Phillip

I met Phillip while we were both excersising on top of the hill which was a wierd start because I did not expect to see anyone running. When I run up the hill the people look at me like I'm nuts, and I feel so out of place while everyone around me is carrying heavy jerry cans full of water. Anyhow, Phillip (who is 21) and I started talking, and he told me he was exercising for martial arts. We descended the hill together, and he showed me the dirt floor, one room house he lived in. He also showed me his yard where he uses every inch in order to somehow make money and eat, whether growing maiz or making bricks. I asked him whether he went to school, and he told me that he could not pay school fees, and I did not doubt that because he lived alone with his younger brother. He told me his goal was to make four-hundred-thousand bricks so he could pay school fees. I told him I was impressed with his goal and how hard he worked to live, and in a reassuring tone he said, "Whatever happens I will be ok because I have God in my life." At that moment I was very humbled.
Phillip's parents both died of AIDs when he was younger, and he was taken in by his Uncle. I told him that I would go with him to mass on Sundays, and one Sunday he showed up at my house in the afternoon. I hadn't seen him that morning, and he came to tell me he wasn't there because his brother had been stabbed and killed the day before. Since then though, things have been looking up for him. He somehow got a job with a wealthy family taking care of their cows and other livestock, and their land. He now lives in a room on the outside of their house, is fed well, and whereas before he was uncomfortable going to church because he had nothing nice to wear, he now has some presentable clothes.
This week Phillip took me on a trip to see his village where he grew up. It was a little ways away in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. He was delighted to introduce me to his neighbors and his family whom had probably lived there forever. This visit added to the already large amount of produce that had been bequeathed to me. Phillip always comes by with papaya, mangos, and avocado, and his family gave me a load eggs and maiz on this visit.
Phillip is an amazingly happy person, and I just don't know what keeps him going, but he'll definately be an inspiration for me when things go wrong.

I have finished teaching, and tomorrow is Speech Day. The kids have prepared some really entertaining songs and dances, and I was forced into arranging a presentation of the computer skills and knowledge that I taught six of my students. I will be saying goodbye to everyone very soon, but I am very excited to see everyone at home in ten days.

Holiday Away

-The past week has been powerless for me. I spent the holiday weekend at Lake Saca, a Holy Cross formation house in Western Uganda, which does not have power, and when I returned to Jinja I was greeted by two days of no power.During my stay at Lake Saca I did some amazing swimming in what is probably the only body of water in Uganda that is not infested with crocodiles, hippos, or parasites.

-I spent Thanksgiving evening in the capital, Kampala. I had a nice dinner, but it did not quite have the same feel as turkey and stuffing. Although, when we arrived at Lake Saca where there is an American priest there was a Turkey and some pumpkin pie for a belated Thanksgiving feast.

-After blood, sweat, and tears, and two-and-a-half hours of serious heat from the oppressing sun, the Superboys came out on top of Turkey Bowl Uganda 2007 with an eight to seven defeat of the Young Guns.

The Superboys

Consequences Shmonsequences

Once I arrived at St. Andrew's this afternoon, I immediately realized that again I had not been informed of the classes being canceled. Despite my chagrin, I stayed to watch the children practice their speech day performances, and hang out with them once they finished. Once they finished practicing their songs, I went up to the field with a few of the girls and played some soccer which was just running around kicking a tightly packed ball of trash. Trash balls are the main source of fun for the children here in Uganda. No lie.
After some yelling and laughing, the disciplinarian came up yelling at the kids to come to assembly when they hear the bell. The girls looked terrified, and ran as fast as they could back to the assembly. I felt terrible. When I got to the front of the school building, where the kids were supposed to gather, I walked over to the girls who were in a group off to the side where they looked like a bunch of abandoned puppies. They were saying to me, "Help us sir, she is going to beat us." When she got back, she walked over to them with this big stick and a mean look on her face. She yelled, "Lie down; all of you." This was so she could get a clean shot at there butts. I then stepped in, and tried to tell her that they were with me, and we did not here the bell from the field, but she, "No, they're not being forgiven." Boy, could she ever swing that stick. The girls showed obvious pain, but tried to remain tough in front of the spectators. So I got that on my conscience now, but the burden was softened a little when the girls all laughed at me when I looked so disconcerted.

Speech Day

Today I had a fantastic class. The kids listened, and actually learned what I taught. I started off by asking them what they wanted to review. They really responded well to that, and when we did the review I actually made sense and didn't confuse the hell out of them. So since I was in a good mood I decided to teach them the song "Every Time We Touch," and they really had a good time banging on the desks. It was absolutely hilarious, and I was rejuvenated after the terrible class I had yesterday.
With review being the only thing standing between us and exams, we have started on another focus, Speech Day. It set for one of the last days of school, and the kids sing songs, do dances, and anything else aimed at entertaining their parents. The headmaster wanted me to teach them a song, so I decided to go with the school theme and not my totally irrelevant songs. I resolved to make up some really corny lyrics about working hard and being promoted to P.7 to the tune of "Sweet Caroline." Although the children enjoyed the theatrics, it was a disaster, and I had to scrap it. After breaking the news to the headmaster he said, "OK, well then teach them to use the computer so we can show their parents." I picked six of the smartest kids for the Speech Day demonstration, but it has been very hard trying to teach them on one computer when the power has been out the past two days. I am really hoping the power goes out on speech day so the plan is destroyed, and I have no part in the big day.
Thanksgiving is coinciding with the national CHOGM holiday, and I have Thursday and Friday off. Today I met with the kids at Holy Cross, and told them about Turkey Bowl Uganda 2007, and to start vamping up the competition we created the teams, and we are going to have team practices tomorrow. The team names they came up with were the "Young Guns" and "Superboys." As I left this evening they were already chanting their team names so the emotional aspect seems to be set, but the organization as always is doomed. The game will be at 10AM Uganda time (1AM EST). It looks to last until anywhere between 10:01 and 11:00. After that I am heading to Kampala where we are having Thanksgiving dinner, and on Friday morning a group of us will continue west for the holiday weekend.

The White Nile

This past Saturday I went rafting on the Nile. The rapids we experienced are the largest commercially run rapids in the world. This was definately the most extreme experience of my life, and totally amazing. Though we did not go without incident. On the first class five one of the rafts flipped at a dangerous spot, and three people came down on some rocks. My raft also flipped at that point, and after what was a complete blur I was flushed out without injury. The people that had hit the rocks were not able to go on so we dropped them off and continued down the river. At the end of the day our raft was flipped twice, and I had been ejected on another occasion, but we still had the last and biggest rapid of the day, "The Bad Place." When you go into the "Bad Place" no one knows what to expect, but you can probably count on a swim. I had the longest swim out of all forty people. I was definately ready when I finally got back to the surface to get a short breathe of air before I was sucked under again and taken down the rest of the rapid whereas everyone else was spit right out.

I did a ton of laundry yesterday only to have a huge storm come in last night. When it rains that hard you can't really sleep because besides it sounding like there is chainsaw next to your ear, it pretty much vibrates the house. In the morning I went and assessed the damage, and found my clothes all over the yard so I hastily rewashed them before heading off to school which was a miserably muddy walk on the flooded road. Although that was a little bit unpleasant, it was quite typical, and those are the kinds of moments that just come with the territory and fade into the week.
The one moment of the week that stands out in my mind is the mass we had Thursday morning at St. Andrew's. It was a beautiful site, and just so much fun to be at. The kids packed the small church to the brim, and then they filled all the remaining space with jubilant singing, clapping, and dancing. As I half participated, half observed, I was overcome with peace and reflection. It was that gorgeous African morning when I finally felt the real beauty of this place, the spirit, and I took a piece of it for myself. I could have sat there all day in complete euphoria as I was serenaded with the African music through the voices of these children. I love the African hymns, and the boys that play the drums are so good, which in my eyes makes up a little bit for them being the most troublesome group in my class.
It seems like I really prefer hanging out with the kids over here. When it is break or lunch, I just stay in the classroom, and a group of us will hang out in there. Also, I again spent my evenings playing with the boarding students at Holy Cross this week which is just next to where I live. Even though these kids constantly ask me to take them to America and I refuse, I will without a doubt bring a big part of them home with me.

The Source of the Nile

This Saturday I was feeling a little tired and sluggish, but in one of my better decisions I decided to go golfing with Jimmy, one of my buddies who is here for 16 months. There is a club in town that has a nine hole golf course overlooking the Source of the Nile, and Jimmy and I set off for the Source with four golf clubs, three balls, and some broken tees. When we arrived we were given a caddy. His name was Alfred, and he had shoes that his heels were sticking out of, and a shirt that was buttoned once at his naval. He carried our four clubs while we carried our drinks and hacked at the course, and when we would hit a good shot we would get a quiet but elegant "splendid" out of him. It was a hilarious and wonderful time, and I actually played well, probably inspired the scenery. Half the time we were playing under a rainbow, and when I noticed it I said, "Hey Jimmy, look a rainbow," and he responded, "Oh look, the River Nile," in a voice as though he was thinking, "How bout that." It was really quite hilarious, and it put the awesomeness of the situation into perspective.
After the best spent ten thousand shillings (a little less than six dollars) in all my time here. We walked down to the a bar on the water where Lake Victoria changes into the starting point of the longest river in the world. I got a coke, and we sat down on the rocks on the bank to watch the sunset. No sooner after we sat down did the locals come up to us, and sit right in front of us completely blocking our view. They then persisted to offer us these leaves to chew on, which I assume were something like cocoa leaves. After refusing that, they then struck up a conversation distracting us from what we came to do which was sit, shut up, and watch the amazing beauty of Africa. Whenever I go to the Nile, I am wowed every time. And the African sky is something to behold; you just need to take the time to look up. Flocks of different kinds of birds were flying over the river to settle for the night on an overpopulated island in the middle of the water that was probably covered in bird poop, but looked awesome as every inch was covered with birds. Once the sun went down we walked back into town, and grabbed a bite to eat at a nice restaurant before returning home.

Make-up Holiday

On thursday we had a staff meeting at St. Andrew's, and it is a good thing I showed up because a big part of the agenda was the question of my last name. So once we cleared up that issue, we continued onto the issue of P.5 because apparently they are way behind, and in Uganda way behind means waaaaay behind (stress on the waaaaay). So after the meeting it seems that we agreed that everyone would pitch in to help get this impossible class of eighty kids up to speed before exams, but before we get started let's take a day off tomorrow.haha what a country.
On Friday the Jinja district decided to take off for a teachers' holiday that was actually on October 5. It is kind of like when you miss a day of school and you have to make it up later, but exactly the opposite. The miraculous thing though, was that I was informed beforehand of this day off. So with a wopping two days of classes this week, I do not feel too comfortable with the progress as the exams are approaching, but on the bright side, with no classes I had the whole day to prepare my football team for their exam, Turkey Bowl Uganda 2007.

Exams, Ivan, and a Dirty Place

P.L.E. I heard that term a lot for the past few weeks. Everybody was talking about P.7, the final grade in primary, taking their P.L.E. exams so they can move on to secondary. We had a mass for the P.7 students where we blessed them and their writing utensils. Uganda took a break from getting ready for CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) for a few days, which is going to be a complete disaster, so they could get all hyped up about these exams.
So I walk to school Monday morning, and when I arrive I don't have class. What a surprise... No one bothered to tell me when the P.L.E.s were going to take place, and that P.6 would not have class. This is the sixth time I was not informed that I would not have class because of exams or holidays. You know how when your are going to work or school some days, and you just hope that for some reason upon arrival no one is there, or you are sent home... and it NEVER happens. Well it happens in Africa, but only after walking miles to get there, and it is also something you could have been informed of a week ago, so you get to turn around and walk home thinking about that.
With my two days off for P.L.E. I read a lot, and also hung out with my boys from Holy Cross Primary next door. They are great kids, and I love playing around with them. Ivan, my eager laundry helper who is in P.5 and looks about 12 years old, has bought me sugar cane the past few days, and all the kids laugh at me as I try to chew almost breaking my teeth. I think I can do without his generosity in the sugarcane department because I am about to lose a tooth, but I am ever grateful for his expertise in washing because my fingers are all scabbed up for the moment, and his questions about vampires and the States are hilarious.

The other day I went into town and got a nice button up shirt with French cuffs for 10,000 shillings less than six dollars. If I didn't have Ekou, a fellow teacher at St. Andrew's, with me I would not have been able to get a shirt for 25,000. He took me to the dirtiest place back in the shabbiest part of town where he bargained in Lusoga for my shirt, and he nonchalantly passed it off to me once he made the purchase. The stall owner was not very happy about that. Then we went further, and we passed a few big puddles of stagnant water that were threatening to eat the foot of anyone that wasn't already aware of their presence from a mile away. They smelled worse than anything I could ever remember in my life, and looked the part. On top of that, the trash, waste, and smoke made it the most unsanitary place I have ever been, and plan to be in my life. After Ekou bought a few kilos of flour, in which the lady clearly screwed him over when weighing it, we got out of there before we caught some nasty disease.

I am coming up rapidly on the end of classes, and trying to desperately to get in all the material before the kids have their final exams, but after talking to a few people it seems that I am not really expected to finish teaching the subject, and whatever they don't learn, we'll test them on it anyway, just like they did last week with some random questions from my unit that we had not even gone over yet. The inefficiencies are ridiculous, but this is Uganda and that is why CHOGM is doomed.

Some of the Kids

Namaganda Hadija and Namawejje Maria

Immaculate

P.7 Bash

A Beautifully Gloomy Sunday

I woke up to cool somewhat dry weather with a nice gloomy overcast. The weather was very comfortable and a beautiful change from the ferocious sun and terrible humidity. The only problem was that the autumn-like conditions reminded of the ND Navy football game I stayed up listening to until two o'clock in the morning, but the days events brought me back down to Africa, and I think I am at peace now.
I woke up and had my usual breakfast, tea with milk and honey, and two pieces of toast, one with peanut butter and one with jam. I then went to mass in my freshly washed and ironed pants, and it was a nice service with the usual clapping and waving of the hands during the hymns. After mass, I relaxed and read a bit until lunch time. Once I was finished with my lunch, I washed some dirty clothes. After about an hour and a half of aggressively attacking every speck of red dirt on my clothes, my hands started to bleed and I still had quite a bit to go so I brought in some reinforcements. My P.5 boys that I play football with most evenings were so eager to come help me and my "soft hands," that I had to turn away about twenty kids. So I sat there with my three favorite and a little boy with snot all over his face while they washed like they have their whole lives, and I answered their questions about America, Chuck Norris, and Steven Seagull. We finished quickly and then went to throw the football for a little.
Later that evening I went to the seminarians' house that is down the road, and I have been teaching a few of them how to play the guitar. So we had a little lesson and then dinner.
It turned out to be a wonderful day, and now I could use a good night of sleep before I go and teach my P.6 St. Andrew's class what a paragraph is.

Update in Africa

The internet has been down for the past four days, and now that it is back everyone wants to get online so here is a quick update.

- I went to a party on the Nile this Tuesday that was for all the P.7 students who just took their exams to go on to secondary school. Watching the huge girls dance with the much smaller prepubecent boys was hilarious, and the Nile is beautiful as always.

- I continue to not be informed of testing days, and I walk a mile and a half to school to find that I don't have class.

- We have been hit hard by Malaria. Mathew, one of the ND grads that is here, is recovering from Malaria that kept him immobile Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in what looked and sounded like severe pain. Father Pascal, a priest that I live with, spent last night in the hospital, and just returned. He looks seriously ill, but both him and Mathew are thankfully improving.

- I am going to Bujagali tonight and relaxing on the Nile.

- Go Irish! Beat Navy!