Milk for Books

Last week, I was enjoying dinner with my neighbor when we heard a small voice call “koodi” from outside. “Koodi” means something like, “hello-- I’m here.” Kind of like the Ugandan equivalent to knocking on a door or ringing a doorbell. So my neighbor went out to see who it was. Two boys around the ages of eight and nine were out selling milk. They study at the primary school in my village and were in need of notebooks. Being poor, but having a family cow, their mother gave them some milk to go around and sell to the neighbors to earn money. Not simply asking for money, but earning money. They were selling two mugs for 500 shillings, which ends up being about a quarter gallon of milk for 20 cents.

Even though there is Universal Primary and partial Secondary Education, it is still difficult for poor kids to stay in school. They can’t afford notebooks, pens, pencils, a math kit, the mandatory uniform, meal-cards for food, etc (and teachers will send them out of class or home if they don’t come prepared). Also, their families often need them to remain home to help dig in the garden and take care of house chores. It is likely that poor, village kids will remain poor, village kids. So, seeing these boys out selling milk at 10pm, desperate to get notebooks for school really touched me. They are at such a young age but are serious students. They see the importance of education and want to learn... at such a young age! It was definitely an eye-opening experience. I am truly grateful for the education I received growing up and have never been surer of my decision to put that education to the best use by coming here to teach.

Bought a hen, planted a garden, given a mango, and found Harry Potter

A couple of weeks ago, I ran out of eggs. I innocently told my neighbor, Ronnie, without any implication that I was looking for help. About an hour later he showed up at my doorstep with half-a-tray of eggs (15). All for the grand total of 3,000 shillings, which is just a buck-25 ($1.25). Needless to say, I was overjoyed with Ronnie’s persistent generosity.

Then, Ronnie proposed purchasing a hen of my own. Hmm… I had been considering buying a goat and wasn’t sure if I also wanted to invest in a hen. However, it makes more sense to buy the hen because for the lofty price of 8,000 shillings ($3.33) I get eggs for my remaining two years here. Sold! I bought a hen the following day. She’s a beauty—nearing egg-laying maturity. She is free-range, like all the enkoko (chickens) here (remember, I am constantly chasing them out of my house), so it will cost nothing extra to feed her. Also, there are many roosters around for fertilization, so I don’t even have to worry about buying her a mate! I’ve been told fertilized eggs are more nutritious and delicious, as long as I eat them within three weeks of being laid. No problem-ooo.

Also, that same weekend I began planting my garden! For now, I only have tomatoes sprouting in the nursery bed. In less than a week they were already several inches high. Everything grows sooo fast and sooo well here in Uganda. Yipee for me because I’m assuming I don’t have a green-thumb. So, soon I will be transplanting them to the main garden. I also plan on planting carrots, green peppers, and sweet potatoes. I’ll see what seeds my mom sends me in the mail and will plant those too! Who knows, maybe I’ll stay after my two years of teaching and become a farmer! (Just kiddingggg daddy. You can stop panicking now!)

As you may know, classes began last week. The first week was taken up with beginning-of-term exams and since I did not teach last term, I had no exams to administer. So, I spent the week getting to know the staff, students, and school better; a nice way to ease into the whole system. However, this week was a teaching week! Ah, I love my classes and students. I am teaching Senior 1 ICT/Computer (about 360 students), Senior 2 Math (about 260 students), and Senior 3 Math (about 170 students). Sooo, that’s about 800 students. Yikes. I don’t even want to think about the whole evaluation process. I’ve got my hands full, but the students are great so they make it easy.

For example, today a student even brought “Madam Lisa” a mango!!! It is like a teacher receiving an apple back home. However, I am even more appreciative of this gesture because most students go the entire school day without breakfast, lunch, or even a snack. They eat one meal a day because their families cannot provide them with extra. So, for a student to offer a perfectly good mango means a lot. Also, the relationship between the student and the teacher here is not a very friendly one. They may joke around at times, but without ever losing sight of the teacher being much, much, much higher than the student. After all, the main form of punishment is caning (beating the students with tree-branches), so the students constantly fear crossing any lines. The students know I do not approve of caning and encourage open communication, which I think explains the confidence in offering me a mango this morning. After our first class together, they have already begun telling me how much they will miss me in two years. I don’t even want to think about how difficult leaving them will be.

Also today, I checked out the library again. They have some decent novels in there. I am currently reading Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell. As I was exploring the shelves, I stumbled upon the Harry Potter series! Now, I have never read any of the books and have only seen two of the movies, BUT I have wanted to read them recently. See what they’re all about. They are a huge part of recent pop-culture and I want in! Bonus—the series is the original British version! Woo-hoo! I will tackle them soon, soon (Ugandans often repeat certain words twice…I’ve gotten into the habit).

That pretty much sums up the past couple of weeks that I have been M.I.A. Not too shabby, I’ll say.