An hour and a half later we ended up in Kamwenge

The more we get together together together the more we get together the happier we’ll be.

80 voices paused, 160 hands balanced shoulder width apart, and a common intake of breath was appreciable. Three seconds later the chorus returned:

For my friends are your friends and your friends are my friends (don’t forget to point!) The more we get together together together the more we get together the happier we’ll be.

Perhaps appropriate at a conference on primary education, the sight of teachers, headmasters, local government officials, and NGO representatives participating so fully involved in nursery song was fascinating. During the two day education conference in Kamwenge District topics included the status of local education, exam results, and NGO partner experiences. The quality of teaching, class size (pupil to classroom ratio 83:1), lack of resources, parental contributions, and prevalent student and teacher absenteeism were major issues. The lack of a literary culture struck me overall: inefficient teaching in large classes, unsupportive parents, and limited supply of books deprive kids of the practice required to really learn how to read. The conference was an exceptional opportunity to listen to the stakeholders give their own take on the statistics that I am so familiar with; it would have been easier to contextualize the information if I had heard of Kamwenge before we drove into town. Increased attention to school basics such as penmanship and question interpretation was called for; I got a lot of complements on my handwriting. Considerations for the “girl child” and persons with disabilities were usually excluded from presentations but were mentioned during open discussions.

African tea (milk, tea, and a lot of sugar) was served from jerry cans multiple times throughout the day; the provided meals and a travel allowance attracted participants (contrast that with conference registration fees!). Participants were overwhelmingly male (65/80) and numbered 120 near lunchtime when the church hall was fullest. A little blame-passing began on the first afternoon, but the conference concluded with groups of stakeholders each brainstorming short-term goals for themselves. Each time the microphone was passed, a new presenter shared his own views at length. During these speeches, I caught many attendees in brown suit coats staring over at me in the back row. Even though these looks (the same that I get everywhere) are without judgment, they are simultaneously without purpose and I find them disconcerting. It goes back to American mothers chiding their preschoolers for staring at others; here it is the older generation that teaches kids to wave and call to mzungus. It’s just different and strange to me. As is standard, we ran two hours behind schedule (sometimes stretching to three) from opening remarks through the Local Council chairman’s hour-long closing sermon on dependency thinking.

I attended the conference with two others from KRC. Kabarole Research and Resource Centre (KRC) is an indigenous research group well-established in the area, located 25 minutes by foot from the hostel where I’m staying. The hostel is in a great location out of town down a dirt road, quiet and calm. Upstairs from the hallway of dorm rooms is the office for an NGO that works with local orphans and pays school fees for 400 or so students (so there is the occasional straggling kid hanging around, but it’s Uganda so that’s expected regardless). The woman in charge, Carol, is a white haired lady who plays the role of tough-love grandmother well. I was suspicious upon first meeting that she was disillusioned by too many years of NGO work, but I think she’s a genuinely nice lady with a pure no-nonsense attitude toward life. It’s cooler in Fort Porrtal (F/P) than Kampala (K’la) and my fleece and raincoat will be put to good use. It’s the beginning of rainy season and the first two afternoons here blue thunderstorm clouds blended into the Rwenzori Mountains and created an eerily uniform cornflower blue sky. I’m excited to be in my new home for the weekend to explore a bit and maybe even relax.