May 8, 2009

Post date: May 8, 2009 5:42:49 PM

May 8 (Friday - Late Evening) - Questions from JCMcKenna Middle School

How old are the elementary children [at Kibiri Elementary School]? Some look very tall and older (like us).

The small children pictured in the very crowded classroom where I am up front singing are Primary 3 (P3). They follow a British school system here - P1 is equivalent to Kindergarten, P2 is 1^st grade, etc. Most of the older children in the pictures are the P7 (6^th Grade equivalent) children I have been working with, but in some cases there younger children mixed in because they are curious about what we are doing. Middle and High school grades are called secondary and are designated Senior 1 (S1) through Senior 6 (S6) (7^th grade through 12^th grade).

Since some children do not have the opportunity to go to school when they are younger you may see older children in the earlier grade levels. One of my friends met a woman in her thirties that was just getting an opportunity to go to secondary school. You may also see older children in the earlier grade levels because they did not pass their grade and were held back. Typically there are at least twice as many children in a classroom compared to what you see in the United States, so children do not get as much individual attention to help them learn and it can be more difficult for them to pass and move on to the next grade.

Do the colors (purple and green) of their uniforms mean anything?

Colors are typically used to designate a grade level. I’ve worked with secondary schools a lot and many times I see blue for S1-S4 and white for S5-S6. I’m guessing for Kibiri School that at some point in the past green was for P1 – P3 and purple was for P4 – P7. This is a very poor town and I might surmise that at some point in the past parents wanted to be able to send their child to P4 wearing the same clothes they had for P3, and eventually it no longer mattered what color uniform children wore, as long as it was purple or green.

Why are the students wearing those colors

A good place to start might be asking yourself why your school has school colors. Once you’ve answered that, expand that answer to include school uniforms. Additionally, there’s a reason why they call them uniforms – they help bring uniformity to a setting. In some cases this helps to level the playing field for children with less social status that can’t afford new clothes every school year or many sets of clothes that might allow them to wear different things for weeks before they have to repeat an outfit. Uniformity also brings with it a certain amount of built in discipline. When individuals dress the same there is a feeling that they are all in something together and the tend to stick together. This may result in things that work well like having everyone cooperate together, and it may result in things don’t work well like having everyone lose their sense of individual and creative thinking.

Is Kibiri a public or private boarding school? Do they have to pay to go to school?

It used to be a public boarding school. Now it is a public day school. Students don’t have to pay to go to school, but at the beginning of each term they are required to bring a package of paper, chalk, pencils, and other materials that are used as general school supplies for everyone. This practice is pretty common since there is very little government funding to run a school. Students are fed a humble breakfast and lunch at school or they typically would not have any meals at all. Teachers are fed lunch at school. They make about $100 a month, which is barely enough for them to take care of themselves and their family.

How many students in one classroom? Is it multi aged?

Kibiri school is large enough so that they have two classrooms of children for each grade level P4 through P7. There are about 45 children in each of the two P7 classes, and the P4 through P6 classes have over 50 students each. The P1 through P3 classes don’t have it quite as good. There is only one classroom for each grade level and about 100 children in each class. There is another school I worked with occasionally that only has two teachers and two classrooms. At that school P1 through P3 are combined and P4 through P7 are combined. There are a total of about 50 children at that school and they are mostly orphans.

What are their subjects that they study?

The public school systems is British based, since this is a former British colony, and in general students study the same subjects as you do. Specific content may vary just as it varies from state to state in the US and from country to country around the world – especially in subjects like Social Studies. They do have an additional subject area which is only found in some states in the U.S. – it is called Life Skills. Whenever I work with them, to teach skills like feeling peaceful within and creating peace without, that falls under their Life Skills subject area.

Did you have these students write letters?

Students at the following schools will be receiving your letters in two weeks when they are back from their term break, and with some luck we’ll receive some letters back from them later this month. Remember though -- TIA ;o)

Alliance High School - Kampala, Uganda

Kabanyoro Secondary School - Kampala, Uganda

Kibiri Elementary School - Entebbe, Uganda

Lango College - Lira, Uganda *NEW*

Mbale Secondary School - Mbale, Uganda

The students at Kibiri have not written letters, and have not been connected with a foreign classroom. We have not decided if we want to do that yet. I have been working very closely with their teacher to help him gain skills that he can use after I leave, and that may change the whole future of Kibiri School. Although the children here have been learning many of the same things you have been learning about peace, the students at Kibiri have not been receiving the same Children’s Global Peace Project (CGPP) curriculum as you have. Some areas of my BLOG have specifics about what skills the children have been learning while I’m with them. For example, the children here now do brain gyms every day to help awaken minds and to be more ready to learn. A lot of the CGPP curriculum at Kibiri has been centered around a program called The Journey for Kids, which is very popular in South Africa and Australia, and well known in England, Israel, Holland and other European countries. In South Africa the government is currently doing a large study with the Journey for Kids at 250 schools. Initial results show that children who are offered this program feel much better about themselves and in classrooms where the pass/fail rates were on the mid 60s they improved to the low 90s. When you teach students and teachers Life Skills and academics improve that tells me they have really found more peace for themselves and that their minds and classrooms have become more peaceful environments that are conducive to learning. Some of my favorite movies that show the impact of teachers and students connecting are The Ron Clark Story, Remember the Titans, and Freedom Writers. I also heard that Ballroom Madness is good. Have you seen any of these?

How big are the ants? Do the ants bite?

The ants are pretty large, about 3cm long x .5cm wide. My friend Charles, the Production Manager at Mango Tree, says they are very good to eat and rich in protein. Those particular type of ants do not bite. Charles says you can eat them live if you like. They also have little red ants here that byte just as well as any American red ant.

Why do some women have their head shaved and others don't.

I haven't noticed that any of the women or school children have shaved heads. Did you see a picture or pictures where some people had shaved heads? It is interesting to note that most Africans are simply are not hairy. They do not grow long hair anywhere on their bodies like most people of European decent. They also don't sweat much or have a lot of body oil. If you see Ugandan women with long hair in most cases it is probably because they have hair extensions, or they may have one parent that is from another culture where hair grows long. In general, Ugandans like to keep themselves very clean and neat and you will see that nearly all of the men have very very short haircuts. I would argue that since Western culture has most of the advertising dollars, a lot of women here are more likely to follow the latest Western trends for hairstyles and therefore have hair extensions. As far as school girls go, most of them, especially in a little village like Kibiri, cannot afford to have hair extensions. Do you find the pictures of the children and people here to be beautiful or do they just look very different to you? For me it's kind of like eating a new food that I'm not used to. At first I'm not sure what to think of it and I'm not so sure I like it. Then, after trying it a few times, I might begin to aquire a taste for it and really like it. I've found that I'm generally a slow learner when it comes to new things and people. I have noticed that after I'm in a country for about two weeks I finally begin to notice how beautiful the people are. It takes me that long to get used to how different they look and how different their culture is. Then I begin to feel the beauty within them and I can see for really the first time how that beauty shows up on the surface of how they look and act. Sometimes I find myself sitting around the table with my friends at La Fontaine simply falling in love with their beauty. Boy life would sure be dull if we all looked and acted the same - don't you think?

What do grain sacks cost?

That’s a good question. It’s 8:20 PM on Friday but Charles is still working here at Mango Tree so I will go ask him what the latest cost is . . . . . . A bale of 1000 grain sacks costs 600,000 Ugandan Shillings (UGX). Charles is currently looking at a higher quality grain sack that costs 700,000 UGX. We can get two full size charts, like you have used for peace banners, from one grain sack. Sewing for each full size chart costs 250 UGX. If the exchange rate is 2100 UGX per 1 USD, can you tell me what a full size chart costs now and what it will cost if Charles decides to purchase the higher quality grain sacks?

Do the grain sacks ever carry grain? What kind of grain? Are the grain sacks you write on at Mango Tree used?

Yes grain sacks do typically carry grain and rice and spices of various sorts – but the business at Mango Tree is too large to try to get recycled grain sacks so we only use new ones to make educational charts. Grain sacks are something people don’t throw away – they find a hundred other uses for them.

Do they (Ugandian's) have bathrooms and showers?

Only a small number of the population has bathrooms and showers. Stephen, one of the very brilliant managers here at Mango Tree, guesses less than 5%. The CIA fact book might have more acurate data. Most people, whatever that percentage is, use a pit latrine and bathe out of a bucket. Here at Mango Tree we have flush toilets but the water does not work most of the time and we fill the toilet tank from a jerry can (~5 gal container) each time we use the bathroom. Then we wash our hands in a bucket.

Do they drink coffee? If they do, how many cups a day?

Most people can’t afford coffee, they just drink water. I would say that the beverage of choice, among people that can afford it, is Coke or Coke products. I told my friend Sarah, the owner of La Fontaine, that Coke was bad for her and made her teeth rot. She laughed hard. She smiles and laughs a lot. She was in the habit of drinking two Cokes a day and had no idea Coke was bad or her. She quit drinking it.

Thank you so much for your questions. I see there are many more, but it’s getting late for me and I need to get to town to get something to eat and then get to bed so I can be at work again early tomorrow. If you would like me to continue with the list of questions I have let me know. If you have new questions based on my answers so far we could go that way instead.

Peace Out,

Kevin