Going to schools
on Sabrina and Geoff Slide in Kamwenge (Uganda), 08/Jun/2009 15:51, 34 days ago
We drive along the murram roads of Kamwenge trying to avoid pedestrians and cyclists. Cyclists carry everything and anything . . . sugar cane, sacks of charcoal, beds, furniture, even coffins (empty) Pedestrians carry their water, produce and shopping on their heads. Children run barefoot along the side of the road with their exercise books and bags. Along the roadside the papyrus grows tall and graceful.After being joggled about on the potholed roads, we see a school sign and turn off on to a virtual footpath through the high maize, banana trees and elephant grass. We drive for anything up to 5 Kms past mud huts, cassava, or bean plantations until the path widens and . . .It is always enjoyable arriving at a new school, especially at playtime. First we see the bright colours of the school uniforms through the trees– all Ugandan schools have brightly coloured uniforms – and then as we turn into the school, a few children will notice that there are white people – mzungus – in the vehicle and will run up to greet us. Gradually more children will come out until by the time we park in the shade of a mangotree, the car is surrounded by smiling faces shouting ‘Hallo Mzungu, how are you?’, to which we reply ‘I am fine, how are you?’As we get out of the vehicle they respectfully move aside and some offer to carry our bags. By this time the headteacher or another senior teacher will have hurried out and we will be ushered into the headteacher’s office where a visitors’ book will be produced. Every workplace and organization in Uganda has a visitors’ book and our first task on sitting down is to fill it in. Once we revisited a school the next day and signed our names immediately below our names from the previous day! As we sit, there will be faces peering through doors and windows to catch a glimpse of the white faces – in many cases in the rural areas, it may well be the first white face they have seen in the flesh.Our business with the headteacher and staff finished, as we emerge from the building, morechildren will appear to surround our vehicle and offer to carry our bags. Unfortunately this also occurs during lesson times as teacher absenteeism is high for a wide variety of reasons and there are always some classes where children sit waiting patiently for a teacher to turn up. They are therefore glad of our appearance to enliven the waiting! As we drive off the children run up beside and behind the vehicle, sometimes so close that we have to stop and shoo them away. Once we drove to a house 1 Km away from the school only to find that three 9-year-old children kept up with us all the way!The same story is repeated at the next school. The only exception is in the town centre schools, where pupils are used to seeing mzungus around and so adopt an air of world-weary sophistication as we turn up, as though nothing can surprise them!