When Nottingham Went To Uganda
Supporters | 19th August 2008
My first trip to Uganda, and in fact the continent of Africa was one of intrigue as well as concern. Studying African politics and reading widely about the lives of Africans for many years, did not fully prepare me for my experiences in this vast and culturally varied nation.
I was staying in Jinja, located in the South East of Uganda. It is the second largest city in a lush and green country, due to the waters of Ukerewe (Lake Victoria) and the source of The Nile.
This tropical climate took me by surprise as I had expected a dry savannah when arriving in this landlocked nation sitting right on the equator.
Myself and around a dozen volunteers lived in a primary school working with teachers and students to improve classroom facilities and raise awareness about malaria and HIV. It was one of the few schools that catered for deaf children, and one of our main tasks was to improve their facilities.
Children born deaf in remote villages in many parts of Africa and the Global South are rejected
and ignored. Here at the school, they could learn Ugandan Sign Language, interact with each other, as well as teachers in order to develop the social skills you and I take for granted, on top of receiving free primary education.
Our group of volunteers scrubbed, painted and brightly decorated murals teaching maths, science and geography in a visual way in order to encourage active learning for those pupils without hearing.We ran drama, dance and singing workshops in the afternoons, in which the pupils actively learned the dangers of HIV and malaria, and how best to defend themselves and each other from these often fatal diseases. Children appeared unaware or indifferent about that fact that a mosquito net can reduce the chances of contracting malaria by 90%. This came as quite a shock as according
to government figures, 40% of hospital patients are diagnosed with the disease.
Yoweri Museveni has been President of Uganda since 1986. A rebel group known as the LRA formed soon after in resistance to his rise to power, and there has been conflict in Northern Uganda ever since. Despite this, the southern region of the country has been improving since Museveni’s presidency, in terms of health, education and infrastructure. Uganda’s warm climate is complimented by the warm smiles and waves one receives when passing through rural areas. Despite Uganda’s economy steadily rising over the past decade, tourism has not blown up in the same way as Uganda’s neighbours Kenya and Tanzania. This of course makes many parts of Uganda seemingly untouched by the commercialism that so often accompanies mass tourism. Nonetheless, hostels and hotels are not difficult to find, and public transport is cheap and easy to use.
The government also boasts falling rates of HIV/AIDs, and reports say that the number of children and mothers with the disease have almost halved in the last 15 years. This has been down to the
government investing large amounts of money into sex education and I hoped that volunteer schemes such as the one I was involved with would help solve the many problems the Ugandan people have faced with HIV.
Free universal primary education was introduced in 1997 and seen as a milestone in combating AIDs through education. Some children walk miles every day for the opportunity to learn, and I was surprised at how highly valued education was to a generation who’s parents never enjoyed such basic opportunities.
However, all is not as it seems. An apparently free primary education system requires teachers to demand tuition fees from pupils during assembly. Upon questioning this practice a senior member of staff informed me that government bureaucracy often results in school funds arriving 3 months into term, so they began asking parents for donations. Before long, schools had to ask all children for donations, which soon became mandatory. I wasn’t told how many children were missing out on primary education due to a lack of funds. Furthermore, Uganda’s statistics on HIV/AIDs has received large amounts of criticism. Information about the disease is only recorded in the cities, despite 90% of the population residing in rural areas. A number of children attending the school in which I worked were HIV positive, and teachers informed me that many more children are forced to stay at home due to the condition. Overall, districts such as Jinja appear to be progressive, modernizing environments. However this progression has received criticism because whilst the south of Uganda is being praised for it’s forward thinking government investments, the North is still being left to it’s own devices.
The devices of the LRA, as many are already very aware are being pretty much ignored by Museveni’s government. It is in this area, where many dare not venture, where the real problems lie,
desperate and alone.
