Saturday, January 28th, 2012
Lazy Day
After Friday, and after a busy couple of weeks, we were just exhausted, and literally spent the day doing absolutely nothing. I believe I read, slept, and watched some Downton Abbey. That was it, and it was great. Later, Julie and Lydia visited and stayed for dinner, but that was the only thing that happened in our day. It was brilliant.
Sunday, January 29th, 2012
School Starts
Sadly, very sadly, Elizabeth, Monica, and little Dan left for boarding school on Sunday. Everyone was sad to see them go, but they were super excited. All of their friends are at school and they get to play sports and things, and they work at home, so for them it was no tragedy at all. Apparently their parents very skillfully dropped them off and signed them in, showed them to their friends and left, thereby avoiding too many tears.
The house feels so much emptier without them. I am so glad I got to meet them though. They are honestly wonderful children, and they made us feel so welcome. :(
We will be visiting them soon, make no mistake.
Cafe Frikadellen Again
For lunch, we went to Cafe Frikadellen. Um. Again. This time we all got burgers. So good.
On the way back on the boda I took some awesome photos of the village and of the setting sun.
Monday, January 30th, 2012
Women’s Group A - English
I think this was our second women’s group meeting. When we asked the week before, one of the women suggested that our theme for our English lesson be piggery, so throughout the week before we researched piggery and gathered some materials for a lesson. Leila drew and diagramed the pig on the left, showing different parts of the pig in English. I came up with Vocabulary words, and Julius translated them. We used an article for this lesson, and Heather came up with some discussion questions.
When we began the meeting, we tried to start with reading the article. However, we found that the women’s English level was nowhere near high enough to just jump into an article. We managed to get Geoffrey, a man who often comes to the library to use his computer, to translate the summary of the article that Heather wrote. The women were very interested in the article, which talked about an outbreak of African Swine Fever. African Swine Fever is a rather serious disease that affects pigs, but for which there is no cure. Meanwhile, despite there being a vaccine against fowl pox, at 1,000 Sh per vaccine it gets very expensive when there are over 50 chicks (especially when you factor in food and school fees and wages of less than 100,000 Sh a month - CAD $42.)
Anyhow, afterwards we tried to discuss with them how it related to their lives. We asked them if they had pigs and the like, but it was slightly difficult because of the severe language barrier. Geoffrey had to translate everything, which we felt was a disadvantage because we can’t assume that he will always be there. Furthermore, it doesn’t really help much with the actual language learning if there isn’t a need to pay attention to the English words.
Our last activity was we had written out the vocabulary words on construction paper in Luganda and English, and we had them match them on the board. This would allow them to use problem solving and to physically put the words together. First, we had the women read the words in Luganda and English, and then they did the activity. This activity was a bit of a relief, because we had struggled with the first two activities. This one felt successful, though.
At the last minute I thought it would be a good idea to do a dialogue, and I wrote one quickly before the women left. It was too late to actually implement, however. Nevertheless the other girls saw it and liked the idea and we’ve been doing it since. The dialogue was slightly difficult to explain, but I’ll try. Basically, you have two people, 1 and 2 or whatever you’d like to call them, and they have a discussion. The discussion is already written out, mostly, and the women just have to read the parts and sometimes pick an option. This is a good exercise because it forces the women to actually participate in and do the discussion, which makes a larger impression in one’s memory than just listening. A lot of the things we are doing now are things which I remember from or have adapted from Mme. G’s French classes in high school. She gave me some tips before I left, actually, and they’ve been very helpful with what I’ve been doing so far.
This group’s first lesson was something of a learning experience. Because of what we did this first day we had to adapt our lesson. We learned that we can’t use large amounts of text, especially when it’s with more complicated language. We’ve set a general 250 word limit. Nevertheless, local and relevant topics are very important. They were extremely interested in the piggery article, for example, it just wasn’t feasible in English. We also learned that pictures are especially useful. More importantly, we learned that activities that have them doing things, especially things that they can see the effects of, are especially good. The Women’s Group B meeting was a lot better this week because of what we learned and changed.
Trip Planning
Heather and I have begun to plan a very exciting trip from February 23rd to March 5th. We plan to go on a 4 day 3 night safari with a company that a friend of Heather’s had used before (aka: Trustworthy) that is relatively cheap. It’s ‘roughing it,’ so we’ll be sleeping in tents (albeit on mattresses) at night. In it we’ll be going to the Serengeti (which is where most of the African stuff was filmed for the Nature channel, apparently), another reserve in Tanzania, and a crater which is apparently worth the trip all on its own. After, we plan to head to Dar Es Salaam for 2 or so days, and then Zanzibar for another three. Zanzibar, especially Stone Town, looks amazing. We are psyched.
We plan to go to Rwanda as well some other time. Rwanda will be a very cheap trip, especially if we bus, as buses are only about 20,000 shillings and hotel rooms are only about $10-15. This trip, however, is not fully planned as of yet.
We hope to book plane tickets (Entebbe to Kilimanjaro, Dar Es Salaam/Zanzibar to Entebbe) on Saturday the 4th or Sunday the 5th of February in Kampala if we are able to make it there.
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Women’s Group B Meeting
This Women’s Group Meeting went really well. This group is super cute, and all of the women were very enthusiastic and friendly. This time we trashed the article, although we still discussed it in Luganda, and we still did the vocab, but this time we also did the dialogue. The women were very keen and supportive of each other, which was great to see. Before and after many women used the AlphaSmarts keyboards to practice their typing skills.
Leila’s Evening Grocery Shopping
We needed groceries, so Leila hopped on Julius’s scooter and he took her to the grocery store in Masaka. No one else went with her, but apparently she drove and had to ride the motorcycle up the hill because it wasn’t able to take two people up. The whole time Julius had to run behind her. When she asked if they ought to switch places, he declined, although she suspects it’s because it wouldn’t have been as safe for her to run behind his scooter. Anyways, she got the groceries (junk (including Pringles - the only chips you can get here), brown bread, jam, margarine, and honey), Julius told her which bodaboda to take home, and she managed to get back in time for dinner.
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Pineapple Man
It turns out that there is more than one pineapple man. One has a huge plantation, and comes occasionally at request. The other is Moses and Julius’s brother. His pineapple crop is smaller, but Dan and Amelia buy from him to support his business. It kind of blew my mind that someone comes to deliver pineapples here, much like a milk man would have done. The first time we saw the other guy also gave Heather and Leila a few laughs. When I saw him I said, “The, uh, the pineapple guy is here,” to Amelia, who was in the kitchen. Apparently that was funny, although I can’t think of any other ways to describe him. Anyways, Moses and Julius’s brother came today, so Heather and I both took pictures with him and his pineapples.
Computer Disaster
We had a fun disaster on Wednesday. I don’t remember who, but someone said that we needed to sync up our library catalogue with Goreth’s (Dan’s assistant) because the books that we had put in had the same numbers as the ones she had put in. So, me, figuring that there wasn’t a computer program which I couldn’t figure out (yeah, already going badly, eh?) said I could figure out Microsoft Access. Anyways, apparently you can’t paste things so I ended up messing up the whole thing. Heather helped a WEE bit, but it was mostly (99.99%) all my fault, and I felt really angry at myself afterwards. We had to go through all of the books, pull out EVERYTHING that had had been catalogued by Goreth AND us, and give it to her to redo (because Dan rightly doesn’t want us to do it anymore). Luckily, Dan had a more updated version of the file, so we only have to redo half, but still…. Half is 77 books. He was very relaxed about it and told us that we would do it “Slowly by slowly,” which is comforting. Luckily nothing is permanently and irrevocably damaged. It’s just a small thing, but it’s a small thing which is also a hassle.
Later, however, we’ll be alphabetizing the library, a task for which I am quite excited. It will make it SO MUCH easier to find the books than it is now. At the moment all the books are numbered in the categories according to when they were received. However, a lot of books are mixed up and not actually in the right category, and within the categories there is absolutely no order because it’s simply too difficult to maintain when they’re organized numerically. Alphabetically by author, however has a billion advantages. For example, you group all of the books by the same author together, it’s easier to figure out because the author’s last name is usually on the spine of the book anyway so it’s much easier to catalogue. Also, you can go in, knowing what you want, and FIND IT, which is a huge benefit. I never realized how wonderful alphabetization was before.
Roosters
In books, they tell you that the rooster’s crows wake you at daybreak. What they don’t tell you is that after the rooster has woken you, it does not stop trying to wake you even though its job has already been done. In other words, the bird doesn’t ever stop crowing until nightfall. This does not bother me, although it seems to bother the other girls. Apparently they both heard it crowing at midnight (I sleep like a log and did not), and whenever one of the girls hears it she jokingly conspires at the roosters’ demise.
Getting Materials Ready
Because school finally started on Monday, we are finally beginning to get busier. We have another women’s group meeting on Friday and then Monday, and today we worked on preparing the materials for the meeting on Monday. Our theme is going to be clothing, so Leila has been cutting and drawing some very pretty dresses with pens and construction paper (she’s very artistic and once had a cake business, which seems unrelated but isn’t), and I’ve been doing a short story about buying a dress and coming up with some vocab words, and Heather did the dialogue.
Also, Friday is our first time to work with the primary school kids. Yay!
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Meeting the Teachers
The main event of the day was going to the Primary school - which is basically 2 minutes away - and meeting the teachers. We also popped into the Primary 1 and 2 and the Primary 6 and 7 classes. The school compound is rather large. We learned some rather interesting things about the schools here. There are two types of schools, private and public.
Strangely, even though public school teachers are paid considerably more, they apparently tend to have a far less adamant work ethic because of their job security. That is, they cannot be fired unless by the district, and whenever they are at risk of being fired, they may go to the person in the district in control of these things and make excuses or give a bribe.
On the other hand, private schools’ enrollment is dependent on the number of students that they get to pass the grades, especially the exam the Primary 7 students must take at the end of the year. They literally cannot go to high school without passing this exam, so it’s a very serious test. As more students pass, the school can put its school fees up, so it’s worth it to pay for a more expensive school because it’s more likely that they will pass and succeed with their studies. Unlike in Canada, where the school system is fine and you really have to be apathetic not to pass, it really makes a difference here where you go because it can be the difference between passing or failing.
Dan’s Flu
Dan isn’t feeling very well and has the flu. Amelia will be making him some of her ginger, garlic, lime, onion(??), and honey mixture that has apparently worked wonders on the family’s illnesses. As a result of his illness, though, Dan has, obviously not been feeling very well, and it’s so strange to see him without his characteristic smile.
Lwannunda Development Center
Lwannunda Development Center is just up the hill from the library; a very short walk. It is a place that offers affordable lessons in variable things, such as Tailoring and English and Music and Catering and Computers. They also have a model farm where people can learn agricultural skills, as well as a model pig keep and a clinic.
Apparently although they have really great programs, their problem is ‘community mobilization.’ This means that they are getting difficulty getting people to use them. It was quite cool, and we are all hoping that we will get the chance to help out and to try and take some of the traditional Bagandan music and dance classes on weekends.
Movies
Heather, Leila and I watched 127 Hours, which Leila had downloaded onto her computer before she came. It’s not bad for a movie about a guy who spends over 5 days stuck in a cliff face and then has to cut off his own arm. Sorry for the spoilers.
After, Heather went to sleep but Leila and I stayed up to watch The Ides of March, which is a political movie which was nominated for about 8 Academy Awards, but which wasn’t as good as the hype. It was basically a moral film about how politics corrupts.
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Reading With Primary 7
We were told we would be meeting Primary 6 at 11, but then when we got there the teacher told us that Primary 6 was busy now, but we could take Primary 7 at 3, the usual time. We were happy to be in the sun, so it wasn’t a total loss. When 3 PM finally rolled around, we went back to the primary school again and picked up the kids. There were Primary 6 and 7 in the classroom, and they all got excited when we came in. Their teacher was on the other side of the courtyard sitting under a tree and had left the kids alone. We gestured to the teacher to ask if we could take them and they gestured back that it was alright. The kids then followed us out in their pink uniforms to the library.
One group in particular was walking quickly with me. Their names, that I can remember, are Rusty, Betty, Pasha, and another girl named Rusty. The girls named Rusty were both out of their uniform. The shorter girl was wearing a bright yellow shirt and a pretty necklace, the other a white shirt. They were chatting with me and asking me if I knew Luganda. I told them I knew about 10 words. Then they were prodding at my hair, telling me that it was pretty. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I mean, one never tires of hearing they have pretty hair, but I think complimenting me on my hair is affirming the wrong standards of beauty.
Anyhow, everyone gathered in the big hall and sat in a circle on the mats. Someone had put away the books which we had prepared to give out to them so we had to run in and quickly get them out again and then hand them out to the kids. This is how it worked: they sat in a circle and read, and whenever they wanted a different book, whether because the one they were reading was too easy or too hard or they just didn’t like it, we would come around and give them a new one. Leila and I just carried a selection with us so that they could choose.
Sometimes we sat down with a small group and had them read to us, or we read to them. I read one story about Martin Luther King Jr. I felt kind of bad about the rather morose ending.
We definitely noticed a preference for local books in the kids. Unfortunately, none of the books were in the local language, Luganda, which I found incredibly tragic. After all, it is SO much harder to learn to read when you’re not even learning your own language. You have to learn the meaning, the pronunciation, and understand the letters and words. It would be like having to learn to read in French when you can barely even speak the language.
Next time we will be reading to them afterwards as well. We have free reign with the kids, so hopefully we’ll be able to think of fun things to do with them that will encourage their reading. I would really like to get them to read at home; to take one book and read it over a course of a couple of days and really read it to get the meaning. We’re thinking of doing a type of “Read Around the World” in order to achieve this. Basically, they would write down the books that they have read, and whenever they have read a certain amount they get a sticker, and if they read a large amount (say 25 books) they get a book of their own to take home or something.
Anyways, we took them back and I chatted with the same group of girls. I only hope I am able to remember the names and faces, and also that this reading thing really helps and encourages independent reading.
Women’s Group - A
The Women’s Group A meeting wasn’t too eventful. We just put the women on the AlphaSmarts and two women tried a Typing Puzzle Game on the white computers donated by the Maendeleo Foundation (I think) and one of those women proceeded to use the Typing Tutor. Typing Tutor was especially good because it very distinctly instructed the women in finger placement, which was EXACTLY perfect and needed. I’m really hoping that the women will be willing to learn to use actual computers soon, because as useful as typing is, a computer is even more useful - especially because computers have the internet.
Pineapple
Before I forget I thought I would write this down. There was a funny moment the other day at dinner. The cat, who is quite young and thus quite small, was making some noises near my chair at dinner. It was growling. Naturally, I looked over to see what was happening. At this point I could see it, and everyone else at the table was speculating. The other girls were horrified and terrified and were crouching on their chairs, their hands clutching at the back. “Yeah, it’s definitely got something,” I said, peering over my chair into the dark shadow of the table where the cat was wrestling with some small dead animal. “I think I see a tail. Yeah, I smell something.” I paused, then and reached out over the table. “Can you pass me the pineapple?”
Except for I didn’t actually ask them to pass me the pineapple. I really just said, “Can you pass-” meaning to finish my sentence with the lantern or the light. However, I realized that I could grab it myself and use it to look at the cat situation with anything being passed. Nevertheless the other girls thought I asked to pass the pineapple while the cat was butchering a rat beside me and they were terrified in their seats and thought it was hilarious.
