School playtime

Hurray – the parachute came out again today, and we used the footballs paid for by my work colleagues.

We had a lie in this morning – didn’t start work till 9am.  We set off in glorious sunshine driving past houses dotted on hillsides with the magnificent mountains in the distance. We eventually arrived at a smart looking school. There were notices pinned to trees ‘say no to sex’, ‘avoid early marriages’, ‘avoid sugar daddies and mummies’ – these are in the grounds of every school, with similar messages and themes.  Another one today was ‘stay in school until P7’.  That’s primary 7 or top junior class in the UK.

The first school was a government school, Kitazigurukwa Primary School.  We haven’t come at a good time for visiting schools as the P7 exams are next week – the final exam that has to be passed if you want to move to secondary school. The headmaster was rushing off to a meeting about the exams but he took us into the class for the deaf.  There were 3 children of different ages being taught in sign language by a deaf teacher.  The blackboard was divided into 3 – one column for each age group.  The deaf children don’t mix with other children and we couldn’t communicate with them except by writing and drawing on the blackboard.   

We gave the children a ‘school pack’ each with notebooks and pencils in it donated by supporters in Coventry. The children are supported by the charity ‘Mission Direct’, there is also a Global Care sponsored child at the school.

Then we went to play with the 2 nursery classes. They marched out to PE swinging their arms and chanting ‘PE makes a man healthy and wise’…. There were 84 little children, some in scruffy torn clothes but most with shoes.  They were very excited to see us. I couldn’t resist sitting with them which of course meant I ended up playing the game.  The game, Ekibobo – Kiri Munymumba involved running round the outside of a very large (84 children) circle, racing against a child.  I will never be allowed to forget that I was beaten by a 5 year old! 

It was incredibly hot and some of the time we were running uphill. I pointed out that the 5 year old probably walked a long way to school, walked to fetch water, did PE in the hot sun every day and was a bit younger than me. Alllen played a singing game with them, and we gave them a pencil and notebook each.  It was a happy time.

The school is adding an extension for up to 72 CWD and we had a look at the dormitories and impressive wheelchair friendly bathroom.  It’s being built with UK money, and UK supporters go to help with the building. It was an impressive and encouraging visit.  

The next school we visited was Kahororo Primary School.  It was in a more remote area.  We had to stop at one point as people were making bricks at the roadside and were loading finished ones into a truck in the middle of the road.   The car crawled up a steep track – we offered to get out and walk but Charles wasn’t impressed and kept on manoeuvring round potholes and grassy banks.  As soon as we got out of the car we could tell that this was a much poorer school than the first. The buildings were older and less well maintained, there was no water harvesting system.  As the children ran out to meet us they were almost all barefoot. About half had uniforms, the rest were dressed in an assortment of ill-fitting torn clothes.  There are 8 sponsored children at this school.

We walked up to a playground (i.e. large field beside the school.  Also note that Ugandan grass is long and spiky).  The children sang a song of welcome to us.  We had P1 and P2 children – this time about 100 children.  Out came the parachute.  Moses and Allen have been looking forward to seeing how to use it all week and were delighted with it.  Allen even made up a song to go with the game ‘cat and mouse’. We gave the school a football and handed out stationery.  Every few minutes another class arrived until we had 200 children.   

We all worked hard dividing anything up to make sure that in each class every child was given the same things.  When we arrived, we’d been greeted by staring slightly uneasy faces alongside the excited ones.  By the time we left, the children were mostly smiling and laughing and wanting to touch our white skins.  Moses said that the children really appreciate seeing Mzungus because they know that Mzungus support the school but most of them have never seen a white person up close – much less played with one.

It was incredibly hot by now and as we drove back through town we decided to stop for lunch again.  I love going into these places – they are so different from the Western idea of a café and its starting to feel like we’re getting a much better idea of the variety of Rukungiri life.  Today’s hot lunch for 4 came to an expensive £6.  This is about half what we pay at the hotel.   

The hotel staff told us they are paid more than staff at any other hotel in Rukungiri.  In other hotels if there are no guests, the staff aren’t paid because there is no money.  Our hotel is part of a group and if there is no money at one then the staff wages are topped up from another hotel.  Because we have been the only guests for 3 days the staff spend a lot of time in the afternoon lounging in the bar watching unbelievably bad Ugandan soaps. 

After lunch we had an appointment at the Diocese office.  Tom is going to write about the project we went to find about – see drtomgoesglobal.blogspot.com.

As we left the office, it was pouring with rain.  By the time we arrived at our last school of the day, Nyakibale Lower Primary School, the school ground was somewhat muddy and water was pouring in rivulets down the hillside (most of the schools in this area are built on a hillside).  We were visiting the 50 children who attend the school who are deaf.  We stood in a dark (it is raining outside and there are only 4 small windows – the walls are mud, so black), noisy (rain thundering on the tin roof, children screaming outside) classroom, while the teacher translated in English and sign language and the children gave each of us a ‘sign name’.  Mine roughly translates as ‘long nose’ which is apparently the most striking thing about my face…  Once again we handed out stationery but it was impossible to take photos in the chaos and dark.

When we walked back to the car, we splodged through the mud and puddles, and were soaked while being followed  and crowded by barefoot children sliding on the stones and mud.  They weren’t encouraged to go indoors – this was recreation time – so they were outside in thin clothes in the thunderstorm.  Life here is tough for children in all sorts of different ways.  Although most of the schools had books and bookshelves provided by the government, there are few desks and chairs, no safe playing environment (did I mention the barbed wire at calf height round some building work), many children have no shoes or wet weather clothes and they have pit latrines which aren’t much fun in the rain.

It was a good day but reminded us of the challenges faced by children in this country.  There is supposed to be universal primary education, yet many government schools charge fees and the children have to wear uniforms. Many of the children have to work before and after school and it was noticeable that class sizes are high in P1-5 (did you know the average teacher:pupil ratio in Uganda is 1:100?), but numbers fall significantly in P6 and 7.  Many children go to school for the first 5 years then for a variety of reasons fail to complete their primary education.  It is hard to find and keep good teachers, especially in more rural locations.  Most children walk to school – often several kilometres through the bush or on dangerous roads.   Many adults in this area are illiterate. 

As an aside, Allen asked me today if I’d like to spend a night at her house. I’m not sure I would cope.  I managed to find an excuse and promised I’d do it if we go back but in all honesty it terrifies me –  but as she pointed out, if I really want to experience Africa I have to do more than just eat in local cafes!