I'M IN UGANDA!

JUNE 3 – MADE IT!

Herbert, the driver from the hostel in Kampala, greeted me at the airport, “Welcome to Uganda, Pearl of Africa…” Yes, I made it to Uganda, but … my luggage did not. I guess this adventure of a trip would not be complete without losing my baggage at least twice. Anyway, the other 7 women teachers are about my size so I get to use everyone elses’ clothes.

When I got to Herbert’s Toyota, and as he put (what I had of) my luggage in the trunk, I moved to the right side of the car to get in—and faced the steering wheel (that amused him). However, riding in the cars is more than a driving-on-the-left experience—there are no rules, no stop signs, no lights, no lines on the road. People just stick the noses of their vehicles out into traffic hoping the guy coming will stop. The horn is the most useful part of the car—they honk to warn everyone, especially the boda bodas (motorbike taxis), pedestrians, or bikers to move over, as they speed to their destinations, constantly passing each other.

Uganda is a lot greener than I thought it would be; this is the middle of the rainy season and it pours at least once a day, which makes mud of their red dirt and increases the mosquito population . . but it is beautiful. The buildings are broken down, but brightly painted—their wares are exhibited in front of their stores, whether couches, pans, or bananas and pineapples (the pineapples are about 3X the size of ours). The people smile a lot and love to wave at or greet the Mesunga (foreigner)—especially the children!

JUNE 4 – SHOES ON OUR FEET

We had two main stops today before our long (and bumpy) ride to Gulu, six hours from Kampala.

OUR FIRST STOP was the US embassy to meet with the ambassador, Steven Browning. You could say that this meeting is a direct result of all those wonderful letters sent by students in the US to their office in Kampala, requesting that something be done for the Acholi people. (Letter writing really does work!) Apparently the embassy even had to hire another person to go through and respond to all the IC (Invisible Children) emails and letters they have been receiving in the last few years. IC has done so much for the people in northern Uganda that it is a well-respected organization that has recently been raised to the status of NGO.

One thing stayed with me about that meeting—he mentioned that one of the goals of the US embassy in Uganda was to help provide stability in the country. When Ambassador Browning first came to Uganda in ’06, he visited the north frequently and discussed with the leaders how to resolve the conflict. He said that when they discussed bringing the “bad guys” to justice, the leaders responded, “Justice is reconciliation.” Ambassador Browning said their attitude shocked him because his idea of justice meant punishing those responsible for the atrocities, while the Acholi just wanted to have their land back, and be reconciled with their neighbours. “What a Christian attitude,” one of the girls in our group said. Although we consider ourselves a “Christian” nation, our sense of justice is often not compatible with that of Christ on the cross: “Father, forgive them…”

OUR SECOND STOP was Lubiri Secondary School, one of the top schools in Kampala. It has 102 teachers for 2000 boys and 1300 girls, 90% of which will go to university. Many things I could share, but the following 2 were the most striking:

1. How attentive they are in class, even though it is basically a lecture-making/note-taking environment, with little interaction between the teacher and students. There were about 160 students packed into the library for study hall, girls separated from the boys, but they all had their books open and were quietly studying or doing work. Same in the classroom—many classes had up to 90 students, yet from front to back of the room, the students were all busy taking notes while the teacher spoke. (I’ll discuss later how the whole educational system works here.)

2. The importance of art in the curriculum. EVERYone has to take art classes as well as technical drawing and home economics (which teaches them to cook as a career should they decide to go there), and they are graded seriously on their work. I hope the photos upload—if you see the girl painting on the fabric—she has created a very intricate stencil and is painting the pattern repeatedly on the fabric in different colours …You can see that the art classroom is loaded with students involved in projects.

We discussed and compared the art programs in Uganda and America with some of the art teachers! Art (and music) are as important as math, chemistry and English—they cannot move on if they do not complete and pass the art requirements. He was shocked to hear how unimportant art and music are to our curriculum (the first to go if there’s a cut in the budget). One of the Ugandan teachers made this comment, “You Americans have shoes on your feet. We Ugandans do not wear shoes, so we feel the dirt and the rocks. We have to dig our toes into the ground beneath us to find our souls.” The Acholi people would feel sorry for America, a land so rich in material goods, yet whose people are impoverished with the superficial.

INCIDENT AT THE NILE

The road to Gulu had been improved from last year, so we were told by those who had previously taken it, the improvement mainly due to a recent arrival of Queen Elizabeth. There were still some pretty bad parts—we were already a little uncomfortable packed 10 in a van (see picture) along with everyone’s baggage.

We made a major faux pas that almost cost us 2 of our cameras. We had to cross the Nile and we stopped to take pictures (from the van). Two soldiers stationed there came up and confiscated our cameras, telling us it was illegal and that they were planning to keep the cameras. Of course, cameras were not what they wanted—they wanted 50,000 Shillings per camera and the shot deleted. We were able to take him down to 20,000 (about $13) each. The worst part was that neither I nor anyone else was able to figure out how to delete the shot without doing an “erase all” deal. Finally, the soldier let us go. Needless to say, the shot that I hopefully was able to upload to this site, is clandestine and worth a lot of money. Btw, David, thanks for the use of your camera—I love the “compactness” of it—but please tell me how to erase one frame…
OBAMA THE BOMB-A

This is mainly for my two boys—Hey guys! Obama is really popular here—all the Ugandans follow the news closely and had a front page spread the day he won the nomination. Obama is apparently Lwo—the same tribe from which the Acholi people descended (although I think from the Kenyan clan). Too bad the Ugandans can’t vote ☺!