This Post Isn't Really About a Wallet

A few weeks ago, in Jinja (a city about four hours away from my home), I bought a new wallet. I’d already had a wallet that I’d bought in the Central Region of Uganda, and it is beautifully made, but I’d bought it out of necessity and my only option at the time was to buy one that is red and green—Christmas colors.  I love Christmas colors... for exactly two months of the year, and those months have come and gone. But this wallet had held up very well for a wallet that cost only a few thousand shillings (maybe two or three US dollars, I don’t remember exactly) so I kept using it.

            Until I was out shopping with my friends and I decided to treat myself and buy a new wallet! I found one that was the same style, but had a beautiful print of Africa in light brown and mint green. I bought it, and…promptly lost it. I put the shopping bag that it was in underneath my chair when we went to the pool that day, and I just forgot it. I felt like a total space case, but oh well, at least I hadn’t put anything in it yet. I chalked it up to “shit happens” and put it out of my mind.

           

             And then last week, Kara and I were walking down the street in Mbale (a town about 20 minutes away from my home) and we happened upon a shop selling local handmade crafts. Kara knew about my failed attempt to own a new wallet, and saw that they had wallets inside, so we ducked in for a quick second to glance at them, since we’d had another destination in mind. This shop didn’t have anything like my wallet, but I liked a small piece of artwork and took my wallet out to buy it. The shopkeeper noticed my wallet and she absolutely loved it. I was a bit taken aback by her enthusiasm, but I let her inspect it and then she had me promise to return the next time I was in Mbale so that she could measure it in detail, cut fabric, and make one herself.

            Well, today I am again in Mbale (to get the medicine for my stomach infection, which Peace Corps sent to the Post Office here). I stepped inside Dorothy’s shop and she was so happy to see me! She remembered my purpose there as soon as I took out my wallet, and said that God must have had it all planned out, because she had actually been about to leave to run errands, so I wouldn't have found her there if I’d come a few minutes later. She immediately grabbed a piece of beautiful pink fabric and began to measure my wallet and cut the fabric accordingly.

            I mentioned to her that my grandmother had loved to sew, and that I'd loved watching her work. Dorothy loved that, and also thought it was hilarious when I told her that my friends and I'd had two sewing machines in our apartment at school, as even here in Uganda it is a bit abnormal for young girls to be interested in sewing. And then from that point on, Dorothy started explaining every step of what she was doing so that I could learn. I ended up spending almost two hours at her shop, chatting a bit, but mostly just sitting in companionable silence and watching her work.

            I learned that she was born in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, but her father is of the Bagisu tribe so she and her family moved from the Central Region to live here in the Eastern Region. She herself has three children, all boys, and she actually has a son who lives in Florida! He got his undergrad in engineering here in Uganda, and then got his Master’s in America and currently works as an airplane mechanic.

Almost finished!

            After a few hours, much hard work, and ripping out the stitching to restart a section once or twice, Dorothy ended up creating this lovely pink wallet! Another beautiful aspect is that it is truly handmade—most of the sewing machines I have seen here in Uganda are the old Singer machines, which are powered by a foot pedal instead of electricity (which isn't very reliable here). So, I guess a more accurate term would be footmade? But you get the point, haha. A lot of work goes into making these small, fabric pieces of artwork.

            And then I made it to the Post Office (yes, dad, I picked up my medicine) and my favorite coffee shop (Endiro, in case anyone was curious) to write this just in time to avoid being caught in the intense rainstorm that’s happening right now! I know I say it too often, but it’s so true—every day here is an adventure.

Rosemary

Rosemary is my counterpart. I've mentioned her before once or twice on this blog, and I just want to reiterate that she is a beautiful human. A counterpart is someone who was already teaching at your site who Peace Corps asks to take on an additional role, to guide you through the process of becoming familiar with a Ugandan school, and a new language, and basically just be your primary support system while you adjust. Let me tell you, I feel so honored to have Rosemary as my counterpart and—more importantly—my friend. 

Rosemary teaches science in both streams of P4 (about 200 students total, 100 per classroom) and is also the Senior Woman teacher. She is an enthusiastic teacher and a joyful person, and has a very compassionate worldview. She loves to laugh, and she's an inspiration with the way she captures the attention of the pupils. And she always makes time for my questions!

As part of the School Profile Tool that Peace Corps assigned each of us to complete, I conducted an interview with Rosemary, which actually turned into a two hour conversation. I'm grateful to Peace Corps for sparking that, since we don't often make time during the day to just sit and talk (as my school has no staff room so teachers are really only near each other during lunch, which is a big group setting).

I want to add, this has been published here with Rosemary's knowledge and blessing!

Rosemary has been a teacher since 2004, but was teaching at a private school from 2004-2013, when she began teaching at government schools. She made this change because government schools pay even during the holidays, unlike private schools. Also, at government schools, you are able to retire at 60 with a pension, and there are no such benefits at a private school.

Rosemary's mother was a teacher, so she has teaching in her blood, she says. She aspires to be an MP someday, but does not think she will be able to because she is a Bagisu living in Teso Region, she would have to return to her home in order to have any hope of being elected.

Rosemary grew up around Nakeloke (a town only a few minutes by taxi from where we live now), and left when she got married. This prompted me to jokingly ask "Oh, how many cows?" which turned out to be the best possible thing I could have said, because it launched us into a discussion of the dowry system here. 

Usually, in the Teso Region of Eastern Uganda, a woman is given in marriage in exchange for the groom giving her family a predetermined amount of cows, goats, and money. The "price" of each woman is determined by a variety of factors, the most important of which seems to be her level of education. (All of this information was told to me by both my language trainer, Beatrice, and my host mom, Toto Marion.) A woman who is educated can cost something like 10 cows, 7 goats, and 4 million shillings (Each cow is worth about 1 million shillings, and 1 million shillings is the equivalent of about $300 in America, so getting married is clearly very expensive). A woman who gets pregnant young, and has to drop out of school, will be married for something like one or two cows and maybe 1 million shillings. 

Rosemary's situation is very unique. Her father did not want any cows, or money, or anything else. In her words, he said he was not "selling" his child. Because of this, Rosemary says she is able to discuss things with her husband as an equal; he does not "own" her. When there is a decision to be made, they sit at the table and talk it through. She said that if it ever became necessary, they would be able to continue on their own journeys separately.

This is important because that's not how it usually is here, traditionally. My host mother taught me a lot about the dowry system here in Eastern Uganda, and her opinion was that when a man pays for his wife he feels like the master of her. Anything she earns or produces—including her children—belongs to him. 

Rosemary pointed out that the high dowry fee often means that the husband becomes poor in paying for his wife, while it's her parents who are wealthy off of what he had earned. This can cause tension in the marriage, as the husband resents the wife and her parents. Along with this, of the wife chooses to go back to her home, the husband can demand back the dowry he paid. Often, the wife's parents no longer have it, as it has been used to buy wives for their own sons or could even have been eaten, in the case of cows or goats.

Rosemary's voice broke, and I had tears in my own eyes, as she told me of one story in particular. It was about the sister of a teacher at our own school. She was being abused horribly by her husband, so she went home to her parents and told them "If you send me back there, I will die." Then, her husband came to them, demanding his cows back. Her father did not want to send her back to her husband, but he also no longer had the finances to pay back the dowry. Her father could not cope with this decision, poisoned himself, and died. Rosemary said this is only one of many problems with the dowry system.

Rosemary's is an important perspective on the dowry system, but it is one perspective only. She has a happy marriage without having had a dowry, but I want to emphasize that that doesn't mean all marriages with the dowry are unhappy ones. Both of my host mothers were married in the traditional way, with a dowry, and although both are widowed now they speak of their marriages and husbands with happiness in their eyes. My language trainer, Beatrice, proudly told us how many cows her husband paid for her. She often tells us stories of her rambunctious children, and in my opinion she lives a very happy life. 

It is not for me to judge, or to label the dowry system with an overarching "bad" or "good." Just as any system that humans create, it is multifaceted and deeply complex. It is an important part of the culture here, though, as marriage is in almost every society. I hope to share with you all as I learn more about it, and I hope that you also can take my conversation with Rosemary for what it is—one perspective, one story. Each woman I meet here has a different experience with marriage, and I hope to get to know more of them at the level where I can learn each of their unique perspectives. 
 

Crazy? All the Best People Are

Crazy, disorganized chaos... and a lot of smiling faces! I started my book box project today! 

When I was in elementary school, my best friend was my librarian (Ms. LuAnne Knobbe). She was instrumental in inspiring and guiding my love of reading, and ever since then, the idea of being a librarian has been at the back of my mind. This may be a slightly unconventional way to go about it, but that doesn't make me any less excited! 

It will get more organized as time goes on, but for today we began with 107 books and ended the hour with the same 107, so I'm going to call that a success! 

At one point we had 63 pupils inside looking at the books and about 20 more watching through the window, interested but not quite brave enough yet to go inside. I asked them "Ikoitos yesi aisiom toma?" (Do you all want to go inside and read?) and they said "Moi!" (Tomorrow!)

The children are all very excited to see books! Many of them were reading out loud to themselves, and some of them were even reading the same book out loud, together in groups. This was wonderful to see, because they'd organized it themselves, and it meant that even if they didn't know all of the words on their own, there was a group there to help them figure it out! As you can imagine, our library is nowhere near quiet, and I've made sure to tell all of the teachers that, personally, I don't want it to be a quiet place. Reading should be fun, it can be loud, pupils can be excited about it! (Hopefully, once we have a lending system, that'll take care of the slight issue of the pupils who might need a quiet environment to read. No one has complained or mentioned it yet, though!)

I outlined our library rules last week at assembly on Friday morning. I made sure to put them in English, Ateso (one of the P2 teachers translated it for me), and as descriptive of pictures as possible. Because, as one of my friends pointed out when I was running my ideas past him... how are they going to know that it says they're welcome even if they can't read, if they can't read...? Which was an extremely good point. 

So, here's my best effort! It's currently taped on the wall outside of P7, which is nowhere near the classroom we use for our library. However, it's right in front of the space where they hold assembly every day, so I figure that it'll be looked at by the pupils whenever their attention wanders from assembly. That should be a great way for all of them to get familiar with it! (I haven't, of course, explained my reasoning in that regard to the administration, since they're the ones speaking at assembly...)

Our Shelves

As my Head Teacher called them today, these are our "shelves," our improvised library.

The government here funded two new classroom blocks at my school, but has locked them until furniture can be brought. After weeks of being told that there will be library space soon, the classrooms will be commissioned soon... I decided to get creative. I may not have library space for quite a while, but with these book boxes I will be making these books available to students for an hour after school every day!

I'm so grateful that our school already had all of these books, but they have—until now—been kept in storage in the office, inaccessible to students. The other teachers want our school to develop a reading culture, but they (understandably) give all of their effort to teaching. I'm so happy to be here and be able to give my time to organizing our school's resources!

Peace Corps gave each of us a nifty little book about building a school library from scratch, and it's been useful! So far I have one fancy registry book, which is called our "accession record," and lists all of the books I've organized in no specific order. The important part of this is that it gives each book a number, which I have also written in sharpie (and circled, to make it easier for little ones to find) on the first page of each book. 

Even though our library doesn't yet have a lending system, I want to get the kids used to "checking-out" a book. So, when they come into the classroom for "book box time," there's a little notebook in which they'll write the book number and their name. This will also make it easier for me to see how many children we have using our library each day!

We have a fair quantity of books (this picture is only the ones I've organized so far) but most are set in the Western world. Of course, we all know how important it is that some books are windows while others are mirrors—meaning the students can see themselves in them.

So, if you happen to see any books set in Africa (East Africa, in particular) they'd be greatly appreciated over here! And if you can't send it along yourself, that's totally fine, just get it to my parents and they'd be happy to stick it in a care package!

Already, the students are incredibly excited to see books, and can't believe they were at our school the whole time. Library time starts on Monday, I'll let you all know how it goes!