The kitchen

For those of you following this project, here are the latest updates regarding how the funds are helping. I love this shot of some of the smaller kids lining up for a good meal, cooked in the kitchen you see to the left.

Cooks and serving women

Happy little boy!

The letter to the right is from Ojok Morgan, orphaned for eight years and living on the street.

Asleep on the street

A typical Ugandan village, accessible only by footpath.

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“Avoid sugar mummies and sugar daddies”

“Virginity is healthy”

Working with LABE has given me an inside view of the sorry state of education – or the lack thereof – here.  Since I’ve been invited to and have written a few articles on the impact of all of the above topics for a Human Rights magazine, I’ve had to do some interesting research.  One of the figures that comes up repeatedly has to do with catalysts that cause young girls to drop out of school.  The greatest toll comes when girls hit puberty – as early as 4^th grade.  The first hit is taken because there are not separate facilities for girls and boys at school.  This is not like some countries where you have unisex bathrooms (and that would not usually occur in schools);  here it translates into filthy latrines with no doors. So one push in schools that receive any outside funding for projects is to require separate facilities.

A good road to the village

So, last week, Joy (LABE) and I drove out to one of the schools to teach the girls  how to make re-usable menstrual pads or RUMPS. Reusable? Huh?  Something you never thought of in the States – right?   Although there are commercially made kits (AfriPads – factory near Kampala))  that sell for about $5 wholesale for a set that will last a girl about a year, they are only recently reaching the north and even that cost is out of reach for most families. It is especially so young girls who have no way to earn any money.

   
At some schools, supplies are given to the girls on an emergency basis, but that’s rare.  So we are teaching them how to make them from old clothing, towels and sheets.  Often, in the village,  there are no sheets, because there are no beds – people sleep on papyrus mats on the floor.

Cleaning the classroom

So far, we’ve we taught about 150 girls and some parents.  I made kits for about half of those using the supplies you all have sent and old materials I had on hand. We’ve given the others the patterns and instruction and have convinced some hotels to give us old sheets we can make into supplies.   I doubt if American girls have ever given this much thought, but these  girls and their families were excited because  this ONE thing has such a huge impact on their staying in school.

Joy teaching on the mat.

Busy sewing

We had to chase away a gaggle of younger girls and boys to keep some order in the “classroom” but the girls were serious and good students, arranged in their circle of mahogany desks and sharing kits.  Obviously these are hand stitched so there was some sewing instruction too.  An interesting note, when they first moved the desks, they were practically sitting on top of each other – their accustomed practice.  They had to be encouraged to sit farther apart to have room to work.  And yes – this IS farther apart.

Finished product

One  perk of going to the field is that there are always other sights and insights, i.e. this very business-like little girl with the jerry-can on her head. Kids start hauling water at a very young age and when you see women balancing huge loads on their heads, you know those neck muscles and the ability to walk straight and balance these loads comes with a lifetime of practice.   Below, this little girl can’t be older than about three and she’s already an expert.  In the villages, it’s not the least bit unusual to see a five year old carrying an infant on his/her back or something atop the head and walking on the road alone, often at night, jumping into the grass when cars come barreling along.

Tiny girl carrying her jerry can

 And then there’s the teacher’s “lounge” or staff room, here complete with a young chicken trying to get away from the chaos of kids waiting for the end of term assembly    The kids will have until mid September, then be released again in November.

A chicken seeking refuge?

Staff room

And finally, a game of checkers on a locally made checker board. This one is pretty fancy.  Checkers is a popular game, usually using beers bottle caps for checkers.  This one is definitely high end.

A serious game of checkers

This was a fine wrap up to the week before heading to Kampala to train some staff and meet the kids on Wednesday in Entebbe.  Can hardly contain myself I’m so excited to see them. It will be a kick to experience Uganda through their eyes!

The post Helping Girls Stay in School: The RUMPS Project appeared first on Nancy Wesson Consulting.

It started the week after my return from Zanzibar when I got a call that Peter was very sick – severe malaria was the fist diagnosis – and needed to go to the hospital, but was too weak to ride on the back of a Boda.   I’d been out the previous week with a young journalist who wanted to interview Peter for an article on the street kids, so I wanted to introduce her and let Peter decide if he would like to be interviewed.  It was brief but it also gave me a chance to see the school: a government school for War Affected Children, a serious hike outside of Gulu.  I took a private hire the first time, to be sure I knew where to go.  And it was pricey.  Can’t do that very often.  Walking is a commitment – 45 minutes there along a dusty road, periodically receiving a fresh dusting from passing vehicles.

The good news is that Peter reported he felt accepted for the first time in school: other kids had stories similar to his and he was no longer an outcast.  The bad news: “teaching is a problem.’ Schools here  “teach” every day Monday through Saturday, 8am to 7pm.  This means that the kids wake up early, clean the compound and start class. 

Unless it’s a private school (and even here it’s questionable) there is not power (i.e. no lights for study at night) so if there’s homework – it’s done by flashlight or not at all, but usually not at all.   Sunday is for church, then classes in the afternoon.  No down time.   I learned that his school has no teachers on the weekends and they are often not back by Monday, so there’s little or no school on Monday either.  

Then there’s the food issue:  if you are unlucky enough at the end of the line, the “food is finished” before a lot of students have eaten – so the one real meal they get per day, “is not there.’  And there’s the fact that it’s always posho (think hard, overcooked grits) and beans.  hard on the stomach.   Always something here surrounding school.  It’s not uncommon for the government NOT pay teachers for 6 months.   

On Saturday, Patrick – Peter’s friend as a close as you can get to sainthood in human form, walked the 45 minutes to the school with me and we visited.  The kids showed off the keyboard, an old discarded piece lacking batteries that morning.  It took a while; by they came back with 6-AA batteries, we discovered that the spring was “spoiled.”.  We improvised with a key to make the connection and hear a few renditions of a tune missing the upper register.  Moving on the music room, we were treated to the sounds of a “spoiled” piano whose string were rusted or missing, the felts hanging off the strikers at perilous angles. 

  In the process, Peter casually informed us that he’s fainted in football practice – malaria they presume.  By Monday, it had progressed to the point that he needed transport to the hospital, but there was none, as the school’s vehicle is “spoiled” and he was too weak to go by Boda.  Hours later, they loaded Peter on a Boda with a teacher on the back to hold him on…     At the hospital  (a government run operation with neither a functioning lab nor antibiotics)  I found him severely dehydrated and only semi-conscious and placed on a black plastic covered bed.  He stayed the night, so after multiple trips and planning, I provided a blanket and a sheet.  Food would have to be delivered the next morning and during the day – since families here provide all services: food, sheets, etc.

To make a long story short, Peter  – feeing marginally better – left the hospital without being discharged (street kids are accustomed to a lot of independence) and found his way to another friend’s house.  It was morning before we found out his whereabouts and another set of friends (the only ones with a car because they are affiliated with a Canadian funded church) “picked” Peter and brought him BACK to the hospital for a typhoid test, which had to be administered at a clinic because – yep – no functioning lab at the hospital.  It came back negative because they’d given him antibiotics for 12 hours, but 10 other students from the school were admitted the same day with similar symptoms.  

After a few days on Cypro and anti-malarials, Peter went back to school.  After one day, he was out again and last night took 10 phone calls to coordinate another ride to the hospital.  Today, we start again.  Another PCV whose site is at a better hospital will see if he can wrangle admission there to see if we can get to the bottom of this.  It could still be malaria, typhoid, cholera, or giardia.     Welcome to the Petrie-dish of diseases.

Moving along to a week that I hope has some celestial-retrograde explanations (because these could dissipate whereas other cause might not…) the man I have been working with on the Street-Kid project became so obnoxious with volunteers I’d referred to him, I had to withdraw my permission for my name to be used.  That has resulted in a stream of vitriolic e-mails that are frightening in the intensity of his anger. and have pronounced me: the enemy! So that project is off the books for me, but his presence is still around and the issue still raises its ugly head.   The joys of a small town in a place where people get poisoned for less.  

And then – the final blow:  the library.  Much of the work that was done to organize the adult-room of the library was undone, when the bigwigs from Kampala swept through and demanded it be done in the Dewey Decimal System.  Never mind that they have no manpower to catalogue the books, no computer, no card-catalogue, etc.  So half of the books so carefully arranged and labelled were in stacks, shelves re-arranged, etc.  This is so common in the development world that it was just another nail in the coffin.  NGO and government offices run from Kampala where there are resources, hand down mandates to the field where they have no concept of what’s “on the ground.’ They issue commands that cannot possibly be implemented because they are completely out of touch with the realities of life, lack of resources, etc.  Yes – I know I’m ranting.   And I’ve had to step back.  I’d already decided I can’t be attached to the outcome of what happens here in terms of sustainability.   I can plan for it, but not rely on it.  Yet –  but I thought I could at least get out of town with and vaguely intact system.    Apparently not.

Fortunately, the Children’s Library was left relatively unscathed, but the bigwig had recommended that the already termite damaged 6-foot tall shelves be moved along the outside wall of windows, blocking the windows and only light – so the kids could “play.”  Never mind that there is no other light-source and that rain comes in through the windows re-creating the perfect habitat for termites whose mounds are periodically removed from inside the library.

God bless the Ugandan volunteer who has been working with us.  Stella, who started this project as a rather unwilling participant asking what we would “give,” has – after seeing our hard work, good ideas and persistence, become a true ally.  She’s willing to stand her ground in the Children’s Room.    The most amazing victory of yesterday and indeed the last few months came in the form of FIRE.  Remember the thousands of newspapers we organized and the many more thousands of duplicates?  We’d tried for months to find a home for these and there were 5 more years of termite and mildew-ridden issues stored in the falling down back rooms.  She had been intransigent about letting them go.  Yesterday, as we were waiting around for a 12-year old artist to paint an anti-malaria cartoon on the wall (lovely work by the way) she surprised us by saying “Let’s burn the newspapers!”  Michelle (left) encouraging the blaze.

Jubilant, we got to work taking loads to the pit and setting fire.   As the fire began to tickle the edges of some stacks and we were hauling in more, we discovered a man frantically trying to pull them OUT of the fire.  After all this time, we accidentally had found a taker.  We explained that we had thousands of papers he could have for free if he would get them out of there that same day.  In an act of efficiency rarely seen, he arrived with a wooden wheelbarrow. but then commandeered a motorcycle trailer and a bunch of friends and took them all.

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The education of the girl-child and the women they become is one of the single most important contributions society can make to improving income, health and development for the community at large.

It is not overstating the matter to say: “An educated woman can change anything.. and can change everything.”

Article 26 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory… and shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Cultural Attitudes

Despite this and Uganda’s mandate to provide education for all of its citizens, there are lingering cultural attitudes that interfere with the girl child’s access to this basic human right. According to Dr. Osita Excellence O. Oleribe, President, Anti-Child Abuse Society of Africa (ACASA)¹, “Many blame girl non-education on poverty. Although poverty has a role to play, one can comfortably say that non-girl-child education is also the cause of poverty. So they are intertwined in an unholy circle causing and perpetuating each other.”

Many children are made to believe hat formal education is not needed because their fulfilment is “in their husband’s home and since education (to them) is not needed to marry nor make babies, they should just focus on getting the right man, accepting the parent’s choice and making such a man happy.” And even if this belief is not stated, children of both genders are pulled out of school for digging, planting and caring for their siblings or an ill parent. There are many understandable challenges, but these cultural beliefs fall short even in their own justifications. Overall, the research shows that an educated woman supports the family life and community far more than an uneducated one.

Train the Woman – Train the Family

“Train the woman and you train the whole family” is a saying that is supported again and again by case studies where women who participate in adult education have changed their family’s life – and the life of their community – for the better.

Take the case of Bicenhtina, a sixty-eight year old woman who lives with three primary-three children and had never learned to read or write.

In 2009 she enrolled in literacy-training made possible through Literacy and Adult Basic Education (LABE), an indigenous NGO (www.labeuganda.org) providing multiple programs on improving functional literacy in Northern Uganda, serving roughly 25,000 beneficiaries.

LABE, through its Mother Tongue Education initiative operating in approximately 200 Home Learning Centers in its six districts, trains Parent Educators to hold literacy classes for adults and children in their homes.

Bicenytenia, at Bidin Home Learning Center organized by Parent Educator Mr. Loum Janani, has applied her literacy to introduce Income Generating activities in the form of Rotational Gardening in her village in Alero Sub-county, Nwoya District. As a model farmer and chairperson of her group of ten (six females and four males), Bicenytina has planted a half-hectare field of groundnuts to teach her fellow adults how they should care for their crops. In the process, each member of her group collected funds for purchasing seeds. The excess produce from her garden and those planted by other members will be used to generate income for their families and others in the community.

Bicenytenia, at Bidin Home Learning Center organized by Parent Educator Mr. Loum Janani, has applied her literacy to introduce Income Generating activities in the form of Rotational Gardening in her village in Alero Sub-county, Nwoya District. As a model farmer and chairperson of her group of ten (six females and four males), Bicenytina has planted a half-hectare field of groundnuts to teach her fellow adults how they should care for their crops.

In the process, each member of her group collected funds for purchasing seeds. The excess produce from her garden and those planted by other members will be used to generate income for their families and others in the community.

This success story and other stories like these, characterize the lives of educated girl-children and adults. Studies conducted by developing countries around the world evidence a long list of benefits of girl-child education.

Benefits of Girl-Child Education

One such study conducted in Nigeria shows increased empowerment in every aspect of life:

• Financial
• Mental
• Physical
• Social
• Psychological
• Spiritual
• Intellectual

More Specifically…

To be more specific, the UNESCO Training Manual for Local Government Representatives in Non-Formal Education states that:

• Infant mortality rate among literate mothers is 45, compred to 139 for mothers who do not read.
• Educated people of both genders live longer by an average of twenty years.
• Children of literate parents stay in school longer by forty-per-cent.
• Among literate communities, the average number of patients served by one doctor is eight times less.
• Income is four times higher.

Commitment and Practical Measures

Even if citizens agree in theory to support education, there are practical measures that require commitment on the part of all concerned stakeholders to addres the challenges to achieving effective, quality education. In its close-to-the-ground work with schools, adult learners and communities, LABE recommends a number of actions, which if addressed, dramatically support learning.

• Support literacy in Mother Tongue Language to ensure improved thematic learning and later use of English.
• Support Early Childhood Reading from the cradle onward.

• Ensure that all students ATTEND school and arrive ON TIME.
• Ensure that students are well-fed, since nutrition is a full partner in learning.
• Avoid pulling children from school for farming activities or sibling care.
• Support parentalinvolvement at school: discuss with your child’s teacher how t support your chld.
• Read with your children at home.
• Monitor teachers to know that they are present and arrive on time.
• Create and support Women Pressure Groups.

• Support literacy in Mother Tongue Language to ensure improved thematic learning and later use of English.
• Support Early Childhood Reading from the cradle onward.
• Ensure that all students ATTEND school and arrive ON TIME.
• Ensure that students are well-fed, since nutrition is a full partner in learning.
• Avoid pulling children from school for farming activities or sibling care.
• Support parentalinvolvement at school: discuss with your child’s teacher how t support your chld.
• Read with your children at home.
• Monitor teachers to know that they are present and arrive on time.
• Create and support Women Pressure Groups.

Life Transformed

The power of literacy training and supporting education for women and girl-children is evident in the ways it transformed life for Agnes Lawino’s family. Lawino, a twenty-five year old mother and adult learner at a LABE founded Literacy Class at Likai Primary School has transformed the life of her family. her newfound literacy allows her to properly change money, read and write with her children, manage an IGA for twenty-eight other members, borrow money, meet her household needs, and buy uniforms, books and other school supplies for her children.

Make no mistake, however, in thinking that education happens only within the walls of a school. Real education, for the betterment of not only the mind and the body, but also the spirit -happens from the cradle to the grave and is the result of every word, action, inaction, and choice.

ENDS

References

1. Girl Child Education (GCE): A statement of FACTS by Dr. Osita Excellence O. Oleribe. President, Anti-Child abuse Society of Africa (ACSA), Abuja, Nigeria; being a paper presented at NYSC/ACASA organized community awareness campaign on Girl Child Education in Katcha LGA, Niger state, Nigeria. (www.crin.org/dics/Girl%20Child%20Education.doc)

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I meet a lot of people on the street and we have brief casual conversations that consist mostly of greetings or “no, I’m sorry I don’t have any money to give you.”    With Peter, this became a dialog about what he was trying to do to get the 100 or so street kids in Gulu off the street, fed, back into school or at the least back with families.  

It wasn’t until later that I realized Peter had also been a street kid, getting random help from random people, working at odd jobs and getting a meal when he could.  Yet Peter never asked for money or even implied that he was in need himself. It was only obliquely that I learned he was trying to get back into school.  The focus was always on “his” street kids.  He never mentioned that all of the money he had saved for school had been stolen (story to follow). That came to me quite by accident from another woman who was in Peter’s life when it happened.

Fast forward to my deciding to help Peter get into Gulu Public Primary School (Grades 1 – 7) where he will have shelter and food as well as education. Peter’s been on the street for a few years and has developed a level of autonomy that’s doesn’t fit too well in a school where you have to ask permission to go to the latrine! As is true for many students, he is much older than the typical American 7th grader, because students attend school when there is money, time, and parental permission. Yet, he’s driven to continue his education.

Last Sunday was Parent’s Day at the school – and I guess as his sponsor, I’m the closest thing Peter has to a parent, so I went, signed in as a “parent,” was given his test results and stayed to visit.  I learned more about his history and had a fascinating conversation as Peter asked me about things he’d heard about the United States.  Sooo interesting to learn what Ugandans have heard and how it’s been interpreted in the context of life in Uganda, half-truths and all.  to do well and is following all the rules.  So far – so good, and his teachers are noticing.

The more I learn about Peter, the more amazed I am at how this young man has managed to hold on to such a single vision and motivation to be educated.  For the first few years of his life, Peter and his nine siblings were raised in a village on the outskirts of Gulu, much like the one pictured here.   Evidently the mother left the picture early on and his father was left to raise the kids alone.  They struggled for food and all of the children were expected to work in the fields or otherwise contribute to family livelihood.  Peter made it to P3 before it became evident that his father would not/could not continue to send him to school and it became a source of chronic conflict and later abuse from his older siblings.  So he went to live with another family after physical violence erupted as he became the  referee to keep his older brother from stealing food from the Peter’s younger siblings.   The new “family” got him through another year of school, but that living arrangement fell apart as well.  (Nearly every family I meet here has at least a few extra kids living with them or has sent their kids to live with someone who is better equipped to handle them.  The nuclear family is non-existant here for the most part.)

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Time passed and, as volunteers, we finally got deep enough in our projects and gained enough credibility to try again and take time away from our primary work.  Although, the library task is in line with LABE’s goals and secondary projects are encouraged, things just needed to come together.  It took a while.  Another volunteer had some university books donated  – though no funds to GET them here.  Shipping books is pricey even via the M-bag route which coast around $250 – $300 – as some of you already know!  

Since getting the books here wasn’t working, we put our heads together, and re-engineered the original idea – boosting literacy and reading.  We approached the library (study center) again are were lucky enough to find the real librarian there and he was very excited about the project.  He’s not requiring us to jump through administrative hoops (you have no idea how huge this is) and embraces everything we’ve suggested.  So – we have been granted permission to claim a secondary room as a children’s room, but to do that we must clear the existing chaos:  organize thousands of newspapers for several years (back to 2009!)  into title, year, date, day, getting rid of thousands of duplicates, etc. etc.    Here’s a sample of what we found:

There is no storage or shelving for them so we have been creating a makeshift system using discarded grocery boxes.  There is also no money for binding the newspapers.  So witness the current solution (below) – boxes with paper separators….    Makes us realize anew how fortunate we are in the States to have funded libraries!  When life gives you boxes – make shelves…  Samir, our favorite local grocer, gave us these.  That may not sound like much, but other places wanted $7 US for a discarded box.

After the newspapers, there are rooms full of old donated books that need sorting – and hundreds of books for the adult section have to be processed and some discarded.  Some of those will go to the new library in Wakiso my homestay host is starting and others will hopefully  go  to schools and a local youth center.   There are new shelves in the adult section and they are empty.  ALL (thousands) of books must be moved from old shelves to the new ones. When that’s done, the children’s room will get the current (more child-friendly) shelves and by then we should have at least the newspapers done and the text books figured out.  THEN we can start categorizing the hundreds of children’s books into reading level categories.  Forget Dewey Decimal System, no one will ever refile a book by number and there is no such thing as a card file or inventory of books.

Since there are not children’s chairs or tables,  we’ll shorten the legs on a few adult tables and make them available for kids.  We’ll get a few mats from the market and create play and reading areas, paint when we can get paint donated….  And!  There is a  local teenager who is a budding talent and we’d like to encourage him – sooo – we’re hoping to get him to paint fun images on the walls to brighten the place up.

Here’s what it looks like now:

That blue thing you see is a huge iron gate being stored.  We have no idea about how to get it out of the building since it’s both taller and wider that the door. I’m thinking of painting it and calling it the “Gateway to adventure” – or some such.

Ahhh it goes on and on.  Creating the space is only Phase I.

The bigger challenge is “mobilizing” schools, parents and children to get them to USE the room.  As I’ve said before, this is not a reading culture.  In the library, there are only text/academic books, nothing for pleasure reading.  Our goal is to provide a children’s space, so children and parents will have a place to get books, come for reading-hour,  have some puzzles available,  and plan some kids activities. This means visiting schools, holding events for children, and maybe someday creating a mobile library to get books to the field.  Some of the doors have already been open by LABE as they take the books you all have donated to the field to Home Learning Centers.  

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So here we are.  I paid his fees for this term – part of them anyway – enough to get him in.  And as we get our PC stipend each month I’ll add to it.  He’ll work on holidays to finish it out, but the requirement with boarding school is that you don’t leave campus unescorted for the full three months of the term.    Interestingly, school fees include a contribution of: cement for repairs, a lightening rod, beans and posho, exam fees and an odd assortment of miscellany.   It amounts to 286,000 shillings (about $100 US). 

The dorm consists of a large room with cement floors, where the boys lay their mattresses butted up against each other on the floor.  They share an outdoor latrine and bathing area (bucket baths) and are required to bring their own toilet paper, copy paper and broom – among other things.   He couldn’t afford the socks or the flashlight or the toilet paper or the shoe polish or Vaseline or –or –or the 6 passport pictures or the 21 notebooks – so we’re piecing that all together.   I’ll post a picture when I get one.  

Today I walked to the school to take him a bag of supplies and it was an odd feeling to be helping another young man with school: a mixture of old memories of going to school for my own kids and somehow becoming a surrogate mother to a 17 year old  man-child.  This term is a test of sorts to see how he does.  Considering the fact that last year was his first year back in school and part of that time he was working to pay for it, he’s done pretty well.  In the process of getting him back in, I’ve met what amounts to a handful of people who represent his support system.   Since he has no home to go over the holidays, someone has agreed to find him “some small space.   Others have agreed to continue to seek a place for his street kids.  It’s rather daunting and the Nigerian proverb “it takes a whole village to raise a child” has become real. Here it’s quite literal.  

As we were walking back to the school yesterday he asked what we do in America when the electricity goes out.  I answered that that rarely happens and he was stunned.  Then he said:  “I hear that in the UK they don’t use candles for light, they are only used for celebrations! Can that really be true?”    When I answered “yes” he was silent for a long time after uttering an almost reverent, “wow!”  

And that’s my week in review. It’s now Sunday morning and it’s uncharacteristically quite.  The club music provided a thud all might and turned into the Call t Prayer this morning followed by church music on steroids.  I guess everyone has finally fallen asleep, because the only sound is a rooster and the wind through the trees.  Onward to another cup of coffee…

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Well yes – I guess I did.  No taco seasoning for this man.  We were treated to the “full Monty” of the Mexican food world: hand made corn tortillas from maize flour brought from the States, real Mexican rice, beans he cooked, a vat of guacamole (good avocados here) and fresh Talapia – all followed by a shot of Tequila brought from home.   

It is surprising the role food plays when you’re away from home.  It can either make you nauseous with the constant rehashing of  local fare, or light up your life.  Tonight was a light-up-your-life night: partially because of the food, but in equal measure, it’s the camaraderie  of cooking together and sitting around a table sharing a meal and conversation.   His wife is in the States, as he will be shortly, awaiting the birth of their first baby.  And because he’s paid real money and lives in an ex-Pat style house (really lovely) with a real kitchen, it was like Christmas.  Thank you Drew!  We can live another week…

And this to the background of thunder and a little rain.  When I returned home (just) the gods were continuing to smile because I have both power and water.  Last night power came and went three times before deciding to stay for more than a few thrilling seconds and we have been hauling water for the last week. It’s rainy season! What’s that about anyway?   

Last week I spent in Kampala as part of a committee to revise training for new PC-trainees.  An OK week, but spent in the confines of the ever-so-luxurious City Annex and at the new PC HQ during the day.  New PC digs are pretty nice!  No falling down walls, good view, nice light…   And in the coming weeks I’ll be going back for Train the Trainer sessions and then to participate in the actual training of the new group in July.   Not sure how I feel about all that, but it should be interesting and hopefully training will be improved.     Every activity is another month bringing us closer to a year at site – and many say that’s the turning point.   There was some discussion today about service in the north being much more stressful than elsewhere in Uganda.  Not having lived elsewhere in Uganda, I couldn’t say.  But there is truth to the reality of living in a post-conflict region. 

There is a lot of grief and trauma in the air here and it is palpable.  The people – as I have aid before – are the most gentle of Uganda, but if you are sensitive at all to the vibes of a place, it’s pretty exhausting in a way that doesn’t always make sense from a left-brained perspective.  This place shares some of the characteristics of other post-war areas – including post-war Europe.  There is a mind-set that develops with so much aid coming in and it’s not always productive or in any one’s best interest.  I’m not saying there shouldn’t be help, it just needs to be delivered in a way that promotes skills and not dependency and learned helplessness. That’ a tricky balance and it continues to be illuminating.

In other news – the day before I left  for Kampala was the run-up to Labor Day here – a federal holiday – and great preparations were under way for President Museveni’s visit as seen to the left.  Roads were receiving a last minute and long overdue face lift; the marching band was practicing….  So I went to hang out and watch the show – practically in my back yard. 

Ten years ago there were 20 million people in Uganda – today, there are 34 million.  You get my point.   There was also voluntary HIV/Aids testing….   The other upside of condom usage – HIV reduction.  From the looks of the streets in Gulu, the use-a-condom campaign is working.  ‘Nuf said.  Except that we were given a foot long strip of them in our medical kits and why were they were packaged in camouflage design?  No doubt so no one can find them in the out-back? 

And on that note of query, I’m off to bed.

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Yesterday I was invited to go to Open Day at a girls school..  My neighbor founded a girls school on family land to honor his mother’s dying wish.  Here’s the story:  George, the same neighbor who loaned me the hot plate, grew up in Gulu and was here when the war erupted in the 80’s.  He had eight brothers and four sisters, but in those years education – if it was available – was focused on the boys, so none of his sisters were educated.   The war raged on for decades and only one member of his family survived.  On her deathbed, his mother asked that he use the land to build a school for girls, so that – in the future – girls would have a voice.  It’s called Graceland College for Girls, but is actually a secondary (junior high and high school) housing about 350 young women.

Challenges abound, but hopefully these girls will have more possibilities than most.   The Head Girl took me around yesterday and having a Munu (local term for Mzungu) created quite the ripple of giggles.  When I spoke to them in Acholi,  giggles turned into full scale riotous laughter.  They just think it’s really something when we use their language and are so surprised and excited.

The use of the local language is one of the things that sets Peace Corps apart from the scores of others who are here on the short term to help.  While they may answer you in English, they love that someone makes the effort.  Kids especially get  kick out of talking to these crazy foreigners.

My Kindle is a life saver – thank you Alice for convincing me to get it!  Reading a great book (have read 7 since I’ve been here), “What Dreams May Come,” about “life” in the great beyond.  Any of you with a hankering to read what is essentially a true account of life on the other side of the veil will probably enjoy it.  It syncs with some of my experiences.   Let me know what you think.

Dong Maber
Nancy

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There is no lack of possibilities for help here, but I am reminded daily of how fundamental the tools must be.  We met a parade on the way to one of the schools – with band playing, hundreds of children marching behind.  I finally found out that that particular school had won a celebration because their school had been the cleanest in their practice of washing hands before eating and after bathroom.  Today  as it turns out, was National Hand Washing Day….BECAUSE lack of hand-washing in a country of pit latrines, eating with the hands and no running water – well you get the picture of how it relates in a serious way to disease control.  

We drove around to schools to monitor the program and see how things are progressing and what the challenges are.  It was telling:  11 sub-standard latrines for 1116 students, no text books, teachers have not been paid for last month, under-motivated students, poor discipline – but they are trying and slogging through the swamp of despair in the process.  The government has passed legislation that has removed caning from the schools and that’s the good news.  The other side of that coin is that they know of no other ways to discipline.  

Hoping to offer ideas on behavior modification… with positive feedback and when I very tentatively brought it up, it was met with “hmmmm – like a reward system?”  So there is some hope.  Also, this is not a reading culture and when students DO want to borrow books they are often not allowed because there is no education on how to treat a book (yet another opportunity).

There is no lack of possibilities for help here, but I am reminded daily of how fundamental the tools must be.  We met a parade on the way to one of the schools – with band playing, hundreds of children marching behind.  I finally found out that that particular school had won a celebration because their school had been the cleanest in their practice of washing hands before eating and after bathroom.  Today  as it turns out, was National Hand Washing Day….BECAUSE lack of hand-washing in a country of pit latrines, eating with the hands and no running water – well you get the picture of how it relates in a serious way to disease control.  So yes – we’re starting with skills that in the western world are common knowledge and we’ve forgotten that cleanliness is a cultural and economic perk.  In PC training we were taught how to build a tippy-tap, a home-made hand-washing station made with sticks, string and a jerry can.    So – training meets practical world.

And that’s it for tonight.  The boom-boxes have not started yet (rained earlier – everyone is searching for lantern gas) and I plan to take advantage of the calm.  Also, the rubbish pile is wet, s no toxic fumes tonight!  Yes indeed, it is a night to celebrate.
N

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