Language Retest

In December, I started language lessons in preparation for my retest in January. (The retest date has been moved to March.)  My teacher is Lydia.  She is a primary school teacher and we meet each evening in a local Catholic primary school.  I feel we are making progress.  I have mastered the greetings, can understand prices expressed in the Lugandan language and can make small talk.  I should mention that greetings in Uganda are elaborate affairs that go on for several minutes and that require certain calls and responses.  My teacher has taken, what for me, is a novel approach.  She is teaching me to read and write the language simultaneously with learning to speak it.  Having to write the language has accelerated my learning.  It is also helping me train my ear to hear the language better.  That is increasing my comprehension.  I can actually write Lugandan better than I can speak it.  I intend to continue with a tutor throughout my tour of duty.   

 

School where I take my language lessons.

                                                     

View of classroom where I take my language lessons. (front)

                         

My tutor Lydia.

Some of you know that my retirement plans include annual bike trips in foreign countries.  My plan is to select a country through which I will bike, and then spend a year learning the language and reading the country’s history and culture before departing for a 30 to 60 day bicycle tour of the country.  (At the conclusion of each trip, I will take a weekend course at a culinary school in that country.)  Previously I had been concerned because I had never successfully mastered a language in the past.  The Peace Corps experience has taught me that I can learn a language and has helped identify the approaches that seem to work well for me.  

I have included pictures of the school grounds and the classroom where I have my lessons.  By US standards, the schools lack books, technology, and infrastructure.  A number of schools were forced to close because the schools lacked functioning pit latrines.  Imagine schools without toilets!  A Peace Corps colleague teaches at a nursing school.  The students have their first exposure to computers in nursing school where they learn how to turn it on, and navigate through Word and Excel.

Teachers earn very little in Uganda.  It is usually the last job one will take because the pay is so low.  For many Ugandans only complete unemployment is worst.  This year, to add insult to injury the teachers did not receive their pay in December or January and likely will not receive any pay before March.  A computer error removed nearly all teachers from the payroll system.  They now must complete and submit paperwork to be re-entered into the system and paid.  Ugandans celebrate Christmas much like Americans, with gift giving, toys for the kids and visits to home for family gatherings.  Thus, the lack of pay could not come at a worse time. 

Families are responsible to pay school fees each year.  I recently had a conversation with a young man about 20 to 25 years of age.  He is a ‘plant manager’ at a local dairy collection and cooling station.  (Uganda law requires milk be cooled shortly being drawn from the cow.)  Like many conversations I have here, he wanted money.  In his case, he wanted me to give him the money to pay school fees so he could complete what we would call high school.  He told me it would require UGS 1,200,000.  (~ $480 US)  Before I joined the Peace Corps, I decided I would limit my assistance to what I could do as a volunteer and would not become a funding source to fix people’s problems.  I declined to give him money.  I did brainstorm with him to identify strategies he might employ to complete his two years of schooling.  We did some simple calculations based on what he said he had already saved and projected how long it might take him to accumulate the funds necessary to finish school.  If his inputs were accurate, he can have enough money in two years, even if his income falls by half.  I shared some budgeting concepts and principles with him and provided specific steps to take in creating a budget.  I asked him to stay in contact and let me know how things progress.  We will see what happens. 

His reaction to the calculations for the projection was interesting.  He quickly grasped the calculations and understood what I was doing but it was as if he had never thought of doing such a thing.  His facial expression was one of both surprise and hope.  I hope he also had the feeling of having some measure of control over his life.  I will call him in two or three weeks to see what he has done and offer encouragement. 

This weekend I saw another illustration of how desperate some Ugandans are to pay school fees.  In the space of 24 hours, two female university students approached me about school fees.  In both cases, it was clear that sexual favors would be forthcoming if I contributed.