Installment #2--T.I.A. (This is Africa) Man--and a very long post

We spent the next two days in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Kampala is not like other capital cities that you have probably experienced. Uganda is a Lesser Developed Country (LDC), and poverty affects all but the very few privileged. This is definitely apparent in Kampala. There are many small buildings sprawled out along the streets selling almost anything you can imagine. Some of the buildings are solid brick structures that house large general stores and others are small shacks, shoddily constructed out of wood, corrugated metal, and whatever else can be found. Many of the large buildings are covered in large painted advertisements for phone companies, soft drinks, or paints. The advertisements add to the brilliant color palette of the city. Kampala is also a rather busy city. There are people walking, riding bikes, on motorcycles, in vans, and they are all competing for road space with each other and the large delivery trucks that frequent the streets. If you are at all squeamish about reckless driving (Mom, Em-this is you), then it is advisable that you travel with your eyes closed. In Kampala, the horn is a safety feature on most vehicles that rivals seat belts and airbags for importance.

While in Kampala, the group had several workshops intended to inform us about the situation in Uganda as well as prepare us for our cultural exchanges. Our first full day included heading out to the U.S. Embassy, Traveling to Garden City, visiting Lubiri Secondary School, and dinner at Sam’s Indian Restaurant. At the Embassy, we met a general representative of the embassy, a women working for the education program of U.S. Aid, and two gentlemen working for the Refugee program at the embassy. The discussion we had brought up several of the complexities of Education in Uganda. The country has Universal Primary Education for all students, meaning that there are no school fees for primary school. Students take seven years of primary school (P1-P7), after which they take a Country Exam that will determine if they can pass to Secondary School. Though Education is free through P7, many students cannot attend because they do not have the money to pay for school uniforms or other essentials. Secondary School is not free in Uganda yet, so more students do not attend. School fees typically run from $500 to $600 a year, which is more than much of Uganda can afford (especially if there are multiple children in a family). Girls also face struggles in education. Because of a lack of sanitary supplies (and sometimes knowledge), when a girl begins puberty, she usually has to miss several days of school a month. Because girls begin missing so much school, they eventually have to drop out. Another complication is brought about as a result of the war and the displacement of people and schools. With the displaced people beginning to move back to parishes (halfway camps between the villages and IDP’s where people can still live as a community as they get their villages up to snuff) and there villages (where schools currently are not operating), they are forced to leave their children behind. Sometimes families will leave older children to fend for themselves so that they can continue in school, and other times children will live with foster parents in the camps or towns (and sometimes on an impromptu notice). This leads to issues of neglect and abuse.

Garden City was a large shopping mall in Uganda where we got lunch and changed our money for the trip. Because so few in Gulu have much money in hand (and are therefore unable to make change), it is necessary to break large bills into much smaller denominations. I ran from store to store purchasing as many small things as necessary (mangos, bananas, a notepad…) to make as much change as possible. I also stopped and had a quick (really, nothing is quick in Uganda—meals are usually made one at a time, and delivered as they are finished—it is not unusual to wait an hour for a sandwich and finish eating it before your friend receives it) lunch. I ordered a Coke, which the restaurant apparently did not have (but didn’t say either), so after taking my order, the gentleman from the restaurant ran next door to pick up a coke from the neighboring restaurant (he also did this to get change—which is called the balance in Uganda—when I paid for my meal).

After Garden city, the whole group headed over to Lubiri Secondary School, one of the higher performing schools in Uganda. We met first with the Head teacher of the school who told us a little bit more about Lubiri and Education in general. After that, we were unleashed into the teacher’s room where we met and talked with several teachers. One of the teachers (and I cannot unfortunately remember his name) took a small group of us out to show us several classes. As we toured the open-air classrooms, one thing was apparent. Even though class sizes reached upwards of 100 students, the students were much disciplined and intent on learning. The teacher giving us the tour actually had students working on projects while he had left to come meet us. After being out of his room for forty minutes or so, he walked back in, (as the students worked together on physics questions—not a single student goofing) and introduced us. We talked with several students at their desks, and soon left to visit other classrooms. We saw a biology class, a foods class, a computer class (there was a computer lab at Lubiri—a luxury most schools do not have), a fine arts class, and a few others. All the while, we were discussing the educational system in Uganda with our new teacher-friend.