Wow, it is May already and defiantly time for another
blog update! The last month or so have been a lot of fun, exploring the country
with lots of different visitors. Over the Easter holidays it was lovely to have
my friend Dan and parents visit for a couple of weeks. We defiantly enjoyed
seeing more of the countryside and learning about the cultural heritage here in
Uganda. It always amazes me to see how green the countryside is, the landscape
is so luscious and exploring more helps to see why this beautiful country was
coined the ‘bread basket and pearl of Africa.’
In fact they say that the soil here in Uganda
is so fertile that you can pretty much grow anything in it.
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| At the source of the Nile, Jinja |
It was amazing to learn that according to
the law when a compound was created for people to live on they used to have to
plant three trees in the grounds in order to provide for the people living
there. Each compound therefore must have a Matooke (variation of plantain; one
of the staple dishes) tree, a Mango tree and an Avocado tree.
If you visit the old compounds they all have
these trees growing, amazing way to ensure people have food nearby in their
communities. This off course has changed a little bit as people have started to
live outside of the traditional compounds. Thus some people do not have the
food readily available.
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| Jinja |
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| Students picking their first harvest |
That reminds me, we have started to see our
first harvest in our little school garden. The students were thrilled to see
their hard work paid off, especially after a few disappointments and hurdles
jumped through to actually get some fruit.
It was a good lesson for all of us about hard work, commitment and
productivity. We now have carrots and a few tomatoes to enjoy. We have also
just planted one of the staple foods here; beans.
So we look forward to enjoying these soon.
I am always inspired by the shared community
life here and whilst visiting the Tombs of the Buganda Kabakas’ (Kings of the
central region) I was inspired to learn how the naming of children takes place.
I have always found it difficult to understand and get my head around how each
person has a different surname, when a child is born they do not seemingly take
on the family surname. Going to the Kusubi Tombs helped me to understand how
this takes place and how community is so in built in the minds of people and
structures of society here.
When a child
is born they are given their own personal surname, not a family surname but a
name that identifies them with their wider clan. The name given is much bigger
than the immediate family but identifies and connects them to their wider
community, their clan. Each clan has certain names that can be used; once the
name is heard in any setting, the person can be identified to that clan. There
are 6 million people living In Buganda (Central region of Uganda). The Buganda
tribe is spilt into 54 clans, this means approximately if the clans are spread
evenly across the 6 million people in Buganda, there are around 100,000 people
in each clan. Therefore it can be said when a surname is given to the child it is
identified with the much wider community of aprox. 100, 000 people!
This has been a great challenge to me
especially as in our western society we keep ourselves to ourselves; we go to
work, come back home and stay in our houses. We identify with our immediate
family and that is it. Unless we work at it, there is no real expression of
community. Here community is even inbuilt in the naming of their children, no
wonder belonging to a much wider community is so important! I have been
challenged to ask myself; what community am I seeing, what community am I given
to and how do I add to this? How is community expressed in our daily lives? Us
Westerners can learn something of community from people here.
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| Kasubi Tombs |
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| Kasubi Tombs. The fire is kept alight for as long as the King is alive |
At the school we are in the midst of end of
year exams. It is crazy to think that the academic year has gone so quickly,
one more half term and the year is over! Last week we enjoyed a school trip to
watch William Shakespeare’s ‘Twelve Night’ at another international school in
the city. The students loved it; it also worked as a great revision tool before
the English exams.
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| School Trip to see Shakespeares 'Twelve Night' |
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| Students watching the play |
As we are coming to the end of the academic
year it is that time in the year when we need to push the advertising of the
school for next years cohort. In order to advertise, I have produced the school
prospectus and leaflets. Thanks to Sophie Greener; an ex-GCSE philosophy
student and students at Caludon Castle School who have raised some funds. The
money they raised from a school cake sale will help us to print the leaflets
and school prospectus and advertise effectively in the surrounding areas. Thank
you to all that was involved! Hopefully this will help the school to grow in
numbers.
I am also looking forward to receive 4
ex-ALevel students next month. These students have just finished university,
(yes, this makes me feel old!) and are coming to volunteer with us for 2 weeks.
They will be involved with both the primary and secondary schools and also with
the weekly training and community work that takes place. We’re looking forward
for them coming and having an experience of Uganda, we will see what happens.. Watch
this space!
