Uganda 2011-06-19
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Eight o`clock in the morning and our dependable driver, Kalyango, is waiting for us at the airport . Safely and calmly he drives us to Kampala through the usual traffic chaos of Kampala city. Twenty-five degrees centigrade at the end of the rainy season.
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Our work plan for the two weeks we will spend in Uganda makes no allowances for tourist activities. Following the unexpected death of our headmaster and founder of Gilgal Primary School, Pascal Murenzi, we are left with many gaps to fill, both administrative and of a personal nature. There are school problems, upkeep of buildings, investments, money transfer problems, and the development of the farmland to deal with. In addition, an inventory of the material in the school, the formation of a new school committee, administrative planning and the opening day for new school buildings and projects. These things must be organised within a short time, and everything takes not only a lot of time but requires patience.
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Our seventeen teachers are responsible for 460 orphans and half orphans - those with only one parent, usually the mother. We have also two cooks, three matrons for the orphans, a guard, and an armed guard, a school secretary and a farmer, plus an additional farm worker on the smaller piece of land and day labourers. The children are divided up into nine classes. There are two nursery classes and seven primary classes. Fifty to sixty children leave school every year. School is obligatory in Uganda, and the parents must pay for it. Many children are still illiterate, not to mention their parents and other adults.. Illiterate youngsters have no real chance of getting work, and there is also the problem of misuse and political manipulation. Thanks to our sponsors, Gilgal Primary School charges no fees. More than 50% of State School leavers have no chance of work, no future perspectives. Secondary and Vocational Schools must also be paid for and are just too expensive for the majority of the population. We do what we can to place school leavers in Secondary Schools or charitable organisations, or in a vocational school. That costs money, but craftsmen are desperately needed.
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Our official welcoming is on the 26th. April. There is dancing, singing, with many speeches and responses from us. People from the surroundings also attend the ceremony. We eat together and open the new buildings: a Nursery Block, and the Teachers’ Block. Holzpunkt, a firm in Wila, Canton of Zurich, enabled us to realise these two projects. The Sternsänger from Aadorf collected enough money to finance all the chairs and tables necessary for the Nursery Block. We are very grateful for this help. Each teacher has a small sleeping and living unit -11m2 - in all. Our teachers live in the boarding school because their duties are not limited to teaching alone.. They are also responsible for the children in their free time.
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The afternoon ends with a good meal of vegetable rice with beans and a little meat.. Having washed our hands we use our fingers as forks and enjoy the meal served by the older children.
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The school makes a good impression and the Headmistress and members of the school committeee are responsible and reliable people. A village member, seeing that we badly needed a new stove, made one himself, both the bricks and the construction, and it now uses 50% less wood than before. We greatly appreciate the initiative shown.
Because of the heavy tropical rains we must put up guttering on the roofs and a water tank at the end of every building, to catch the rainwater so that it can be used for washing, cooking etc. This is a new project for 2011.
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Ugandans are capable people. Education and training are even more important than food deliveries. Only training can stem the rise of corruption and dictatureship in the Third World. There are certainly food shortages, whether natural or artificially caused. China, India, Saudi Arabia and gigantic international investment funds control more and more of the agricultural land available.
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In addition to yellow gold, white gold (water), and black gold (oil), we now have green gold (agricultural products) as a target for big investors. Africa is faced with new and dramatic investment possibilities., revolts and changes - as can be seen in North, West and East Africa, and in the Arab States.
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Projects.
Kalyango drives us to a computer shop. In order to improve our commmunication, we buy a HP Officejet for about 115 Francs, and a PC keyboard for a little less than 4 Swiss Francs. Electronic material is imported from Dubai and America and is often cheaper than in Switzerland.
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The electricity supply in Ugnda is unreliable and there are many electricity cuts, without any warning. Our 10,000 litre tank could no longer be filled with water because the electric pump did not work. As before, the water for 460 pupils and 24 adults had to be fetched in canisters from a distance of more than 500 metres.. We were made an offer for supplying solar energy for 20 rooms, a computer and printer with a 15 year guarantee. Including the cost for the water pump and general installations, everything would be approximately 10, 000 CHF. We need a reliable source of energy in order to guarantee the safety of both the children and the school . Our aim is to avoid using diesel, especially as the price is high, and to be independent of the net.
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A further project to be considered is the building of a sick-bay, in order to separate children with infectious illnesses from their comrades. This would also be a help towards improving the health of those families living around the school.
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Farmland
A great day for us. We set off for the school farmland, accompanied by our Headmistress. . We want the school to be as self-sufficient as possible and independent of the unpredictable fluctuations in food costs. On the way, during the 30 minute drive to the land, we can see how the majority of Ugandans live - without elecricity, access to central water pumps, without sanitation. But the huts and simple houses are tidy and the surrounding area clear of the eternal plastic sacks which can be seen in every city, stretching from North to South Africa , and South America, too. (Ruanda is the only country which has banned plastic bags and sacks completely. Tourists arriving in Kigali must hand over their plastic bags and take paper bags in exchange - something we could also imitate.)
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We are positively surprised by the good state of our fields. Our farmer, Amos, organises and works with the labourers. We watch as the pineapples are individually and carefully watered, so that none of the precious water is wasted. The people practice intercropping - a system by which plants of a different size are planted next to each other so that the leafy shadow of the higher plants helps to prevent the earth and plants between from drying out. Maize, beans and tomatoes grow side by side.
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On her own initiative the new headmistress sold some of her goats in order to buy maize and beans for sowing. In addition she and her helpers planted fruit and matoke trees, and also vegetables inside the school compound. We are proud of our friends. They are active and don`t just wait for financial help. They regard the school as a Joint Venture project, and we work very well together.
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Later, having returned to the Primary School, we discuss future projects with the school committee. We say goodbye, all of us looking forward to the next visit, hopefully with sponsors.
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Peter Schnyder President Society Seroma Christian High School and Gilgal Primary School, Uganda
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