We slept late. Really late! Quick shower, dash down to breakfast, wolf it down, and off! And wouldn't you know this is the morning Vincent would be late? He called around 8:15 to say he was having trouble getting to us. He arrived around 8:30.
This was our first full day in Kampala. The program called for visit after visit to school after school from early morning until late afternoon. Our first stop was Kitto Nursery School where we saw one girl. The teacher of the preschool class brought her whole class out to see us. Jeff and Angie kept the kids entertained while we photographed our sponsored child.
We visited three more schools and saw a total of 4 more children. We ran out of blankets and basins after the first school, so we went to Vincent's house to reload. We drove across town to St. Marin Day/Boarding School where we saw Nantongo Phiona. She asked us to tell Steve and Donna that she promises to do better next term.
We drove up a steep hill, along the top for a bit. Our destination was New Way Hill Primary School. Although there was only one girl there, much happened during our stop. As I started out to the van after talking with Bukirwa Priscilla ( ) a young man called out to me from the road. He was sitting on a bicycle and he was out of breath. He told me that he had been forced to leave school three years earlier while in S3. This is the worst time to leave school. Staying to S4 gives a diploma from Form 4, which means the student completed Ordinary Level, roughly equivalent to our high school. By leaving at S3, the man had no educational credentials at all, yet he was very near completing his requirements. He said he had seen our van when we were leaving St. Martin. He had followed us over this hill because he knew we sponsored people to go to school and he wanted to ask if it would be possible to sponsor him. Vincent took down a bit of his information and the man promised to come to the church on Saturday to fill out an application. He was so relieved that we said we would search for a sponsor for him, even though I explained that it could take a long time to find someone ready to sponsor him. He thanked us profusely, turned his bike around, and started peddling up the very steep, badly rutted road.
It was late morning, but there was still time to see a few more kids before lunch. We were in the Ntinda area where the largest concentration of our students lives. We have many students in these neighborhood schools. Our first stop was Kiwatule Preparatory School where we saw 20 children ranging in age from 8 to 12 years old. Lisa split up the children into groups so that the rest of our team could interview the kids for their sponsors. As Lisa, Grace, and I organized the photography sessions, the others sat with the kids and talked with them. Angie worked very hard to get interviews with all her kids, then moved on to interview the other kids, too. We will use this information in our letters next term, so every sponsor owes Angie a big "thank you!"
After Kiwatule, we moved to Kalinabari Primary School, our largest concentration of students with 22. While we have historically had children in almost every grade here, we were limited to Primary 3 to Primary 7 this year. The majority of our kids were in P6 or P7. This is an interesting school! It is a UPE government backed school. In theory, kids don't have to pay to go to this school, but in fact, the government pays far too little to keep the school afloat. Mary, the head mistress, is then forced to collect all sorts of fees from the children in order to keep the school open. Our relationship then is that we pay based on the average fees for the area. Mary uses this to offset expenses at the school. When she greeted us, she said, "It is people like you who let me keep my school open. Without you, there would be no money at all." So our kids get a good education in a caring, if crowded, environment. Mary keeps her doors open.
These 22 kids were so happy! They were like a huge team, working together. They laughed and talked among themselves and they gladly answered our many, many questions. When we were finished with the photos and the interviews, we walked up to Mary's office. She wanted to greet each one of us and for each of us to sign her guest book. When that was finished, I asked if she would allow Lisa and the two other ladies visit a classroom. She called her assistant and told her to show them around. David and Jeff went along, too, so I stayed back and visited with Mary and her assistant. Lisa said they went to a classroom with 90 kids in it. I can confirm that every one of the screamed when they saw the Bzungu! They also sang and Lisa had a minute to talk with a teacher. Teachers in primary schools in Uganda make about $50 per month. With that, it is impossible to feed a family of 4, house them, and send two kids to school.
It was getting late, but since we were at kalinabiri, we decided to go on up the hill to the Secondary School where 16 students attend. While we were taking photos and interviewing, two young men came up and talked to Vincent. Like the group at the Primary School, these Kalinabiri students were happy and seemed to enjoy one another's company.
After we finished, Vincent brought us Mwambu Tony, a 27 year old who was trying to pay his own way through S3. He had quit school during S2, but had found it very hard to find a job. He wanted a sponsor so that he could cover his tuition and feed his wife and two kids. He said it was impossible for him to come up with enough money to do both while attending school every day all day. I explained to him about the sponsorship process and agreed to add him to our ever-growing list.
The other gentleman was even more interesting. He said he attended this school some years ago and was very proud of it. He had gone on from there to earn a degree in journalism. With the help of two friends, he had formed a weekly newspaper dedicated to telling Uganda about issues in education. He brought copies for each of us. The paper looked as professional as the Kampala dailies and, as he said, dealt exclusively with education issues. "I would like to do a story about you," he said.
We talked for a while and the man took notes. He said he wanted photos but he hadn't brought along a photographer. Vicnent and I convinced him that Saturday morning at Saturday School would be the best time to make photos. He said he was planning a full page about the project. He was impressed that we have been going on since 2001, and he wanted Uganda to know about it. Vincent and he exchanged contact information and he left on his bicycle.
As he was leaving, Vincent told me that the television station was also planning to visit us at Saturday School. He said they had contacted him and asked when we would be coming again. He said they wanted to do a story about the Project and our kids.
It was almost 3:00, well passed lunch time. I asked Vincent to take us to The Chef, a Ugandan fast food place serving the finest mystery meet around. I asked Vincent if he knew anything about the beef and goat meat ban. He said he had heard nothing other than the waitress at Jinja telling us about it. We had heard the same story, however, from our waiter at the Guesthouse.
The Chef obviously hadn't heard anything – or it could be that the mystery meat was neither beef or goat! It comes in three styles: chaps, chops, and kabobs. Chaps is a puffy fried meat patty. As the name suggests, its contents are a mystery. Chops looks a bit like chaps except that it is flatter and not as fluffy. Kabobs are sausage-like things rolled in a batter and somehow fried. In the process the long, thin meaty thing acquires a most unusual exterior. It is like a batter, but it sort of hangs in long hair-like appendages. All three taste similar, but chops had more ginger in it than chaps. The kabob tastes like an elongated chop, except for the strange consistency which occurs when the battery exterior moves when bitten.
I ordered one chaps, one chops, and one kabob for David and company. I ordered chaps for Jeff and samosas for Lisa and me. There was no mention of any concern about eating meat, so we enjoyed. Jeff like his chaps. Daniell and Angie liked chops and chaps, but we learned that Angie didn't like the consistency of kabob. David, of course, ate whatever came by.
After lunch, we found we were running out of both time and blankets. Vincent drove us to Kigoowa Infant Primary School where we once again had 22 students. He left us there while he and Jeff went for more blankets and basins. I must admit it felt a bit strange when they pulled away leaving us alone at the school. But when our children started coming out, we quickly forgot that should anything happen to Vincent and Jeff, we were stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way back to our Guesthouse! The kids were very excited that we were there and several even wanted to talk to us, though many were frightened.
As we were finishing up, classes began letting out. We suddenly found ourselves surrounded by kids. One of them ran into the building and returned with a chair for me, then with one for Lisa and finally one for David. They didn't seem to think our young Dallas friends needed chairs. So we sat and watched more than 100 of these kids cheer and sing and laugh at our photos. Vincent returned to break up the party and the kids went out the school gate and on home. Our kids went for their blankets and basins!
When everyone had a blanket and basin, we started through the gate to the van. Two young girls, one around 6 and the other 2, were standing at the gate peering in at us. This has been the most heart breaking thing with our project: we simply can't help everyone. These young girls watched every move we made, and they seemed ecstatic over Angie's bracelet.
Our final stop was Najeera High School. Class dismisses at 5:00 and we pulled onto campus with less than 10 minutes to spare. Although Peter is still the head master, he wasn't there today. Instead, his assistant gathered up our 15 kids. These kids were distant and not at all talkative. They didn't interact with us or with each other. Stephen Zzwia (BPC Youth's child) was there. He seemed miserable. He whispered to me that he wanted to change schools. Stephen lost his last remaining parent last year. He was really struggling at Christmas, and he wasn't much better now. I will ask Vincent if we need to intervene here.
I was completely exhausted and was sound asleep within 5 minutes of sitting down in the van. We decided to go out to eat at 7:00 which gave us almost 2 hours to rest. We went to our room, and I, again, fell asleep instantly. Lisa woke me up at 6:40. We freshened up a bit, then hurried down just as Vincent and Grace arrived.
We decided to visit the Indian Restaurant at Garden City. There was a light crowd so David decided to take a table outside where our Uganda friends proceeded to freeze. There was no mention of a meat scare here either, so we enjoyed a feast! Afterwards, we shopped in Uchumi, a very strange Wal Mart like store.
We visited 11 schools. Our total student count was 120.
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