses in the village. We even have a flat screen tv! Which we thought didn't worked. None of us wanted it to work because having that kind of technology can change the feel of the trip and we genuinely wanted to have an Ugandan experience. But, once again to our surprise it worked, however we have only ever used it twice. Two Ugandans from the NGO live with us, Stephen and Pressi. They are the sweetest people ever! Stephen is like our translator and goes everywhere with us. Pressi plus two other Ugandan ladies cook, clean, and wash our clothes. Don't worry though, this is still no vacation, we all have assigned chores like dishes, bathrooms, or cleaning floors. This is our house >>
The food has been delicious! I feel so much healthier because everything is natural and not stuffed with added preservatives and such. I can definitely understand why people say you lose weight when you go to Africa because we eat good healthy portions, but don't stuff ourselves and we walk everywhere. I probably walk at least 3 miles a day. We eat a lot of rice and occasionally meat (it's a commodity here.) I would describe the state of Uganda in comparison to my other trips as being better than Haiti, but worse than Peru. They are definitely no stranger to poverty (I have several students that come to school with no shoes and they all wear the same clothes almost everyday)
I teach at a primary school called Hope Academy. I am a student teacher in the p.3 class (primary 3). My students are aged 8-13years old. My teacher's name is Ronald, but the children call their teachers master. They call me Madam or Madam Nicole. They have the utmost respect for those older than them. When they want to leave to classroom and go to the restroom they bow down on one knee and raise their hand. I was so taken aback the first time and had no clue what the little boy was doing. Poor boy sat there for a while until he began taping me and I realized what he was doing. Such a contrast to American children who seem to have little to no respect for their teachers and other adults now days. They have multiple songs that they always sing to us. And after every lesson they sing a little song and clap for me saying thank you. I have 20 students in a small classroom with dirt floors. The children crowd together on only 5 benches. The resources are extremely limited, sometimes as many as 4 children are expected to share one book. They have so much potential, but it is so easy for them to get lost in such a class setting. I have begun to work one on one with some students that are behind. So far I have taught a lot of reading and writing, but I still assist the teacher in anything during the day. The school day is from 7:30am-4:30pm, I start working at 8am and a half day on Friday. Majority of the class is taught in English, the students aren't great at English, but they are decent and getting better. I find myself having to repeat the same thing 3 times but in different ways until they understand. I also sometimes have to say things slightly different to accommodate for my American accent.On the weekends we travel to a nearby city called Fort Portal and stay in a hotel. It is supposed to be a break for us since our living conditions were going to be pretty rough (however, they turned out to be very nice.) Like our house, the hotel surprised us so much. It is more like a resort, we even have a pool. This place is immaculate. A couple of us were talking about how we actually feel bad because we will go back to work Monday, our students will ask about our weekend, and in the back of our mind we know that we lived in luxury to get a "break" from village life, but they live in make-shift houses with dirt floors and no electricity 24/7. It's definitely something to think about.
These are pictures from our hotel on the weekends>
*Nicole
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