I am in awe of so many things here...the spirit of the people who are so loving and so, well, struggling. At the commissioning ceremony for our latrine yesterday (which was attended by local politicians and school directors and the village elders and parents and teachers and students ) , in my speech I said that while our circumstances are very different, our kids share a common language, and that's beautifully expressed in the tiles. Our school and community send their love, and we will keep you in our hearts.
Really, we have to step up, and I need everybody's help. I'm pretty overwhelmed, but Buppala is our sister school. Mirembe, too. And here in Uganda, sisters and brothers take care of one another. When you drive through the villages, you see older siblings taking care of younger siblings. At Bupala they even have a school baby. Baby Joshua belongs to Teacher Kristen, but you see him in being passed around from student to student all day long. It's beautiful. The welcome I received from both the Mirembe School and the Bupala community was over the top. I just kept thinking, DO THEY REALIZE I'm JUST A SPASTIC LANGUAGE ARTS TEACHER??? And then I would remind myself, I'm representing all of Radnor and all of the friends and family members and supporters, and especially RADNOR EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION. I feel honored and humbled...and responsible for finding innovative ways to make these schools better. I always tell my classes that it's an accident of birth that we are born into luxury or poverty. But privilege is a responsibility....so we need to work together to try to help our pen pals realize their potential.
We were given a tour of the village surrounding the Bupala School including a poorly stocked health center with a terrific health aide who showed me the measly pharmaceuticals that were on hand. Malaria is common b/c the region is surrounded by swamps where rice is farmed. We trekked into the rice fields and were invited into a farmer's hut. Another guy went out and caught some mud fish to show us what they looked like (kinduv like giant slugs with gills). We were clearly the first Mazungus to walk into the rice patties in this region. It was so cool. Once again, the hospitality of the poorest people was astonishing.
After the tour we hung out with the kids and sat out a rain storm together. During the rain, I showed Namayumbe Frank how to use my camera, then we sat with about fifteen kids all smooshed around us while he selected which shots were worth keeping and which to eliminate. It was amazing. Frank picked it up so quickly. I'll try to attach some of his pics...this is a kid who has never touched a piece of electronic equipment in his life. Did I mention there's no electricity here?
Ach, I could go on and on, but I want to try and attach some photos now. On Saturday I leave for safari. Time to talk with the animals....first the gorillas inBiwindi National Forest, then to Queen Elizabeth Park. Thank you for following this and for caring about our pen pals. They have so much to teach us. I love you...Jodi
 |
| Kids seeing pictures of themselves...some for the first time ever. |
 |
| The health center near Bupala |
 |
| Ceremony and dancing |
 |
| The tiles!! |
