This Thursday I was a chaperon on a field trip for the St. Andrew's students that could afford the 5,000 shilling cost (a little less than three dollars). The plan was that we would leave at seven AM for the Entebbe Zoo and than go to parliament in Kampala. For our seven o'clock departure the teacher showed up around 7:30, and we finally left at nine o'clock.
The other instructions the students were given the day before, were to go home early and wash there uniforms. I had class that afternoon, and since about ten percent of the kids had not been coming the past week because they could not pay the school fees and a little over half of the remaining kids where going on the trip I had 22 in class. So instead of learning anything new, we reviewed some math, English, and computer stuff that I had taught them that week. After that review I spent the rest of class teaching the kids an American Song, "Escape" by Enrique Iglesias. That was very enjoyable for me, and it made my day when they serenaded me and Lizzie from class as the we were leaving on the field trip the next morning. She was blown away, and I could not stop laughing
It was a three hour drive to the Entebbe Zoo, and I was quite lucky receiving the best spot on a bus that was packed to the brim. There were 82 students and eight teachers packed onto two buses that seated about 35 each. It was surprisingly not that bad, and the drive was beautiful as we passed through the verdant hills of the Ugandan countryside and Mabira Forest, the largest forest in Uganda. So despite the irony of passing through a huge African jungle and going to the zoo we pressed forth.
Upon arrival we emptied out of the buses, and there were vendors that had candy and "ice cream," which was really just water ice. I went up to buy some, and he said that it cost 500 shillings as he was simultaneously selling it for 200 hundred shillings to the students. So I gave my money to Arnold, a student of mine, and he bought it for me, but this did not work as we were entering the zoo.
Being a school field trip we had paid for admission in advance, but as Lizzie and I walked in, the man at the gate stopped us and the teacher running the trip explained to him that we were teachers and the school had paid for eight teachers. Then he said "You didn't tell me any of your teachers were whites. It is going to cost them 15000 shillings to enter (the tourist fee). The whites are the only way we make any money." So despite being teachers and chaperons with the school we had to pay 15000 instead of 3000. I'm not sure what "whites" go to Africa for the zoos.
It was a really crappy zoo, and we had the most annoying guide who would tell the kids something and then make them repeat it like robots four times in a row. The exchange would go something like this.
GUIDE: This is an antelope. A what?
STUDENTS: An antelope
GUIDE:A what?
STUDENTS: An antelope
GUIDE:A what?
STUDENTS: An antelope
GUIDE:A what?
STUDENTS: An antelope
I was thankful when that was over. We then ate lunch, and drove to Kampala to parliament. When we arrived at parliament, we weren't allowed in because they were renovating for CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) which is in November, and is apparently something that everyone has to be ready for. On the drive back to Jinja we passed probably twenty signs saying, "Are you ready for CHOGM?" I know I'm not ready, and my student sure as hell aren't ready, so I spent the rest of the drive trying to figure out how in the heck we are going to get ready for CHOGM.
