Rain jackets…check!
Umbrellas….check!
Prepared for the Ugandan rain…..Not a chance!
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| My student Gilbert |
Those of us that volunteer at the school were invited to a
dinner party at another one of our few volunteer’s house. Rona is from Sweden
and lives with 3 other European girls who are here with Project Trust. They
graduated from high school and spent their gap year here in Uganda. They have
been here for 9 months and have about 2 more months. I thought what we were doing
took a lot of guts, but it takes an extremely special 18 year old to travel to
Uganda for a year immediately after high school to volunteer.
It was such a good night, but it started out pretty soggy.
We definitely entered a bit of a storm. It was lightning and thundering, yet we
were determined to join Rona and the other teachers from Hope Academy. We were
all soaking wet and it seemed to rain harder as we were walking. Eventually, it
was raining so hard we decided to run. Everyone we passed was standing in their
doorway staring at us as if saying, “Look at those crazy foolish Americans!” I
have never seen Kaihura so quiet; we were literally the only people in sight
that were outside. Nonetheless, we made it almost on time, but the rest of the
guest waited until the rain subsided and came on the ever present “African Time”.
Apparently, rain is enough to stop everything in Kaihura, even school! The food
was delicious; we had good conversation, and topped off the night with a little
dance party.  |
| Dinner Party |
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| Zach teaching my class |
Monday- Wednesday of this week our students were taking district
wide midterm tests. I was barely in the classroom at all this week. Most of my
time was spent in the office grading tests. Grading the test was kind of
stressful and upsetting. The tests from the district seem to be poorly made and
with confusing directions. I was told that a score of 40% or higher is
considered passing. Sadly, I graded many many test with a score of 20% and
lower. It was frustrating because I know that my students are smart and I know their
potential. I also know that some of the exercises on the test were things we
practiced in class, but they clearly did not understand the directions. In
addition, each of these tests is supposed to last 2 ½ hours. How can you expect
a 9 year old to still for 2 ½ hours and take a test? It never took that long
though because the students would give up and leave whole pages blank. It
greatly saddened me, but beginning Thursday we started reviewing the test so
the students can better understand what the directions were asking of them.
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| Tracy and Gloria |
I felt bad for not being with the students all week, so to
make it up I tried to teach all morning on Friday since we only work a half
day. I was so incredibly worn out from teaching from 8am-11am. 3 hours straight
of standing in front of the class, having to raise your voice to keep their
attention, and write on a chalkboard is hard work. This trip has given me a
whole new appreciation for teachers at any level. Teaching is not easy, yet the
profession is almost always taken for granted.
I am really getting to know some of the other students in my
group and it’s exciting and fun to just learn about everyone’s lives. We are
all so different and I love how we were sort of thrown together and placed
half-way across the world. I have come to love some of the random talks the
girls in my room and I end up having. We seem to talk about everything under
the sun and our conversations usually end in an explosion of laughter. I really
couldn’t have asked for a better group.
 |
| Monkeys on the side of the road |
We still play volleyball nearly every day in the village. It
has become something that most of us look forward to. Some of the teachers from
our school join us as well, so it’s cool to have additional time to hang out with
them. We have made legitimate friends with some people here in the community.
Stephen and Prossy are two Ugandans that live with us and are both in their 20’s.
We have all gotten really attached to them. They are some of the sweetest and
strongest people ever. I really don’t know what we would do without them.
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| Minju and I |
Some of us started having bible study almost every night. It
is really nice to be able to share my faith with others who are on the same
journey to become better Christians. Although we are of various denominations,
the love for Christ is the same. We have been reading the book of Joshua and discussing
2 chapters at a time. We are all just young people, trying to live our life the
right way. We have been trying out different churches in Fort Portal on Sunday.
The first Sunday we attended an Anglican church and the second weekend a
Catholic church. It is sometimes hard to understand the service even though it’s
in English, but it’s nice to be in the presence of other worshipers.
Deciding what to include in each blog is becoming quite a
task because so much goes on during the week, but I think this is a sufficient overview
of what happened this past week.
Until Next Time,
*Nicole
*Nicole
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