June 26 - July 2 (erin)

Monday June 26

Today was my first day at the secondary school in Kitengeesa. I was a bit nervous for many reasons. One, I wasn’t sure what I was doing. Two, I’m usually not fond of teenagers. Three, I hate speaking in front of big groups as you well know by now. And four, I had planned to prepare a lesson yesterday but we got home so late and the migraine rendered me useless, and I hate to be unprepared. Fortunately I had some time when I first got there to add to some notes I had made earlier.

My first class was S.2 which is our grade 9 equivalent. There are 50 kids in this class! Somehow I managed to talk about career counseling for about 45 minutes. I talked about the importance of planning ahead for their future and setting goals to achieve their dreams. Then I asked them to share some of their goals and dreams with the class. Tonight I will research some of the jobs they are interested in to let them know what to focus on and what skills and personality is involved in those careers. After the break I did the same talk with S.3 (grade 10). It was funny when I had them share their dreams because coincidentally all the students that volunteered to speak had dreamed of going to Canada. Some of the boys even had dreamed of having a Canadian wife. Imagine that.

Caning is still really big in schools in Uganda. The children say that they often fail exams because they are caned so much. Dan the librarian and our contact for the school understands that this behaviour has to stop. He says that children are repeatedly hit until they get the answer right but he believes now that children will learn even if they are not beaten. Hopefully his way of thinking will catch on with the teachers.

Nasser and Chandra have gone to pick Einer up in Entebbe. He’s just been flown back in from Nairobi. Turns out he had a good case of worms so we have now been advised to not swim in Lake Nabugabo or drink the water from the bore hole in Tekera. Both of which I have done numerous times. Great, I am going to be full of disease and icky crawly things.


Tuesday June 27

Second day at Kitengeesa school. Visited the same two classes as yesterday and this time talked about 4 specific careers they were interested in. Then went to the other two classes, S.1 (grade 8) and S.4 (Grade 11) and repeated my presentation from yesterday. Talking with the S.4 class was really eye opening. There were only 6 students as opposed to the 40 and 50 or so in the other classes. These students are few because of the lack of school fees, many have to drop out at S.4 level. The students were asking advice on how to stay in school if they don’t have the fees and what encouragement I could give them. Well, I wasn’t really prepared for this and I didn’t have any very good answers. I told them to continue to work hard and continue to believe in your dreams. It’s pretty pointless to talk about becoming a doctor or lawyer if they don’t have any way of even finishing high school.

In other news, Einer went home to Philadelphia today. He had to say goodbye to all the people of Tekera and he was very sad. The Josephs are apparently quite distraught. We had one last meal with Einer at the Brovad so he could have his favourite steak and beer. Then we pushed him off with Nasser to Entebbe. The three of us then went to the internet café and came home in time for dinner, so we thought. It was totally not our turn to cook, but alas, nothing was made for us. So back to the Brovad we went. I can’t wait to start eating healthy again. Although the steak covered in garlicky cream sauce and the smooth creamy mashed potatoes are delicious, it is so bad!

The weather has been really nice lately. Kind of cool, and no rain all week. I hear that it’s 35+ in Vancouver this week! Aiiiiya! Bambi (sorry)!


Wednesday June 28

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPIRIT! She is 14 today.
I am really going to miss my avocado on toast and fresh mango in the mornings!

Today at the school I talked to the classes about school fees and some solutions that I had come up with. I told them I wasn’t sure if they were good ideas because I don’t know everything about life in Uganda so perhaps the ideas would not work. I was hoping they would be able to help me out with some suggestions but the 1st class was still being shy. The second class went really well, however. They started asking questions about Canada and seemed really interested. Some of them got brave and asked big questions like how to prevent HIV/AIDS. It is so good that they are open to asking those questions and weren’t even embarrassed to hear the answers. It’s sad though that they aren’t being taught these things when it is such a huge problem here. It’s too bad Carli wasn’t able to work at the school with me because she’s the expert on talking to people about HIV/AIDS and getting tested. She was able to convince an entire team of professional rugby players to get tested! Thankfully they all were negative. It was a very cool experience for her.

Tomorrow I am going to just plan to talk about Canada and let the students ask whatever questions they want. Dan believes that if people from developed countries talk about how life is there, it will help people here to think of new ways of doing things. That’s a good way of looking at our influence rather than imposing our values. I will go to all 4 classes as it is my last day already. And the teacher, Joseph (of course his name is Joseph), asked me to develop a questionnaire on career counseling that they can hand in to him. He said that some of the S.2. students had been approaching him to learn more about career counselling! Wow. I really had no idea I was making any impact because they didn’t say anything and really sometimes I thought they were looking at me like I was nuts and not understanding anything I was saying.

On the way home I went on a big grocery shopping spree, taking advantage of being driven around in a car. Jen, Chandra and I prepared our best dinner yet. We had scalloped potatoes and onions in cheese sauce, stir fried fresh veggies with sesame seeds and beef sausage in a homemade BBQ sauce. All made in frying pans on two propane burners, I might add. It was fun and quite good. Fred had dropped in to say hi so he stayed for dinner. Then Jen went to the Brovad to watch a movie on the laptop and Chandra and I talked ‘til we were tired…about 10:00. That’s what happens on nights we have no power, we just get tired at about 8:30 and have to force ourselves to stay up to a more normal bedtime.

Just as we had fallen asleep, Chandra got a call from her family so I of course had to make my way out of my mosquito net to go to the bathroom. Well, I thought I saw one of those little cockroaches that had invaded my suitcase before but when I shone my flashlight on it, it was a huge ugly creepy beetle thing with two big long antennae! And it was coming to get me. But it ran away when I opened the door. Phew. I had trouble getting back to sleep after that.


Thursday June 29

Today is my last day at the school and I’m in the library waiting to go to a class. The library is full of students right now for some reason.

So, I just finished my discussion with S.2 on Canada and it was a lot of fun. They are shocked that we have thieves and prostitutes in Canada. And it’s difficult for them to understand why we don’t get malaria from our mosquitoes. It is very interesting to hear some of the boys talk about how hard life is here. For example that they have to walk 20 miles to fetch water and carry it on their heads. They asked me if we had night dancers in Canada. I assumed that they meant strippers so I said yes. And they all gasped and said really? You have people that eat themselves? I said “WHAT?!” They explained that night dancers were cannibals. Well, I had to clarify that we didn’t have cannibals in Canada, at least I really hope not.

The next 3 classes also went well. They all had lots of good questions, some of which I couldn’t answer. I tried to explain how big Canada is and that I can’t possibly know everything about it. Anyway, they seemed to have a good time. Although I enjoyed the opportunity to experience being a teacher I am also glad to be finished. It is tiring talking all day and trying to come up with answers on the fly.

I have just heard that the USDC truck is still not fixed in Kampala so Berna, Charles and Timothy are all coming back on different days by different means. So I won’t be having a last practicum day with USDC after all. But I will go say goodbye to Joseph (office Joseph) and take the gifts I have for his daughter and the other staff. Then I will go around taking pictures with Chandra.

This afternoon we went to visit our Josephs in Tekera because they were very sad about Einer leaving and now both have malaria. It was a nice visit and it was funny because everyone was joking that Junior was now cured of his illness because I was there. We took Joseph Sr. to Kitovu hospital to get medication and then when we got home we found Jen relaxing on her new mat on the grass on the front lawn. So we joined her and had some of our precious Pringles. We decided to not go to Tanzania next week as we were tired of traveling, lacking funds, and were not really excited about crossing a border. I will have to temporarily give up my dream of seeing a giraffe. Another year, I suppose.

Bruce and Brigitte made a really good dinner that rivaled ours the night before. He had even gotten boneless, skinless chicken breast and real soy meat from Kampala, both of which we thought were unheard of in Uganda! After doing dishes, we got really really bored. This was the first time that I’ve been utterly bored to the point of restlessness and the others were feeling the same. I think that means we have made ourselves so comfortable here that we are able to relax and get bored with the place. So we went to the Brovad where Jen and Chandra made a CD for Nasser and I did crossword puzzles.


Friday June 30

Last practicum day! Wow, it’s over already. First I found Joseph and gave him his presents. Then Chandra, Bonnie (hospital social worker and Chandra’s supervisor) and I went around the hospital taking some pictures. Then I went to the office when Charles arrived to open it. We just found out that Bonnie expected us to each write a final report so I had time to do that. Then Timothy came and we talked about what I had learned and what things I will take back with me to Canada. He also talked about ways in which they could use help if I was ever able to fundraise any money. I think I will use some of Auntie Susan and Auntie Trudie’s money to buy tools and materials for the graduates of the vocational school so that they can actually work once they are out of school. If anyone is interested in supporting the school, there are lots of things that they need money for. For example, they can’t afford to pay their water bills so they want to put pit toilets in which is pretty much commonplace for schools here. As well they want to get solar power so that the computers can run even when there is no power.

While I was talking to Timothy and answering his questions I realized that I have really learned a lot of useful information and that my experiences, however boring they might have seemed at the time, have become very insightful and will be useful to myself and my work back in Canada. Maybe I will post my final report to explain some of the things I felt I have learned from being with USDC.


Saturday July 1st/Sunday July 2nd

Happy Canada Day! I spent the weekend in Kampala again. My intention was to visit Carli but unfortunately Charles got summoned to work and because he was my ride, I went with him and wasn’t able to hook up with Carli after all. Not too much happened this weekend. I didn’t get sick! But it was a close call because when we were at a Chinese restaurant I got a bad water. We watched the server open the bottles like they normally do but when I tasted it, something was wrong. So after a few more sips I had Charles taste it and he confirmed it was bad. So he checked the bottom of the bottle and there was a small puncture hole where someone had injected tap water. Scary! So I thought for sure I was going to get sick again. Especially when I got back to Backpacker’s hostel and bought a water…I took a sip and thought, ya know what I’d better check the bottle just out of curiosity. Well it had a puncture in it too! AAAHHH! They are out to get me. Best sweet corn soup ever at the Chinese food place by the way.

Walking through Kampala at night is very difficult and kind of exciting. It was especially bad because of football (soccer) World Cup. It is very very big here. Because most people don’t have their own televisions, they often gather at cafes or outside of stores to watch the game through the window. In Kampala there was one big huge screen on one of the main streets so the sidewalks were full of people and boda drivers and people sitting in their cars like at a drive-in movie theatre. So there were hundreds of people on the streets and vehicles going every which way. The sidewalks are full of vendors and pedestrians so we had to pass on the street which was dangerous because of the boda drivers and taxi drivers. I even got nudged in the back by the side mirror of a taxi! How rude!

I also got to see the Buganda King drive by in his speedy motorcade. That was fun. My ride home in the matatu taxi was a lot more comfortable than usual. This taxi had cushiony seats but it cost 1000 shillings more…definitely worth it. And the driver was so fast that we got home in record time. My eyes were closed most of the way and I was so thankful I was not sitting in front!

Oh and I have a clan name. Nasser has given me the name Namatovu of the Kob clan.