7–8 am: wake up, usually to the sound of children playing, a rooster crowing or a cow mooing. Brush my teeth and wash my face while the children start school at 8.
8–10 am: Take coffee and breakfast (usually scrambled eggs with tomato and onion, American pancakes or 2 cassava pancakes bought from the next-door neighbor). Sometimes I sit with Jerimiah at the entrance and greet the children as they come in. Sometime this also involves talking to parents who’ve come to talk about their children. On the days I don’t sit and greet, I usually have time for myself where I can plan for the day. This is when I write in my notebooks, ask people in Mother’s Heart questions about Ugandan life, check my messages (if I have battery), take my things to charge at the neighbors or read (right now I am reading Dead Aid and 100 Years of Solitude, both amazing reads).
Side Note: The people I see daily
I should note there are about 9 people I see daily all affiliated with Mother’s Heart Uganda.
1- Jermiah, the founder of Mother’s Heart Uganda and the director of the primary school called Golden Hill Academy. Most of my time is spent with him because he knows the community well.
2- Kate, principle of the school and Jermiah’s wife. In the mornings, Kate is the one doing the laundry, cooking, dishes as well as watching over the children’s progress. I usually have conversations with her while doing chores. She is not here ~3 days a week because she is taking some weekend classes to complete her university degree.
3- Davis, a teacher at Mother’s Heart Uganda. Since Davis is not originally from this village (Mutoto), in coming to work for the school under Mother’s Heart Uganda, he’s been pseudo adopted into Jerimiah and Kate’s family. So in addition to teaching at the school, he is always around for dinner and usually helps with chores too, especially when Kate is not around. Apparently, it’s common for this to happen. If this is not your home village, you don’t live or eat alone. You usually have friends or family who ‘adopt’ you, so you essentially are a part of their family; always there for dinner and always around to help.
4- Zachayo, a general man at Mother’s Heart Uganda. Sometimes this means teaching at the school, other times it means doing construction at the new school site. He has also been pseudo adopted into the family and thus is almost always around for dinner and after school hours as well.
5- Kareem, a teacher at Mother’s Heart Uganda. In addition to being a teacher, Kareem is the school’s neighbor so although he has dinner with his own family, I also see him quite often after school. Kareem is a devout Muslim and has showed me the local mosque in the village. In fact, I’ve been learning a lot about Muslims in Uganda, where I was surprised to find so many, from Kareem. I’ve also been teaching Kareem Spanish.
6- Jessie, Kate and Jerimiah’s 5 year old son. He generally quiet and has always been sick the whole time I’ve been here.
7- Joseph, Kate and Jerimiah’s 2 year old son. This one is a crier and literally cries at everything. A bit louder than Jessie, and definitely stubborn, this one refuses to go to class. Stubborn is the word Ugandan’s use for anyone who is being difficult.
8- Lana, the neighbor’s daughter and teacher at the school. Lana is about 7 years old and stubborn. Lana is almost always around and even helps with chores. She sometimes joins for dinner even though her house is next door. Sometimes it the opposite with Jessie and Joseph being next door for dinner.
9- Clement, the French volunteer. He was here for two weeks but has now left. He arrived a day after me, so for my first two weeks here I spent a lot of time with him, assisting him with his two projects which were getting a water tap to the school and interviewing the children. He has now left, but I felt he should be mentioned nonetheless.
There are many others who I see quite often, but I will expand on those later.
10–12 am: Chores which most days just means dishes. Sometimes this includes laundry, buying more vegetables, getting more water, but normally it is just dishes. Note that at 11 am, the children take porridge/have recess, so they have left the classrooms and are everywhere. Sometimes, I attend to their needs. Giving them balls to play with, giving them drinkable water, etc. But that doesn’t take a lot of time.
12–1 pm: Sit in the classrooms. Recently, I’ve been interested in helping the children improve their reading. Other days, it’s just good for me to sit in the classrooms and see what is happening. On a few days, I even teach, but I prefer not to. Note that there are 5 grades at this primary school: Baby, Middle, Top, P1, P2, P3. Baby and Middle are essentially all Pre-Kindergarten and usually include kids from age 2 to 5. The students in Baby and Middle are combined into 1 classroom but have 2 teachers. Top is Kindergarten, P1 is 1st grade, P2 2nd grade and P3 3rd grade. I prefer to spend time with P2 and P3 students because they are older, speak better English, class sizes are smaller, and the material is more interesting to me.
1 -2 pm: Lunch time. All students are released to go home to eat lunch. Only P1 and P3 students come back and finish lessons. The rest are done for the day. I should note that not all students go home either because it is far, nobody is home, or even if they went home there would be no food. So some just stay and play. At this time, I usually eat at the school and talk with the teachers during this time. However, recently I’ve started doing home visits. One of my goals in coming here was to really know the community, especially the woman. The challenges they face and the goals they have. I’m starting with the mothers of certain students, a mix of students with parents do not pay plus their mothers do not work and students who pay because their parents have businesses. I’m hoping to learn lessons from the economically well in the community that can be passed to the struggling. Home visits are also a great way for me to see different parts of the village and know people outside of the NGO.
So during this time, I follow a child home, usually a younger student who won’t return. Sometimes when I accompany a child, it is only me. Other times, other students become interested and come with me to that child’s home. Other times I have another adult from the NGO with me, either a teacher from the school or a local friend who acts as a translator. I have a standard list of questions, I’ve been asking all the women. If I find a parent home, I ask them my questions and if not, I make a plan with the child to visit again.
Side Note on Walking while Mzungu in an Ugandan Village
I’m learning that are many things that happen when you are a Mzungu (foreigner) walking around in a village.
1- I never feel unsafe walking around the village, especially around the school where people already recognize me. In fact, very often during a walk to the main road, I will hear children scream from their homes, “Melembe Teacher Ayat.” They recognize me and I’m starting to recognize all of them.
2- You greet everyone, including strangers. When I am walking down a street, I greet almost literally every face I see. This probably leaves me saying “Melembe” at least 100 times a day. I should note that sometimes this greeting also involves shaking hands, even if it’s a stranger. Some days, I probably also shake at least 50 hands, especially with children. Greeting also shows that I’m not proud, which is usually what they think when a foreigner doesn’t greet them.
3- Mzungus (and therefore me) stick out majorly. I’m still getting used to be starred at by literally everyone when I’m just walking. Normally, it’s the children who are most interested. If they know me, they will scream, “Melembe Teacher Ayat.” If they don’t or they’ve forgotten, which is most likely the case, they will just scream, “Mzungu” which means foreigner. Sometimes they follow with a “Hi, how are you?” which is English that everyone knows. However, instead of responding in English, I almost always respond in Lugisu where I usually say, “Melembe babana, oriena?” which means “Hello children, how are you?”
4- Speaking Lugisu is a great way to build trust in the community. For starters, when I speak Lugisu to an adult, they usually go from a serious stare into a laugh. They find is so entertaining and surprising to hear a Mzungu speaking their language, even if it is just “Hi, how are you?” Second, it shows that I understand the culture a bit because I am greeting them and not ignoring them.
5- If I’m walking alone with just one child, I usually end up with a caravan of children following me. Sometimes it’s because I’m very far from the school, so the children are surprised to see a Mzungu by their home, so they follow to see what I am up to. Other times they think I have money. Other times, it’s just a prestige thing to be seen with a Mzungu, so they just walk with me because they want to be with a Mzungu. One time, I left the school following one child and arrived at the student’s home with 30 children, who sat and watched while I interviewed the mother. Later, about half these children followed me home, much to the annoyance and amusement of Kate. This experience often leaves me feeling like Pied Piper as I have children follow me around no matter where I go.
6- Adults will usually ask if I’m lost or where I’m going. It’s kind of funny to see so many people think I’m lost. They just think it’s strange to see a Mzungu without another adult.
7- You will get invited to eat in people’s homes. It’s considered good luck to have Mzungu visit your home, so as you are walking people will invite you inside, invite you to eat dinner and even invite you to spend the night. I usually politely decline saying I have somewhere to be.
2–3:30 pm: By 2 pm, I’ve normally returned from interviewing the first child and school has started again. During this time, I either formally write what they wrote, sit in class again, eat if I didn’t before leaving or the do dishes the occurred from lunch.
3:30–4:30 pm: By this time, school is officially over, and I accompany another child home from school and preform another interview.
4:30 pm-7 pm: Misc. What I do here really depends on the day. Some days I end up having long conversations with random people like neighbors, the teachers, Jerimiah or Kate. Some days I need to do a lot of chores like fetching water and more dishes. Others I go for evening walks in the community, just to further familiarize myself.
7 pm — 10 pm: It get dark around 7, so by this time I’m back home. We start cooking by headlamp, have dinner, conversation, then time to go to sleep. I’m usually asleep by 11, but lately I’ve been staying up later. This is also the time I call/talk to people in the states (when I have phone battery) as they will be awake.
So that is a typical day spent in the village. However, there are some days when I accompany Jerimiah into Mbale, the local city only 10 minutes by motorbike. Twice a week, Jerimiah teaches a class in a all-female university across town, so sometimes I attend that because I like the students. He also goes to talk on the radio about the NGO once a week and I accompanied him to that as well. Radio, not tv btw, has a much higher penetration. Nearly everyone listens to radio on their phones, but few can afford a T.V. and electricity. Other days, I spend the day in the internet café setting up the website, or doing research for new programs under the NGO (mainly business ideas for women).
Additional FAQs:
1- No, I do not live in a mud hut but rather a concrete house. This is what my room looks like.
2- Food is delicious but the kitchen in sparse. Our “spice cabinet” has 4 ingredients: salt, sugar, chili powder and vegetable oil. This is what the kitchen looks like:
