Hangin' with Henry

Today was my best day so far in Gulu.

It started last night, when I told my partner teacher, Henry, that I could type up his math test for his other job. I was able to do it quickly using Word and MathType, and he was very impressed this morning with the final product. I think he was real happy with the finished product, so much so that he showed it off to several colleagues.

Henry and I had a full classload, but I think we did a real good job of teaching today. Many of the kids were tuned in, I was able to do my Centre of Gravity demonstration, and in one of the classes several of the students eagerly handed me their notebooks for a grade and my approval. I signed Good Work! on all of them with the JPM signature, because I did not want them to compare afterwards. But several of the students, (and I was happy to see that several were girls) had phenomenal notebooks. Many of these students work so hard each and every day to do their very best.

An aside, yesterday or so, JRob and I were walking into town when I noticed a young man in a tie walking along side of me. I asked him his name, and he began to tell me his story. He really values education and has finally convinced his parents to back his plan. But to accomplish this dream, after he was almost done with S2, and took a couple of years off, he had to go back to P7. How many Americans after completing half of their freshmen year would willing go back to the 7th grade to begin the journey to University. Amazing ! But this happens so often here. Many people with really amazing stories.

Today after school, I was going to watch and help Henry teach an S6 class at a different school. He suggested we go to his house and wait until it was time. He has a mountain bike which is interesting, because they should all have mountain bikes on these roads, but most of the Ugandans bikes are the English Road models. Anyway, Henry had to get a xerox made, so I watched his bike as he went into the shop. HE HAS A BUD SPORTS BIKE, WITH BUDWEISER WRITTEN SEVERAL TIMES ON THE FRAME. How weird is that? He told me looked it up in a dictionary, because he did not know what Budweiser meant, and he discovered it was a beer.

As I was waiting for Henry with the Bud Bike, a crazy man started walking up the street screaming in Luo. Obviously, I could not understand what he was saying, but he was obviously a little bit touched, or as the Acholi say mad. The funny part was as he walked next to Henry and me later he got a cell phone call. He answered, said hello, and then continued his rant by shouting into the phone. So many images today....I don't know how to describe them all. As I was also waiting, I saw a boy of 16 or so, use a pole to kind of ski, up the street on one leg. He was obviously hurt, but smiled and worked hard to move around. It was nice at the end of the street, I saw a boda boda driver stop and pick him up. I do not know if this was a kind gesture or not, but it is my blog and this is the way I am going to tell the story.

We finally got to Henry's house, it was a couple of kilometers from school, but he kept apologizing near the end. Worried about me, and the trip may have been too far. I told him I was getting rid of my car and had to learn to walk long distances. He was amazed at what I told him it took to fill my gas tank, and that I did that every week. Maybe not anymore.

Next, we got to his one-room apartment "studio", and his bed had more stuff on it then mine, including a full stereo with speakers. It was fun to know I may have met my Acholi twin in Henry. He talked about his place, and the trouble he was having with rats. He found some poison called Inducide, which he says he mixes in with some food, the rat eats, the rat gets drunk, and dies a day later. We spent an hour there going over breaking rational functions into partial fractions.

Then at 4:30 pm, we got to his class.. So much happened today.....He teaches 5 young men in their late 20s or early 30s who have not given up on their dream of university. They are all in S6 math, which is actually quite a bit further than any math in an American high school. We were working on some complicated problems. Only 3 of 10 I could do right away. I will have to review my Calc III and Dif Eq......

Finally, on the way home I saw two student from Awere , A S4 young women called Salama Sebbi Mustafa, she is the one who last year said on the video, "I like Awere SS, I like Maths, and I like the tall teacher from America called John." I also met Magom Benard Josah. They both invited me to a special day at Awere on Friday. So I will probably go, but I most excited about going back with Henry and doing math for 3 hours from 4 pm--7pm. These 5 students amaze me, that they are paying school fees out of meager earnings. Henry only gets paid 300o shillings per hour or less than $5.

I appreciate all of your prayers, and good thoughts, today they all paid off. I have also asked the administration at Nerinx to schedule an evening in September for me to talk to both students and adults. If you have not seen my pictures or heard my stories. You need to mark that day down on your calendar. The Acholi people of Northern Uganda are an amazing people, and just like many of you are my very good friends. You all need to hear their story, hopefully my humble words will give you just a fraction of the kindness and grace of my friends.

John