Frustration

So many little things happen here in one day it's hard to remember them all let alone write about them days later. The power was out for the past 3 days and the internet was down. It came up for a few hours yesterday so I tried to get online but after 2 hours and no success I went home frustrated. So I decided to take a trip to Kampala today so that I could get a reliable internet service.

Things are a bit primitive here especially with no power. Having to bath, eat, use the washroom and do lesson plans in the dark is difficult. Because I have a much more demanding schedule than the other volunteers I spend pretty much all of my day either at school or doing homework and lesson plans. They all can't believe how much work I have.

Now onto the stories. I have been having my kids write journals everyday. Most of the kids don't know how to think outside of the box here so they don't know what to write. The school system is really bad here. Basically the teachers read from the text book, copy it onto the board and the kids write it down. There is no creativity. Shame. So when I ask them to do something outside of that they need a lot of encouragement and guidance. Hence the writing in the journals have been a struggle. In the journals, most of the kids ask me to buy them things. Most of them ask me to take them to Canada. Then the ask my parents names my brothers name and how old I am. When I tell them almost 31 they don't believe me. They ask me where my white hair is. Because the life expectancy is so low here people my age are considered to be old. On the up side most of the kids thought I was 21 or 22. Even the other volunteers couldn't believe that I was 31, they all thought mid 20's. Apparently I shouldn't wear makeup or do my hair more often:)

Anyway, back to the journals. I had a student tell me that his parents are dead and that he lives with his is sister. He told me that he won't be coming back to school because they can not afford to pay for his school fees. Another 2 students of mine had the same problem where their families could not afford to send them to school. Needless to say I paid for all three to stay for another term. For all 3 of them it only cost me around $80. When the parents heard what I had done they came to the school to thank me. They were so happy. As harsh as it may sound I had to make sure that all of them understood that the money was only going to be given for 1 term and that they would have to pay after that. The reason I had to do that is because the people here think that once a white person has given money they continue to do so forever. In other words, after I left those families would think that I have given money to the school and that the school was keeping it from them. You have to make things very clear here.

I have also purchased a school uniform for one of my students. She was very grateful. Almost every day the kids ask me if I will pay for them to go on tour. Apparently the school is trying to take the kids to the airport to see the planes. Then from there they will go to the zoo. Out of 125 students I think only a handful can afford to go. I will ask how much it is per student and see if I can send my whole class. None of them have seen a plane. Most of them have never been further than 1 hour away from their home. Sad.

With the donated money I have decided to give my school a proper office. Right now the office is the back of the nursery class room. Picture this. 80 kids, a teacher, a desk, a bookshelf all in a 10x10 room. My school is VERY small and they are running out of space. So we have negotiated with the landlord of the complex to rent out the last remaining room. On Monday I am going to give him 1 years rent for the room. It was a grand total of $200 for the year. They are soooo happy. I am also arranging to do some work on the other classrooms. They need a proper dividing wall between 2 of the rooms. We found out this week that the school was almost shut down because they needed to make some changes. I of course agreed to help. I am shocked at how little things cost here.

So thank you everyone who donated to this trip. The money is going a long way and is helping many kids. I have also made friends with the bankers because I am going in there so often to exchange money. They are trying to each me new Lugandan words, but it is not going so well. It is still nice to have made some friends.

Today I am in Kampala and am here to buy more books for the school. Now that they have a proper office space for them to store the books, it is my hope that by the time I am done they will have enough books for every grade level to read something. That will last a long time here. the school is very poor and can use any help they can get.

Because the school is so small the kids don't really have anywhere to get exercise. The teachers here are very lazy and just do the minimum amount of work needed. So when we do have a break I take the kids outside and have them run. The first day I told them to run to the corner but when I said go they just kept on running. I have no idea where they went but it was far away. The other teachers just looked at me and said "they'll be back" I also try to chase around the nursery kids. They are so small and do not speak any English but they love the attention. It is absolutely crazy when I bring out my camera. They all go nuts!

My male teachers at the school are starting to creep me out. They keep coming into my classroom and just looking at me. One of them won't leave me alone. Everyday they ask me when we are going to go out clubbing. I of course don't want to so I keep dodging the question. Plus in Uganda I would be expected to pay for them if we go out. Forget that! Everyday they ask me to come sit and eat with them. I just tell them that I am going to play with the kids.

Ok now for the sad stories. 2 of the other volunteers heard from their students that the director of their school is raping the girls there. That is the second school this week where we have heard about the girls getting raped. It is sad to say but the men here are really bad! It is also a rumor here that the white man started AIDS and that if you have sex with a baby you will be cured. Crazy! Some of the volunteers teach sex ed classes and give talks about AIDS. It is unbelievable the questions these kids ask. And I stress KIDS! They are so small. One of the volunteers showed me a picture of a 5 year old who had syphilis. It was all over her head and the flies were attacking her. She has also had Malaria 3 times this month. Crazy. It is such a struggle to just live here.

Now back to some vanity. Seriously I can not stand to even look at myself anymore. It is impossible to get clean here and to smell nice. I have given up hope on my skin, as it seems to just be getting worse, and let's not talk about my hair. WOW! I so desperately want to feel normal again:(

As far as the food goes. I honestly don't know how people survive here. Most of my kids eat only once or maybe twice, if they are lucky, a day. And when they do eat it is posho and beans. There is little or no nutrition in that. I am being fed 3 times a day and have no energy. The food has no taste and you are given very little. I'm not kidding when I say it is a struggle to just walk up three flights of stairs. I had to go to a western hotel the other day just to feed myself properly so that I would have some energy. I was sick for a couple days, but I am feeling much better now. When I go to the grocery store, and all they had was water, bread, some apples, peanut butter, jam, juice, coffee, yogart, and some crackers. They rest of the store is random supplies. I can't even buy food here! It is so rare to get meat as well. I haven't had any meat in 2 weeks. I'm so hungry and all I can ever think about is food. I honestly don't know how they do it.

Tomorrow I am off to Jinja. It is where the source to the Nile river is, so I am excited to see that. I may stay overnight, but am unsure. On Sunday we are going to a traditional dance in Seeta. That should be good as well. Next weekend I am going up north with 3 other volunteers. I can't wait. We are going to one of the largest IDP camps in East Africa. There are 1 million people there and 1000 kids die a day from starvation. I am sure that one will be an eye opener.

There are a million other things to tell you but I am running out of time here and I need to go eat something. Provided the internet is up in Mukono I will write again soon.

Jenn