School

The center of school life for a teacher is the staff room. Our staff room at SSB consists of a few wooden tables, a few wooden chairs and benches. Teachers don’t have their own classrooms, so the staff room becomes teachers home base. It often feels like its just the place to go and sit and little productive happenings. The two busiest times in the staff room are break and lunch. Break is from 10:40 to 11:10. During break fried dough and hot tea is served. The fried dough are like funnel cake squares minus the powdered sugar. The tea is the hot version of southern sweet tea. Imagine what I thought the first time I drank it. I was totally expecting bitter, sugarless, milkless tea and I take this sip and it is syrupy sweet. I can totally handle it being hot. In a way the syrupy-ness is like a bit of home. Lunch consists of posho (a tasteless thick grits-like substance) and beans. Its manageable but altogether not a pleasant eating experience. I have to drink a lot of water to push it all down with. The beans come out in what I can best describe as a 5-gallon bucket. The posho comes out in a metal pail. Intially (the first week and a half), there were only about 5 forks, which meant a few lunches using fingers for utensils. Later, our school ended up with many more forks. I think they must have bought them because we, the American teachers, were there.

The centrality of the staff room to the teachers life is an indicator to a frustration I have with SSB (but other American teachers have expressed at other schools in Gulu) – the lack of student-teacher relationships. It often sounds like a bunch of repetition and administration fluff with I hear it at my home school. But being in a system where it basically doesn’t exists at all really helps me appreciate it and value it. Many teachers here don’t even know their students names. (I recognize that they have more students that I have in the States, but I don’t think that constitutes a legitimate reason) There is little attempt to connect with the student and on the student’s level.

Most teachers in the States are more than familiar with standards and EOCs or some end of course test equivalent. But it in no way compares with the emphasis placed on the government syllabi and end of level exams. Students take an exam at the end of S4 and S6 (similar to tenth and twelfth grade). There is little flexibility, creativity, or critical thinking involved. So much emphasis is placed on simply being prepared for the exams (Read: memorize unmeaningful and irrelevant content). The emphasis isn’t to create a life-long learner, world citizen, critical thinker, or prepared for what comes next person. Did I mention the content isn’t meaningful or relevant and most teachers do not attempt to make it so.

It is so different from what I am used to.

Though there are many frustrations, there are many beauties at SSB. The campus is gorgeous (despite resource lacking classrooms, destroyed buildings, and smelly latrines). In the evenings when I leave students are often out on “the lawn,” as I call it, studying and it reminds me of Wofford and how students often go outside to study. There are eager learners in the classroom and there is a sense of respect for the teacher and the need for an education (in a sense).

The teachers are incredibly friendly and appear appreciative to have the American teachers there. Whereas by most Acholi who I’ve never met but say encounter on the streets I feel like a stared at rarity. Yet, at SSB I feel like I’ve become a part of the teacher community and a normal fixture not a rarity that needs to be stared at there anymore.

Teaching in Uganda is not a well respected profession yet we have so many student teachers at my school and its really cool to see people want to become teachers.

I like my partner teacher and get along well with her. She has the most beautiful laugh when she smiles.

Other frustrations: No practice or review or assessment. There is much that is simply providing information and then assuming students know the information. There is no intentional higher level thinking. Taking/dictating notes separate from students gathering notes from class activities and discussion. Lack of resources.