POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Just a short blog this week as I have been kept very busy this weekend not only with end of term preparations (one week to go!) but also with work in preparation for the future, more of which in a week or two I hope.  Our theme this half term in Year 5 has been politics and government, which is tricky enough at the best of times with a class of 10 year olds.  However, when you are living somewhere like Uganda and your class has one child very closely linked to the President, two linked to the prime minister he just sacked, one is the son of a minister in the government and several others with connections to the judiciary, then it is akin to walking on egg shells.  I guess that is the reason that I have enjoyed it so much - an opportunity to use my carefully honed skills of tact and diplomacy!  In fact we have had a fantastic time, looking at the meaning of democracy and totalitarian regimes, discussing Idi Amin and his contribution to Ugandan history, visiting Parliament (you have to use those connections!), holding our own elections and, just to add to the challenge, studying Julius Caesar to look at the concept of a republic versus a monarchy.  So, 'cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!' have been our watch words in Year 5 at GEMS this last few weeks.  I don't intend to say much more, but will let the photos do the talking once again.

The class on the steps of the Parliament building with our own tame minister the Honourable David Bahati MP

The start of our guided tour

Pauline's reaction when told that she was constantly under
surveillance from CCTV cameras when near the Mace!

The debating chamber itself where we were lucky
enough to witness an actual session in progress

The trip was a huge success with the children and I was immensely proud of how mature their questions were.  When one of them asked if Uganda had ever been ruled by a dictator (a bit naughty since she already knew the answer but just wanted to see what our guide would say I think!) he rather condescendingly asked if anyone knew what a dictatorship was.  He was then visibly shocked when he was given a word perfect definition that would not have been out of place in the mouth of a first year politics student at Cambridge!

The election campaign that the class ran throughout the primary school during their study of politics was also quite an exciting affair.  They formed four separate parties, canvassed their electorate for their views on what they wanted to see changed in the school, grilled the Principal to see what was feasible, wrote their manifestos, produced campaign posters and slogans and finally made speeches and took questions from the voters on the election day.  I have never seen 130 primary school children get so worked up about anything! They wanted to know all the details of how they were going meet their promises, and one of the parties (who rather presumptuously I think called themselves the 'super-intelligent party') was completely stumped when a Year 3 student demanded to know how they were going to finance their promise of a tuck shop selling sweets and drinks - not so smart after all I fear!  Anyway, in the end when all the voting slips were counted the Equality Supporters Party won a fairly convincing victory.  When they asked me what their prize was I told them that they now had to give up their breaks next term to work to deliver their promises.  From the look on their faces, I suspect that, just like politicians everywhere, they weren't expecting to actually have to earn their victory!

The Talent party make their speech

The voters were keen to have their say too

Even Year 6 were on their feet

Et tu brute?  Then fall Caesar!     JC was a great hit with the class in English.

The only other thing that I want to mention this week is a local matter, but has a tangential connection to politics.  You may remember several months ago now I blogged about my locality of Luzira and the extraordinary mix of people who live close to my apartments.   In particular I was impressed by the resilience and friendliness of people I met who had virtually nothing and were living in tin shacks and what looked like old railway carriages, and I posted a few pictures of them.  Well a couple of weeks ago as I drove in to school I was horrified to see that much of their community was gone.  It was now just a pile of rubble, with the odd possession lying scattered around. One old man was sitting on a sofa in what was once a brick shed looking totally bemused.  I later asked someone who was working on the site what had happened and it seems that they were all squatters and the land is wanted for development, so they simply sent in the bulldozers and cleared it.  When I asked where the people had gone he just shrugged his shoulders.  The trouble is in a country like Uganda there is no social safety net to catch people like these.  Next time any of you feel like complaining about welfare scroungers, just stop and think about what the alternative to a welfare state is ...  

The night before there had been about 5 or 6 families living in these brick sheds

This is where previously I had met lady with a young boy who was living in an
old railway carriage.  When I told her I was a teacher she smiled at me and said that
I should teach her son because he was clever but couldn't afford to go to school.
The rest of the huts are waiting to be cleared.  You can see the development going on in the background.

JUBA AT LAST PART II

Okay, I will now finish what I started last time, with an addition to cover world book day yesterday.  I thought I would open with this photo of four of the most famous people in Juba, well three anyway - as we don't know who the bloke behind Ronnie actually is.  The others are obviously His Excellency Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan, Dr John Garang, hero of the struggle for independence, and the Defence Attaché in the British Embassy.

Now what I failed to cover in my half a blog last time was the official reason that I was in Juba in the first place.  The more observant of you will have noticed that the section entitled 'Purpose of visit' on my visa does not say to see wife, but Advise to school - which in itself suggests that such a visit was clearly very necessary, albeit that I was there to provide advice on ICT not English.

The Juba Diocese Model Secondary School (JDMSS) was established by Salisbury Diocese in UK who are closely linked with Juba Diocese.  It has been running for a number of years and is very successful (and there is much competition for places).  However, one of the things that they don't currently teach is ICT (computing to non-educators) and Richard Deans, who I met in UK through the Military Missions International charity, and who chairs the Salisbury committee, asked me if I would go and make a report of what would need to be done.  This was a perfect combination as they needed my expertise and, in order to get a visa, I needed an official invitation to South Sudan that the Juba Diocese could provide!  It was appropriate then that the day after the house-warming BBQ (see last blog for details) we went to All Saints' Cathedral (Juba, not Kampala - keep up) and who was preaching but the Archbishop himself.  I like to think that, since his office initiated my invitation to come to Juba, he felt duty bound to come and welcome me in person. However, it may simply be that he wanted to share his experiences of travelling up country to try to generate some peace and reconciliation, and certainly that is what he did. His message was pretty simple: you are all supposed to be Christians so stop hating one another and stop killing one another, because scripture tells we are all equal and that we should love one another.  I was impressed and quite hopeful that the message would filter through and all the violence would over by now - but sadly the DA there tells me otherwise.  Anyway, the service was okay, but a little too Anglican for me, and nowhere near as lively as ASCK, even though it was full and we had to squeeze ourselves onto the balcony with all the hip youth.  Oh yes, and just to confuse me, rather than having coffee after church as is usual, instead we went across the road before the service to the 'Confident Children out of Conflict' (CCC) school to have coffee with some of Ronnie's friends who had been to the earlier service (which is even less lively apparently).  For some reason we had our coffee in a cage.  I presumed this was because the girls who the charity looked after were particularly dangerous, so I was understandably nervous when we went to meet a few of them.  In fact they were very pleasant, if a little shy, and I can only imagine the cage serves some other arcane purpose. 

The church service at the Cathedral from the 'yoof' balcony

The kind Archbishop who, unbeknown to him I suspect, invited me to Juba

Coffee in a cage after 'early' church, but before our service

One other noteworthy thing occurred on Sunday morning which has caused me to become a huge fan of the Dutch. When Ronnie came to collect me from the CCC guest house where I was staying (those of you following this rambling story will remember that I was not allowed to stay in the British Embassy accommodation for security reasons beyond anyone's control it would seem) she found me locked in, and no guard in sight. After much plaintive conversation through both a locked door and a huge metal gate, I eventually found the key to the front door hanging up on a hook and let myself into the compound.  I then pointed out to Ronnie the little door beside the massive gate, that was actually swinging free!  Having gained my freedom she told me that after I had left the party the night before, the Dutch ambassador, who had been one of the guests along with his girlfriend who was staying with him for a few days, had enquired why I was leaving.  The UK Foreign Office ruling was explained to him and apparently he had apoplexy, declared that Ronnie's new accommodation was on his turf not the British Ambassador's and that he would decide who could and couldn't stay - and apparently, I could! So for the rest of my time in Juba I moved into Ronnie's house on the Dutch Embassy compound.  Aren't the Dutch wonderful!

The next morning I was dropped off at the JDMSS, hoping that someone would be expecting me.  In fact it was a little chaotic to start with as it was their first day back of the new school year (for some reason their official first day back which was supposed to have been the previous week hadn't really happened).  It was clear that whilst they had sort of heard that someone like me might be coming, they didn't actually know who I was, and there certainly wasn't any programme prepared for me.  However, the deputy headmaster (an extremely sought after man that day) eventually managed to find Dollar Robert, the member of staff I was hoping to see, and after that things went along swimmingly.  

Dollar Robert - showing why he is in charge of ICT

The children catch up on holiday gossip on the first day back to school

All the students were very friendly.
I suspect that I just happened to catch this chap at an unfortunate moment
- I don't think he was actually gesturing to me!

My time at the school was a real blessing and I was pleased to be able to offer some useful advice.  In the end I managed to put together quite a detailed report and, providing Salisbury Diocese can raise the money needed (over US$ 50,000 I suspect), then I am confident that JDMSS should be able to get a working vocational ICT curriculum up and running by this time next year.  

By the end of that day I had had a wonderful tour around the facilities and met some marvellous people.  Dollar Robert's optimism and enthusiasm was such a inspiration.  He showed me the new building work that is going on, including several new classrooms already in progress and the area that they have acquired for a boarding facility. He is hoping that they will get the money to construct a purpose-built ICT room in the next few months, and certainly that was part of my proposal.

The new classroom block under way.  It was extraordinary to see serious building work going on as children
walked through the site on their way to their next class!  No H&S concerns here!

I was shown around the library, which was surprisingly well-stocked - better than GEMS's library in fact,
but the less said about that the better I suspect.

Before I left I met the Headmaster to discuss my recommendations.  He is very impressive man,
and it was a pleasure to pray with him before I left his office.

These children are the fortunate ones in South Sudan, and they never forget where their fortune comes from.
Here they are queuing for their lunch from the 'God Given School Canteen' - brilliant!

The rest of my time in Juba was spent typing up my report and meeting various of Ronnie's friends and colleagues.  I am very glad that I went, but on the whole I found the place very depressing.  Despite the appearance of normality, there is an underlying tension everywhere.  This is hardly surprising I supose given the circumstances, but makes it an uncomfortable place to be.  What really rounded the trip off for me was my welcome back to Uganda.  On arrival at Entebbe airport the queue for immigration was amazingly short and in no time I was being greeted by the inevitable grim-faced immigration official asking for my visa.  When I said that I didn't have one as I had a work permit and was a resident, her face suddenly broke into a smile and she said "Oh I see. Then welcome home".  It really did feel like I was coming home - I think I've fallen in love with Uganda!



To finish this over-long and much delayed blog, I just wanted to bring it up to date and give it a truly international flavour.  Yesterday was 'World Book Day' which I have celebrated with great panache and flair (corporate not personal I mean) at Smallwood Manor for the last 3 years.  Well, I was delighted to see that World Book Day is exactly that, and we celebrated it here at GEMS in Kampala too.  I chose William Brown from 'Just William' as my character, which was easy to find the costume for and made quite an impact on pupils, staff and parents alike - although sadly almost no one except for a few of the more mature British staff had heard of the books (most of the children thought I was Oliver Twist or Harry Potter!).  I am pleased to say that Year 5 made a good effort to dress up and a fun time was had by all.  A few pictures below give the flavour of the day I hope - although a health warning probably should be issued though as one picture includes the frightening sight of me in shorts!