First, a confession: I clearly should have done my own homework and made sure I had the word “muzungu” spelled correctly before I started my blog muzungalo.blogspot.com. However, in my great excitement to detail my new surroundings and experiences, I’ve failed my editor parents and made quite a blunder. Not quite sure how I’m going to fix it, but I need to figure our how to change the name. In any case, I’ll post the new website on here when I correct it. It’s funny because Kim’s husband, David, who grew up in Uganda, told me that the translation of muzungu is essentially "one who goes around in circles." I thought that to be a very apt definition, especially in this case for myself!
In any case, on to more important matters, i.e. the children and their artwork/the reason I’m here in the first place! Everyday, or really every hour rather, is really a rollercoaster of emotions based on various interactions with the children. They are just so happy and smiley, incredibly loud, attention hungry, and joyous, that I just wanted to make their lives all better in one day. But as anyone knows that just not possible. Many challenges these kids face are not unlike those of schoolchildren everywhere--as any teacher would tell you, and I’m now being reminded—learning reading, writing, math, and science can be so confusing. I’m glad I’ve been there and done that (although one can argue on the subject of math!). But in many other ways, these children lack the resources that would give them an ability to really focus on learning, and inspite of this you can still see their desire to learn and that is what keeps you going.
Some of the children in the school come from the orphanage that is another Meeting Point project, while others come from the slum area that stretches below the Learning Center and is essentially built on a swamp. I have yet to see these community, but from what I’ve heard from the other volunteers, it contains true poverty. (I go tomorrow to do homevisit outreach, so I will be able to confirm that then I’m sure.) And this poverty is quite apparent in the children’s daily appearance. They wear uniforms that are tattered, dirty, and torn, often held together by pins. Some have old shoes, some have shoes that seem to cling to dusty feet for dear life, and some have no shoes at all and just walk around on the red dirt, rocky paths with hardened soles. Many of the children are sick, either with either HIV or AIDS, or their family members are sick. The children are quite filthy and often smell quite pungent with a stale, sticky odor that takes hold in a class of 50 kids or more. They are reminded almost daily at group assembly to practice proper hygiene by bathing, washing their clothes, and brushing their teeth, but you have to wonder if they have the means to make any of these things happen each evening. They are dealing with learning certainly a second, and possibly even a third or fourth language by day, and probably speaking Lugandan or another dialect by night. They have no books of their own, no toys (save some plastic bags wadded into a ball to play catch), and of course no access to, or probably even knowledge of computers. But still, they are excited about learning, and work diligently in their notebooks (when they’re not goofing off of course, as they are children and not saints) and love any attention they can get which they repay with shy smiles or sometimes fits of giggles.
Last Friday, just on a whim, I started taking children from the Nursery and Primary 1 classrooms either individually or in pairs or at most a group of three, and reviewing colors and then drawing rainbows. Lots of this children, even those that are 7 or 8 don't seem to know their basic colors, whether it be a problem that is conceptual, language-related, or both. Some 96 rainbows later I’m nearing a finish line, at least with the nursery class of 57 children—a huge class, although that is nothing compared to the 65 that are in P-1. (I’m a bit rainbowed out to be honest, but need to keep on going!) It’s just staggering the number of children in each classes. How ever could one teacher manage all of those children and give them even an ounce (excuse me, milligram, as I am in a British system) of attention a day?? And so children are missing from the volunteer lists. The teachers had given lists of all the students in their classes, but unfortunately more than a dozen were left off from the list of P-1 and half as many from the nursery class, so the volunteers haven’t even known to call on them. So hopefully soon we will have them all accounted for on our lists. I think the children have liked the rainbow exercise, mainly just because they so rarely have a chance to use markers or just be experiencing bright colors and drawing. The school building is really nice and new but also quite bare and drab, especially the dirt playground and concrete walls and metal fence. I hope I can bring some more color and decoration to the school in an attempt to make it a more stimulating place to learn and have been brainstorming all sorts of ideas for murals and the like.
Aside from rainbows, I had the P-2 class this afternoon for my first “art class.” It went, um, okaaaaay. Not spectacularly, but I learned some important lessons and isn’t that what it’s all about?! Mainly, don’t give the kids too much choice! We made a giant bug with colorful pipe cleaner legs and fuzzy puffs (clearly a technical term) on its back. I think the children had a lot of run, and the completed bug was certainly the brightest object in the room. But I could not keep them seated and/or quiet, they took forever choosing the color of the puff they wanted to glue on, and some kids got the chance to put on two legs while others on got to do one—yikes. I was especially harried because I had to go into the classroom before my allotted time. Some of the teachers don’t quite understand English completely and so despite my plans to do the project during the last time slot of the day, I was asked to come down right then, an hour early. So there are quite a few kinks to iron out. (Let’s hope) I’m up to the challenge! ;)
More from the field visit tomorrow, and then I’m off on safari this weekend in Murchison Falls (I have been told to expect hippos, etc.!)—wooohooo!!
In any case, on to more important matters, i.e. the children and their artwork/the reason I’m here in the first place! Everyday, or really every hour rather, is really a rollercoaster of emotions based on various interactions with the children. They are just so happy and smiley, incredibly loud, attention hungry, and joyous, that I just wanted to make their lives all better in one day. But as anyone knows that just not possible. Many challenges these kids face are not unlike those of schoolchildren everywhere--as any teacher would tell you, and I’m now being reminded—learning reading, writing, math, and science can be so confusing. I’m glad I’ve been there and done that (although one can argue on the subject of math!). But in many other ways, these children lack the resources that would give them an ability to really focus on learning, and inspite of this you can still see their desire to learn and that is what keeps you going.
Some of the children in the school come from the orphanage that is another Meeting Point project, while others come from the slum area that stretches below the Learning Center and is essentially built on a swamp. I have yet to see these community, but from what I’ve heard from the other volunteers, it contains true poverty. (I go tomorrow to do homevisit outreach, so I will be able to confirm that then I’m sure.) And this poverty is quite apparent in the children’s daily appearance. They wear uniforms that are tattered, dirty, and torn, often held together by pins. Some have old shoes, some have shoes that seem to cling to dusty feet for dear life, and some have no shoes at all and just walk around on the red dirt, rocky paths with hardened soles. Many of the children are sick, either with either HIV or AIDS, or their family members are sick. The children are quite filthy and often smell quite pungent with a stale, sticky odor that takes hold in a class of 50 kids or more. They are reminded almost daily at group assembly to practice proper hygiene by bathing, washing their clothes, and brushing their teeth, but you have to wonder if they have the means to make any of these things happen each evening. They are dealing with learning certainly a second, and possibly even a third or fourth language by day, and probably speaking Lugandan or another dialect by night. They have no books of their own, no toys (save some plastic bags wadded into a ball to play catch), and of course no access to, or probably even knowledge of computers. But still, they are excited about learning, and work diligently in their notebooks (when they’re not goofing off of course, as they are children and not saints) and love any attention they can get which they repay with shy smiles or sometimes fits of giggles.
Last Friday, just on a whim, I started taking children from the Nursery and Primary 1 classrooms either individually or in pairs or at most a group of three, and reviewing colors and then drawing rainbows. Lots of this children, even those that are 7 or 8 don't seem to know their basic colors, whether it be a problem that is conceptual, language-related, or both. Some 96 rainbows later I’m nearing a finish line, at least with the nursery class of 57 children—a huge class, although that is nothing compared to the 65 that are in P-1. (I’m a bit rainbowed out to be honest, but need to keep on going!) It’s just staggering the number of children in each classes. How ever could one teacher manage all of those children and give them even an ounce (excuse me, milligram, as I am in a British system) of attention a day?? And so children are missing from the volunteer lists. The teachers had given lists of all the students in their classes, but unfortunately more than a dozen were left off from the list of P-1 and half as many from the nursery class, so the volunteers haven’t even known to call on them. So hopefully soon we will have them all accounted for on our lists. I think the children have liked the rainbow exercise, mainly just because they so rarely have a chance to use markers or just be experiencing bright colors and drawing. The school building is really nice and new but also quite bare and drab, especially the dirt playground and concrete walls and metal fence. I hope I can bring some more color and decoration to the school in an attempt to make it a more stimulating place to learn and have been brainstorming all sorts of ideas for murals and the like.
Aside from rainbows, I had the P-2 class this afternoon for my first “art class.” It went, um, okaaaaay. Not spectacularly, but I learned some important lessons and isn’t that what it’s all about?! Mainly, don’t give the kids too much choice! We made a giant bug with colorful pipe cleaner legs and fuzzy puffs (clearly a technical term) on its back. I think the children had a lot of run, and the completed bug was certainly the brightest object in the room. But I could not keep them seated and/or quiet, they took forever choosing the color of the puff they wanted to glue on, and some kids got the chance to put on two legs while others on got to do one—yikes. I was especially harried because I had to go into the classroom before my allotted time. Some of the teachers don’t quite understand English completely and so despite my plans to do the project during the last time slot of the day, I was asked to come down right then, an hour early. So there are quite a few kinks to iron out. (Let’s hope) I’m up to the challenge! ;)
More from the field visit tomorrow, and then I’m off on safari this weekend in Murchison Falls (I have been told to expect hippos, etc.!)—wooohooo!!
1 comment:
HI LAURA!!!
I love reading your blog... is there any way you can post pictures??? i'd love to see
I'm writing a paper about programs for street children and wanted to ask you -- are there many street kids where you are, and are you aware programs that exist for them? also, how do people get health care there? is there a clinic close by that they can go to (and is it free?)?
i love you and miss you!
love
tina
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