hillary's uganda journal - june 20

Today I went to Lusaka at 10 in the morning. This was a big deal for everyone since we don't live right next to the school, they think it's impossible to get there at a reasonable hour apparently. I'm not really sure why I had to be there at 10, Hannington told me to, but he wasn't even there today.

But I got to be in the p.6 (primary sixth grade) class today and learn about science. It amazes me how smart the kids are. For the first part of class they reviewed what they had learned yesterday and the teacher would ask what something was and either they would all repeat it, together, or one person would stand up and recite the answer. Just from yesterday! They're at school from 6 in the morning till 5 at night and then the p.6 and p.7 classes come back at 6 and go till 8! I don't understand how they can even think straight after that! And then they wake up again the next day and do it all over. But apparently, at some point in their days, they find time to memorize their notes on the reproductive system. So that's what we were learning about, the reproductive system, menstruation, and conception. It would've been an awkward class in the United States, but not here. It's all facts that should be known. Nothing awkward about that. These kids are around 11 or 12 years old and there was barely any snickering or funny looks. I think the only ones I did see were the students laughing at someone's question. Because they did ask questions. You wouldn't be able to pry questions out of Americans during a class like this. But it was interesting for them because this information just makes them more knowledgeable for when they all become doctors! :)

Joseph, the teacher, wrote notes up on the chalkboard and drew diagrams of everything, and the students all copied it down perfectly into their notebooks. And then Joseph got up on his soapbox and started preaching at these kids about not getting pregnant and the disadvantages of being pregnant when you are young.

He said, "The moment you become pregnant you are OLD! Why should we waste our time on you to bring you back to school?"

It's so different how abruptly they speak about these things. But this is a really convincing argument for them because school is the main objective for everyone here. You go to school, and you have a successful life. But you won't survive if you don't go to school.

"All of you here are Christians. You don't have bad manners!" (meaning that they aren't going to have any babies until after they're married)

Then they got onto the topic of AIDs and Joseph said that more young people (12-19 year olds) are dying from AIDs rather that the old people. Deborah (the girl my sister Courtney sponsors), stood up and asked "Who brought AIDs to Uganda?"
Me and Deborah

Then we had lunch, I ate with the teachers in the staff room. They were teaching me more luganda words and then decided that I needed a clan. Ronnie (the music teacher) said "you are a real Mugandan now!" I wanted to be an Empologoma (lion clan). But they decided against that and called me Mumbeja Hillary (Princess Hillary). The royalty in Uganda are a separate clan. Pauline is a Princess and Gladys is too (she's the one teaching me how to make the mat). So now I am a princess. I guess I'm alright with that. :)

Before I move on from lunch I just want to admit something: Posho is growing on me. When you just smother it with beans, it's not too bad. But I've found something worse. It's called matooke. Matooke are green bananas and when they are cooked they make a golden chunk of mush, if that helps at all for a mental picture. Ground nut sauce, Matooke, and Posho/They say it doesn't have any flavor. But I wouldn't necessarily say that. It has a flavor. Kind of a....blech. Yeah, I think that does it justice. I said I didn't want any to begin with, but Ronnie insisted that I need to learn to like matooke to truly be a Mugandan. So I gave in. But just like the posho anything can be improved if you cancel out the nastiness with something good tasting! So the ground nuts worked splendidly for that!

After lunch I went into the p.3 Social studies class. There were 73 students!! It was crazy! They learned about government and basic needs. Susan (the teacher) said that she teaches them history also and trades off between that, government and social problems (I guess thats what you'd call it).

Susan: "What are basic needs?"

One student stands up and says: "clothes" (pronounced Clothe-ez).

So, Susan writes it up on the chalkboard: C-L-O-T-H. Susan: "This is the correct spelling. Clothe-ez is spelled like this."

She announced this with such authority and as if she were revealing some hidden rule in the english language. No one would dare question her, including me. She gave the students a couple questions to write the answers down in their notebooks and then walked around and checked all 73 of them when they were finished. The type of discipline that she used was very interesting. I'm not a huge fan of it. She had a few boys go to the front of the classroom and stand on one foot. ("...and when I've found you've touched that foot to the ground...") Or when she was walking around she would hit some children on the head or on the back. I'm not really sure why, but one time I heard: "I don't like bad handwriting!" and another time: "Who is making our class smell like that?!" (whap! whap! whap!)

But this didn't break their spirits, it actually seemed pretty normal, except for the shouts of "owunya!" (you smell!) Then all the children broke out in song while Susan continued checking the papers. They moved from one song to the next, almost in unison. From songs in Luganda, to an education song, to Father Abraham! I loved watching their joyful faces as they sang and shouted for the world to hear while the classrooms on either side banged on the walls.