Antony addressing Nyabirerema Primary School |
I made some banana cake for them that morning, and ran over to the primary school in the afternoon to spend a few hours at school. I stood nearby with some of my teachers, who were astounded that some of these kids were saying they were American when they had dark skin, and looked like they were of Asian or Indian descent. I explained that Americans are very diverse, from African Americans to Asian and Indian American. Not all Americans look like me! The visitors all introduced themselves and it was hilarious to see how the kids reacted to their names. "Tristan" sounded like "Christine," which the kids found uproariously funny that this boy was named Christine. "Sri" became "Swee" and they thought he was named after candy. We kept joking "Give me a swee!" Another kid was name Taylor, which everyone interpreted as Tiger, which if you ask me, is a pretty sweet name.
Our headmaster quipped with every name, saying some not-so-PC things like "Have you found that plane yet?" to a Malaysian girl and "Are you the next Chairman?" to a wispy Japanese girl named Mao. They also performed a few songs for the kids and gave them a message to work hard and try and learn many things. Adorable!
Their group leader Antony spent some time here in the late 90s as a volunteer in the Bukinda community. It was interesting to talk to him about what has changed and what has stayed the same in 15 years. One of the biggest visible changes here is the proliferation of mobile phones and the newly paved road to Kabale.
On Sunday afternoon, their home-stay hosts in Bukinda hosted a big meal and invited all the neighbors and officials from around. We had speeches from their hosts Peace and Golden, from folks working at the PTC and other prominent members of the community. The visiting students then performed a few songs, and we all learned the Bakiga dance with the women of the group. This involves dancing in a big circle to drums, and stamping your feet and waving your arms to the beat. It was a blast! This student group was also here to help build The Peace Centre, which will function as an orphanage and will be run by Peace. They are also hoping to build a program that hosts gap years students for eight months, so students spending a gap year between high school and college can work with the Peace Centre in Bukinda.
On Sunday afternoon, their home-stay hosts in Bukinda hosted a big meal and invited all the neighbors and officials from around. We had speeches from their hosts Peace and Golden, from folks working at the PTC and other prominent members of the community. The visiting students then performed a few songs, and we all learned the Bakiga dance with the women of the group. This involves dancing in a big circle to drums, and stamping your feet and waving your arms to the beat. It was a blast! This student group was also here to help build The Peace Centre, which will function as an orphanage and will be run by Peace. They are also hoping to build a program that hosts gap years students for eight months, so students spending a gap year between high school and college can work with the Peace Centre in Bukinda.
I also had a nice visit from one of our Peace Corps staff who was passing through Bukinda. The Principal and I gave a tour of the kitchen and our new cookstoves, one of which was piled high with matooke wrapped in banana leaves, and the other one cooking rice. This special-occasion food was being prepared for an official visit from the newly appointed Bishop of Kigezi. We had a feast for lunch, including rice, karo, matooke, potatoes, sweet potatoes, goat, beef, chicken and g-nut sauce. Ugandan food is getting better and better every time I eat! The matooke and the rice were delicious, both cooked in the new stoves.
Students introducing themselves, including their age, their nationality and their favorite subject |
Singing songs |
Hi Julia... thanks for the shout out for The Peace Centre!
ReplyDeleteWe really had an amazing trip to Bukinda. The students were all suitably blown away by the welcome we received, the hospitality given and the love that they felt from everyone. It was very hard saying goodbye, a lot harder than many of us bargained for actually. But as one of my students quoted, curtesy of Dr Seuss, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened". Extremely apt for us all, and pretty profound from someone who is famous for rhyming cat with hat.
It was great to meet you and chat about life in Bukinda. I think the other big change that is worth revisiting is the fact that there used to be a bit more advertising for condom use - not a lot, but a bit certainly. On the way into Kabale there was a huge 'Faithfulness...Abstinence... Condoms" billboard back in 1999. It has people safely sitting in a huge condom canoe/boat, floating above a flood of STDs. Bizarre, but the message was being got across. Not any more it seems. There are lots of warnings about HIV/AIDS now, but there was never any mention of contraception. It just seems a little sad to me that despite the huge problems, there is still an unwillingness to promote condoms, as the abstinence angle that is readily being pursued doesn't seem to be too effective. Oh well, we can but hope that with time it will change.
Anyway, enjoy Bukinda for your remaining months. And please give Peace and Golden and Constance huge hugs when you next see them. We miss them all dearly!
Anthony - and the Dulwich College Shanghai Uganda Team :)