Avoid Bad Touches, Lonely Places and Gifts

           I’m sure most of you are a little curious as to how I came up with the title of this post, but even more of you will be curious when I tell you that I saw this sign at a primary school.  It’s actually a part of PIASCY (Presidential Initiative for AIDS Strategies and Communication to Youth).  PIASCY was started in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda, and it’s known to have a very direct and blunt message.  As a result, you will often find signs like these posted around both primary and secondary schools.  Another personal favorite that I have seen is “Be Wary of Sugar Daddies”.  

            For the next three weeks we are getting more hands on training, which has been great.  This week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we were all split up and assigned to different schools in order to observe classes and teach.  On Monday, I just observed in order to get a feel of how classes are run in Uganda – and let me tell you, it’s very different.  It’s much more of a lecture style, and you have to write everything on the board.  Students don’t have very good note taking skills, which is why you have to write everything down (and it has to all be in complete sentences).  Usually you give the lesson, and then let them copy all the notes down at the end because they can’t multi task.  Also, they love to repeat everything you write down in unison.  I had worked out a schedule of classes to teach for today, but this is Africa, so of course nothing went as planned.  I got to school today and the class I was supposed to teach had already been taught.  Thankfully, I was able to teach a P5 (ages 12-15) science class, where they are learning the classes of animals.  The topic for today: reptiles.  The class wasn’t until the afternoon, so I was able to look through a book and create a quick lesson plan.  Overall, my teaching experience went well.  The kids were SO excited to have an “mzungu” teach their class, and they were all very attentive and participated.  I ran into problems a few times because I used words they didn’t understand or didn’t format my questions properly.  (I was at a primary school, so their English still isn’t superb).  So sometimes I would ask a question, and they would just respond yes, even though it wasn’t a yes or no question.  Whoops.  Also, they do not get sarcasm!  I asked, as a joke, “So a gorilla is reptile, right?”  They all responded “yes!”  (Students usually agree to anything a teacher says here because if they don’t, they may get the cane).  I have to keep that in mind next time I teach!  I am supposed to teach math and science on Friday, but we will see which one of those actually pans out – TIA (This is Africa).

            Our language trainers arrived this week, so we have also had a lot of language study.  The Lugwere trainer, Kenneth, is awesome and I think he is going to be a really good teacher.  It’s kind of hard to learn Lugwere and have my host family speak Luganda – they are somewhat similar and I feel like I am going to start mixing them up.  My host family is still awesome though!  My only complaint so far is that they eat dinner so late, like 9:30-10.  They offered to make my dinner separately, but I said no because I enjoy eating with the family, and I don’t really want special treatment.  The electricity also goes out ALL the time here, so the kerosene lamps we use are starting to get to my head.  They smell so bad!

            We had another medical training session this week, and they told us just about every bad thing we can get in Uganda.  Schistosomiasis, bacterial infection, rabies, tuberculosis, mango fly and jiggers!  Awesome.  The one that freaked me out the most is the mango fly.  Apparently it lays eggs in your clothing while it air dries, and upon contact with human skin, the eggs hatch.  The larvae burrow into the skin and develop into fully-grown maggots!!!  If you notice one forming under your skin, you’re supposed to put Vaseline on it in order to suffocate the maggot, and then pop it out. Um, no thank you.  Apparently, this isn’t very common among volunteers, and it usually only happens if you dry your clothes on a bush or on the grass.  It’s recommended you iron all your clothes because the heat kills the eggs, but that just isn’t happening.  I don’t even iron my clothes in America!  I’m going to risk it.  I’ll let you all know if maggots start growing under my skin… 

            Mmm, well, that seems like a great place to end it.  Love and miss you all  :)