Once upon a time…A and S went up a hill with 77 children. One of the children decided to run up the hill and fell. S stayed with the injured child while A had to take 76 children back to school without any of them getting hit by a boda boda or a motorcar. Easier said than done. The end. As a result of working with children, I think I am going to start writing non-fiction fairy tales like the one above. (Warning – those who enjoy/like/tolerate Disney should stop reading this blog entry i.e. my sister…you know who you are). Additionally, I recently saw the last half of Enchanted. I think it was an excellent movie to make people realize how ridiculous Disney fairy tales are to real life. Seriously…the fairy princess was completely disconnected from society as a result of her ridiculous ideas of true love and insane happiness. Those who haven’t seen the movie, I will save you the time…it ends with a happy ending. Surprise surprise! I think I need to watch Requiem for a Dream at least 9 times (favorite number – Go Mia) in order to forget the movie. The only good part in the movie is that one of the characters is played by the actor Idina Menzel, who plays Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway (Oh 44th and Broadway in NY…how I miss thee!). By the way, Election Day in the U.S. is about a day and a half in Uganda. If you think about it we have the whole day of the 4th, along with about 9 hours on the 5th because of the time difference. Fun times…ulcerific!
Yay for Obama! Now I am pretty sure I will be back in the states after these two years. I was thinking about staying here or Yemen if McCain was elected. I guess I can stop looking for those plane tickets. It was hard to tell whether I was in Uganda or the United States the day after the election because of the excitement pertaining to Obama’s win. There were parties everywhere…well, not so much Ssanje trading post where Sabina is located, but most everywhere else that is considered a bigger village. Don’t get me wrong, people at Ssanje were very excited, but there is only so much “partying” you can do with 350 abaana (children) around. However, about three days ago, the P7 students finished their two days of testing for the PLE exam, which is the test they take in order to enter secondary school, so they had a big party to celebrate. If the students pass the PLE, they get to go to secondary school or S1, if not, they are sh*t out of luck. Forgiving system huh? Not so much…these same tests occur at S4 in order to go to S5, then at S6 in order to go to University. If the child at some point does not pass an exam, she does not get to continue on with her knowledge based schooling. Rather, at the secondary level, if she does not pass, she is sent to a technical school to learn how to sew and tailor clothes (of course these technical skills are different for women and men – gender roles are overt here).
Yay for Obama! Now I am pretty sure I will be back in the states after these two years. I was thinking about staying here or Yemen if McCain was elected. I guess I can stop looking for those plane tickets. It was hard to tell whether I was in Uganda or the United States the day after the election because of the excitement pertaining to Obama’s win. There were parties everywhere…well, not so much Ssanje trading post where Sabina is located, but most everywhere else that is considered a bigger village. Don’t get me wrong, people at Ssanje were very excited, but there is only so much “partying” you can do with 350 abaana (children) around. However, about three days ago, the P7 students finished their two days of testing for the PLE exam, which is the test they take in order to enter secondary school, so they had a big party to celebrate. If the students pass the PLE, they get to go to secondary school or S1, if not, they are sh*t out of luck. Forgiving system huh? Not so much…these same tests occur at S4 in order to go to S5, then at S6 in order to go to University. If the child at some point does not pass an exam, she does not get to continue on with her knowledge based schooling. Rather, at the secondary level, if she does not pass, she is sent to a technical school to learn how to sew and tailor clothes (of course these technical skills are different for women and men – gender roles are overt here).
3 comments:
Morning sunshine.....u always brighten my day....so how did the "Amy tale and the 76 wonderful followers" end????....you are writing about the experience so I guess u made it! U r a trooper,some fun now?...Lv u bunches xoxoxo
THE REAL STORY...
Once upon a time there lived two sisters. One liked children and Disney movies and the other one like movies about peoples death. One day the sister who liked death went to a new country. She started working with children and ended up teaching them wonderful things. As the weeks went by the death sister decided that she wanted to watch a Disney movie. She loved her sister so much that she wanted to know what was so wonderful about Disney movies. As she watched this movie, Enchanted, she started to sing along. As the death sister sang she realized life wasn't so bad and her wonderful sister was right, Disney movies are great!From then on, the death sister was know as ndimukuumanga 'I'll always look after [them]' because she cared so much about her new love, DISNEY!
The end
Amy,
What is your new address? I am going to need to know at some point :) Your sisters version of the story is great. Way to go Stacey!!!
< hugs >
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