My heart is at Living Hope

On my very first day in Uganda back in July 2008, I visited Living Hope Children's Centre which is a primary school in Nateete. That is where I first fell in love with Uganda.

Nateete is an urban slum on the outskirts of Kampala. To get there, you drive on the paved road and then it become a dirt road that can accommodate 2 vehicles until you turn left and drive on a dirt road that can accommodate one vehicle and a few longhorn cows if they get out of the way. Turn right at the butcher, left at the big tree and on your left you will see Living Hope.

There is a big auditorium on the right that is a church on Sundays and a two storey building on the left that houses the P4-P7 classes.













To get to the primary area you walk down a dirt path to some open sheds that are the k-P3 classrooms.

















There are about 280 students there and some are orphans who live at the school but others are children from Nateete. Children start baby class when they are about 3 years old and after 3 years of kindergarten they move on to P1. Students have to pass exams before they can move to the next grade. In the P4 class there are students aged 8-15. There are also about 50 students in the P4 class but then by P6 there are about 15 left. The drop-out rate is close to 80% by the time the students leave grade 5. Each year when I visit there are students that I look for that are gone.

I have visited the school each year I have travelled to Uganda. In 2010 I had the honour of team teaching for a week with Hassan and Nicholas, the P4 and P5 teachers. It was a terrific experience and we did many types of activities in all subjects. We taught literacy using Superpotamus, reviewed the circulatory system while doing jumping jacks and measuring our pulse, played with blocks and salt dough to learn geometry, and shared postcards that Kelowna children had written that the Ugandan students then replied to. Hassan, Nicholas and I spoke about the challenges of teaching long division and I looked at the grade 4 Math curriculum which is almost identical to the BC curriculum.

The children at Living Hope can sing and dance with heart like no other school group I have ever seen. They love performing and sharing their music with us mzungu who come to see them. They smile and laugh. They offer to share their small portion of porridge. They are genuine. I love spending time with them. My heart is at Living Hope.

Goodbye Robert

As I approach another trip to my second home, I always want to start blogging more so that my friends and family can learn about my preparations and my time in Uganda. Unfortunately this new series of posts leading up to my trip in July 2012 begins on a very sad note.

On Tuesday I was checking my gmail account after work to get an email address when I saw a message from Sam entitled Robert's Demise. I could not just leave that message unopened and was horrified to learn that my friend Robert, Niteo's amazing driver, had passed away that day and was to be buried in his home district of Luwero on Wednesday. He could not have been more than 35 and he left behind a wife, Jennifer, and two young children: Joshua (5) and Joy (2).

Robert was all kindness and gentleness. He was always patient and always ready to explain the ways of Uganda when we were not sure of how we should proceed. Karine and I had a deal with him that he would tell us if we were making a bad move by telling us if it was a good dress or not.

We had developed that code after visiting Sanyu Baby Home. European volunteers had just paved the entrance to Sanyu which was very steep and had a sharp turn. It had always been gravel and these volunteers had worked in the beating sun to pave it so that the vehicles would not have such a hard time getting up to the orphanage. As we attempted to go up to the orphanage, our van tires span and could not get purchase because the cement was too smooth. Robert smiled and nodded and said that the cement was slippery.

Karine asked if he had known the cement would not be a good idea. Robert nodded and explained that the cement would now be broken up and gravel would be used once again but that the volunteers had thought they were doing a good thing. Yes, we westerners know best and so we do what we think is best without asking the Nationals if what we are doing is really right.

Karine said to Robert: "You know Robert when your wife tries on a dress that she thinks is nice but you don't think it suits her and she asks you if it's a good dress?" Robert laughed and said that he did know. "Well Robert, I want you to tell us if we are doing something that we think is a good dress but you know isn't a good dress. Promise?" And he promised.

We even used that the same day when we went to Bombo to buy land for the Elohim children. As Duncan and the land owner negotiated in Lugandan about the sale, we said to Robert "Is it a good dress?" Robert replied, "Yes, I think it is a good dress." We purchased the land. We would not have done so if he had said it was a bad dress. He even signed the bill of sale as a witness to the transaction.

Another Robert story that I will never forget is when we saw him the third year I went and he spoke about his new baby girl. When I asked about her name, he smiled and said in his gentle way, "When I held her for the first time and looked at her, she made me so happy that I could only name her Joy."

His dream was to buy a shop for his wife so that she could care for the children while she ran the store. We are collecting funds for Robert's wife and children to give to her when we travel there this summer. It will be very strange to be there without his warm "welcome back."

Robert died from an illness that attacked his spleen. Niteo has suffered an incredible loss of an amazing man who was our guide, our safe driver, and most of all, our friend. Rest in Peace Robert.