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.