Jebaale everyone!
First off, I want to say that I miss you all and I hope everything is okay at home because everything is definitely okay here. Every day something new about Uganda amazes me and pulls me a little more out of my comfort zone. For example, today Sue shipped Esther and me off to school at Musana. Yes. Real school. In the summer. We didn't even fight her that hard on it either. Now my homework is to tell you all about it. We started the walk to the school and we were already lost so we decided to follow the girls in uniforms to find the best way to get there. Once we made it to the school we stood confused and obviously very lost in the courtyard, but since we were at Musana about 15 students came up to talk to us and greet us. Eventually, we found our class for the day (Senior 3 yellow room) and sat down with the other students. The first girl I sat next to was named Aysha and I can easily say I would not have survived the day without her. She took me under her wing and made sure I got to the classes I needed to get to on time.
The first class of the day was history and the subject: How did British reforms improve on the status of slaves? I can honestly say that I never thought I would sit in a classroom in Africa to learn about slavery but from this experience I can also say that it was a gift to be able to see things from the opposite perspective. There was no hostility in the classroom as you may think, the students simply copied down the words the teacher read out of his textbook and moved on. Near the end of history class the teacher wrote "racial prejudice" on the board and asked if anyone could tell him what it meant. No one raised their hand and before I knew what I was doing my school reflexes kicked in and my hand went up. He looked a little shocked but let me answer but hey at least I got it right.There were stares I will admit, but at this point I am starting to get used to it. I walked into school today with little expectations but boy was I wrong already.
Then we headed to the Physic lab (my first physics class ever). Aysha led me to the room and showed me where to sit which just means a lot on your first day of school. I wish I could tell you I paid attention the whole class or that I now really like physics or something else crazy like that, but this was not the case. We had met the teachers for this class earlier this week since they are also staying in Musana to teach practical physics and do labs with the students and, although they are fantastic people, no one can make physics interesting. I started to stare at the table as I lost interest and I read the writing students had dug into the table. Normally at my high school reading the words on the desk is a process that will literally suck any intelligence you have out of you. There's mean comments, curse words, and vulgar pictures all over the place, but this is not what I saw at Musana. I wrote down the phrases I thought were particularly interesting like: "Have no fear, life is short", "God is not blind", "I love my friends", "I love God", "In frustration we pray for him" and my personal favorite "I'm in love with a church girl". There's not much more I can say to show you how loving and kind each student at this school is truly down to their core. There's no facades with these people.
Next we had a break for study hall and during that time I realized that my water bottle was open and spilled all in my bag (yes Maverick I am still clumsy even in Africa) so I pulled my bible out of my bag. Immediately, a group of girls swarmed around me wanting to share verses and read the bible with me. One of the girls was named Myria and the first verse she told me to open to was the one I already had bookmarked as my favorite verse, James 4:4. Each of the girls took turns writing down their favorite verses so I thought I would share them in case anyone got the urge to read them:
Hebrews 4:16
Ephesians 4:7
Mark 11:20-26
Proverbs 16:3
1 Samuel 25
2 Kings 4:2-8
2 Corinthians 3:7
Not many people in my school would ever be this excited to put their work down for a second and dig into scripture. This really opened my eyes to how busy life gets and how easily I let myself get distracted by things that , just like James 4:4 warns against, are worldly items. School means so much to the kids here and you can tell by the way they respect the teacher and put themselves entirely into their work but no matter what they will find time to focus on God.
The most horrifying time of the day was definitely lunch. I found Esther and we walked down to the courtyard and did our best to follow Sues directions to get a plate and sit down but it just wasn't that easy. We asked almost everyone where to find Abdul, the man we were supposed to meet to get the plates from, but since we butchered the pronunciation of his name so badly no one knew what we were trying to say. Eventually we found a plate and awkwardly got in the first line we saw. This was the wrong move, shocker I know. We started to realize that more people were staring and laughing at us than normal until one of the adults pointed out to us that there was a boys and girls line, and we were not in the right one. We fixed our mistake and went through the lunch line to pick up Posha (cooked flour, a staple food here) and beans then tried to regain confidence as we sat down. The girls that had been in our class came to sit with us and we talked about typical lunch topics. Esther asked if their school had cliques or groups which really confused them and Aysha told us that there's nothing like that here because "we are all friends" all 600 of them. As lunch time started to wind down I became concerned that I wasn't going to be able to finish my food. Here it is common curtesy to finish the food on your plate but there was still a mountain of VERY starchy food left on mine. I really don't think I have ever eaten a more filling meal as I forced the rest of it down and went to wash my plate but I did it.
We went back to the classroom to finish the break with the girls from the yellow room and this time I met two girls with very familiar names, Jacqueline (my best friend at home) and Jenna (my little sister). These girls reminded me so much of those two back at home. They were just as sweet and just as funny and when I showed them pictures of them they were thrilled. Then Jacqueline turned and asked me something I wasn't ready for " so what do you think of your president?". I told her I would rather hear what she thought instead, to which she responded " Well I have never met him but I hear rumors that he is a bad man. Although, I have not seen him be a bad man myself so I think he still deserves a chance" so take that as you may.
Around this time Sue came and got us so we could go to Craigg's math class. Craigg is doing amazing work with these kids by the way. Kids came up to me in school all day to tell me how much they loved having him there and how much they admired him. When someone is passionate about learning and is being taught by someone who is passionate about teaching the results are astronomical. The kids were silent when he talked and absorbed everything he said about trigonometry which I normally would have found to be really boring. He never discredits a thought or a proposed answer and he makes sure every student understands before he moves on. The world needs more teachers like him and all the other teachers at Musana who, although they have very thick accents, care very deeply about their students.
Another thing that I think is important to note about class were the similarities between American students and Ugandan students. Sometimes they have very similar concerns. One girl named Emillie passed me a note asking "How do you keep your pimples away" as well as "What do you do to make your hair grow" and "What are the boys in America like?". All very interesting questions that I did my best to answer but at the core of it you can see that we are all just high school students trying to find our way in this world and become what we dreamed of. Some of the professions that the girls told me they wanted to study were doctor, lawyer, dentist and pilot. Our worlds may look different from the outside but on the inside we have the same beliefs, dreams and goals. Today is a day that will stick with me for forever. My image of school is shifted and my values are going to need some reevaluation.
I am going to sign off now because it about 12:30 here and if I don't fall sleep before the train runs by I never will.
Love you all dearly,
Your longwinded friend Aubra
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