A challenge for our readers

So something occurred to me the other day. One, we haven't been interacting much with our readers. So far the blog has been a one way street. We know (or hope) people are reading our blog and we also know that we don't talk to everyone we should one on one. Two, there is a section for comments at the end of the blog post and we would love to hear what you think or have you tell us how big of losers we are for not talking with you all.

So here is an attempted solution. I want everyone to send in questions for Stacey and I to answer in another post. We are going to be in Kampala (the capital) the week of the 25th and it would be really easy for us to get good internet to answer all of your questions in a post.

That is where you come in. Add comments, send us emails, hit us up on facebook, anything really that will get us some questions to answer. We can generate some commonly asked questions as well for some filler, but we would really like to hear from those who are active followers.

You have two weeks. Get on it!

Today I built a football pitch

Well, not really, but it makes for a much nicer title than ‘after a few weeks of planning, convincing and a couple days of manual labor we marked the lines for a football field.’ And this post is really about this past Thursday.

This all started from last term really. I was having a really difficult time connecting with the students. Granted I was also focusing on the teachers and building relationships with them, but I had no real avenue with the students. I tried a few clubs and they weren’t as organized as I hoped and I started them too close to the end of the term so they had short life spans.
This term I changed my tactics. I knew two things, one was the boarders were way more active than the day scholars and I decided to make them my target group. Two, I wanted to be more active and show my personality more. Most people know I am a football junkie and have followed Manchester United for years. When I told people here I love football they all laughed thinking I didn’t know much before coming to Africa until I would put them to shame with my Premier League knowledge.

The boarders, which are only girls at my school, had stated that they wanted to play sports and up to that point I had only seen a half hearted attempt at fielding a volleyball team and a school athletics day which was less than stellar organized by my school.

Every month my school gives me 100,000 shillings (about $50) for reasons that would merit its own blog post. Two things to note, they give every teacher a monthly bonus, second mine is the largest and I think it is only because I am white. Both Peace Corps and my morals don’t let me keep this money, but I can’t really refuse it both because people will find out and it will create mixed emotions. I found that the best solution should be accept the money and use it to fund all of my projects.

Back from that little deviation, first I wanted to start sports so I invited Stacey to my school and we played Ultimate. It was a big hit, but they started hounding me about football. I bought a ball from Mbale and brought it in to school and turned them loose. We played a couple times before they asked me to train them seriously. I bought two more balls shortly afterwards once I saw how serious they were. At that point I started evaluating what was else we needed.
I took this up as my goal, I was going to play sports and coach them three days a week. Mondays are ultimate, Tuesdays and Thursdays are football. There is a problem though. St. Theresa’s has never had a field. They have shared a field with the primary school next door, but there are some inherent problems. First the school has had a huge problem with the boarders and their leaving the compound. Just a few weeks ago three girls were expelled; two for sneaking out at night and doing stuff with a guy at his house and another snuck off during the day. In total we have had 5 boarders sent home for ‘inappropriate relations.’ The biggest issue is the girls have to leave the compound for some basic functions like fetching water. The school has really been pushing to keep them within the compound. They just drilled a new bore hole and are talking about a better fence. My role new challenge was to get them a field but keep them within.

Luckily I have Mr. Oriokot. He has been my chief council on things and is the one of the Deputies at my school. First he advised me where the new buildings were going to go so the girls and I got used to playing in the right area. I started telling him how I wanted to start the pitch and he simply said to me, ‘Yes, Markon. It can be done.’ He is the only one here who calls me by my last name.

Myself and Oriokot Charles at our new pitch

So Tuesday we got two spools of sisal rope (thanks to Stacey running to town) and we started to measure out a pitch. We were lucky because we managed to have just enough space to make a 50 x 80 meter pitch. (54 x 87 yards) We lined the outside with the rope and then the girls came through with the hoes, standing on opposite sides of the string so they notched a V in the ground along the line. We left it at that for the evening and Wednesday it rained so we left it to sit.
Today the serious business started. I calculated how we could easily mark the boxes and the rest of the pitch to kind of scale some parts. I decided on marking a rope at 6, 12 and 18 yards. We measured in from the outside 12 yards and made that where the 18 yard box started. We set the rest of the 18 and then set the goal mouth by finding the center and marking 4 yards on either side of it. Next we marked 6 yards from either side of the goal and 6 yards forward to make the 6 yard box. After that we set the penalty mark at 12 yards. We measured the rope and tied a loop at 10 yards to help us mark the arch on the top of the box. Everything was lined with rope and this time we had some S4 and S5 boys helping. They dug the trenches and we repeated for the other side. After that we marked mid field with the center line and circle and called it a day. I grabbed the balls from the office and Stacey brought over sodas for the workers and we opened our field. I normally don’t let the boys play with us, but today I made an exception. The field was filled with small games and some silly play, but it was a ton of fun.

For me it was just a job to cross off on the check list, but Stacey showed me the enthusiasm. It really didn’t sink in of what we accomplished today until I was a home and started to write this blog. Marking the lines in the ground isn’t a big job. Neither is slashing the grass or finding an open space in the school compound. But what is different was I actually had some initiative and someone else was excited enough about it do work with me. The change happened and it happened a lot quicker than I expected. It also showed the girls that I wasn’t just talk on another level. Sure I had been working with them for a month and giving them time and providing the balls, but this is another facet they have never had. They don’t get the use the pitch like the boys, until now. My teachers openly questioned my working with girls because “Do girls actually know football?” was asked by more than a handful of teachers and some even dismissed it all together. Others have been with me and this was also my first foray into saying, hey this should be done, let’s do it! And the tangible result is turning some heads. There are still some things to finish, but it’s a start.

Sorry if I sound stuck-up in that last post

This you will like - Quarterly Report Excerpt 3

Lesson Learned

Well, there is one thing I have learned about being a Peace Corps Volunteer; not many people can do it.

This quarter my school had two groups of foreigners visit our school; Dutch people for two weeks and Italians for one day. I was able to talk with all of them and explain what Peace Corps is, why I was here, and (most stunning) that it was a two year commitment.

Many of them gave me genuinely shocked looks. Two years. Here. Without running water. Electricity… sometimes. Without seeing your family. What? I can’t believe it! You are really brave.

For me, being a Peace Corps Volunteer is so natural. I have wanted to be a Volunteer for years. It was a part of my plan. But when you are actually serving as a Volunteer you forget how unique you are. You have good days and bad days. Your fellow Volunteers are just like you. They wanted to be here. You forget how remarkable it is to Volunteer until others visit. You get a great morale boost. You think to yourself; Yea I am here. This is my life. I guess it is pretty cool.

It leaves you smiling for the rest of the week.


(P.S. I have learned other lessons as well but this one seemed most appropriate at this moment.)

Quarterly Report Excerpt 2

Challenges

Well one challenge that I have had is the Ministry of Education itself. It is frustrating and difficult to understand how a ministry can expect to end a term one week early, shorten holidays by one week, and then have everything they require to be done on time.

Additionally, I find it ridiculous how school practice is operated. At my school we have our tutors divided into teams. Every day during the 4 weeks of school practice one team stays behind to teach the year one students. Now in an ideal world this would work. But at my school, and many schools, it doesn't. So we are double-booking teachers and the students suffer!

I digress.

Resource utilization at my school is a challenge. For example, I was going to investigate book aid for my school but then I discovered a room Full of Books! Full! This room was the old library that they hadn’t cleaned out in three years. When I went to the librarian to see if we could get all the books into the new library she said she only wants those that are not old and damaged! (An old book is still a good book!) Also in that same library we have Teaching/Learning aids that are still in their boxes! Clearly, resource utilization is now on my agenda.

Budgeting is also on my agenda, or at least trying to get my school resources on budgeting. We budget, then they don’t follow it, and then quite literally there is no more money. I won’t be handling money of course but at least attempting to get my school some assistance.

Another challenge is with my colleagues in the computer lab. First mistake, I haven’t sat down to talk with them about the potential I see in the computer lab. Second mistake, I haven’t talked with my school about where they want to go with their computer lab. Results, the two computer technicians have no idea what I am talking about and probably feel somewhat threatened that I am invading their space and could take their jobs. (Another Peace Corps Volunteer took over ICT at a school and they lost their jobs recently.)

But I am working on all of these. The key I think is communication. I complain that I my school doesn’t communicate with me but I am not much better!

Additionally, I think that some people do not take me seriously because I am a woman. I will be working on this too.

Success Story

So when we had IST training in August I was very surprised with my counterpart. I originally thought that we would develop a project about fruit drying. This project was what “I” wanted to do. But as we were walking into the workshop I mentioned, briefly, developing the computer lab.

Once we sat down she turned to me and said “[she] really [liked] the idea of the computer lab because so many of the school tutors [were] computer illiterate.” We began filling in the project handouts given to us in the workshop about a mission, vision, goals, timetable, etc for the project. Correction. I became the secretary as Jane was giving me all sorts of ideas. I knew right away that this project was Jane’s project and she was serious about it.

Since IST, Jane has been working with me to develop a computer curriculum for the college tutors and students. In her free time she is in the computer lab learning how to type! On several occasions she has even come to me saying “let’s go to the computer lab. I want to work on something.” It is great! She is so motivated and supportive of the project. And she is encouraging all the tutors at the college to learn computers and they are coming in!

Excerpts from my Quarterly Report - 1

Hello All,

It has been way too long. I know. Blame me. I owe your picture too!

Here is a little excerpt though to keep you going a bit:

Community Integration

Language learning is still as it was three months ago. I am learning words and phrases here and there but I am not advancing as I would like to be. One reason for this is my preferred language tutor is a fellow staff member and she is busier than I am! So now I am contemplating a different tutor, one of the school cooks, so I hope to progress.

Cooking has also progressed with my neighbors. We are teaching each other food preps and have continued making cakes. (Matoke peeling is harder than it looks!)

The World Cup soccer games were a nice way to integrate this quarter too. My husband and I would go to his school and to my counterpart’s house to watch the games. We would talk soccer at our schools and pick our favorites and so forth. It was great seeing their excitement and then being with them during the games.

I have also attended two weddings; one a traditional marriage ceremony and the other was a church wedding. The traditional ceremony was great because it was cross-cultural for all of us. We asked questions and really enjoyed ourselves. Then I was invited to taste the local brew with my colleagues. I do not know if you would call it integration necessarily but I find that sitting with people and talking, whether over food or drinks, is a casual (and fantastic) way to talk openly about what is happening around us.

This quarter I also help spread Ugandan culture. I attended the Busoga Opening Circumcision Ceremony in Mbale. I took many pictures and brought them back to my school. One of my tutors, Madam Zauma, is from that area and she was very excited that I went to the ceremony! She then proceeded to explain what was happening in the pictures to my neighbors and I. She was the only one from that region and no one else had ever been to the ceremony either. It was a great time.

I was also invited to an Ede celebration by my college’s Muslim students this September. They gave presentations about Ede and the Muslim faith. They were completely blown away that I did not grow up in a community with Muslims and that really they were the first Muslims I had talked to about their faith. I think we will have great conversations in the future about faith.

Ok, this may or may not be integration but I feel I have had a breakthrough with my neighborhood children. My husband’s aunt sent us coloring books and crayons. So far each day the kids get a coloring book page and one crayon. They switch colors back and forth and once they are done I tape their pictures to the window so they can see it. Usually after coloring we play games and run around. This helped solved a problem I had with one kid trying to kick me!

Additionally, my husband and I have attending minor celebrations here and there. We have been around our schools more often just to talk and give our neighbors/students/colleagues face time. We both have really enjoyed it.