Tails from the Latrine

            Every morning I find rocks and pieces of coal in my pit latrine.  There is also a lot of rat poop scattered around, so I attribute the mess to rats running around in the rafters.  On Saturday morning, it was relatively dark in my latrine, but I noticed that there was a rock in the corner.  I picked up the rock in order to throw it outside, only to find out that it was not actually a rock.  Imagine my surprise when I picked up something furry that squeaked.  Yes…I picked up a dying rat!  I screamed, dropped the rat, and quickly ran out of my latrine to wash my hands for thirty minutes.  I then contemplated what I should do.  Would it somehow crawl its way out of the latrine to die? Or would it die and attract maggots?  I really did not want to go back and get rid of the rat, but I knew I had no choice.  Thankfully, my neighbor had heard me scream and came to check up on me.  Betty was nice enough to grab a broom and sweep out the dying rat – and with each hit of the broom, the rat and I simultaneously squealed.  Betty thought my reaction was hilarious, and it did not take her long to tell the story to the rest of my school.  One thing I have learned since being here is that as a white person, I am a sort of celebrity.  Everyone knows everything that I do.  I have even had random strangers take pictures of me with their camera phones when I’m out in Budaka town.  When I throw out my trash, it’s a free for all.  The kids swarm the trash pit in order to look through my trash bag.  It is a little strange to go to my neighbors and find my empty can of Sour Cream and Onion Pringles being used as a pencil holder. 

            I finally heard from my counterpart!!  He called me on Tuesday and asked if I was around because he was at the school.  I was in my pajamas and in the middle of laundry...great timing.  So I had a meeting with Cosmas (my counterpart), Sister Goretti, and Steven (the head teacher) in my sweat pants, a baggy t-shirt, and messy hair.  I looked very presentable.  Cosmas looked very skinny, so I think he was actually really sick.  He was pleased, however, that I managed to start my own work in his absence.  Next week I will finally go to my coordinating center and meet with all the head teachers of the schools in my catchment area.  I am going to be getting more work now because I will start to visit the schools and work with the teachers on lesson planning and classroom management.  I am going to work with teachers to implement more critical thinking in classrooms, rather than rote memorization.  As for classroom management, I am going to give teachers methods of maintaining order in classrooms with over 60 students.  (Google is going to be my best friend!)  My counterpart also knows that I am firmly against the caning of students, and he wants me to talk with teachers about alternative discipline methods.  So I will primarily still be at St. Clare’s (the school I live at), but occasionally I will visit the other schools and meet with teachers.

            I still really enjoy teaching, and I have a lot of fun hanging out with students after school. The other day I tried to teach “Duck, Duck Goose” to some P4 students (I called it Lion, Lion Zebra).  I am not so sure that they actually understood the game, but they had fun nonetheless!  Afterwards, Claudia handed me a note, and it is by far the cutest one I have received.  As I said, I'm a sort of celebrity - I receive fan mail.  Claudia’s note was put in an envelope that had “love to love,” “kiss to kiss,” and “read it alone” written on it.  Here is what the note said:

            Dear my best friend,

            Your names are Teacher Nikessa.  I love you so so much.  My names are Akiror Claudia.  I am in P-4. You are beautiful.  You are brown.  I can want to be your friend. Can you want to be my friend?  Circle yes or no.

FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY

Obviously I circled yes.  Seriously, too cute! I am curious to know what “you are brown” means – she is probably referring to my amazing tan (yes, I’m being sarcastic).  “For God and my Country” is Uganda’s national motto for those that were wondering.  

            Teaching the teachers computers started out to be a more difficult task than I expected.  Some of the teachers would show up to class about 45 minutes late and say, “You know us Africans, we can’t keep time.”  Therefore, I usually had two different lessons going on – one for those who showed up on time, and another for the latecomers.  I found a copy of Mavis Beacon, however, which has made it much easier.  Now it no longer matters that teachers show up at all different times.  They were so excited after I installed the program – they love how it tracks your speed and accuracy.  It was like kids in a candy store when I first showed them the program, and now it is all they can talk about.  I told them that if anyone can type faster than me at the end of two years, then they will get a prize.  (As to what that prize will be, I’m not sure…)

            I ran out of water on Wednesday and I decided that for once I would go to the borehole myself.  I walked outside with my jerry cans and as I passed the lower primary block (P1-P4), students rushed to grab my jerry cans from me.  They actually fought over who got to hold them.  I didn’t have to do any work – the students not only cut the line, but they also insisted on pumping the water!  I did, however, carry the full jerry cans back to my house.  I carried two 20L jerry cans at the same time because I didn’t want to make multiple trips.  The students were going nuts that I could actually carry two and were all yelling “LOOK AT NIKESSA CARRY WATER!”  I will say, though, my arms and shoulders felt like they were going to fall off the next day.  After carrying them back to my house, I started to make my way back to the borehole to fetch the last jerry can.  Students, however, were in a huge group all carrying the jerry can back to my house.  I wish I had my camera at that moment because it was the cutest thing to see about eight 6 year olds trying to all carry the jerry can back to my house.

            I have started to send out postcards to people, so email me your addresses if you would like to get some snail mail from yours truly :)