A woman showed up on my porch this week, speaking English, already a surprise. Of all the women I know here, there are only about three that speak English well enough to converse with me beyond greeting. This is despite English being the official language of Uganda.
We sat in the kitube and talked. She was articulate, kind, and well dressed. She had hair beyond the shaved variety, meaning she had some means. I soon discovered that she had just graduated from teachers college and was looking for a primary teaching position. As many believe here that we will start a primary school, she had heard the word on the street and came to apply for a job at our school (nonexistent.)
What was really neat was discovering that she is one of the pioneer Christ School students. Esther, as I’ll call her ( not her real name), began Christ School in its’ very first year. She completed Senior 1 through Senior 4 (or S1-S4) and then took a break for a year before going on to teachers college.
Now she is back in Bundibugyo, to use her education. She is the reason we came. She is the hope for the future. Well trained, well educated, with integrity and a heart for the people, she will work to help the next generation “eradicate poverty” as they are fond of saying here.
The only problem is finding a job. Of the Christ School students in her class, one other also went to teachers college. She has already given up on finding a job for now, and is instead driving a bota-bota ( a motorcycle taxi) up and down from Nyahuka to Bundibugyo. This saddens and frustrates me enormously. The economic system here simply stinks. Right now they have sealed the primary schools from accepting any more teachers, even though the ones they have often don’t show up for school or leave hours early without notice or reason. Now a very capable teacher will struggle to find any work at all, while the students she should and could be helping will continue to lack education because of the poor quality of their current teachers.
There is a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness when the education we’re giving seems to offer negligible help of actually attaining work that could make a difference. We must have really long term vision. Someday I pray that our students here at Christ will make a difference in the way things run, at the systems level. I hope because of them the whole structure of things will improve in ways that help everyone. I hope that even for those who never find good work, their education will help them to make wise choices, and be good leaders in their community. Because of what they have learned and experienced, I hope they will make better citizens, husbands and wives and parents. Please pray for our students and for God’s kingdom coming in Uganda.