Child soldiers and getting Malaria

Whilst I have been in Soroti the film "Kony 2012" has been circulating the internet. You may have seen this account of the Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony and his war which ravaged much of East Africa between 1987 and 2006. The film and its author have been much criticized, especially here in Uganda. Why? Because the Ugandan people expelled Kony in 2006 and Uganda has since established a semblance of peace. Being associated with Kony angers those that have worked hard to rid Uganda of his image. Kony, has however, left an awful legacy. Kony is number one on the International Court of Justice's most wanted list. He was higher than Colonel Qaddafi or Osama bin Laden. This was due to his military tactics. Rather than using male adult soldiers in conventional war, he kidnapped boys. The boys parents were killed and the sisters taken into prostitution. These boys were brutalized.

The legacy then is that these boys are now in their early teenage years. Kony is accused of using between 60,000 and 100,000 child soldiers from 1987 captured mainly from Northern Uganda. Halcyon High School, like most schools in Soroti have a number of boys who were forced to fight as child soldiers. I spoke to two of them Joseph and Jacob. The public internet is not the best place to tell you what they had to say. When I return to school in late July or September ill be sure to do an Assembly and tell Joseph and Jacobs story.

Joseph Kony

I was unfortunate enough to contract malaria last week. It came hot on the heals of a jaw infection which meant I couldn't eat and lost some kilos. Malaria is pretty debilitating. It was similar to Swine Flu in its symptoms but with some added joint pain. I got a strain called falcipuram from which 655,000 died in 2011. These however, are mostly children so I wasn't really at risk. A good dose of a drug called quinien flushes it out of your system. This was after I had moaned to Amy for a week. Funnily as a doctor she didn't believe me that men suffer more severely from illness than women!

We had used all sorts of preventative drugs, mosquito nets, sprays and plug adapters to try and avoid getting bitten by the anopheles mosquito (the main carrier of malaria). We failed to keep the tyke at bay, probably as it is currently mosquito season here. I felt a little daft on returning to school after a week off to find that pretty much every child also had Malaria, and yet still attended lessons. Luckily the malaria drugs are affordable here and treatment reduces the symptoms within a week so the kids just got on with life rather than lying in bed! It did strike me though how the pupils took Malaria in their stride regardless of its potential to kill.  

We had a close run in with a Black Mamba snake last month that found its way into our bedroom. It had made us more conscious and careful to look out for them as they are the worlds fastest snake and amoungst the most deadly. However, it doesn't scare as much as the mosquito. At least you can see the snake, the mosquito is omnipresent and barely visible. I don't think i could put up with its every present danger in the way that Ugandan's do. Hats off to the kids.

Summer Holidays

Have you ever wondered why our summer holidays are so long? The 6 week holiday was established during the Victorian period when nearly 70% of the population earnt their income from the land. The 6 weeks enabled children to help their parents harvest crops ready for sale at the market. Many school summer holidays are now being reduced to 4 weeks as children are no longer required to help harvest crops.

In Uganda there is still an important link between school holidays and the agricultural calendar. Pupils at Halcyon have just returned from a three week holiday.  None have been on ‘holiday’ as such. I asked one of my pupils, Dan, what a typical ‘holiday’ was like. Dan returned to his village (Over 80% of the Ugandan population live in rural villages) to help his parents harvest their Casava (an East African staple crop that looks like a turnip but tastes like chalk) and ground nuts (pea nuts). Each morning his Dad ensured he woke early to do his reading for school before prayers. Dan then helped his parents along with his four siblings, harvest until lunch. As not all villages have bore holes he and his brother walked the 5k to Serere to get water. After a week of harvesting, the family re-ploughed the land before sewing in the new Casava and ground nut seeds.

Dan gets to return to school with a tub of ground nut paste which he will add to his beans to vary the taste. His parents are able to take the crops to market and sell these at a profit as they have not had to pay labourers to help with the harvesting.

It is a cultural norm to have many children in Uganda. In fact Uganda has the fastest growing population in Africa. With such low incomes and high education costs I have asked why this is the case. Many attribute it to the need to gain help with harvesting. There are other less economically motivated reasons but this one always crops up in conversation.

The role of the child is very different here to in the UK. Children are expected to look after their younger brothers and sisters. Other than farming, they must take a far more active part in domestic chores. During school holidays children take over selling at market stalls and in shops. Children are also required to support their parents financially once they have a job.

Water

We never have to question the importance of water in the UK. We receive one of the highest annual rain falls of any country in the world. Safe drinkable water is just a tap turn away, in fact we bathe, wash our clothes and clean or cars with an abundance of fresh, clean, drinking water. The only time we think about water is when it rains too much.

Water in East Africa is a very different commodity. The United Nations has predicted that access to clean drinking water will replace religion as the main cause of conflict over the next 50 years. Only 40% of Ugandan’s have access to clean drinking water, although this statistic hides the difficulty in accessing it. From our experience, that 40% often have to walk great distances or sometimes it is simply turned off. The reality is that very few can rely upon a regular supply. There are still in 2012 significant problems in accessing this most imperative natural resource. Many of these I have mentioned before but the role that water plays here can not be underestimated. We think about it every day. Have we enough? When will it get switched off? Will it give us typhoid?  But the reality for the Ugandans is much more life threatening.

I have included below some of the concerns Amy and I have over access to water. They are married up with the more pressing concerns of the Ugandan’s who can not hop on  plane and fly home. 

Amy and I: The cost of fruit and vegetables has doubled since we have been here due to the lack of rain.

Ugandans: 80% of the Ugandan economy relies upon agriculture. No rain (its currently 4 weeks late) forces farmers to sell their precious oxen or cows after weeks without yields to sell at market. This forces many back into absolute poverty with no means of harvesting crops when the rains do come.  

Amy and I: In order to drink safe water that will not give us Typhoid we have to filter 6 bottles every day.

Ugandans: Ugandans, don’t have filters so they risk water born diseases such as Typhoid which is the greatest killer of children in Uganda.

Amy and I: Water is switched off every other day so we go without water- none to flush the toilet, cook with, clean our clothes, wash our dishes or drink if we forgot to filter sufficient the day before.

Ugandans: When the water is switched off the school children have to make a 4km trek with 20 litre jerry cans on their heads for cooking, drinking and clothes washing.

Amy and I: Rainfall brings a massive escalation in the number of mosquitoes and thus malaria, increasing our chance of getting infected.

Ugandans: The increase in Mosquito’s escalates the likely hood of children and the elderly dying from malaria. 

Amy and I: The rainy season began this week. The flooding makes it difficult to get to work on the dirt tracks and lack of drainage leaves the sewage which has accumulated in ditches to spill out into the road.

Ugandans: Nightly thunderstorms flood homes and ditches spilling sewage into houses. Previously safe bore holes can be contaminated increasing the likely hood of cholera. This contributes to Uganda having one of the lowest life expectancies in the world, just 51 years.  

You might like to think how different your lives would be if you couldn’t simply turn on the tap and instantly get fresh drinkable water.  Especially when its currently 42c .

Most of these problems can be over come with the construction of a bore hole down to the water table and the fitting of a pump. It would be great if students would investigate how Halcyon could gain access to funding for such a venture.

This video sums up the importance of a bore hole

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/hunger-to-learn-uganda/8552.html

NGOs in Soroti

NGO stands for Non Governmental Organisations. The word has become associated with organisations that provide aid to the developing world. They range from charities such as Oxfam up to multi million pound organisations such as the United Nations. There are approximately 400,000 world wide. They have a significant presence in Africa and Uganda is no different.

NGOs, both African and Western support the government in providing the necessities of life. Some Ugandan’s are opposed to the presence of these NGOs and believe they have a negative impact. They believe that the NGOs represent a new type of colonialism (colonialism was the rule of Africa by European countries in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) and have purposefully prevented the continent from developing. A fellow teacher from a different school stated that academic performance in Uganda is deliberately stunted by NGOs forcing Uganda to lower pupil grades so they don’t challenge the developed world. Another, that the US government purposefully withholds medical supplies to force the government to adopt specific policies. Some of the NGOs do require Uganda to follow particular policies before they give aid, the Dutch government recently withheld its aid to the Ugandan Education Department due to percieved corruption.  

NGOs do a significant job in Uganda. They provide money for water projects through ‘Water Aid’, sponsor children through the ‘Diocese’ or provide drugs for health care through ‘Uganda Cares’. In fact, NGOs play a significant role in maintaining a semblance of living standards in Uganda. In Soroti for example, a third of the schools are run by NGOs, most of the HIV care is provided by ‘Uganda Cares’ and the sheer number of 4x4 vehicles emblazoned with NGO stickers suggest that they provide help with – water, agriculture, roads, health care, schools, HIV awareness, food and counselling to name but a few.

However, many Ugandan’s that I have spoken to worry that a great proportion of Uganda is dependant upon aid from NGOs. There is an immeasurable expectation that aid from the West is a right not a gift. Amy and I have been asked many times by complete strangers for money to either provide their children with school fees or to help set up a business. Of course these people live on the poverty line and would not ask unless they were desperate. However, they are shocked and appalled when we say no. There are many Ugandan’s who are conscious of not adding to the culture of dependency and manage to find an affective way of supporting without hindering self motivation. Halcyon and similar schools seem to have found a good balance in supporting orphaned children through school.

At the heart of it I suppose is the lack of government funds. Uganda is somewhere down around the bottom of the UN development list, 154^th of the 177 countries.  Taxation is minimal and thus expenditure on social provision low. There is no rubbish collection for example. Uganda seems therefore at the moment to be in need of the NGOs to help support the government where their money does not stretch.  

Uganda Cares provides training for HIV treatment as well as drugs and staff. 

 The United Nations provides a wide range of produce.

There are so many 4x4 with NGO labels on. They provide crucial help in many elements of peoples lives

The built environment

I often wonder where the 1300 students of Halcyon go. At first glance the school is small; it is all one story. Its also deadly quiet during lessons with the odd low resonance voice seeping through the open windows. Take a wonder around and you slowly uncover the pockets of learning that are in process. 

The sixth formers currently have the best deal. Their classes are permanently in the main block opposite the administrative building. The rooms are a similar size to those at National but more frugally furnished. This is mainly where I teach and although the heat can be unbearable (from 12:00 until 16:00 the temperature hangs around 35c-38c) at least I am only sharing the space with another 25 bodies.

The O level (GCSE) students study for four years not two. Their class sizes are significantly larger. One English class has to be taught in the Hall it is so large (130 students!). Some of the classrooms for O level are similar to those of A level, thus very cramped when filled with over 100 students. Some class rooms as you can see have been complete but lack windows, others still need to be finished, they lack plaster, paint and the floor is strewn with building debris. This is not a product of laziness but the reality of funding. Classes have to be built to cater for the students, and this is an evolutionary process as the school grows. 

The two principle projects that Halcyon need to focus upon is the building of new A level class rooms to free up space for O level thus reducing class sizes. Secondly, a bore hole for water is crucial. Amy and I have had a frustrating week as we have had no water. The water supply is as sporadic as the electricity and often stops for a couple of days.You have to walk to the town bore hole to get our water each day when this happens. You don’t realise how much water you use until you have to walk 2k to collect it and then struggle back in 38c to get it home. Unfortunately, we haven’t developed the ability to carry the jerry cans on our heads! It wouldn’t be a bad task to add up your water usage for the day- flushing the toilet, drinking, for food preparation and cooking, bath/shower and cleaning. How many litres?

The pupils at Halcyon have to make the same journey. Not only does it seriously disrupt lessons but its a challenge for a 11 year old to carry 20 litres 4 km! A bore hole would mean that when the town has no water the school can turn to the bore hole. It would be great if pupils at National could undertake some research into how Halcyon could get funding to help with the building of the bore hole. Charities such as ‘Water Aid’ could be a good starting point.

The English Language classes are making the finishing touches to their letters to you and we will send them next week. They are very excited to receive letters from National. I hope that you will be able to develop a relationship with a student in a different continent with a very different culture.

Along with several other institutions Halcyon does much to combat the 34% illiteracy rate of the district. It has a committed and tirelessly dedicated head teacher who is attempting an evolution of African attitudes towards time management, not an easy task. With significantly more resources than your average state school, Halcyon can afford its students a relatively comfortable working environment. Classrooms are dry if not spacious, ditto for dormitories and a computer room has been recently furnished with a dozen computers in an effort to address the government’s lofty and somewhat challenging target of compulsory IT education. There are still challenges; some O level class sizes have swollen to 130 due to the schools popularity after its steady rise up the ever so important league tables and water has to be fetched from distant bore holes when the water supply dries up. There is the monotony from a western point of view, of posho and beans twice a day, and the ever present threat of a variety of life threatening illnesses that are part and parcel of everyday life.  You could add to this list a plethora of impediments that do their best to upset a child’s education.

These however, are the lucky few who can be guaranteed a quality education, that is, as long as their parents/sponsors can afford the typical 800,000 Ush (£230) a term.  Not surprisingly the majority of parents can ill afford this and rely upon state schools which are overcrowded, resource poor and staffed largely with untrained teachers. President Museveni has set a noble goal of universal primary education but, despite much promise and growth, Uganda is ranked 154^th out of 177 on the UN’s Human Development Index and thus lacks at present the resources to make this a reality.

For those without family ties to government departments, education is the only means of escaping poverty. Academic success in state schools is by no means impossible, but you can see that the obstacles to such success are gargantuan. Therefore, until Uganda achieves its goal of increasing GDP, tax revenue and thus investment in education, private schools are fundamental to a child’s chances.

The objective of The Halcyon School and the many philanthropic schools like it is to reach children who can not pay the termly fees. In 2012 Halcyon boasted the highest scoring O level girl in the district of Soroti. She is a case in point, orphaned and destined to struggle independently against the tide; she has been sponsored throughout her primary and secondary education at Halcyon. I have no doubt she will make an outstanding medical clinician, if not doctor and do much to alleviate the ill health of her community. There may be similar success stories from state schools but the odds are stacked against it. Until such a case is regularly possible from a non feeing paying school, charitable sponsorship is crucial to help the children of Uganda make their own success. The Halcyon Link Trust and others like it are so very important because they realise that giving a child support through education not only gives that child a chance, but sets a very important example. During my short time in Africa many Ugandans have openly criticised the culture of dependency that blights much of the adult population. Commenting upon the examples would not be wise from our point of view. Supporting a child’s education you might think adds to such dependency, but then think of the responsibility the child has to find their own success academically. They have not been given a financial handout that can be squandered, but a chance to own their success. 

A Ugandan School Trip

An educational Ugandan School Trip

A school trip is a rare thing at Halcyon High School. I think the presence of Amy and I may have significantly contributed to the impromptu excursion to Nyero Rocks, a selection of rock paintings from  sometime in the short chronological era of 3000-1000BC! The paintings significance is yet to be truly uncovered but act as somewhat of an aid memoir for their creators on what a crocodile, canoe and ladder look like. The purpose of the trip however, went beyond the paintings and was to expose the Geography A level class to the variance in the topography of Eastern Uganda. For Amy and I it exposed us to the poverty that lies beyond the urban setting of Soroti.

Away from the dusty, smelly and noisy bustle of Uganda’s largest north eastern town, we found that life may not have progressed significantly beyond that experienced by the artists of Nyero. The populace have adopted more of western culture than the karamogo, a tribe of the far north eastern districts of Uganda who heard/raid cattle, wear only loin cloths and abide by some questionable marital practices. Life however, is simple; the agricultural revolution that modernised Britain in the eighteenth century is yet to touch the villages of Soroti and Kumi districts. Accommodation is the same as that which existed in Britain prior to the Roman conquest and access to water is often a day’s walk away. Don’t think that it will be clean or good enough for drinking either. Soroti itself still struggles with Typhoid and occasional cholera outbreaks. Out in the villages getting past 12 months is a real challenge for the new born with Typhoid coming fast on the heals of Malaria as a major killer. Diet is another step down from the Posha and beans of Halcyon. ‘Cassava’ looks like a dirty elongated sweet potato but the texture is that of balsa wood come black board chalk. Urban Uganda survives on it.

Not once however, were we asked for money or food. Despite the poverty and all encompassing effort of surviving, we were cheerily greeted with ‘Yoga’ (How are you?) and a stiff handshake by everyone bar the children, who may have been a little scared of the balding white man. Amy on the other hand was somewhat of a fascination with her ginger hair and translucent skin, she was more pied piper than doctor. We have certainly been left with the lingering thought that education is going to be a major factor if the lives of these people is to change any time soon. It brings us back to thinking about the importance of the Halcyon High School and the role of The National Academy in helping Ugandan children to climb out of poverty.  

Animal Farm

Animals are a rare thing at The National Academy but apprently not here in Uganda. Firstly, staff and pupils wade through the heards of goats in the courtyard. The Turkeys make a racket and disturb lessons and yesterday a chicken casually walked into my classroom and tried to eat the chalk gathered at the bottom of the blackboard. Today an impromptu rat caused a commotion in an English lesson. The pupils spilled out into the courtyard, needless to say the rat didn't last long. Above all these however, stands/flies the omnipresent mosquito. As lessons start early and finish late they are often plagued with the whining of the little beasts who bring malaria.

A level students

A level is new to the Halcyon High School, with the first cohort of pupils graduating last year. As a consequence class sizes are still small. Pictured below is my History A level class, they number 13 in total and vary significantly in age. Unlike in the UK life’s challenges delays their graduation. Some can not afford to continue their education immediately after their GCSEs and go off to work in agriculture or in a shop for a couple of years to raise the funds to pay for their A levels. Others are delayed by childbirth, it is not uncommon for girls to marry at 15, although this is becoming increasingly less frequent. A few other pupils were kidnapped during the war with the Lords Resistance Peoples Army and spent a number of years in the bush fighting before their reintegration. As a consequence, the oldest students are 25.

Like the rest of the school, A level students sleep in a dormitory on site (see picture). They must provide their own mattress, jerry can for fetching water, bucket for washing and a tin box with some personal items. They wear a slightly different uniform to the rest of school, a very smart blue shirt, blue trousers, a tie and some opt for the waistcoat! The day starts early, at 03:00 with washing, shaving and cleaning. There is then time for pre lesson reading and homework (see David writing Mr Jones’ essay). School prayers round of the morning before lessons begin at 07:20.

Unfortunately, funds at present can’t stretch to computers and although a new sixth form block is a long term plan, facilities are limited to the one classroom in which A level have all their lessons. A lack of funds also means that teaching styles are limited to dictation and some discussion. Spare a thought therefore, for the students when you consider they have seven 80 minute lessons each day. Students can opt for Arts or Science subjects and there is no mixing such as Biology, History and Maths. All students aspire to go to university as a means of avoiding employment in agriculture but they study knowing that only the lucky few will ever have the chance.   

Pupils eat three wholesome but maybe not delicious meals a day. A maize porridge (think water with flour in!) is served from large vats at break. A level students take an active part in the running of the school and will often be on duty serving pupils, organising queuing or ensuring cups are washed. Lunch and dinner are both posha and beans (see picture). You can imagine the results of 1300 students eating beans twice a day! Again you might bare a thought for the varied nature of our diet and the wide choice you are afforded.

Once lessons finish at 17:30 A level students are responsible for organising a plethora of activities for the rest of the school. Football games, a whole school debating club, Assemblies or prayers are all organised by hard working sixth formers who also have jobs to carry out as Health prefect, Sports prefect etc to represent the study body.

A couple of hours remains of the evening in which they must read or complete homework. That is if they haven’t another lesson until 21:30 which is more common than not. Lights out at 21:30 and role on tomorrow.

 

Learning Environment

The electric supply is as intermittent, hence the lack of posts this week. This also has the unfortunate side effect of significantly impacting school life. The 13 computers that Halcyon has for pupil use can not be used with any regularity. In addition, to the intermittent electric supply, the dust which blows all day takes a heavy toll. The IT teachers plough on though, using their initiative to teach the development of IT or using the black board to illustrate how to use Microsoft.

Teaching resources are limited to chalk and black board. However, the lessons are delivered with enough passion and enthusiasm to make up for the lack of teaching aids. Class sizes do not detract from the utter focus and concentration of pupils as they share their classroom with another 130 eager learners in some GCSE cl assess.

Learning is punctuated with breaks for food much like The National Academy with a morning break and afternoon lunch. Posha and beans is served daily to the 1200 pupils. Posha is a maize based cereal and looks much like sticky rice. No, there are no alternatives!

The temperature still hangs around 35c at midday and a strong wind blows off the Sahara making learning challenging. Remember how difficult it is to focus at the height of a British summer when the classrooms are hot. The wet season begins in late March and the children look forward to the relief this brings.

The pupils at Halcyon would love to be able to find out about life at the National Academy. However, due to the lack of Internet they can not converse through email. Maybe you could discuss creating a group who would like to resurrect the idea of a pen pall.

A Ugandan school day

Halcyon High School is situated 5km out of town. Most of the students live on site in dormitories and their daily routine would surprise you. They are awoken at 03:00 to wash and clean their dormitory's, before taking a porridge breakfast and then prayers. Lessons begin at 08:00 for most pupils, but GCSE students have lessons from 07:00. Lessons are 80 minutes, of which there are six a day, with the exception of GCSE students who in addition to the earlier start, often have a lesson or two after school. The day ends with sports, cleaning and prayers before bed at 21:30. In addition, students also study on Saturdays and have a full programme on Sundays. Students are immaculatley dressed and considering that they live permananlty in dormitories this is not easy.

A warm welcome

Amy and I were greeted with a very warm welcome at Entebbe airport by Halcyon's Headteacher, Marcel. After being stuck on Heathrow runway for nine hours due to ice on the plane, and a further two days of transfers and delays to be greeted so warmly was very gratefully received. Our journey however, was not yet over. An eight hour drive from Entebbe to Soroti was pretty rough even in a 4WD. The country is however, beautiful. Deep and impenetrable forests merge into acres of tea and coffee plantations, followed by swamp land further to the north. We stopped for plantain (cooked banana) and roast chicken at Mbale, finally arriving at Soroti late in the evening. Halcyon's founder, Helen Adoa was there late in the evening to welcome us with rice and stew.

Ready to depart

Thought we would start the Blog with a heart felt thank you to all of you who have made this adventure possible. There are many of you and we will be thinking of you when scrabble or chess are no longer keeping us captivated of an evening.

Amy and I have had our injections, doused up on Malaria tablets (no blurred vision or madness yet) and got our Swahili phrase book courtesy of previously intrepid friends. The whether forecast for Soroti is 32c and showers, I am wondering if the one pair of shorts I have packed is sufficient for the next six months.