The First Day at Busoona

Monday June 28, 2010

Monday was our first day working, and getting our hands dirty at Busoona Primary School. We arrived at the school to be greeted again by hundreds of children surrounding the car and silently following us as we made our way to see the head master. Out from the crowd I heard a voice behind me, “What is your name?” I turned to see who had yelled to me and out of the sea of yellow was a boy about the age of 12 wearing a white buttoned up collared shirt.

“I am Bryan. What is your name?” I replied.

“I am Nelson,” and he turned and began to turn away.

“Hey Nelson!” I yelled to him. He turned to look at me and began smiling. “You’re my boy, right?” He laughed and gave me a high-five and ran to go join his friends.
I turned from the crowd of children and followed Brendan, Evan, and Davids into the Head Master’s office where we joined him and a group of teachers at the school. It was a very small space, with two old desks, a cabinet, and two benches. We sat down on the benches as the teachers crammed in through the doorway into the office. The walls were lines with charts that broke down school attendance since year 2,000. Since the new Millennium school attendance has increased from about 800 students to nearly 1,700 students. Since the students’ fees are funded by the government, it has allowed more children to attend school. But, due to corruption within the government, funds have not been put towards maintaining the school and its facilities. As attendance increases, it becomes harder and harder for each individual student to get a quality education.

The Head Master spoke to us of how thankful they are that we are here and that is of the utmost importance to them that we have a good experience here so that the school can continue to see groups of volunteers come through on a consistent basis. He informed us that because we were here and that we would be teaching an hour of class everyday that attendance in the school would increase as well. The students are ecstatic that we are here and will be interacting with them. Karma was another topic that the Head Master discussed with us. It is very important in this world to give to those who are in need, and all those who give will benefit in return. Not only are we having a life changing experience, but the Head Master is looking forward to seeing the community strengthen and give back to Western culture. It is of the utmost importance that the Western World sees beyond stigmas and understands the hardships that the communities of Uganda have been through. I hope to build on this topic throughout my posts.

We left the Head Masters office and taught Basic English to our designated classes for the first time. At the school, we are teaching Primary 4, which is basically the same as 4th grade in the U.S. When we entered the classroom, all the children crammed into one small room with benches of desks, stood up in unison and began singing a welcome song to us. We thanked them, and began our first lesson.
After the lesson, the kids had some free time, so Evan grabbed the Frisbee out of the car. None of the kids had ever seen a Frisbee before, so we taught a group of them how to throw it and sorted them into two lines to throw back and forth to each other. Nelson and his friends stood close by, speaking Lusoga (the language of the Busoga Tribe) to me. Nelson is one of the only students that I have met that is able to speak English at a relatively fluent level and has been very helpful. I teach him a few words, while he teaches me his language. He is very intuitive and always high in spirits. We are becoming good friends.