First off, thank you so much to everyone who’s sent me letters; it’s wonderful to receive them and hear what you're up to. Though, talking to my Mom, I think only about 40% actually make it here. So, if I haven’t responded to your letter, it’s not because I don’t love you, but because I haven’t gotten it. Send me an email if you’re curious, that seems to be the most reliable means of communication. And we now have internet in town! So, I’ll have more regular email, and when the fiberoptic cable makes it here from Kenya I’ll have faster and cheaper email.
I’ve been pretty bad about actually posting anything. I have, however, kept some updates on the computer that my school is so kindly letting me use…
7/28 – Our visitors from England have come, and gone. The expansion to the guest house (where I live) was finished just in time, the windows were put in on Sunday, the paint on Monday, along with lights and a thatch ceiling. Tuesday was a hectic day of cleaning, ironing and preparing the place. Wednesday at 6 AM some girls from the hostel brought over beds and mattresses. Then came making the beds, hanging the mosquito nets, and preparing lunch. By 1:00 PM, 18 students and 5 teachers from our link school in England had arrived.
They were here for one week, during which time they visited the local primary school and health center, painted a mural, helped put in a cement floor in the technology block (which formerly housed S.1 students, until the new block opened for them a couple weeks ago). They’re hoping to move the tailoring room and computer lab over within the next year, as well as bringing in a welding shop and carpentry shop. Soon you won’t have to leave school for anything; all we need is a garden. They also observed classes, talked with the S.5 and 6 students, and partook of silly games such as: sack race, three-legged race, egg race, banana eating competition, and so on.
8/3 – I came a across pink chicks today. I’m not talking rosy pink, but full on Easter-egg pink. I guess it scares away potential predators. I would’ve thought it would attract attention. Although pink isn’t very appetizing-looking. I also got a lemon from a young girl who lives nearby, and had a wonderful evening walk. During the walk a bicycle man got mad at me for not getting a ride from him. I don’t know enough Lusoga to be able to point out that getting a ride would defeat the whole purpose of the journey. I did find some nice side paths. It’s hard to find much here that isn’t straight out and back. So it’s a small side loop, but it’s a loop, and it’s off the main road.
Oh, and grading is depressing. Especially when students are getting scores of 20-60%. That’s about average here (they don’t have grade inflation like we do…), but I can’t be nonchalant about a student completely missing half the questions on topics we covered half a dozen times in class.
8/15 – The term has finally come to an end, the students have gotten their reports, and I’m on holiday for three days and am using the time to visit Jinja (internet, ice cream and friends), Mabira Forest (relaxing) and Kampala (shopping). Tuesday I’m heading back to begin extra holiday lessons for the S.4, 5 and 6 classes. Unfortunately, I’ll only be there for a week before we have training for Peace Corps: one week of technical training and one week of language training.
Tara (my adorable kitten) is growing quickly – she’s now comfortable both in and out of the house, especially at night. During the day she stays pretty close to the house, but at night she wanders all over the campus. I’ve been trying to keep her inside as I’m worried she might get into trouble, but after seeing her scare off a goat 10 times her size I’m starting to think she can take care of herself.
We’ve also been undergoing a change of housemates. Madam Rita (English teacher, Hostel Mistress, and mom extraordinaire) and her kids (Fred, Jerry, and Gladys) moved across campus to a new house closer to the girls’ hostel and Madam Rhoda moved in with her two girls. I really miss Madam Rita and her kids, but luckily they’re not too far away.
8/20 – So, I finally bought a hoe and have started my garden. Thanks to my wonderful parents and a very kind PCT, I now have a large selection of seeds: tomatoes, lettuce, squash, soybeans, corn, spices, and even some flowers. If you add in the beans, g-nuts (peanuts), green pepper and pumpkin seeds I have, I’m going to have a diverse garden (hopefully). I hoed up a chunk of land outside my house this morning (to the amusement of many students and local children), bought some papyrus mats, and am hoping to make a fence this evening, finish hoeing tomorrow, and plant the seeds tomorrow night. If I’m really lucky it’ll rain tomorrow night, and not tonight…
8/24 – The fence is finished, with a lot of help from my neighbors. And by a lot, I mean I basically did nothing. In the end I paid a gentleman to make the whole fence – about 30m around. For $5. The mats and wood for poles cost $12. So now I’ve planted corn, pumpkin, squash, sunflower, carrot, lettuce, arugula, and am hoping to add tomatoes, beans, g-nuts, and maybe even a couple banana trees when I get back. And I want to start a spice garden, but that might have to wait for a bit.
Everyone at school is finding it hilarious that I’ve started a garden, and even more entertaining when they see the size. One teacher asked if it was a demonstration garden. Here, when they say they’re going to plant cassava, or beans, or whatever, they mean an acre or two. So my tiny plot with a dozen different things is, unusual. But then, I’m not trying to feed a family of 8, nor planning on selling it in the market.
Not too much else, things are quiet here over the holidays.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thoughts
So, here's what I've been pondering the last month or so:
It’s well known that culture shock has stages. Upon arriving in Uganda I was stuck by how different everything was – a developing country in the tropics looks a lot different than DC or Colorado. There’s the small girl who at home would be playing with her dolls but here is carrying around her baby sister. Or the gaggle of kids that are out to collect firewood. How many kids do you know who are willing to spend the day collecting firewood to make supper and grasses to make brooms to sell? How bout a group of 10 kids running away from a kitten in terror? Or a two year old kneeling to greet you. Not to mention the everyday differences: local markets instead of grocery stores, basins and good ‘ol elbow grease instead of washing machines, skirts instead of trousers.
Even when I’m shopping the man who will try to sell me an old sheet for $5 will sell me a handmade basket for 75 cents and think he’s ripped me off. I miss every other social clue (sometimes I’m sure everyone here thinks I’m a bumbling idiot), and often find my self asking “what did you say?”, “what do you mean by that”. It’s one thing to say we all speak English, but another to realize how many colloquialisms are in a language. Here if someone offers you something, and you say “that’s okay, don’t worry about it” they’ll hand it right over. “How’s home?” has come to mean “how’s your family?”. And a ‘yes’ can be indicated by the raise of an eyebrow.
Yet, after spending time with Ugandans I came to the firm conclusion that people are the same everywhere. We all laugh and cry; people gossip; some are talkative, some are quite; parents worry about their kids; kids shrug off their parents; students think teachers want them to fail; teachers feel bad when their students fail.
Now, however, I’m realizing that we’re not all the same. Many things are similar, but there are core beliefs that everyone holds, and while they vary person to person, they vary a lot between cultures. Sometimes it’s little things, like realizing the word for ‘wife’ in Lusoga is ‘cook’. Or that it’s assumed that, as a Muzungu, I must 1) have lots of money and 2) want to give it to everyone who asks. This is a misconception brought about by the fact that most Muzungus who come here bring a lot of money, and are more than happy to give it away (not that I blame them, there really are a lot of people here who need the money, I just hate the stereotype).
Other things are a bit harder. Like sending children, “go to town and get me tomatoes” or “you, student, go pick me a chair”. It really bothered me at first because that’s not how we treat children, or students, at home. And, yet, aren’t a lot of our kids spoiled? We treat our children as equals, and yet they aren’t. We still expect them to listen to us, do as we say, and not argue, too much.
In some ways I think it ties back to language. At home every child knows that the proper way to ask for something is “may I please have____”. In Lusoga it’s simply “mpaku ____” where ‘mpa’ means ‘give me’ and ‘ku’ makes it polite. Here the please is implied. And when you think about it, how much choice does a child have if their parent says “will please carry this?” We may insert the words ‘will you’ and ‘please’ but they’re basically just formalities. Yet, having grown up in America, it’s really hard for me to get used to not hearing ‘please.’ It’s so small, but it can really bother me. Just give me time though. By the time I come back I won’t be saying please and will annoy everyone.
But, outside of language, more is expected from children here. We don’t expect our children to cook, clean, and iron, while we relax from a hard day and catch up on the news. Yet, doesn’t that encourage independence? How many students at home make it all the way to university before learning how to cook or clean? And we have it easy. Cooking does not involve lighting a fire or a charcoal stove; washing clothes just requires pushing a few buttons; water comes out of the tap fresh and ready to drink. Our children can read textbooks, pass exams, navigate a computer and the internet, but can they live on their own?
Children here can wash clothes, fetch water, take care of the baby (ever seen a 6-year-old looking after her baby brother?), and yet they can’t read a textbook (which is written in their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th language) and so call themselves ‘backwards’ and ‘poorly educated’.
Who’s to say they’re not forwards and we’re backwards?
That’s a bit of what I’ve been pondering, as well as how to help students to not fail their exams. Anyone with suggestions about how to teach 50+ students who have no time to study, no textbooks, and who understand only about 75% of what I say….I’m wide open to suggestions. We’re covering insects (butterflies, house flies, mosquitoes, and bees) and hopefully some ecology next term. I’m also picking up one stream of mathematics, also S.2, which should be a lot of fun. I think I’m finding that while I prefer studying biology, I prefer teaching mathematics. At least there I’m on solid ground and there’s less memorization involved.
P
It’s well known that culture shock has stages. Upon arriving in Uganda I was stuck by how different everything was – a developing country in the tropics looks a lot different than DC or Colorado. There’s the small girl who at home would be playing with her dolls but here is carrying around her baby sister. Or the gaggle of kids that are out to collect firewood. How many kids do you know who are willing to spend the day collecting firewood to make supper and grasses to make brooms to sell? How bout a group of 10 kids running away from a kitten in terror? Or a two year old kneeling to greet you. Not to mention the everyday differences: local markets instead of grocery stores, basins and good ‘ol elbow grease instead of washing machines, skirts instead of trousers.
Even when I’m shopping the man who will try to sell me an old sheet for $5 will sell me a handmade basket for 75 cents and think he’s ripped me off. I miss every other social clue (sometimes I’m sure everyone here thinks I’m a bumbling idiot), and often find my self asking “what did you say?”, “what do you mean by that”. It’s one thing to say we all speak English, but another to realize how many colloquialisms are in a language. Here if someone offers you something, and you say “that’s okay, don’t worry about it” they’ll hand it right over. “How’s home?” has come to mean “how’s your family?”. And a ‘yes’ can be indicated by the raise of an eyebrow.
Yet, after spending time with Ugandans I came to the firm conclusion that people are the same everywhere. We all laugh and cry; people gossip; some are talkative, some are quite; parents worry about their kids; kids shrug off their parents; students think teachers want them to fail; teachers feel bad when their students fail.
Now, however, I’m realizing that we’re not all the same. Many things are similar, but there are core beliefs that everyone holds, and while they vary person to person, they vary a lot between cultures. Sometimes it’s little things, like realizing the word for ‘wife’ in Lusoga is ‘cook’. Or that it’s assumed that, as a Muzungu, I must 1) have lots of money and 2) want to give it to everyone who asks. This is a misconception brought about by the fact that most Muzungus who come here bring a lot of money, and are more than happy to give it away (not that I blame them, there really are a lot of people here who need the money, I just hate the stereotype).
Other things are a bit harder. Like sending children, “go to town and get me tomatoes” or “you, student, go pick me a chair”. It really bothered me at first because that’s not how we treat children, or students, at home. And, yet, aren’t a lot of our kids spoiled? We treat our children as equals, and yet they aren’t. We still expect them to listen to us, do as we say, and not argue, too much.
In some ways I think it ties back to language. At home every child knows that the proper way to ask for something is “may I please have____”. In Lusoga it’s simply “mpaku ____” where ‘mpa’ means ‘give me’ and ‘ku’ makes it polite. Here the please is implied. And when you think about it, how much choice does a child have if their parent says “will please carry this?” We may insert the words ‘will you’ and ‘please’ but they’re basically just formalities. Yet, having grown up in America, it’s really hard for me to get used to not hearing ‘please.’ It’s so small, but it can really bother me. Just give me time though. By the time I come back I won’t be saying please and will annoy everyone.
But, outside of language, more is expected from children here. We don’t expect our children to cook, clean, and iron, while we relax from a hard day and catch up on the news. Yet, doesn’t that encourage independence? How many students at home make it all the way to university before learning how to cook or clean? And we have it easy. Cooking does not involve lighting a fire or a charcoal stove; washing clothes just requires pushing a few buttons; water comes out of the tap fresh and ready to drink. Our children can read textbooks, pass exams, navigate a computer and the internet, but can they live on their own?
Children here can wash clothes, fetch water, take care of the baby (ever seen a 6-year-old looking after her baby brother?), and yet they can’t read a textbook (which is written in their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th language) and so call themselves ‘backwards’ and ‘poorly educated’.
Who’s to say they’re not forwards and we’re backwards?
That’s a bit of what I’ve been pondering, as well as how to help students to not fail their exams. Anyone with suggestions about how to teach 50+ students who have no time to study, no textbooks, and who understand only about 75% of what I say….I’m wide open to suggestions. We’re covering insects (butterflies, house flies, mosquitoes, and bees) and hopefully some ecology next term. I’m also picking up one stream of mathematics, also S.2, which should be a lot of fun. I think I’m finding that while I prefer studying biology, I prefer teaching mathematics. At least there I’m on solid ground and there’s less memorization involved.
P
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