headed home...

Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
— Terry Pratchett

With over 24 hours of travel ahead of me, I begin my journey home....

I have walked that long walk to freedom...

I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.

Nelson Mandela

The boat ride is only 22 minutes, rocky and rolling. One can only imagine the journey in hand cuffs. Robben Island the maxium secruity prison where many political leaders where held for crimes against the governement was a journey of great significance for me and an interesting way to spend my last day in South Africa. While the journey to the island was different for each of its prisoners, they were united often in the fight against apartheid. Mandela and others were sentenced to life in prison, the story of how they overcame the confinement is fascinating and inspiring, the story of a society who kept them behind bars and sturggled to change it ways is still being told.  

The tour of the prison is given by former inmates who offer and interesting perspective on what it was like to be there. One of the mistakes the government made was to put all the leaders in one cell block, they spent time talking of freedom.

This is the lime quarry where Mandela and others did hard labor, the pile of stones was left there at a reunion trip for many of the political leaders who were imprisoned here as late as 1996.

This is where Mandela spent the first 18 years of his prison sentence, he then was moved to another prison on the main land.

Another photo of Mandela's cell

This is the garden view outside of Mandela's cell, this garden is apparently where they found some of his early manuscripts of his book Long Walk to Freedom.

Kirstenbosch Gardens

The "Mandela" Bird of Paradise a special hybrid.

Protea

Cape of Good Hope

The most South Western point on the African Continent

Boulders bay penguin colony...

These little guys sure were fun to watch...

just a couple of my favorite photos....

This was taken at an orphange, that is Fortunate asleep...

Meet Mary and Rhianna... children of a couple of the teachers

Sunrise hike up Table Mountain

This is where we are headed. It was a lovely 4 hour hike to the top, some rock scrambling and even ladders.

At the top with Capetown and Camps beach down below.

South African township classroom

Better then Uganda, still large class sizes of close to 40.  I keep hoping that somewhere the inequities in education won't be so startling...

sunset sail

Had a beautiful sunset sail with the mountains in the background.

Townships...

Cape town is proving to be a fascinating place.... spent the morning visiting some of the townships, massive communities built up, filled with tin shacks and people.  Some of the townships are undergoing some reconstruction turning the tin shacks into small homes. I visited the infamous District six and learned a lot about apartheid and what people really have had to overcome, and this is recent history.

Camps Bay

This is Camps Bay with the 12 Apostles standing guard... beautiful!

table mountain

This is the view from my hotel room, that is Table Mountain in the mist...

Cape Town

After a long day of travel and a very crazy Johannesburg airport I have arrived in Cape town and I am looking forward to another amazing adventure... first things first... a real shower!

so long Uganda... I am going to miss you!

Mrs. Fatland's class

Thanks for all the great questions! You guys have been great, I am looking forward to visiting with you all in person!


"Why are those students in wheelchairs?"
Evie-
The kids are in wheel chairs because they have a physical disablities, that make it difficult for them to walk.
"Where do they get the wheelchairs?"
Reed-
 The wheel chairs are mostly donated, they are in bad shape and are often in need of repair... they do the best they can.
"Do they have ramps to get up steps?"
Hugo-
They have ramps, but they are made of dirt and often have potholes and are uneven. Kids who are able often help those in the wheelchairs.
"Do they have stairs?"
Sophie-
 there were no stairs at the school

Last day in Uganda...

Meet Emmit and Jonathon two charming students at Kampala school for physically handicapped

Today was my last full day here in Uganda, I leave early tomorrow morning for Cape town, South Africa. I spent part of today at the Kampala school for the physically handicapped and had a magical time. Unlike in the United States there are no provisions or rules for people in wheelchairs so life can be very hard here, the school takes students in offers Occupational/Physical therapy, gets them wheel chairs, provides a basic education and vocational training. The teachers here are doing A LOT with not much... I spent some time with an occupational therapist as he was trying to repair a wheelchair, its hard work! The kids are happy and probably wouldn't have much of a chance with out all the support they get here.
A perfect way to end this part of my journey!

small miracles...

The difference is like night and day. He was a smiling boy of six, missing his two front teeth, running and laughing. I was able to see Shafik the little boy I meet on my first journey here.  The good news is that he looks like a totally different little boy, he has now been transferred to a much better orphange where he is one of 8 children being cared for by one woman whom they refer to as mother. He will be able to stay there and go through school.... the bad news is he tested positive for HIV and is now on anti-virals and goes to the clinic once a month for a check-up.... despite this my heart rests easier knowing that he is in a better space. Thank the world for small miracles.

simple things

It was sweltering in the resource center, I kept trying to think of things cool, like popsicles, ice cream, polar bears, ice cubes...
After two hours of sweating through the official speeches, I was finally able to make a break for it and head outside. Admittedly it wasn't a whole lot cooler outside but at least I was in the open air. Off in the distance I spotted these three, watching the festivities like they would be watching a television.  It is a reminder to me to pay attention to the simple things.... the enjoyment of three kids watching all the adults coming and going. I would much prefer to be laying in the grass.

This may sound crazy, but how advanced is Ugandan technology?

this is the computer lab at Mukono boarding school.

 I would guess they are at least 10 years if not more behind. Some schools have computer labs, with no power or power that comes on and off. They do not have easy access to the internet. There are LOTS of cell phones.  Again the infra structure is not really set-up for the use of computers. Depending on whether you are in the rural parts or the urban areas you will find many differences. Most of the rural homes don't have a tv, there are no video game systems...

Dedication

Yesterday we dedicated a new resource center at Mr. John Ntegue's school. It was a lovely day with singing and dancing and lots of food. All the official people had to give speeches which got a bit tedious! Overall it was a great day filled with excitment.

Mrs.Matzen's Fourth grade

Kaden: "What kind of hard work do they have to do in order to survive?"

They work in the fields with their families, they may have to pick up scrap metal to try and sell. There are many children who are orphaned or living with relatives. Things are very different here for children.

Lucia: "Can you please find out some of the 4th graders' names?"

They have many different names some student names I have meet while here: Michael, David, Harriet, David, Moses, Henry, Martha, Ruth, Ida, Rita, Mary,and  Miriam.

Vinny: "What kind of stuff do they have at their pharmacy?"

I have not yet been into a pharmacy, I would imagine it is mostly medications and supplies.

Chuck: "Do they like football? Do they know what that is?"

Here they call soccer football, so I ask about football, I have to make sure I say American Football.  The truth is they don’t know anything about American Football, they don’t understand it, and don’t follow it.

Amelia: "Do a lot of the kids live at the school?"

Depending on the school, some are boarding and some are just day schools. The rural schools often are mostly day schools while the people who can afford to board will send their children.  The secondary schools are mostly boarding schools. Many adults have stories of being dropped off by their parents at a boarding school at an early age 6 or 7 and spending many nights crying and missing the family.

Melina: "Are there a pretty even amount of boys and girls at the schools?"

I am pleased and thrilled that there seem to be more girls than boys or at least equal amounts.  It hasn’t always been the case that girls would get a chance to go to school.  It is still true that in some of the more rural areas the boys outnumber the girls.

Paige: "Do they have breaks - like summer break?"

They do have a break, but over all they are in school for about 256 days… a lot more than we are!

Ben: "How much farm work do they do?"

Comparatively the do a lot of garden/farm work. They grow veggies to supplement their own food source or perhaps to sell.

Elizabeth: "Is it hard for them to meet their essential needs there?"

Yes, and their needs are slightly different than ours. The standard of living here is different than at home. 

Schuyler: "What other kinds of toys do they make (you mentioned they made a ball out of a water bottle and rocks)?"

Anything that they can toss around or kick becomes a toy. I watched some boys playing with the inner tube of a tire…

Isabel: "How excited were they to get all of the donations?"

They were very excited and grateful. I will show some video when I return!

average, what percentage of students do not pass the 7th grade test and are forced to stop their schooling? How many times can they take the 7th grade test?

You may take the final P7 exam only once.  They have many practice exams that lead up to it, but you get one shot. A Division one score is the best on down to Division 4; for the school year 2010 about 540,000 students sat for the exam of those 12,000 scored Division 1, the exam covers English, Math, Science and Social Studies.  The Headmistress (Principal) that I spoke with estimates that 3% will go the vocation route. The higher your score the better the secondary school you can attend. You then go to secondary school for 4 years, and then on to senior 6… 2 more years. After senior 6 you take another exam that qualifies you for University, again the better the score the more options you have as well as the possibility of government scholarship.

We have a problem in rainy season...

“ We have a problem in rainy season,” the Headmistress explains. “ Students won’t come, it is to cold and wet.”

We gaze out behind a small church and there tumbling down the hillside is a small government school. The path to get there is marked by a bone shaking road marred with pits of water and mud; past fields and jungle.  The Head mistress Jane greets us and we are taken on a simple tour, one building that has walls and roof, one building that is open air.   We are greeted by students who are delighted to see us. We bring a few simple school supplies and the big hit of the visit……

A soccer ball, the teachers immediately start laughing and smiling, tossing the ball around.  I am reminded yet again, it doesn’t take much. A few pens, some paper and a ball.

Science exam- Grade 7... how would you do?

A sample of some of the questions:

1. Identify any one living component of the environment.

2. Why should we wash hands after visiting the latrine?

3. Identify the force that is found between two rubbing surfaces.

4. Identify any one characteristic of a living component in the environment.

5. Mention one difference between a bee and a spider.

6. How can a primary seven child take care of his/her skeleton?

7. Mention the part of the respiratory system where gaseous exchange takes place.

8. How can a farmer prevent diseases among the rabbits in the hutch without the use of vaccines?

9. Identify only one element of P.H.C.

10. Mention any one way you can reduce run off water on a gently sloping land.

What are you eating there? How much food do you get?

Photo of my lunch at one of the schools, dried peas, potatoes, rice and a little fish

Eating poscha porridge with the kids at one of the orphanages.

During the day we are fed at the schools, we get the fancy food… rice, dried peas, potatoes. At night it is usually more of the same.  Eating here is about eating to live, mostly high calorie, and high volume foods. There is not a lot of variety here. I eat a lot less here then when I am at home. We do get fruit like pineapple, mango and banana in the mornings. They also have a flat bread here called Chapati which is very good. My favorite treat is to stop and buy one from a stand on the way home and then cover it in peanut butter.

If someone is hurt or sick, what does the average person do? What are their options?

Photo of a clinic on the side of the road, this is a clean looking one.

A pharmacy in the background, this may be someones first stop when looking for help.

Twice now on our way home we have come upon what appears to be a car accident, people laid out on the side of the road, not moving. Not an ambulance in sight.  It is typical that the police respond first but that could take an hour or more.  I suspect that often people die from things that we would survive.  There are clinics and people will go there when they are really ill. For the most part people just tough it out.  People don’t have yearly check-ups or go to the doctor unless it is really serious. There are a few clinics that do surgeries. People do not go to the dentist regularly and you see NO one with braces.

Dwelling Places

Meet Juliet from Open Door...Miriam is the one in front, she was a tough one, apprehensive and hard to make smile.

Baby Martha the youngest one, they estimate to be 16 months. At Open Door they attempt to reunite children with family, but often that is not possible as the youngest ones can not offer any clues as to where they came from.

Fortunate

I was told that his two friends were just transferred out, yesterday. That might explain the lost look in his eyes. That he was sick, that might explain his collapsing into my arms. He is probably older then he looks, probably not been held for a while.  He is abandoned, was brought in off the street, no family, no name.

“He is called Fortunate,” the director tells me.

“He doesn’t look Fortunate,” I reply

“ Maybe he is not now, but he will be… with a name like that, people in America say they will adopt him.”

I sit with this small boy fast asleep in my arms and all I can do is will all the fortune that is in my body into his. I want so badly for his name to be true.  I sit with him for most of the visit, he sleeps. When it is time to go a volunteer comes over and pulls him off my lap, places him on a mat on the floor.

Fortunate.

How do they stop the spread of disease? What happens in a crowded school to prevent the spread of disease? Do they have certain procedures that they follow?

These are pictures of student dorm rooms in a school, notice some students may have mosquito netting.

They really don’t have any special procedures that they follow. If a student is sick, they just soldier on.  Depending on how sick a student may be dismissed from class for a day. None of the schools we visited have a nurse. If a student gets really sick like with Typhoid or Malaria, they send them home to recover and then they can return to school. Most schools do not have running water so the water is either brought from a well or collected in rain barrels, that is the water they drink and use for washing. Keeping the hair short keeps lice away. The bathrooms are mostly pit toliets ( I will try to get a photo for you) a pit toliet is really just a hole in the ground. Showers are often outside in an open shower room and the water is cold... no power for heating water here!

How do the 8th graders size up to us? Are they bigger or smaller?

This is a group of P7 students...

P7 in the classroom

Like all kids they grow at different rates, sometimes there are some large students in classrooms, that could be because a student didn’t pass an end of term exam and has to repeat a grade. Students only move on when they pass the end of term exam, you don’t pass, you don’t go to the next grade. Teachers here think it is very funny that we would promote a student who didn’t pass to the next grade.

How do children react when they first see you?

Children's reactions vary depending on age and whether or not they have seen a Muzungo (white person) before. The young kids may have never seen a white person and they are very interested in touching my skin and feeling my hair. Older students have had experiences with white people and tend to be a bit more subdued. I have been showing some of the older students hand shakes, and "fist bumps," they seem to really like that. All the kids love it when I dance with them, as dancing and singing is a common occurence everywhere we go.  These kids have very little, and I can assure that the smiles in the photos are for real. They are happy to see us and experience something new.

Standing in line

Blaine supplies

Meet Bishop's East this is where all our Blaine school supplies ended up. I am standing with the deputy HeadMaster and a couple of studnets. They were very grateful!

rachel

Rachel has bright blue eyes! When we showed up at the school the kids immediately pointed her out to me indicating that we had the same eyes. She is in 7th grade.

Classroom full of kids

This photo was taken at Bishops West, it is grade 4... see if you can tell how many?

Lunch- No more complaining about school lunch

This is the school kitchen at the Kisowera school, the yellow and green containers are for water. The cooking is done over and open flame on coal.

This is a group of students eating lunch at Mukono, notice they eat with there fingers, they have a scoop of beans and scoop of porridge.

Mrs. Matzen's fourth grade

Thanks for the great questions! Keep them coming!

Robert: "What kinds of food do people eat there?"

They eat rice and beans, and a white porridge mixed from grain… see the photos.

Isabel: "What is the grade that has the most kids in it?"

 It really depends on the school, they will take as many kids as will come and whose parents can afford to pay. The government pays for the teachers and the school must pay for everything else, paper, pencils, power, food, upkeep of buildings. Schools do not have much here.

Kaden: "Do they speak English?"

They all speak English. At the end of 7^th grade students must pass a national exam in order to go on to secondary school, (like our High School) if you don’t score high enough you leave school at age 13 or 14 and work on the farm…

Claudia: "What happens when all the kids can't fit in a classroom?"

When they have too many kids they teach outside under a tree, I have seen one classroom with as many as 100 students and only one teacher. It is very tight quarters, students don’t seem to mind though, they are so happy to be given a chance to learn at school.

Caleb: "What do the kids do for fun?"

They play athletics, schools arrange for sporting competetions. The other day at one of the schools we visited they were having a track day. It looks very different then our competetions though. They also play a game called net ball which is sort of like basketball. Mostly though kids just run around, I have seen kids take an old water bottle and fill it with pebbles to use as a ball, I watched two boys play with the inside rubber piece of a tire. Kids here do not have toys.

Kendall: "How long is their school day?"

Some of the live at the school so they are there all the time, school lasts from about 8am-4pm.

Chelsea: "Do they like living there?"

I suppose they don’t know differently. Most students do not watch TV, they have heard of America, but don’t know a lot about it.

Amelia: "Have you visited all of the different grades?"

I have visited grades 1-7.

Isaac: "What is their favorite subject?"

I suppose that depends on who you ask, I will ask around for you.

Josh: "What do they do on the weekends?"

Help their families, work around the house, study, play with friends. There are no movies, no video games, no family trips to the park. People have to work hard to survive around here.

Mrs. Fatland's class

Thanks for all your great questions! Keep asking them, and let me know if there is a special photo you would like to see! I will try my best.

Lucy: "Are there a lot of trees there?"

There are lots and lots of trees here, Uganda is a very lush green place. It is rainy season right now, so there is enough rain to make everything grow.

Charlie: "Are there a lot of schools?"

There are lots and lots of schools, in the Mukono District there are about 3,000 schools. Some of the schools are private some are public. Often students will live in dorms at the school, some students will walk to school. Most students have to pay a small fee in order to attend.

 Hugo: How do they clean their water?"

That is a tough question, if they are on a water system they get filtered water like we do at home, if they do not have running water which is the case in most schools, they get water from a well or stream.  They do not filter or clean it on their own. I have not been drinking the water here, we have been buying bottled water so we don’t get sick.

Max: "Are there any people who don't have hair at all and have bald heads?

There must be some older people who have lost their hair, but most people choose to shave it or trim it very short.

Sophie: "I hope you come back soon."

I will be here in Uganda until next Friday and then I visit South Africa. I do miss home.

Annabelle: "What kind of paper do they have there?"

They use the same kinds of supplies we use, because sister schools has done a good job providing school materials, it is exactly the same.

Aleta: "How much grass do they have?"

Lots and lots of grass and flowers and green….

Jena: "What kinds of pens and markers did they get from the boxes?"

All the supplies were donated by students in Seattle. They are the same ones we have.

Eden: "Is there lots of farming there?"

There is a lot of rural area here. People grow a lot of their food. Most homes do not own a refrigerator so they stop and buy vegetables on the side of the road. I see things like pineapple, avocado, passion fruit, bananas

Evie: "How many animals are there?"

In the jungle parts of Uganda there are many different types, here in the city people keep cows, chickens, maybe rabbits…. People don’t keep pets, most can’t afford to eat much less feed a pet.

Luke: "Was there an earthquake there once?"

I bet there was, most of the earthquakes occur further south along the Rift Valley which is in Kenya.

Drew: "Why don't they have school buses like us?"

They can’t afford school buses like us. One of the cool things about travelling the world is that people do things differently, and it is always interesting to see how some one lives.

Hello Mrs. Fatland's class!

I will be answering your questions individually, some I will try and take photos for today! Here is my first response:

Hugo, Mason and Reed,

This is a photo of how they keep attendance in a school. As you can see it lists every grade level, how many boys and how many girls for each day, and then a grand total. If there are more than 150 students in a grade level they will often break them up into two “streams” of about 75 per class.

 Schools vary in size from 300-over a 1000 it just really depends on the school.

Kisowera school