 |
| Women's Group meeting, with ten new members! |
We returned to Namabaale village late last night and the party was in full swing. Market day means maize sales means money to celebrate - until 6am! An understandable way to enjoy the meagre earnings.
We didn't get much sleep so Mrs Kaya's delicious breakfast of beans was appreciated! Morning classes went well, with focus on transport and family vocabulary.
 |
| Breakfast: beans, sweet potato, matoke |
This afternoon we had our first meeting of the women's group meeting. During introductions everyone focused on the number of children they have, and marital status, with single mothers sheepish rather than proud. It was encouraging to hear some ladies also mentioned skills that they can share with the group, for example baking, goat farming, weaving, making doughnuts.
Ugandan women are very much defined by their relationship to men. You are often named for your first son (e.g.: Mama Moses) and your husband's name comes before your given name, e.g.: Smith Gerald Martina). In a country where more than one milion people live with HIV, relationships with men are also killing them. After Safina and the chairlady spoke of the group's objectives, and highlighted the importance of timekeeping (tricky in a place where nobody has a timepiece and mobile phones are shared between the whole family) we found ten new members eager to join!
To break up our evening journey back to Kampala we visited Modern Secondary School in Mityana where Safina's brother is director. A boarding school very unlike my own Quaker experience. The children are always in uniform, and the main after-school activity is ‘prep’. Ugandan schools are much stricter than British ones and their timetables are long and exhausting. Despite this, students are hugely appreciative of any opportunity to learn.
On our return to Kawempe we passed by Esau's place. Son of Mr Kaya (of whom more later) and our designated driver. His wife Alice welcomed us. She is a teacher and will be staying in Namabaale with us next week. We have arranged a teacher training workshop for next week, though the more time I spend on Ugandan schools the more I realise my wishy-washy ideas may not be applicable. Grace told me today that her primary school class had 500 pupils!! I expect I will be learning more than teaching.
The neighbours have a recording industry, we popped in to hear a band, Orion's Choir. An encouraging example of home-grown talent being cultivated by fellow countrymen.
After a fascinating chat with Mr Kaya about his life as a lay preacher over the last 50 years I had an early night.
Comments
Post a Comment