Saturday 19th of May 2012
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(Not another Ugandan rap, but a quote from a senior prefect to the WTA students with reference to the SD events this week)
What a looooong week..... but the pictures (below) do describe better what we got up to....
At some point every day last week, we were so relieved that we had built in plenty of flexibility and alternatives for every session (Plan A, Plan B and Plan C .... not to mention the wet weather alternatives)- as each day turned out to be different from the original plan. In each session there were at least mere 350 kids.... it took the art of 'winging it' onto a whole new level.
This week has been crazy, a little exhausting but huge amounts of fun. Let me explain. Ugandan terms are a little ridiculous as they are bookended by exams – and sometimes they even have midterms as well.. Anyway other than the severely reduced teaching time that gives us, it also means that every term ends with 2 weeks of exams followed by the ‘redundant’ or ‘lousy’ week. Students just have to hang around, milling, being useless, and restless waiting for teachers to mark their exams and then do reports. So that’s the backdrop, and rather than allow them to be like extras in a dull soap, Elspeth and I had the enjoyable task, and therefore it wasn’t a task really, to occupy them for the last week of term, and in so doing gives the teachers ample time to do all their boring teaching stuff. In short we got to prance around and entertain for the week. Much more my thing..
So this is what our week looked like.. Hope you are amused as much as we were, when you see the disparity between what happened and what was supposed to.. Welcome to Africa.
Why the long silence?..... Well, it's been pretty busy over the last few weeks, I guess. No sooner do we finish one set of exams, then another exam week rears its ugly head. But that is the Ugandan way - endless testing, marking and assessing, at least two or three times a term. The last 7 - 10 days are completely lost from a teaching point of view, as each teacher must mark literally hundreds of papers and then write hundreds of reports before the end of term. We have learnt that this last week is known in Uganda as the 'redundant' or 'lousy' week - boarding students must stay in school with neither lessons nor anything to do, apart from packing up and sweeping the compound.
Before I start, I may as well point out that, no, this is not going to be a weather blog – and really it hasn’t been bad at all, but it seems that the Rainy Season has finally arrived in Uganda, though we’ve still had hot days by the pool.
I’ve been back for 2.5 weeks and though initially having to shock my system into being able to tolerate living with mealtimes and so much food, (my dad has always had a thing for cooking huge quantities, and once again having a regular access to what I would consider ‘luxuries,’ such as cheese, meat and so on) it is good to be back. Great to see family for one, cheaper for another!
Umm... if you just received notification of this - but with no text and no photo, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a very cryptic title. Actually it is a technical, blog-loading prob from the Kampala side and yes, we are blaming the equipment of course....... now we have text... and the photo will arrive soon... (thanks, Simon 'Fixer' Bramwell in Romsey).
Previous teams to WTA will remember Christine who left WTA after she finished S4 in November 2010, at the point when the school moved. She had previously been at WTA since S1 and We hadn't heard from her, but knew that she was continuing A' levels at another school. Yesterday she turned up for a surprise visit and it was lovely to see her. There are several staff and many pupils who remember her well (who could forget her?!), so it was fun to catch up. She is taking HED-Art as her 'combination', which translates as History, Economics and Divinity (R.E.) with Art as a subsidiary. Also as Head Girl, (at a secondary school in Bombo), she is allowed to wear a suit, so looked very smart. Other pupils showed her round the WTA site during the lunch hour - she is as chatty and sparky as ever.
or ..."Excuse me Madam, did you know you have a leakage?"
rather taken aback and alarmed, I turned round to look at the other customer in the supermarket, who was helpfully pointing out that the 1litre plastic bag of fresh milk in the trolley was dripping all over the shopfloor. He even sent an assistant to find me a replacement. Buying milk can be a bit hit and miss, as with less-than-chilled transportation, sometimes it becomes sour yoghurt in advance.
Football
Praying before the football match - local schools tournament - but it is one of the referees taking a photo of the WTA team - and he clearly interrupted the prayers as they didn't win in the end ;) ... but they did have fun. but we have a cunning plan and a secret weapon. A semi-professional footballer who coaches in Kampala (and plays frisbee with Jerry!) has agreed to come up to WTA to do some coaching..... so watch this footballing space..!
It seems incredible we're already at half-term at KISU, and we find ourselves already a year on from Kilimanjaro Climb and two weeks away from IB mock exams. Tobes is following in Grace’s footsteps and the workload is both piling-up and being fought-back on a daily basis. However, Friday brought a little light relief in the form of the annual International Day, which I had never seen. Given it was our last, and besides, that the UK had the “focus tent” thanks to HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and London 2012, the Brits were celebrating en masse. Over 50 different nationalities from 2-18 years plus additional staff and parents took to the field and made quite a spectacle. The Ugandan contingent being the largest group, singing their National Anthem so proudly to kick everything off, meanwhile I attempted, but failed, to control the tears rolling down my cheeks observing the patriotism.
On the WTA staff this term, we have just welcomed the wonderfully named Miss Christmas Justine. But interesting names and labels are everywhere to be found.
Each week, I take S4 for a booster English lesson - already with the end of year exams in mind. But I do infiltrate the more formal teaching with plenty of colloquial English - often contradicting the Uglish expressions which fill their essays. Uglish is that unique and wonderful brand of English and Ugandan English (even a FB group in its own right! www.facebook.com/uglish ). As with exercise books all over the world, students are supposed to write their name, class, teacher etc... In the set I have just been marking, (54 down, only another 32 to go....), the English books have some interesting labels to show that it is my group 'Eng.White' (!) ' Mzungu English' and English: Madam Elispeth, Elpheth, Elesph. I blame my parents for not choosing Elizabeth as an easier name! To those who didn't hand in their work, I have heartlessly named and shamed them on a list in the library, threatening terrible things.
RESULT !
In the words of Charles' text: " We have just collected the results of our candidates. Thank GOD everybody passed, although we missed a lot of good grades due to determinant [Maths+some English] subjects"
It seems an age since S4 took their O' level exams last October... but finally the results were released this week. In short - the results are much better than last year, so big smiles all round! It is a very complicated and confusing mark system, to the uninitiated, - the 8 best subject marks create an aggregate grade -with Division 1 being the best and Division 9 a total fail. This is the first year that WTA has had its own official exam centre - we were all anxious to know what difference this would make, as well the effect of new teachers.
WTA Videos
End of Term Celebration
Project overview
Early views of new school
WTA: 3 minute walk
Newsflash
Serve Uganda has operated for some years under the umbrella of other charitable organisations but now we are starting a new charity in our own right.
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