"Presence" from Home

Unlike many high schools, Duchesne alum often wear our class rings throughout our whole lives. They symbolize the love we felt there, with the hearts turned outwards so that we remember to spread that love to the world.   

When I was in seventh grade, I read a fictional book set in Uganda, about a young girl doing healthcare work. I can’t exactly put my finger on why, but ever since then, I’ve felt drawn to Uganda. A large part of the reason I chose to attend my high school, Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, was because they have a trip to Uganda every two years, which I was then able to go on during the Spring Break of my senior year. 

I spent the trip falling in love with Uganda, and hoping that I’d be able to go back someday.

Here we are, five years later, and I’ve lived in Uganda for almost eight months. And life has really come full circle, because I got to spend this weekend touring around with the Duchesne girls! It was definitely a blast from the past to find myself in Uganda again with Dr. Hickman, our guide Herbert, my friend Julia (who had also been on the trip five years ago), as well as 12 young women who spend their schooldays wearing the same Fairmont Plaid that I wore throughout my four years.

Herbert, Julia, Dr. Hickman, Me

Of all the lessons I learned during my time at Duchesne, the one that stuck with me most is Duchesne’s Third Goal, which is to inspire students to have “a social awareness which impels to action.” We are taught that it is not enough to be aware of the world’s problems; we have to do something about them. 

The Duchesne trip is not exactly a traditional mission trip, where a group goes to a place to perform a certain task and then leaves. Rather, it’s a mix of both aspects of the Third Goal. Mostly learning, and then doing a bit to help.

Ironically, this trip also perfectly fit Peace Corps' Third Goal: to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. 

I’d coordinated with Dr. Hickman a few months ago, and she managed fit a visit to my school into their busy schedule. I kept our Third Goals in mind, and instead of having a normal school visit where the pupils sang songs or did a local dance (based on my own experience from 5 years ago, I was pretty sure they’d have had quite a bit of that already), I arranged for a panel of teachers to speak on everyday aspects of life here in Eastern Uganda, specifically the Teso Region where I live. 

There were three teachers presenting: one on the insurgency between the Itesots and Karamojong that occurred between 1986 and 1990 and still has a residual impact on life today, one on polygamy (which was very common in the older generation of Ugandans and is only somewhat less so today), and witchcraft (people are beginning to rely on doctors instead of witch doctors, but that shift is still taking place). 

As prepared as I could be!

The group of 15 Americans, their driver (Sam), and their guide (Herbert), pulled up to my school amidst resounding cheers from pupils waving out the windows of every classroom. Thankfully, the pupils were restrained enough to stay inside the classrooms, and everyone was able to sit down and start the presentation in a somehow orderly fashion around 3:30pm. 

I knew that the pupils would be released from class for free time at 4:10, and I wasn’t quite sure if we’d still be able to hear the teachers speaking over the noise of 750+ rambunctious children playing outside. We have no spare classrooms though, so there was nothing I could do except hope for the best and be prepared to go with the flow. 

I shouldn’t have worried. As soon as the pupils got out, a few teachers came over to ensure that they gave the group some space. But the pupils were clearly interested in the presentation, and so the teachers told them simply to sit down. And, goodness gracious, my pupils were SO respectful. They sat still, listened quietly, and only laughed at the appropriate moments. So the presentation continued uninterrupted, even as the group was surrounded by at least 500 children.

Afterwards, the Duchesne group presented my school with supplies that they had selflessly been carrying around for the past two weeks, through many airports in multiple countries. Not only did they bring enough books to probably double the amount of books that I’ve currently organized for our book boxes, but they also brought a variety of other school supplies, toothpaste, towels (which I’ll be able to distribute when Rosemary and I teach the older pupils how to make RUMPS, ReUsable Menstrual PadS!), shoes, and a very generous monetary donation which my very trustworthy Head Teacher will undoubtably put to good use. 

After that, I gave them the choice of walking to the nearby vegetable market to see that aspect of life in Uganda, or to walk two minutes in the other direction and see my house… They chose my house! (Thank goodness I’d been frantically cleaning it for three days, haha!) 

A few days later, I asked them about the whole experience, and everyone agreed that it was very different from the other schools they’d visited. They’d noticed the usage of the language, Ateso. Local language is used in schools a lot more in the outer regions of Uganda, and the other schools they visited are all in Central Region, where English is often the only language used at school. At my school, P1-P3 are all taught in Ateso, and it continues to be utilized by teachers in every grade to help ensure that pupils are actually understanding the concepts that are being taught. 

They noticed that many of the pupils at my school were not wearing uniforms (uniforms are encouraged, but they cost money that some don’t have, so students who come in everyday clothes are not turned away, as they might be at a private school), and many had no shoes. They noticed that the pupils were all very happy and respectful, and the teachers were enthusiastic to share their views on the topics they were presenting. Overall, Dr. Hickman said that it was a true rural Ugandan experience, which the group had not had up until that point. Which made me very happy, because my goal was absolutely just to introduce them to my school as it is, and have them hear about life from a few different Eastern Ugandan perspectives. 

Sipi Falls Resort

After we finished at my school and home, I travelled with the group to the nearby Sipi Falls, about an hour away from Mbale. We spent two nights there, hiked to all three of the waterfalls on Saturday, and had a wonderful time. The group was very close-knit, as we were nearing the end of their two-week experience in Uganda, but they made an effort to include me in everything, even taking the time to give me the background on the myriad of inside jokes they’d accumulated! They all have such unique personalities and it was so fun to be back around people who shared the same hometown as me, who could talk about specific places and streets and everyone just knew exactly what people were talking about. My Peace Corps friends share America as a general connection, but it’s a deeper sense of inherent familiarity when you’ve all grown up in the same place. 

They all seemed to love Uganda, and I hope some of them will come back eventually, to visit or to live.