Vocation School

My students in the salon, learning how to cut hair.

In October (as I was preparing my surprise trip back to the States) we had the grand opening of the Vocational School for Children with Special Needs.  This project was made possible by so many generous gifts from the wonderful people in the States, as well as a very large contribution from the Primary School for the deaf.  It was an exciting time because all of the parents of the children, as well as Peace Corps staff and volunteers were invited to attend.

Two of my students, learning how to make chapatti.

The day went well, with speeches, giving of gifts and raising money to transport our books back to the school.  The parents raised 98,000 UGsh.  Which is comparable to $45, a whole lot of money in this country.  We were able to walk the parents through the school and show them all of the work their children had been doing: hairdressing, tailoring, cooking, and making handy crafts.  The parents were so amazed by their childrens abilities and were incredibly supportive and thankful for the idea. It was by far the best moment I have had yet in Uganda.  I think this is the first time I have felt I achieved the Peace Corps first goal of training the local people to support themselves. 

Tablecloths the students made themselves after only a week of training. We are selling these to sustain the project, let me know if you want a set!! (Only 15$ per set of 6)

I know that the school is going to be a place that will allow deaf children to create a future for themselves.  They will learn and master a trade and then be able to take it to the community where they can be productive members of society.  I want to send a big thank you out to everyone who made this day possible... I love you all!

One of the 5 sewing machines purchased for the school.

William (the headteacher of the school) and I, during the opening of the school.

Home?!?!

Loving on my family!!

Time with friends!

Some of the best people I know!

I was able to be in the wedding of one of my all time best friends, Jennifer Cantrell!!

Sitting in my house on my first day back in Uganda and trying to think of the perfect word to describe exactly how I feel right now.... contented is good, but then it seems as though I am settling for something, elated might be it, but that makes it seem as though I am not happy in America.  I’ve got it.... whole.  Whole is the perfect word to describe exactly how I feel right now.

I feel whole because I just spent 3 weeks loving on some of my favorite people and now I get to spend a whole lot more time loving on some more of my favorite people here in Uganda. 

It was interesting being home.  There were hundreds of times when I had to just stop for a minute to be able to actualize the fact that both the world I live in in Uganda and the one in America do exist at the same time.  I absolutely LOVED being home.  I surprised the heck out of my parents and friends, sharing a lot of tears and laughter.  I was able to visit friends at a football game and be in the wedding of my best friend.  After my time in the States I was lucky enough to head over to London for a week to see Sarah and Taylor.  London was amazing and it was even better being there with two of my favorite people.

Spending time with the wonderful Nichols family.

Sarah and I, in the london snow!

In the end, I wasn’t as overwhelmed as I thought I would be, but I think that is simply because I knew I was coming back to Uganda.  One thing that did blow my mind was how much time we spend buying things in America: groceries, clothes, books, going out to eat, gifts, gas, etc.  It seems as thought Americans spend most of their days working, and when they aren’t working they are spending the money that they just made.  I’m not necessarily saying it’s a terrible thing, but I do find that there are many more important things we could be doing with our day that we don’t seem to be doing:  seeing our family, helping our neighbors, enjoying the outdoors, reading, visiting friends.

As I flew back into Uganda I was truly worried that I would be shocked again by the unorganization and poverty that is Uganda, but I can truly say that I saw neither of those things.  Yes, people stand to close in line and everything is both late and difficult.... but, a random stranger gave me a ride home from the airport.  My neighbors came over to greet me.  Baby Dan and family screamed at my arrival and I was greeted with grasshoppers.  All of these things are important, but oftentimes we forget about their importance.  I can truthfully say I am happy to be back in my home, with the warm weather and my ka-dog.

Making a Classroom

So, I know a lot of you who are reading this blog are teachers.  And I want to thank you for all the work that you for your kids.  My students just returned from their final school practice, basically student teaching for a final grade. Its very similar to student teaching in the States, except they are only there for 4 weeks and there is no trial period where they observe the teacher, they are just thrown into a classroom of 90 1^st graders and told to go.  One major difference in Uganda is that a large portion of the students grades are based on the “classroom environment”.  They are encouraged to make their rooms look like American rooms, but without the help of nifty quotes printed on plastic and appropriate shelving units.  Though I admit that buying laminated cutouts of lady bugs and sentence strips that are already printed might be a chore..... this is significantly harder.  They have to “build” an entire room out of locally available materials. That is the big push from the ministry of education right now.  I think (like many things here) that is great in theory and a bit dismal in practice, but my kids work is phenomenal.  Below I have included some photos of the things they made in their classrooms.

This is what a classroom looked like the first week of the students teaching.  This is better than what it looks like with the regular teacher and has about 1/4 of the students.

Our clock: made from paper, cardboard, bark cloth and reeds. 

Musical Instruments poster: Made from bark cloth, markers and poster board

Our shop:  (shelves) made from papyrus and bamboo, covered in toilet paper and paper.  (girl) made from banana fibers, toilet paper rolls and rags.

Nature Table: (table) made from banana fiber, sisal and sticks.  (food) made from newspaper, cassava flour, dirt and water.

Animals found at home: (writing) made with glue and dirt (animals) made with furs from local animals.

This is just a regular poster, but I really loved it.  It was in a first grade class.  Pretty sure I think that every classroom should have this on the wall.

T.V.: Made from cardboard box, sticks, banana fibers and paper.  Very cool.  You spin the knobs on the side the picture changes.

Our church: Made from cardboard and painted with dirt

Kwanjula

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to get invited to an introduction.  And introduction is basically like an engagement party in the States, but 100 times funnier and more involved.  The general premise is that the girl is introducing the boy to her family.  This is also when the boy pays the traditional “bride price”.  The whole idea of the introduction is that it is a huge drama.... everyone is playing a role and its really important to exaggerate and follow all of the rules. One of my Peace Corps friends has fallen in love with a Ugandan girl and this was their introduction!

We all took a couple of hours getting ready before the event.  You have to wear traditional attire and we were all a bit inexperienced with how to wear it, walk in it, etc.  The men wear kanzus and the women wear Gomez.  The men look damn good in their outfit but the purpose of the Gomez is to make women look very fat (as that is a good thing in this culture).  There are so many layers of fabric, it’s basically a mess if you haven’t worn one before.  Here is me trying to get mine on.... with the help of Ven, of course:

You can see that I have a layer UNDER the blue one.  This is to make my "hips and bum look bigger"  Then you wrap all of that blue around you.  Talk about hot.

 All of us girls with our outfits.

We arrived at the introduction 2 hours late (I guess this is just expected) and we all had to line up outside of where the event would take place (at the girls fathers house).  There were about 50 of us in our entourage (PC staff, volunteers, and friends from his village) and we were instructed to “dance in”.  As we came in, four girls dressed as nurses came out, gave us “immunizations”, little knitted pins and handkerchiefs with the future bride and grooms names.  Then we all sat down under a big tent.  The mans friends and family under one tent, with the womans in another tent.

 

Our group waiting to be immunized by the brides family.  We are a colorful bunch!

Then the womans family brings out a bunch of girls, to show how prosperous they are and how they have so many girls.  Every time they ask if the groom (who I forgot to mention is currently sitting in the general crowd... the family doesn’t know who he is) would like any of these girls.  They bring out groups of girls starting with 4 years olds, then 8 year olds, then 14 year olds, then 20 year olds, then a few groups of adults.  Each group of girls does a dance, says some words of wisdom and then is given a gift from the grooms side.  The entire thing is commentated by two MC’s who are hired by the separate families.  They banter back and forth with the brides side saying things like “We showed you all of our girls, you can go now” and “Please leave, we already gave you people drinks.”  After all the dancers come, the jja jja (grandma) comes out in her digging clothes, with a machete in one hand and a hoe in the other and acts like she had no clue that this event was going to happen.  She then realizes her granddaughter is going to get married and comes out and dances.  (I thought this was hilarious and totally want to do this at my engagement party. Ha)

 

Finally, the girls aunt says that they have brought out all of the girls and now the brides family wants to meet the groom.  The aunty goes searching/dancing through the crowd and after about 10 minutes “finds” the groom.  Then he is introduced.  Next, more girls come out and dance and this time the bride is amongst them.  The girls are instructed to dance into kneeling position... unless they are the bride, which leaves her standing alone.  She is told to stand for a while so everyone can get a good look.  Then the grooms sister has to present a gift for the groom.  After that the future bride is finally allowed to sit next to her future groom.  But this lasts for a whopping 10 minutes and then she has to go back and sit with her family.

 Kimuli and his future wife Gertrude

Next is the giving of gifts.... also known as paying the “bride price”.  A few months before the introduction occurs, the future groom has to go and speak with the girls aunt.  He brings her gifts and they negotiate how much he will have to bring to the introduction.  On the day of the introduction the people who traveled with the groom bring in all of the gifts.  To give you an idea of how much stuff it was.... there was about 40 of us carrying it in...... and it took us 3 trips!! Here is a list of some of the things he gave:

●   Basket of tomatoes

●   7 loaves of bread

●   Basket of onions

●   8 pineapples

●   Basket of spices

●   10 jars of blueband

●   Gomez fabric for ALL women

●   Kanzus for ALL men

●   TV

●   Cow

●   Chicken

●   Suitcase

●   Crates of soda

●   Boxes of water

●   Basket of oranges

●   Box of applyes

●   6 heads of cabbage

●   Maize Flower

●   Matooke

 The boys carrying in the heavy items.

All of the stuff that the groom purchased for the brides family.

I asked what would happen to all the perishable food (because there is no way one family could consume it in time) and Ven told me that they give it out to all the extended relatives, so everyone basically gets a gift from the groom.

I told Mr. Bigyemwa (my neighbor) that I was going to an introduction here in the Buganda Kingdom.  He proceeded to say that people in the Buganda Kingdom are not serious about bride price, and I quote, “ In the Buganda Kingdom they let men buy woman for tomatoes.  What kind of a price is that?  You think they will want to keep the wife that they only paid for in tomatoes?  What reason would the husband have for staying?  I paid 8 cows for my wife and I have been with her for 25 years.  Those people are not serious.”  I love his theory. 

 

This is a picture of the bride, kneeling, to give her gifts to the groom.

After the gift-giving, there is an outfit change for the bridal party, cutting of the cake and then general merrymaking. We had a delicious meal of luwombo (chicken wrapped in matooke leaves and steamed) and then did some dancing.  It was amazing to see the fusion of the two cultures and to be able to be a part of two incredible peoples very special day.  And I can’t even wait to go to their wedding. J

Making the vocational school/library beautiful!

About a month ago, my grant got fully funded and we started the process of getting the space ready to become a vocational school/library.  We had finished all of the cosmetic painting, so William encouraged me to start painting a mural.  It took me about a week of making a grid, drawing the countries and finally painting them.  The kids love coming in and looking at all the different countries.

 

We had some paint left over and wanted to do a “hand mural” with the kids.  I painted a trunk of a tree and had the kids do their hands for the leaves.  They loved it, and I thought it was extra special because they use their hands to communicate.

To finish up the beautification process, I painted all of the left over paint cans and the kids planted flowers. They loved getting their hands dirty and thought it was pretty cool that they each got to plant their own.

Frisbee Tournament

I spent last weekend at the Kampala 7even Hills Ultimate Frisbee Tournament with my team of kids from the college.  The weekend was full of new experiences and excitement for them. We headed out on Friday night and got into Kampala around dinner time.  When we got to our hostel I started cooking the kids American food, because I had promised them I would.  They hesitantly ate the spaghetti and garlic bread, while me and peter (the PCV who was chaperone for the boys) scarfed it down like we had never tasted anything better.  About halfway through the dinner, one of my students piped up and said “Madam.... are black people allowed to sleep here?”  I bust out laughing and asked him why he would ask such a funny question.  He replied that all of the people he had seen at this place so far had been mzungu (white) and so he wasn’t sure if the only reason they were allowed in because I was there.  I explained that there is nowhere in Uganda that black people are not allowed and it was just that this was a common place for tourists, who are often young mzungus. J

Saturday was a full day of Frisbee games.  We played a full 5 games and were exhausted by the end of it.  My kids learned a ton.... from teamwork and strategy to how to play fair and have fun.  There were some stressful moments when they were frustrated with scores, fouls, and whatnot... but overall they were laughing and enjoying their first real vacation. On the way home Saturday night we stopped at an intersection and one of the students was pointing to a stoplight trying to figure out what it was.  Another student piped up and explained the idea behind a stoplight to everyone in the bus (the speech was very good and all of my students were very impressed with their first stoplight) I sat in the front of the bus with my shirt tail in my mouth to stop from cracking up.  They were so intrigued.

We went out to dinner with all of the Frisbee teams on Saturday night.  First time my kids had ever been to a legitimate restaurant.... they thought they were the coolest kids ever.  They all dressed up super nice and had on perfume and whatnot.... spent a good 20 minutes each brushing their darn hair that they don’t even have, with a toothbrush. ha It was great, and really cool that they could converse with older and more experience Frisbee players on the international circuit.

On Sunday we headed out for the semi-finals.  Although we came in 6^th (lets be serious.... out of 6) my kids and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.  We won the overall award of  “Best Spirit of the Game”!!!!!  We loved playing every minute of the tournament and learned a ton.  Afterwards, I told them as a treat I would take them to the only legitimate mall in Uganda... Garden City.  I gave them each 5,000 shillings (2 dollars) and told them they had one hour to do whatever they wanted to do in the mall.... but they had to spend the money. J  After an hour they all came back with full bags and smiles on their faces.  I looked in to see what they had purchased, expecting to see candy bars and bags of chips.... only to find loaves of bread and biscuits (two things that they can get at the college!!)  Ha.  I guess they were all just  little overwhelmed by the supermarket, and come to think about it they have probably never seen a candy bar before, let alone eaten one. 

As we were leaving the mall one of the students pointed to some doors and asked if it was where the toilet was.  I told them it wasn’t a toilet but an elevator and they were intrigued.  It was difficult to explain that it took people upstairs without using stairs and it was made for people who couldn’t walk well.  My kids were blown away and insisted that we try it out.  So we all climbed onto the elevator and they all braced themselves for impact, putting hands on the walls and bending their knees.  They all kept asking, when is the ride going to start.  The doors opened on floor #2 and I explained that you really couldn’t feel an elevator moving all that much.  They walked out onto the second floor and all just started cracking up.  It was such a cool moment!

After that we headed home.  The weekend was such a success!! My students were able to travel to Kampala for the first (and maybe last) time ever, they were able to practice a skill they had been honing for months, they were able to meet people from around East Africa, and they were able to see that if you work hard and believe in yourself that all things are possible.  Thanks to everyone who made my students dreams come true!

On the field getting ready to play

Meeting with team Rwanda

Guarding

The team before the tournament began

After the tournament

Paintin'

This is a picture of Mirembe after she tried to help us paint! ha

So, we've been on holiday for these last two weeks.  All the kids are gone and things slow down (if that is even possible. ha)  Anyways, William, the headteacher at the deaf school, mentioned that he was going to hire someone to paint the school over the break.  I said that Peace Corps and JICA (Japanese version of PC) volunteers would love to come and help out.  So a bunch of people got together over the last few weeks and we all got to work painting.  Some of the kids who stay over the break even pitched in.  It was a blast.... saved them a ton of money... and gave me a great project over break.  We ended up painting all of the admin. block, inside and outside, all of the classrooms (in and out), dining hall, vocational school (the one I am starting), and all of the dorms. It was so much fun!! Here are some pictures:

Above is the admin block of the school after we painted it

This is the admin block before~

Me and the kids taking a break from painting