Coming to the end of term

The P7 members did their final exams (Primary Leaving Exam otherwise known as the P.L.E.) on the 7th & 8th of November. They were so excited to be done with school. They stayed around for the weeks and had a football match with the other members of the school on Thursday of that week. On Saturday, 12th Nov. they had a party to celebrate being done. On Friday they were making their preparations and they wanted me to take pictures of them cutting up their goat. They were so excited and happy about getting to celebrate with people.
They invited all of the teachers at the school and other people who work around the school. Osborn was the Guest of Honor but he had gone to Masaka town to get some things for a building that they are separating into different rooms for Abby and I to live in so he did not come until around 3 PM when the party started at 11 AM. The party was so much fun and it was good getting to celebrate with the P7 pupils before they left the school. The food was really good as they gave us goat, rice, and matooka along with a bottle of soda. They also gave us some performances and then HM Rogers and Osborn both gave a speech. Osborn opened the dance and it was great to see him having fun with his children. We took a picture of all of the teachers, P7 pupils and invited guests. Afterwards, Osborn told me to go back in and dance with the pupils. I did and I danced with many pupils and secondary students until they turned off the music almost two hours later. It was awesome to just enjoy dancing where they are having fun and not having to monitor the behavior of the youth. The behavior of these children is so different than those in America. I was the only teacher besides the one running the music and there was no fear that the children were going to try and dance inappropriate. I danced with many different people and never once did someone try to touch me more than on my hips or the middle of my back which is different than school dances in America.
I talked with Osborn some about my plans for the holiday and I think I shall try and go to Kenya for a week to see some friends because we have from the 12th Dec. until the 12th of Jan. for holiday. It will be my first time not with my family for Christmas so that will be a new experience. It has been interesting for me to notice things about holidays. The other morning I woke up and realized that the next day was Veterans Day but we don’t celebrate most American holidays here so that is different.
Yes, I have heard the Obama will become the next president of America. I had forgotten that the elections were coming up until I was in Kampala a couple of weeks ago and they were talking about it on the news. The people here are very excited that a “black” man will be the next president of America. It is hard to explain to people why you may not have voted for him since you are in a country that is full of blacks but most of them are open to hearing your explanation instead of just getting mad at you.
We are preparing for our Open Day that will occur on the 28th November. Every day from 3:40-5:15 PM the different houses work on their song/dance and their athletics. It is great to see the children having some time to play and get out some of their energy. It will be an amazing day of competition because we already are having some competition each week with their sanitation, smartness, academics, English speaking, and discipline. We will have some visitors from America here to enjoy the day with us also.
We begin final exams on the 24th Nov. and will have one a day for the first four days of the week. The two weeks after that we will sit as teachers and discuss which children should be promoted to the next class and which children we will encourage to repeat the class. There is a lot of stress on teachers as they are trying to finish up the syllabus before the end comes.
Since the P7 party we have spilt my P5 class into two different classes to help improve the promotion rate. As of the end of Sept., only about 30 of my 94 pupils would have been promoted to P6 next year. I now only have 48 pupils in my class which is a much easier number to manage and see who really understands the concepts and who needs more help. The other half of the P5 are being attended by the P7 teachers in the classroom that has been occupied by P7 before their exams since many of them only had one class after P7 left. We are hoping that we will be able to promote at least 50-60 pupils, but it still seems like a small number.
For Open Day, Abby and I have decided that the money, that we help provide the school each month with, will go to mainly buying t-shirts for the teachers. We will be getting an uniformed t-shirt that can be worn at Open Day and other such events where we want the teachers to look uniformed and smart. Each shirt is Sh. 10,000 (about $5.50) and the teacher are being asked to pay Sh. 2,000 (about $1.10) and we will cover the rest of the cost. They will be collared shirts with the school logo and motto on them. The children are buying caps at Sh. 300 (about $0.06) for Open Day. The caps are made for each house so it will be easy to see which children belong to each house.
This last Saturday the children who are fully sponsored by the school dug (weeded) in the garden (and I forgot to bring my camera to take pictures but I‘ll get some on another day). Every Saturday they are they are supposed to work in the work as “payment” for school. The garden has corn that helps provide lunch and breakfast for the children. I got bored at the school since I don’t teach most Saturdays so I went over to see what they were doing. I ended up changing clothes and then digging with them until they finished. It was a good feeling to do something physical and knowing that I was doing something for the food that I eat for lunch every day at school. The children kept asking if I was tired and I did not get tired but I did get a blister on my hand. They have invited me to work with them every week and I think I will try and do that. It is great getting to spend time with the children and getting to know them more. Many of them are the children whom I have taken their stories so I know them better than most of the children.
On thing I have noticed recently is that when they are digging, playing football, or running in P.E. the children take off their shoes. I was bothered by it for a night but as I was thinking more I about it I realized that many of these children only have one pair of shoes and if they spoil them (ruin their shoes) then they will not have anything to wear. I took off my shoes when I was digging with the children because they kept filling with dirt when I had them on. I keep thinking if there is anything that can be done to help the children get more shoes. Here in the village you do not have to have shoes to go to school, which is good because at least half to two-thirds of the school does not have shoes, but in the city you MUST have shoes or you will be chased away from (not allowed to come). The children are supposed to wear black shoes as part of their uniform but we do not discourage the children who wear shoes of any kind. Some of the children come from 1-5 km (0.61-3.1 miles) and many of them walk that distance but some of them have bicycles.
I had a good talk with some of the secondary boys on Saturday after I finished digging. They wanted to know where I had been and they were very surprised that I had been digging and they did not believe me until I showed them my hands and feet. They then invited more to a dance that was going to happen that afternoon to celebrate the end of the year for S.2, although they start their exams today. I went and at first it was only secondary students. Once I arrived they allowed the primary pupils to come in and dance. I had a lot of fun again and it is good to just enjoy being with the children and having fun with them.
We are busy preparing for our visitors, our final exams, and the Open Day. It is beginning to keep me busy and the children are having fun spending time with me doing athletics. They are surprised by me dancing and that I enjoy doing athletics. It makes me want to begin training more so that I can do more physical work around the school and with the children.