“Teacher, Teacher- shoes- I don’t have” yelled one of the students at Hope Academy to me as I rushed to board the van going to the city of Fort Portal for the weekend. I noticed him the day before running around school with only 1 shoe but I assumed he was playing and had thrown the other one at a friend or something. I soon realized, however, that he is one of the poorer students at school and those were his only shoes. This time when I saw him he was wearing an oversized Tshirt and no shoes. Times such as this continue to make me question privilege and the luck of place of birth. I’ve heard several students in our group talk about how great Uganda is, how beautiful the landscape is, and how happy the people are. I’m guilty of it too, but how do we keep from fantasizing it? How do we stay true to Uganda and not make it something it’s not? We should recognize poverty, we should recognize inefficiencies, we should recognize ingenuities, we should recognize pain, we should recognize happiness. How can I talk about how people here are so content with the little they have and not recognize that many probably long for more. Surely that student wasn’t satisfied without having shoes to wear. Until we stop falsifying Uganda, I don’t think we can truly help.
Dr.Schaad has sparked us to think about privilege and the “I earned it, therefore I should be able to keep it” mentality. How did we earn it? At whose cost? Did the other person have a fair chance? Did I really start at the beginning or was I already somehow ahead? I think it’s dangerous when we feel entitled because “we earned it” and “pulled ourselves up by our boot straps”. Who gave us the boots? What about people who have no boots?
I’ve had several conversations with my Ugandan friends that have gone to college and are really struggling to find a job. These are people that beat the odds by even making it to college, have high aspirations, and are willing to work hard. Yet they still continue to struggle so much. Here you can go to college and get something like a certificate and a diploma at a university. It’s somewhat like a 2 year vs. 4 year college in the United States. Uganda is a cash economy so most people don’t have savings accounts that collect interest, or invest in stock, etc. I would think that this makes being prudent with your money difficult. And no one is looking out for him/herself. The family is very important. I’ve seen 4 year olds at Home Again (the orphanage) pick up and carry infants. Even at such a young age they are indoctrinated to care for their own. For an older child this can manifest into immense pressure, so much so that they drop out of school in order to work and help pay school fees for the younger ones. [side note: some of us that go to Home Again in the afternoon have jokingly created a game called ‘water or pee’ because when we get there and the kids start jumping & climbing on you, you often aren’t positive what that wetness is that you suddenly feel!]
Wednesday was my day to stay home and do chores. Boy did I work my butt off! After breakfast I washed dishes from about 8:30am - 9:30am. I then went straight to helping Deborah with laundry, which we did from 9:30am- 1pm. We set up 4 basins of water under a tree in the front yard. 2 basins for washing and 2 for rinsing. She would wash first then pass the clothes to me to be washed again. After my basin was full we would move down and do the same thing but rinsing. The boys kakhi’s had a lot of dirt stains so we ended up having to wash those 3 times. I never realized the strength you need to ring out pants and towels. By the end my fingers were cut up and my arms sore. We started standing bent over the basins but it only took a couple of minutes for my back to start hurting so I suggested we get chairs. I couldn’t imagine doing all the laundry standing bent over. Deborah said they switch every other day who washes and when it isn’t your day, you’re busy nursing your aching back. Doing the laundry made me really rethink what I throw in the dirty pile and how many times you can actually wear certain things before washing them. I also quickly decided that I will never grumble about doing a load of laundry back home! Cleaning dinner dishes took an hour and a half….and the power was out. I will also never complain about doing a load of dishes in the dish washer!
Thank God it hasn’t been raining as much as the first week so a couple of us have gotten a chance to play volleyball in town in the evenings. It’s been a lot of fun. Guys from the community join us and a crowd of nearby children also come to watch. After dinner one night, I was playing with the son and daughter of one of the women that works with us and I pointed to the sky asking her son what that was. I was looking for him to respond “the moon”, but instead he shocked me and confidently said “God!” That really put a smile on my face. I love how God can use anyone, even a child.
One of the hardest things about teaching my P.4 class is the range of abilities. I taught a lesson Friday where they read a shopping list and had to answer comprehension questions about it. I figured it would take 20min max. Most finished in 10-25min, but I still had 3 students working on it after 45min. Even after I repeatedly explained the questions and reread the passage with them they continued to struggle. It was clear that the information was getting lost in translation. I applaud all of my students for even attempting school in English- a foreign language. Most of them only speak English at school because they don’t have anyone to practice with at home. I remember how hard my language classes were in high school and college, I couldn’t imagine learning every subject in a different language.
My time is quickly passing. I have about a week and a half left in Uganda and I intend to continue spending every moment possible with those that I love here!
Until Next Time,
*Nicole
