S4 Class (average age: 18 yrs.)
24-hour Take Home Quiz (i.e. they could use all notes and books)
Example questions:
Calculate the surface area of the rectangular prism below.
Calculate the volume of the cylinder shown.
Results:
Total Students: 137
Actual submissions: 91
Missing: 46
Average score: 55% (F-)
Highest: 95%
Lowest: 5%
Epic fail? Wild success?
"Anything worth having is worth fighting for."
I came across this quote recently and really liked it. It's so applicable to almost any problem or challenge we encounter as human beings. It's universally relevant, but it first requires you to determine what in life is worth having.
Now, the specific goals and material objects that meet this criteria are vastly different for everyone. But surely we can agree on a few foundational things: a family to love and be loved, good friends to share experiences with, a home to live in, food to eat, water to drink, clothes to wear, a quality education, a healthy and disease-free body, accessible and affordable healthcare, etc.
Everything else is just... nice to have.
Those are the basics. What have people decided is worth having lately? What have people been fighting for?
Freedom, Justice, and Democracy... in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, etc. People are fighting.
A world free of HIV/AIDS, most of Africa and many other parts of the world are fighting.
Obesity, many American fight tirelessly everyday against this first world affliction.
School fees for their children. Many parents in Uganda are fighting.
People here know what is worth having. Some know how to fight, others don't. They know what they want (most of the time - money). Some have prepared and planned, others haven't. Others can't, the fight within them is destroyed, is hopeless, was never there, is broken, is weak, is ill-suited, ill-equipped, lost.
Most people will tell you what is worth having: money, some food, a new backpack, school books, a football, medicine, etc. But you won't find them asking you how they can fight for that which they value. For many of the above reasons. They feel their ability to fight has been compromised in some irreversible or unsalvageable way. They expect you to fight for them. That's what you're hear to do, isn't it? That's what all those others are here for, why not you?
It's not. It can't be. Because one of these days WE will have to go home. The struggle would continue, and those fighting it would leave.
We're hear to unlock that dormant fight within them. To awaken that hibernating potential. To erase those reasons responsible for the "dead fight" and to equip with the knowledge and tools to use in each individual's personal fight for (you name it).
The problem is most people aren't interested in knowledge and tools. They seek immediate gratification. Or they seek nothing at all. Or maybe they are interested, but not enough to do something about it. Or maybe they don't have a fight, a hope, a prayer. Sometimes those that don't have a fight are the ones that would benefit most from stepping into the ring.
There are, however, small and sudden moments when people do choose to make the fight, to begin the end of complacency. And though they may be few and far between, they make the rest of the struggle completely worth it. The problem is, I see the "dead fight" in almost everyone I meet nearly everyday I'm here. I see the want and desire in virtually everyone, but I don't see the willingness and motivation to fight.
I do see the fight in my students. Everyday. It's what keeps me sane. Thank God. They are my foundation of everything I do here. Without them, my purpose is aimless, worthless, lost. I see it when they ask an intelligent question in class. I see it when they come to my office to check out study materials. I see it when they ask me for chalk so they can write and review their notes on the chalkboard when there are no teachers in class. Or when they ask me for blank sheets of paper to rewrite and reorder their lecture notes. When they come to class everyday and are on time. When they submit their assignments and sit their exams, every time.
I see glimpses of it when one of my fellow teachers gets fired up about something. When they're talking politics. Or they're discussing some fantastic economic reform. Or commenting on why we can't manufacture chalkboard erasers in Uganda. Or why the school can't improve the staff room. The fire, however, soon burns out, and the passion is lost.
Because that's the thing about the fight here. Sometimes, in the minds of many, the fight just isn't worth, the fight. And if you've never fought before, how can you possibly be expected to perceive and envision the end benefit, that which will inspire and fuel your commitment to follow through, finish the fight. To many, this is the end result, and life goes on.
It's those that, despite adverse conditions, decide what it's worth, strap on the gloves, and fight for getting it that create the small miracles of progress. They reap the benefits and experience the revelatory feeling of having attained something truly unique through their own prowess. Something many people will never or cannot do.
It's time to get out the gloves.
We, the United States, spend billions of dollars each year on military, diplomatic, and humanitarian efforts trying to root out tyranny and undemocratic societies consisting of one-party rule. We champion the benefits of democracy, liberty, freedom, and justice and praise those that welcome these ideals.
We, the United States, seek to eliminate the despotism that is so pervasive in many countries throughout the globe. The citizens of these countries have only one choice on the ballot when they enter the voting booth. We fight this corrupt insanity with passion and might.
And how many choices do we (Americans) have when we go to our treasured voting booths, two! Essentially, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we have the independents, the greens, the yellows, and the prohibitionists. But two, ha!
This was a joke told on Colin Quinn's one man Broadway show, Long Story Short. A comedic retelling of the history of the world through Colin Quinn's eyes.
But this post isn't about the shortcomings of American democracy. It seeks to shed some light (though from an outside source) on Ugandan politics, and maybe even reveal something.
Here in Uganda, in its most basic form, one party controls the country. The NRM (National Resistance Movement) controls a majority in Parliament, the Presidency since 1986 (one man), the electoral commission, redistricting efforts, and virtually everything else. Uganda has many parties. Some of these parties even show some semblance of strength and durability. But it is essentially a one-party-rule type country and has been for a quite a few years.
I started to think about this for a moment and all these thoughts started running through my mind. I kept drawing comparisons to America and our system of governance. The US is a developed country. We have many issues of debate in the public forum. And of course, every issue has two sides, and many times even more approaches.
In Uganda, there are many issues of debate in the public forum also. But the issues are mainly surrounded and engrossed in the idea of "development". Uganda wants to develop. All Ugandans know this. They want to see progress. They want to see better roads, better schools, better health facilities, better jobs, a better life. The question then becomes, which party and their leading candidate is going to best provide the critical societal services to the country.
The NRM promises to do so. And to a large extent, they have. If you chart the progress of the country for the last 20 years, the improvements are many and substantial. Uganda has come a long way since the brutal dictatorship and mass murder of civilians that took place in the 1970's. Uganda is a safe, peaceful, rich, free, and politically tolerable country (in the eyes of this observer). A friend of mine wrote a blog post recently about how he thought that even in the freest and fairest of elections, Museveni (current President and leader of the NRM) still would have won. And i have to agree with him, for the reasons mentioned earlier about what the NRM has done.
So the NRM has the support of the majority of voters on the development issues coupled with the fact that the NRM has not turned it guns on its own people. A big accomplishment in Africa. This makes it a popular party for the common man. And the common men are many. What is left to divide the electorate?
Social issues? Ugandans overwhelmingly agree with each other. There aren't two sides. There is the Ugandan side. Homosexuality - intolerable. Gun rights - what gun rights? Guns are bad. Capital punishment - I've heard stories of lethal reprisals against criminal acts carried out on the streets with no repercussions. Abortion - universally against. Religion - yes please, God will provide. Healthcare - we want improvements. Schools - we want improvements. Gay marriage - see homosexuality. Federal budget - bigger. Social security - yes.
What do Ugandans have to disagree over? Granted there are huge exceptions and caveats. But I'm simply trying to highlight a potential explanation to the one-party dynamic that originated so long ago. Uganda is a small country, roughly about the size of the state of Oregon. They are a small country with an incredibly homogenous population. Go anywhere in Uganda and the greeting is the same. "How are you? Thank you for the work!", just one example. They don't have near the amount of complexity and diversity the United States has, which can sometimes be a hindrance for government in a healthy sense, especially nowadays, but I digress.
Now, over time, I think this will change. As Ugandans become more and more educated, they will develop diverse and well informed opinions on political issues, and they are going to continue to crave big change. And, for the first time, be universally empowered to pursue it. I mean, the country just got their ducks in a row (sort of) on universal secondary education five years ago. Imagine what the country is going to look like 5, 10, 15 years from now when these educated masses are released into the real world of a struggling economy. I will be intrigued to observe the progress. Until then, "Thank you for reading. And thank you for the work!"
P.S. - Does anyone know if the federal government is going to shut down? Cuz if they are I'm kind of out of a job. Since Peace Corps is a USG agency. Any words of informed wisdom are appreciated. Vote Peace Corps!
A few weeks back, I was having a discussion with Otoke John about marriage and divorce, both in America and Uganda. I recited to him the often-publicized statistic that half of all American marriages end in divorce. (Sidenote: I’m told that this statistic includes ALL marriages, meaning the rate of first time divorce is actually lower, any challenges?) Regardless, Otoke John was astonished. He was perplexed and began to ask clarifying questions as to why this was the case.
I spoke honestly with him about the reasons why I thought this was the case: people change, people getting married for the wrong reasons, people not taking it seriously, its ease and accessibility in the US, and the constant assault of sexual imagery and promiscuity in America. I told him about the barrage of images our eyes take in everyday in American advertising, television, internet, and so on.
He understood. “It’s not too common here.” He replied. I agreed with him. Divorce doesn’t appear to be a common event here. That doesn’t mean, however, that there is any less pain or suffering occurring in the wake of broken relationships and families.
Ugandans and Americans often times view love and marriage in very different ways. Marriage in Uganda, many times, can be a decision based on function and practicality, not love. Women without an education feel they need a man to support her. Men feel they need a women to satisfy their desires and bear children, making him (culturally) an official man.
Uganda is a patriarchal society. Most of the time, women do not, or perceive that they do not, have as much power as men. And men can get away with a lot here: polygamy, infidelity, abuse (physical & mental) of the wife and the children, alcoholism, laziness, etc. I’m not saying this is always the case, but it is common.
But what happens? Well, in Uganda, it certainly isn’t divorce. Divorce has a very negative connotation here. You could make the argument that it does everywhere, but it is more pronounced here than in America. What happens? Life goes on. Relationships endure, sometimes painfully. So while the divorce rate may be lower here in Uganda, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot of shady business (by Western standards) going on behind the scenes.
I decided that my “Meet My Students” posts don’t have to be about just, well, my students. Omwen (pronounced oh-mway-nay) Sam is our school’s lab technician who also doubles as our librarian as well as technology manager (i.e. charging mobile phones and managing our solar power system).
Omwen Sam
He is 52. The first born of six children, four of which died of AIDS in the 1990’s. He lives about one kilometer away from the school and rides his bike in everyday to open everything up; he is the man with the keys.
Sam is great. He’s one of my favorite people at the school and in my community. He’s almost always happy. He must have a lot of things providing happiness for him in his life.
He’s always interested in what I’m doing and what’s going on in my life. He’s fun to talk to. He provides a refreshing presence during some dreary mornings in the village.
I taught him to type using my laptop. Since then, he has been tutoring himself on our lab computer and learning how to use Excel and Word. Pretty cool.
Like I said, he manages our power supply and charges cell phones. In Kamuge, this is a very busy position to have. Since power is hard to come by, people (pretty much anyone in the surrounding community) always want their phones charged. And the politics surrounding this issue are complicated.
The school is only supposed to charge phone for teachers and staff. My head teacher erupted with passion today as he was discussing this policy and the lack of adherence to it. We decided to discuss it amongst the three of us to reinforce the need to follow this policy.
The problem is that whoever agrees to charge a phone for a community member makes about 300 shillings. Good money for them. My neighbor has been charging phones for people out of my office without my knowing, shady. But he is making a killing! Time to collect the keys. Just another day in Kamuge.
Today I had one thing on my agenda, a Business & Life Skills Club meeting schedule for 4:00p.m. I spent the day at my school preparing for this meeting and working on other small projects unrelated to teaching with my colleagues.
At approximately 3:35p.m., 25 minutes before the official end of the school day, the students started exiting their classrooms and scattering off in the directions of their homes. Two girls came into my office and asked if we were having the meeting. I said yes, just like we discussed last week and all this week, it will be at 4:00p.m. I started to hear the noise of students walking and talking and realized they were leaving. I walked out of my office and most of the student body had vanished. I gathered the few students remaining and told them we would have the meeting next week.
Stuff like this happens all the time here in Kamuge. The lack of organization and structure, even proper infrastructure, all contribute to non-productivity everyday.
Reasons for work not getting done…
· The rains, they make hearing anything in the classroom virtually impossible, and sometimes the wind blows horizontally into the classrooms causing all kinds of disturbances
· The random midday student body assemblies, these usually last one to two hours with little to no notice of when they are going to happen
· Public holidays – they are many, enough said
· Athletics day – on days football matches are played, no lessons are taught
· Athletics practice – students are excused from lessons each practice, typically in the morning lasting from 3-4 hours
· Staff meetings – last all day long and no lessons are given
· Heat – sometimes it is too unbearable to teach anything after midday
· Exams – no lessons are given during exams, which can last three weeks
· First week mentality – no lessons are given during the first week, the teachers blame the students, the students blame the teachers
· Random health inspections – typically of the girls, takes them out of class for half a day
· Random visitors to school – I’m definitely guilty of this one, assemblies pull students out of lessons to focus on the visitor and what he or she has to say
· No power or not enough power
· No water or not enough water
· Absenteeism – prolific
· No communication when cell phone batteries die, which happens often
· No communication when cell phones are charging, everyday
· Random early days where students leave before 4:00p.m.
· Transport – it’s very difficult to arrive at my school before 9:00a.m. Since it is so remote, school is supposed to start here at 8:00 and in most other parts of Uganda, even earlier
· Timetable management and discipline – minimal level of effort put forth by everyone (including myself) to follow this precisely, can’t have more than one teacher in a classroom, doesn’t work too well
Ok, that’s all I can think of. I’m not trying to sound negative. I’m just trying to communicate the unwieldy environment in which we’re trying to educate a populace in. Some days it feels impossible, others, everything goes right.
In other news, my school is making wicked progress on constructing their additions. I’m amazed at how fast work is being done. This is going to be one great school, someday. Ha! Check out the pictures below.
This past weekend, a great volunteer and someone I've gotten to know really well over the last few months finished her service. I came to town to help her finish packing, clean out her house, and say goodbye.
She had been in her community for two years. She had an amazing community that absolutely loved her. Being there with her as she was saying goodbye was definitely a difficult experience for me.
It brought to light how short our time really is here in country. And how deep the connections we make really are. When someone leaves the community, Ugandans express their emotions deeply and passionately. They don't see it as a good thing. They are all sad and devastated. They cry, they call, they cry, they call, they cry some more.
All they know is that you are leaving to return back to America, a place they have never been and will likely never see.
I got a little taste of what it was like to COS (close of service). And I didn't like it. It was a sad, emotional event. Full of uncertainty for the future and fear of returning back to the developed world after living and adjusting your life to a very specific, very difficult (at times) culture and environment for two years.
Sometimes I feel like I'm always on the move, in transit. A transient. I wish that I could be in the same place for an extended period of time. Stable, familiar, calm. But then I question whether I would truly be happy in the same place. Maybe? Maybe not? I guess it goes to show the grass is always greener no matter where you are in life.
This past weekend was difficult. But it prepared me more mentally for what is to come one day when I finally have to leave this warm country. Whenever I make a big transition, I try to focus on what is to come, rather than what I'm leaving behind. Some people struggle with this and can only focus on what they're leaving behind in the moment. I'm not sure which approach is better. I know which one makes me feel better emotionally.
I was discussing these difficult transitions as well as other life challenges with my friend here in country. He told me "No matter what Joe, both our lives are pretty darn good right now." That really resonated with me. It can be so difficult to keep things in perspective. And even more difficult to do it often. But it so important. And I'm still searching for that attitudinal balance between "grass is always greener" and "pretty darn good". If any of you have it figured out, kindly let me know.
