I’ve definitely always been a type B personality. I’m not a planner, schedules aren’t second nature to me and I’ve never had a hard time just going with the flow and seeing what happens. However, I am no match for Uganda. Their culture is just at such a different pace than the U.S- I’ve seen one clock since I’ve been here. Everyone is just layed back and doesn’t have an agenda. It’s refreshing to see a community just chilled out.
This past tuesday, I felt first hand how Ugandans don’t seem to care about planning or time, in general. My teammates Shelby, Kaia, Jenny, and I arrived at Fountain Primary School in order to see what the school needed help with. We knew there were over 600 kids and few staff. I expected to assist the teachers with the kids or help with paperwork. I was willing to help with whatever they needed. When we got there, they asked us if we wanted to teach. For those of you that personally know me, I’ve never done any type of teaching or been close to a classroom. However, I felt pretty relaxed and was willing to put together a lesson plan for a class. One of the teachers lead us into different classrooms one by one. I was expecting to sit quietly in the back and see how Ugandans teach and learn. I thought I could get a feel for it then come back the next day for the new challenge of teaching. Well…needless to say, the teacher and I had a different plan.
As I walked into the classrom, about 40 children rose up and did a unified clap to greet me. The atmosphere was very welcoming and I became super excited to learn how the school system worked. Then, the teacher announced to the classroom that I was their new teacher. He handed me a piece of chalk and said teach them, then he proceeded to leave. 40 children were staring at me in a hot silent classroom, hanging on my next words. After taking a deep breath and composing myself. I greeted the class and asked another teacher what they were currently learning. He then handed me a book of peroper english I didn’t even understand. I then continued to teach the kids english and tried to have them engaged. After I was fresh out of teaching ideas, I proceeded to learn African songs and taught them the song, “Lean on Me”.
I will never be able to express the joy of hearing me and 40 beautiful Ugandan children singing lean on me in perfect unison. This experience is a reflection of how this trip has been so far. There have been so mnay times that I’ve been just thrown into a situation, feeling unequipped. Then, by God’s grace, I am filled with so much life and joy from the experience and I leave feeling that I am exactly where God wants me to be.
