Education is the Best Investment!
Agandi!
Life here in Nyakagyezi has proven to be quiet and peaceful, with the occasional spurt of children playing outside during their breaks. Over the last few days Anya and I have tutored a total of six students from P4, all around ten or eleven years old. Tutoring has been a lot of fun; I’ve been able to jog my own childhood memories with books like Green Eggs and Ham and Little Rabbit Foo Foo, as well as learn from a little more about Ugandan way of life from My Village, a children’s book that tells the perils of cutting too many trees down. The kids were very shy and took time to warm up to us, but eventually did.
I spoke with Headmaster Steven today and worked out the details of my data collection, which I will start next week. I will be working with each class, P1 through P7, and getting weight, height and mid-upper arm circumference. It looks like the teachers will be helping me to get a sample of children that do not attend Nyaka; we decided little bars of soap would work well as a ‘thank-you’ gift for participating. I would have never thought of that myself! In many instances I have thought of how lucky I am to have people who will help me and work with me here.
On another note, I have found a new favorite food! Unfortunately I keep forgetting the name, but it is a fried, round doughy ball, it’s a little sweet, and it is absolutely delicious. My goal is to learn how to make them before I leave! I asked Jackie to show me, and she say’s it isn’t hard.
Overall I have found Ugandans to be very quiet towards us, and often with each other. Anya and I went on a little walk and nobody said anything to us or approached us, very different from my experiences in Ecuador! The periods of quiet are then broken up by loud instances of happy singing or cheers and yells when a goal is scored during soccer. On the first day of school Anya and I were introduced to each class in succession, and each class stood up and recited a welcome message to us, one class even sang for us! They always finished by saying, “Education is the best investment” in unison. I think I couldn’t agree more.
Well that has been a long update, but I will continue to post as I experience more. Monday there is a market in the nearby village of Mahoja, I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to write about after that!
