October 2011

Hi Everyone!

I have been well busy with my projects here, haven't blogged in a long time! Things are improving at school, progress is being made as less students are attending my class at the local school (Holy Family Secondary School), which ultimately has made my job much easier as only those who really want to learn are turning up. I have now around 15 students in Senior 2 (initially they were 40) and around 20-25 in Senior 1 (initially they were 70), so progress is much faster.

Meanwhile, I was sent home from mid-October at Naggulu Seed Secondary School as Senior 4 Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) Exams began and since there is apparently not enough room for Senior 1, 2 and 3 to be around they have all been sent home till exams are over. It is a pity really because term 3 is out on the 2nd of December and I am flying back home in early February which is when the new school year starts. I am thus focusing on my students at Holy Family, End of Term Exams are coming up in two weeks and I am preparing them for the French exam.

I am also organising a one-day schooltrip for Senior 1 and 2 students from Holy Family to the Alliance Francaise in Kampala on Thursday the 10th of November. It will be a chance for them to be exposed to the French language and culture. A short film in French with English subtitles will be screened at the institution so as to get the students to see te main monuments and attractions of France, as well as the main cities and the countrysise. In addition, Ugandans who teach French and Frenchmen will be there to  of help them with the basics of the French language. They will plan a language quizz for them and we shall also try French sports like the pétanque! We will be given French posters on our way out, and I hope that this visit will benefit my students a great deal!

It is the least I can do for them since the school does not usually organise trip due to the lack of money. I managed to hire a schoolbus from a nearby school for 6000 shillings (4200 shillings = £1) return per person, which is a reasonable price. However, it is a lot of money for the students and a good number of them told me they want to come but they do not have the money. So I told them to bring whatever amount they can and we shall get the rest. Of course, I cannot tell them openly that I'm happy to pay the outsanding balance,first because people have a strong sense of pride here and you don't need to remind them they are poor and you're not, they know it well. Secondly, because if I do so then everyone will start asking me to buy them other things.

I am also looking for a new volunteer to come replace me as a teacher when I go back to the UK. It's not an easy task, but it would be of great assistance to the local students, as I am the first to teach French at the school and therefore people are not familiar with French as a language and as a culture. Continuing the teaching of French would first mean that my students would not forget what they've learned so far and it would provide them with a sense of continuity. Furthermore, more classes could be taught the language, and the school could even include French as an optional course for the UNEB Exams, as is the case in some schools in Kampala where there is money and hence French teachers. Even Senior 4 students completing their O Levels could sit French at the UNEB exams and, with luck, it could be even pushed as an optional course for Senior 5 and 6 students who could sit it at their A Levels.

One of the very important things I have learned in Uganda is that resources or money is not the key to education and progress. Although resources and money can help a great deal, the main issue is to change people's mentality and approach towards education. Naggulu Seed Secondary School (who have sent me home till exams are over), as a governmental school, enjoys infrastructure of European, if not higher standards. Although they have a library room with books including English poetry, only a handful of students actually use it. As long as education is not valued in the community and in people's minds, it is unlike for progress to be made. If you find people reading books in the village they are an exception. I remain positive and simply hope that my work will encourage a positive attitude towards education.

September 2011

Hi Everyone,

I haven't updated my blog in a month now,  it's been hectic here lately. I taught locals from mid-August to 2 September and from 5 September school resumed. Nowadays, I teach French to Senior 1 and 2 students at the local Christian school (Holy Family Secondary School) on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I also teach French to Senior 1 and 2 students at a Muslim school (Naggulu Seed Secondary School) which is 2 miles away on Mondays and Tuesdays. In addition, I work at an international NGO in Kampala on Fridays (Minority Rights Group International, www.minorityrights.org). So my week is well busy and I have the weekend to rest and prepare for classes.

My experience here in Uganda has been great so far, but as any other experience in life there are always ups and downs, good and bad things around. I am reminded of a wise American rapper's line: "seems that life is just a constant war between good and evil". I have seen a lot of injustice, dishonesty, corruption but I have also seen very nice people, people struggling for a better world, people appreciating my presence and work on the ground.

While people are very friendly and very hospitable, which is something I highly appreciate coming myself from a country reputed for its hospitality, poverty is often what makes people trying to get whatever they can get out of you. I have seen a lot of wealth in Kampala, vast quantities of stationery,school material and toys (often second-hand material (donations) from Europe and America) sold in the street or in expensive bookshops around the city. I was told to bring my stationery from London and it was my pleasure to do so while all this stuff is in vast quantities in Kampala only 50km away from my village but most of it does not reach the villages since it is too expensive for locals.

This is but one of the examples of injustice I could mention. My host priests have told me that most foreign NGOs have stopped sending aid to Ugandan NGOs or other organisations because they simply do not trust them anymore. Mismanagement and corruption are the order of the day here, not that it isn't in the West or elsewhere, the same things are happening everywhere of course, but not in the same way. If you can afford to drive around a jeep in Uganda you are definately well off according to my standards, especially considering that the price of petrol has climbed to nearly 4,000 Ugandan shillings per litre, which is the equivalent of 1euro!


My students live in poor conditions, though not too poor either. They have food to eat and clothes to wear, but some who are not boarding students and live up to 5miles away cannot afford 500shillings for the taxi minibus (sole means of transportation if you except the Boda Boda, dangerous and expensive motorcycles) to go back home so they simply have to walk, whether there is sunshine or heavy rain. Some students don't have a schoolbag or enough notebooks. Those who are not boarding students are only given porridge for lunch as they don't have enough to buy proper lunch. A lot of my students fall asleep in class as they are hungry, don't sleep enough and are prone to diseases like flu which are easily transmitted in the congested dormitories of boarding students. In addition, most if not all of the students come from broken families, orphaned by one or two parents and a minority is HIV-positive.

Despite these difficulties, a number of them are well-behaved, respectful and want to learn while another good number is misbehaving and could not care any less about French or education altogether. The job is challenging, especially because of the language barrier, a lot of students do not understand English or do not know it well enough and I only know basic words in Luganda. I maintain a positive attitude and believe that change is possible and there has been some, even if its microscopic on the global scale. I am proud of my two first local students who managed to present themselves and do a small dialogue in French on the 1st of September and I am proud of those students in Senior 2 at my local school who chose to remain in class when I and the headmaster asked those who want to drop the subject to leave the class for good (14 out of 40 students left). So changes are taking place, and as I explained to my students, there are no victims in my class no matter how hard their life is or might have been. I told them that in life we get judged based on our behaviour and conduct, not on our family background. Given that children are starving to death in Somalia and elsewhere everyday, I believe that our students are still lucky to have a chance to go to school and have a chance for a better life, despite the difficulties they face.

First 3 Weeks in Uganda - The Basics

 I have so much to talk about so I'll just start with the basics.

I have been in Uganda for more than three weeks now and have so much to tell so I will just start with the basics.

I landed at Entebbe Airport on the 3rd of August in the morning and  I spent the first night in the outskirts of Kampala at a hotel next to the ICYE Uganda/Uganda Volunteers for Peace (UVP) office. On the next day UVP took me and another three ICYE volunteers from Iceland, Austria and Ecuador respectively to the Lweza Training and Conference Centre which is just off Entebbe Highway Road (the highway linking Entebbe Airport to Kampala which is said to be the best in Uganda). At Lweza we met seven ICYE volunteers from Germany and all of us had our on-arrival training camp there with the UVP staff until the 9th of August. At this date we returned to the UVP office and our respective host families came to take us to our host projects (all of them are located in different parts of the country). Mine brought me to Namayumba which is where I will be living until the end of my placement in early February 2012.

Namayumba is a village located 50km away from Kampala (the capital) on Hoima Road, the highway leading to the western (and slightly northern) part of Uganda, and it is around 240km away from the borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo. I live with a host family in a large house which is next to the village's parish and only a few meters away from the secondary school of Namayumba which is where my project is based at. I am currently teaching French to local people and have three classes of  three students each. My placement officially begins on Monday the 5th of September, which is when the new school year begins, and I will be teaching French to secondary students, possibly Senior 2 and Senior 3 (to be confirmed).