Gulu Seems Very Far Away Now

I can tell you one thing, the next time I go to Africa, it will be for longer than two weeks! M and I are back from our trip to Uganda, a little jet-lagged on account of the nine hour drive to the Entebbe Airport, and roughly 20 hours of flying on three, progressively smaller airplanes, which safely deposited us back in the Burgh yesterday afternoon. And two weeks is sort of the equivalent of eating a sample of ice cream on one of those teeny-tiny spoons, in terms of getting the Flavor of Africa.

In support of this ongoing project, M will be launching a website that will include lots more photos, perhaps some video, and blog entries that will describe our trip and the situation in Northern Uganda in more detail. I hesitate to post pictures here right now, because I think the images and the stories we have deserve more thought and reflection before we share them. Africa is a complicated place, and our trip has prompted lots of questions. So, stay tuned for a more comprehensive report, but here are a few teasers.

I left for this trip the day after school let out for me, but in the Uganda calendar they had started their second term. I spent lots of time observing and interacting with the P1 and P2 classes, and I can now say I will never complain about class size again. There were ninety children in some of these classrooms! Granted the school is overcrowded, but when I asked the Headteacher about the "ideal" class size, she told me forty-five! Here P2 (this is roughly equivalent to 3rd grade) is learning some simple division. The children brought their own counters - either small twigs, or bottle caps, or nuts. I found the instructional delivery to be quite good, but I noted that it was tough luck for any student who did not bring a notebook or counters. That was pretty refreshing. I spent a fair amount of time and energy this year chasing down extra resources for my own students who were perpetually losing their pencils, homework packets, books, clipboards, manipulatives, etc., probably because they know I am accountable for their performance, and therefore WILL go this extra mile or two for them. In Uganda, the child, or family, is accountable for her performance, at least as it relates to things like school attendance, bringing materials, paying school fees. This is not to say the education system in Uganda is utopian...it is far from that, at least in the schools I visited.

I will leave you with this photo of a meal we were served by the family of our host, Father Michael Komakec. Ugandans are pretty darn generous to their guests, and we were well-fed during the entire trip. Vegetarian foods abound, although most people eat meat any chance they get and think you are somewhat of a freak if you do not get excited about beef or chicken or goat. Uganda's equatorial position and ample rainfall make it possible to grow nearly anything. Most people don't have refrigerators, and the growing season goes pretty much year-round, so it only makes sense that the food pretty directly travels from the garden to your plate. Ugandans are rightly horrified at the thought that one would eat "fresh" greens that have traveled from say, California to Pennsylvania, and are several days old. So we ate a lot of potatoes, cassava, sweet potatoes, greens, okra, rice, corn, mangoes, papayas, bananas, passion fruit, and beans. The food was not spicy, but I definitely wouldn't call it bland. I guess the best description is to say that the foods really taste like what they are supposed to. Potatoes have a delicious, rich potato-y taste. Greens taste very Green. Bananas straight from the tree have a nice texture.

I took a really nice, long, hot shower last night, marveled at the reliability of the electricity in our apartment (which suddenly feels Huge for just the two of us), and M and I went out for veggie dogs at D's with Matt and Sloan. It's good to be home, but intercontinental travel has awakened M and K's nomadic tendencies....