Secondary Tour

On Friday, 24th July, we took the secondary students to Jinja for their tour. The bus was here at 2 AM and we loaded and left by 3:30 AM. The students were sitting three or four to a seat and some were standing in the aisles because we had so many. I was sharing a seat with two other people and kept sliding off the seat whenever we hit a bump, which was quite often with our roads here.
We reached the tea factory around 9:45 AM after stopping a few places to buy food and dealing with traffic through Kampala. The students had a lecture with the manager of the factory and plantation. It was very educational and it will help them on their exams. The manager took us around to view different parts of the plantation and see the workers in the fields but we were not allowed in the factory.
I learned about the 1995 constitution as I was taking photos and a field boss came up and started informing me about their constitution and how it is illegal to take photos without someone’s permission. HM David talked with the man and thanked him for their education. He then asked the workers if it was okay to take their photos and use their shears and they said it was. They pick the fields either using their hands or using shears. The students, and even myself, got to try with the shears.
I walked back to the bus with a student, the agriculture teacher, and the head field boss. We had a good conversation and I continued to learn about the plantation. The workers are paid by weight and those that use their hands are paid more then those who use the shears. They are provided housing and lunch. Some get paid weekly, some bi-monthly and others monthly. They have a school and a clinic and are looking at ways of improving their plantation and life for their workers.
Around midday we left and headed the rest of the way to Jinja. We ate lunch, after having to wait some good time to get something to put the food into for each of the students. We then entered the Agriculture and Trade Show. The agriculture students got a lecture on the different types of machines that they had at the show and the other students were free to explore. It reminded me of a fair as it had different animals, rides, shops, food, crops that they were showing off, games, camel rides, and a mini-zoo. The students enjoyed and they did not want to leave after only spending two hours there. There was so much to see and do and they did not get adequate time, but at least it was better than nothing.
Most of the students have toured more than the primary so they were not as excited about some of the things that the primary pupils were, but they also enjoyed and learned a lot as well. It was interesting to see the difference in the organization of the two tours and how the children reacted to the different things that they saw. I’m glad that I was able to experience both and I’m looking forward to next year and wondering about the places that we are going to tour.
I am counting the days and hours until Mom and Andrew arrive in Uganda. It is only a few short hours and then I will get to enjoy them for two weeks. I’m excited to show them my home and my children, along with my co-workers, both at primary and secondary.
Please pray as we end the term and the children go home to spend some time with their families before coming back. We are still without power as the transformer has not been fixed so also pray for continued patience in dealing with the government in fixing out power problem. Lastly, pray that we begin to receive rain soon. We got some last weekend and it helped, as are cistern is fixed, but the people are in need of rain to grow their crops. Thanks for your prayers and support. God’s blessing until I write again!