Since I do not teach on Thursdays, I decided to go visit Lydia (my Reciprocal Teacher Exchange partner in January) at Sacred Heart SS. I had seen her on Wednesday, and she said that she had class at 7:40 am and then again at noon. I told her I would come out for the noon class.
Her noon class is S4 students and is only 11 students. At Sacred Heart, an all girls’ boarding school, home economics is compulsory for S1 and S2 students, but it is an elective for S3 and S4 students. Her S3 class has 60 students, so she had a hard time trying to do practicals with that many students. Fortunately for me, I was visiting the S4 class. During a previous class, she had given instructions to the students on how to make flaky pastry; for the class that I visited, the students were actually learning how to make the flaky pastry. For two hours, I watched these girls measure, cut butter and fat, roll it into the flour, juice a lemon, and then roll it out. It took them such a long time, and all I kept thinking was in America, all I have to do is go to the grocery store to get flaky pastry. Once they had rolled out and prepared the flaky pastry, they added either cooked ground meat or sausage and folded the pastry over the meat (kind of like pigs in a blanket for the sausage). I was there for 2 hours, and by the time I left to go to Keyo, the recipe was still not ready. The oven they used is a metal square box. They place the heated charcoal into the bottom of the oven and close it to heat the oven. I asked Lydia how she knew when it was the correct baking temperature, and she said that it was years of practice. There is no temperature gauge on the stove, so it is anybody’s guess as to what the actual cooking temperature was. For me it was a frustrating experience because of the amount of time it took to make small pastries. However to Ugandans, it is jus the way it is. I did notice the pride that the girls took in their preparation; when I cook, it is a means to an end. I have never considered being proud of the dishes that I cook. As always, there is a lesson for me to learn about slowing down and acknowledging life around me. These girls, as well as Lydia who is teaching them, appreciate these seemingly insignificant aspects of life, but now I wonder if these insignificant aspects are truly the gems of a life.
Yesterday, during our Keyo round table with Catherine, we discussed the attitude toward time and compared the American attitude with the Ugandan attitude. For Americans (and especially me), keeping time is so important. My students know that “if you are on time, your are late” and that I expect punctuality. However in Ugandan, keeping time is an afterthought. An event that should start at 11:00 am is more than likely not going to start until 12:15 pm; it’s just the way it is. However I think the attitude behind it is fascinating, and it is something that I appreciate. I find when in my day to day life, I am constantly concerned about events that have not happened yet, and therefore I very rarely live truly in the moment. I am so intent on “keeping time.” Here in Uganda, the lifestyle is more about events and people. So if something does not start on time, it is because of a relationship that needed attention or an event that needed to occur first. It makes me see that my attitude of time is forcing me to miss out on what I preach to be important about life. My time should be dictated by events and relationships, not the other way around. Events and relationships shouldn’t be dictated by time.
To continue on the keeping time thread, the Keyo prefect campaign speeches were to start at 2 pm, but I knew they would not start then. I left Sacred Heart at 2 pm (without getting anything to eat because it took so long) forth 30-minute boda ride to Keyo. When I arrived at Keyo, Lindsey and Amanda told me that the speeches were not to start until 3:40 because the teachers did not want the students to miss class.
The speeches were held outside underneath a couple of trees. The students running for office sat to one side, the teachers sat behind the open space where the speeches would be given, and the rest of the student body (those who attended) sat in front of the open space. What time do you think the speeches began??? - 4:00 pm. The offices were announced and then each candidate was given 5 minutes to speak and then 1 additional minute to answer questions. The campaigning was hysterical. The student would be introduced, and they would walk to the open space, most often accompanied by one student holding an umbrella over their head. Some candidates had 3-4 students. Evidently this was to demonstrate power; in actuality it looked funny. One female candidate had three other girls escort her in. One was carrying the umbrella, and the other two carried a rosary and a postcard picture of the Virgin Mary. During her speech, one of her followers took a 1,000 ugx bill and wiped her brown with it. Can you picture this?!?! It was hilarious. There were two candidates running for Prefect for Entertainment; one gave his speech in a rap, and the other did a break dancing routine. One of the candidates for the Prefect for Sports came running into the open space like a sprinter, and one of his followers had a piece of rebar and was pretending to throw it like a javelin. And their campaign promises… they were exactly like a typical politician. Some promised total access to the 18 computers, one stated that it elected, he would make the library big enough to fit every student. Another promised to bring another school truck to the school. After the campaign, we spoke with Calistas, the head teacher. He said that he did not attend the campaign speeches because he wanted to allow the candidates the freedom to speak what they wanted. However he said that once those are elected into office, he lets them know how it is going to be. They are free to campaign openly, but once in office, they have to understand the regulations that make the school effective. So true…
After the speeches, Lindsey, Amanda and I took the school truck home. It is actually a large lorry with roll bars on the back. We stood in the back of the truck with other teachers and students. The ride took 45 minutes, and we laughed the entire way. I am sure we were a spectacle to the people on the road with us. Only in Africa…
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