My Two Years Have Begun!

On the first day of school, my counterpart took me around to each classroom. She is SUCH a vivacious human! She had the attention of every student as she first quizzed then, to see if they remembered my name from the morning's assembly. Many of them did, surprisingly! At least my first name, Amongin. A few even remembered Ronnie! 

She told them that since they knew my name, she better not hear them describing me as "imusugut." She should hear them saying "Teacher Amongin." She was absolutely hilarious telling them that when I'm teaching, they should be listening to me, not noticing my hair or skin or whatever. She was petting my skin and hair as she said this, it was so funny! So even though I'm sure there will still be a bit of that, at least she's drawn attention to it as a less-than-ideal behavior. I just love that she said to each class "Her name is not 'imusugut.' She has a name. Teacher Amongin." 

This is important because here, I am identified by my skin color. Anytime that I walk through the village or the nearby town, I hear people yelling "imusugut!" or "muzungu!" which are both words that mean white person, or foreigner. This is perfectly understandable, because I stand out in an obvious way. It doesn't make me mad or upset. But it does take a little effort to keep myself from being slightly annoyed by it. It's uncomfortable to have constant attention drawn to myself. I'll be walking down the street trying to find a shop that is selling eggs, and children will yell from a block away "Muzungu-how-are-you? Muzungu-how-are-you?" 

Usually, when I have time to stop and introduce myself in the local language, Ateso, to someone who is yelling to me, they proceed to call me by my name. And it's still my first few weeks at site, I'm sure that eventually I'll be able to introduce myself to most people and seeing me walk down the street will no longer be such a novelty. But after months in this country, being loudly identified by my skin color everywhere I go, it's nice that these teachers and children understand that I have a name. 

The name that I am known by here, Amongin (pronounced Ah-mo-ngeen), was given to me by one of my totos (host mothers) in Kumi. They are sisters, one is a retired teacher and one is a government official. I am named after my mother who is a government official, Honorable Amongin Aporu Christine Hellen. I am very proud of being her namesake, as she is not only a wonderful human but a powerful woman who has done a lot of hard work to improve the lives of citizens, especially prisoners, in Uganda. If you'd like, you can read a bit about her life here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Amongin_Aporu and here http://www.gou.go.ug/government/opm-teso-affairs

My mom and I

So, now I am observing P2, and they at least have more English than I expected them to. (This is good because, while I tested at Intermediate Mid in Ateso a few weeks ago, I still don't have enough language to teach in it.) Funnily enough, what they're learning now is the uniform/badge lesson that Kara and I taught back at Kira! 

The teacher drew pictures on the chalkboard of a uniform, badge, and flag, and labeled them. She discussed them, and then erased the labels. She then had the children draw the pictures and write what the labels were. So far all of the teachers seem very dynamic, and like they care very much about teaching. I'm excited to be a part of this school! I don't know how much of an impact I can have on their reading and writing abilities in two years, but I will do the best that I can. 

The view out a P6 classroom

The classrooms are very bright, with windows all along both walls. These windows are there out of necessity, as there are no lights. I wonder how it will be in the rainy season, which is supposed to arrive toward the end of March? Does it get cloudy during the day? Will it be dark in the classrooms? Will the rain pounding against the tin roof make it almost impossible to hear the teacher? We had one serious rainstorm during training at Muzardi, and even though our teachers were yelling to be heard, our minds were wandering outside with the rain. And we're adults! I can only imagine how hard it is to get a classroom of 60+ children to pay attention during a storm. And there is no glass in the windows here, they are open to the world (as are the windows in my house, come to think of it, but I do have shutters). 

My school is grateful to have two brand new classroom blocks, just built and not even in use yet. President Museveni comes to this school when he campaigns, and during his last tour he noticed that many of the classrooms are dilapidated and so he made a pledge to grant the school money for new classrooms. I am especially excited about this, because it means that I will be able to use one of the old classrooms for the library I hope to organize. 

Our brand new classroom blocks! 

The Head Teacher at this school is a very dynamic human, and she expects a lot from her teachers. She informed them at our staff meeting, which was a few days into the school term but nevertheless is when teachers were assigned the classes they'd be teaching, that they might be given a level or department they're not familiar with. But that happens because she wants them to learn about it. She said that, "If your attitude is 'For me, I can't.' Then when will you?" She emphasized commitment to work, and reinforced that the teachers should not spend time gossiping at the expense of educating a child. She asked the teachers to have a commitment in their hearts, because a head teacher cannot make you committed. Be self-motivated. 

Her attitude and determination are inspiring, to me. I am very grateful to be at this school, learning from her. 

Peace Corps asked us to draw a map of our school