It doesn’t take much to strike off violence in an African boarding school. Unfortunately civilized debate and discourse haven’t gotten these people far over their history, and they haven’t learned to trust discussion as a means of conflict resolution yet. Good old burning down the school, stoning the staff houses, or attacking teachers is a more predictable way to solve problems. It’s a big issue here. Last year even Christ School faced the threat of school riots, though they calmed after a strike and school closing. It’s part of the ongoing working of discipleship and integrating what the Bible says into our lives. We need to find ever-improving ways to listen to students (through student council, student comment box, and open ears to students at any time) and better and better ways to respond helpfully to their concerns. Yet not everything they want is possible; or good for them.
One ongoing issue in Ugandan schools is food. You can imagine that with 350 teenagers being fed three times a day, our food bill is through the roof (try half of our annual budget). We feed better food than is normally given at Ugandan boarding schools; more variety and some access to rice and beef instead of only beans and cornmeal, because we know that good nutrition is essential to healthy growing minds and bodies. Yet we do have a budget, so we worry over portions, and we try to maximize inexpensive yet healthy food and add in the “nicer” foods for treats. A simple thing like not enough sugar in the morning breakfast porridge can lead to notes like the ones I’ve pictured (drawn from over 100 in the comment box on David’s second week as headmaster!). And lead us to start our day with prayer that God will help students to talk, staff to listen and good resolutions to come out of all the normal, healthy anger that comes with being an adolescent.