Acholi visit pt 2 – those we support

For a good few years now we have been supporting a number of young people through to attend mainstream education. Each one of the children chosen was nominated by members of the community, so none were chosen by us. And also, at the decision of the community, it was decided for each individual child whether we support 100% of their school fees, or just 75%, so requiring the parents to still contribute to the fees. There were a couple of reasons for this move – partly to enable the parents / guardians to have the dignity of still knowing that they were involved in their child’s education, and partly to ensure that those same took some responsibility for their child’s education.

As I say, this aspect was initiated by the community, and we as outside donors took no part in deciding who should or should not be on the 100% list and who on the 75% list. However, we did help set up a small table-top savings scheme in the community, to enable the parents to have a way to save up the money that would be required for the start of each term, and this has been very successful.

It has been so wonderful to see the progress of the children through school. And also to see the parents getting better at money management. Most of them don’t have regular income, and it seemed like there were always lots of instant reasons for instantly spending what they earned rather than managing to save anything. But over the years the parents and guardians have become pro’s at saving a little bit here, a little bit there, and this has extended to benefiting in other ways beyond just their child’s education.

In this blog I thought that I would just share simple profiles of the children that we support, in order to exemplify aspects of the background context with which the children are contending. Obviously, all are anonymised.

Of the 21 students that we support, only 1 lives with both parents, and 6 live with their own biological mother.

6 live with grandparents, and 1 lives with her biological aunt. In all cases, the mother is still alive, but for some reason has abandoned the children – sometimes due to mental health illness and inability to cope, sometimes in search of work, sometimes just run away in search of new life, and in case has found a new partner and that partner has refused to acknowledge any of the previous children so the mother has been forced to choose between children and new man – and chose the new man.

Of those who live with their own mother, all of them also have extended family living in the house also – either cousins, or nephews / nieces (ie grandchildren to their mother) or informally fostered children.

Three of the children that we support are total orphans (both parents died), and eight have been completely abandoned by their parents (but as far as we know, at least one parent is still alive). Of those eight, 5 live with extended family, and 3 live as part of families that are not biologically related. NB there is no formal fostering programme in Uganda, so in the case of these three, the families that takes them in will have to cover their costs with no support from outside.

The smallest household is 5 people across 2 generations, the largest is 16 people across 3 generations (mum, 7 children and 8 grandchildren), the average is 7 or 8 people. And for all these households, the number of people will vary at different times depending on all sorts of factors: a close friend or relative in urgent need of a place to shelter, someone from the rural village visiting the city for medical treatment, abandoned children being taken in etc.

The standard size house for all of these families is a single room tin structure approx. 4m x 3m. Inside there will be a bed in one corner, with a curtain across to create a bedroom. A number of family members will sleep together on the bed, and the rest will sleep on raffia-type mats on the floor, covered with blankets during the colder months. Not many will have mosquito nets.

There is no running water, and no electricity. Some have illegal hookups to power, some use a kerosene lamp at night, some have a small solar lamp, some just use whatever source of light they can find at the time (candle, phone etc). Cooking is done on charcoal – just one pot cooking at a time, no oven. Most of the time the cooking will be done outside, but in bad weather the stove will come inside, potentially filling the home with smoke. And if the stove is still hot in the evening, those sleeping on the floor must lie still and be careful not to roll against it. If the stove is left outside during the night it probably won’t be there in the morning.

Water is purchased from the nearest standpipe – could be up to 50m away, and carried back in jerrycans. Long-drop pit latrines are equally sporadically positioned around the community. All perishable food is purchased on a daily basis, as there are very few fridges in the community due to lack of electricity. Non-perishable foods (rice, posho, maize, sugar, salt, oil), are carefully stored to ensure that ants, mice or similar can’t get in.

Employment for the parents is, for the most part, temporary and unpredictable. Some sell food in the market, some work in the stone quarry. Some collect empty plastic bottles to sell to industrial buyers, some work as housemaids. Some go to construction sites looking for daily work, others try portering in the markets. It’s all very hit and miss on the whole.

And that is the context into which the Acholi Community that I visit is positioned, and from which the wonderful children and young people come that I have had the privilege of journeying with over the past years. Their resilience, their positivity, their determination to do better than previous generations is incredible, and I stand in awe of each of them.

They all refer to me as ‘mama Hellen’, and I feel so privileged to have such a title. To them I am not a total outsider, although nor am I by any means a total insider. But according to my Acholi family, I stand in the middle of that insider-outside spectrum, and it is a beautiful and honoured place to be.

 

Acholi update - pt 1

 

I’ve not done very well on blogging during my time in Uganda, so here comes a little flurry as I prepare to return to UK in a couple of days.

At the moment I’m in Ntinda, one of the Kampala suburbs, and whilst here I had a wonderful visit to the Acholi community that I’ve been linked with through CRED and LII for many years.

There are a few different projects that we’ve helped to set up over the years, and a main focus on this recent visit was meeting with the older young people that we are sponsoring through mainstream education. In all we are supporting 21 students, who between them span from Primary 2 through to 2^nd year at university.

There are a growing group who are at secondary school now, and I had been asked to meet up with them and chat about options for post secondary. In Uganda, they take ‘candidate’ exams at end of S4 (equivalent of GCSEs) and at end of S6 (equivalent of A levels). After that they might go to university, or vocational college. However, vocational college is also an option sooner than end of S6 – they could essentially go anytime from end of P7, although age wise they ought to be 16yrs or above, and obviously their secondary performance would impact which level of vocational course they could go on.

But when I met with the secondary students, my main message was that the most important thing was that they followed the course that felt most right for them. Not doing something that others were telling them to do, not living out a parent’s unfulfilled dream, but thinking about their own preferences and dreams, and taking a course that would help realise that dream.

I suggested that university isn’t right for all, and that vocational courses can result in a higher chance of getting a job. And I impressed on the youngsters that there was no expectation by the sponsors that university had to be the route that was followed.

Yes, they can try for university if they have a strong reason for doing so, and if their academic performance indicates that they will cope. But no pressure that they must go down that route.

It was interesting to see the responses of the individuals there. For some, this was clearly a new way of thinking – to consider a vocational course as a positive choice rather than a second best is not the standard way over here. Still university is what many families aspire to, even though financially it is such a huge burden. And the concept that it isn’t an automatic route to a job was another bit of eye-opening news.

And for some of them, they clearly still yearn to do university – which is fine, if they’ve got a strong, well-reasoned rationale for that choice. I just don’t want them to choose that route if it will actually just make their life even harder than it already is, with no great gain at the end.

For some of the others, the thought that they could stop school before S6, and switch to something more practical was definitely a great relief. One of the students came up to me after to talk this through more. They are really struggling with school, and the thought of 4 more years of it was just feeling too much. So to hear that it would be OK to switch to doing something practical at a vocational college, and come out with a certificate to show their skill, that message totally hit the sweet spot for some. Indeed one youngster was nearly in tears as the realisation dawned that they didn’t have to go back to school in Feb, but instead could start getting a qualification in the thing that they loved doing most – tinkering with bikes and cars.

It was a really good conversation with all of the young people, and such a privilege to be playing a role in helping them explore what might be the next steps for each of them. They come from such tough backgrounds, so much of life is stacked against them – but their resilience and determination really shone through in this meeting, and I pray that they all are able to recognise and fulfil their potential.

Election time at St Joseph’s school

 

Last week when I was visiting St Joseph’s school in India, happened to coincide with election week for the new head boy and head girl, and their deputies, and it was fascinating to see the process unfold as the week progressed. I wasn't able to post this before I left India as the winners hadn't been announced, but today I heard the news of who won, so here's the blog with a satisfactory ending!

The election week started with at least 16 students reading out their manifestos in assembly on the Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. It was a roughly equal split girls to boys and it was fun to hear what they were promising. Number of games lessons featured in all, although the number of games lessons varied – maybe depending on how sporty the individual was! Martial arts club got a frequent mention – this is an extra-curricular club that is offered here, and most of the candidates made mention of keeping it, so it’s clearly a popular event.

Other items that featured included number of textbooks available, being around to help students when they needed help, helping a child get home when they miss the bus, stepping in when the teacher isn’t present, and a host of other promises – some of which felt a bit more realistic than others. There were some very rousing speeches, with one standout girl candidate ending by saying ‘a vote for me is a vote for change’!

The enthusiasm from all the candidates was very evident, but sadly not all were able to go forwards for the final nomination. The manifesto speeches were all video’d and on the Wednesday afternoon, the list of candidates was reduced to a shortlist of 12. Each student was given a symbol as their campaign symbol (hat, globe, grapes, tree, carrot, bag, bus etc), and the candidates then spent their evening preparing their campaign materials so that they could maximise on their campaigning opportunities on the Thursday.

Thursday was campaign day when the candidates spent the afternoon going round the different classes reminding the students why to vote for them. Each candidate had a little campaign team who went with them, and it was fun to see and hear them going round urging the little ones to ‘vote carrot’ or ‘vote tree for change’ etc. And it wasn’t just about campaigning to the students. The teachers and ancillary staff also get a vote, so the savvy candidates were accosting everyone wherever they went, reminding why a vote for them was a vote well spent!

Friday was election day, and despite the threat of rain all morning, every child got to cast their vote. During the assembly they were given a demonstration on how to vote, including number of votes, folding the paper, posting it in the ballot box. It was so well organised, and the children certainly learnt about the full election process during the day.

There were 6 polling booths, and each booth had election officers and a security member to ensure good process. All the students were given their own voting ID slip which told them the polling booth to go to. On arrival at the booth their name was ticked off the register, they were given their voting card, and then their index finger was marked with indelible ink to ensure no double voting. Standing in line with some of the students as we waited to cast our votes, there was a real sense of excitement at being involved in the process, and the older students were very professional in their roles as the various election officers. It really was very impressive.

The announcement of the winning candidates was delayed by an emergency two day holiday called due to an impending cyclone across the state. Thankfully, everyone survived, and when the students were back at school, the head boy, head girl and their deputies were announced to the delight of all.

Congratulations to the winners of the vote who I'll refer to by their campaign signs:

Senior Pupil Leaders (SPLs) = miss Guitar, and master Backpack

Deputy SPLs = miss Star and master Schoolbus

 

 

Trauma training in India

 I’ve done two lots of 360Life trauma awareness training during my stay here in India. One lot has been done over a number of days with all the teachers at the school, and the other training was a morning session with church leaders from nearby communities. (NB religions are not being specifically named for safety reasons)

Very different audiences with very different needs and areas of focus, and it’s been fascinating to hear about the issues that they each are dealing with.

For the teachers, the challenges relating to trauma that they are seeing for the children fall into a few broad categories. One category is the traumas relating to home life – living in poverty, parents arguing, fighting, splitting up etc, seeing their parents and grandparents struggling with health issues.

Another category is the excessive pressure and high expectations from parents for high academic achievements, fear of failure and letting their parents down, fear of reprisals if they do fail, self-imposed high expectations, and at the other end – students who have just given up trying, in part I suspect because they know that they can’t achieve what is expected of them.

The third category relates to social media, and peer pressure – particularly for the older students. There are no phones allowed in the school, so this issue is more related to the online activities of children when they get home. However, it is impacting performance at school, through lack of homework being done, or it being done badly, as well as students coming who are tired and struggling to concentrate. I must stress that this category does not apply to the majority of students, and is certainly something particular to the older ones than the younger ones, but that it was mentioned by the teachers a few times shows that it is an issue that they are struggling with, and are at a loss to know how to address.

When I asked the teachers about wider issues relating to trauma that are faced in India, three responses that came up every time were religious discrimination, gender-based violence and caste discrimination. Caste discrimination, whilst not so obvious to an external person like myself, apparently is often still very much seen with regard to access to jobs, as well as housing, and general societal opportunities. Whilst education is seen as the way to combat this discrimination, sadly it is also acknowledged that those at the top of the caste system are also the ones who wield the political power and influence that can help or hinder bringing about any changes.

Gender based violence is predominantly linked to the arranged marriage process, and a tradition of patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes. And along with the violence, there are also the gendered expectations that are fed to the children of less progressive parents from an early age. Consequently, girls grow up thinking that their future is about getting married, and producing a family, and not about choosing a career and pursuing their dreams. I realise that these are big generalisations, and it has been really uplifting to see girls at St Josephs who don’t see their role as just producing the next generation, but have hopes and dreams for their future. But again, the fact that all of the teachers mentioned GBV as a real problem in India, shows that it is an issue that still needs a lot of work.

Religious discrimination was top of the list when chatting to the church leaders. Not surprisingly really, as they are the ones who are out on the front line and sharing the gospel in the community. In the state that I’ve been staying in, this can be pretty risky, and can lead to confrontations and attacks by members of the national religious party. In some other states it’s really risky, and church leaders and elders have found themselves in prison, or badly beaten, with churches being torched and attacked – including when services are taking place. Discrimination with regard to getting a job is also taking place, and there have been several cases of the landlord from the national religion evicting tenants who profess to any other religion.

Chatting with the church leaders about this was a very sobering and humbling conversation. Hearing about their experiences, and the stress of daily having the uncertainty of whether there will be an attack or not – it takes a big toll on the body, and on the mind. Sadly, the fear is that things are going to get worse before they get better, and this is something else that is always at the back of the minds of these church leaders.

Despite the toughness of some of the conversations, it has been a real honour to be able to have time to share with these few folks over the past week, and I pray for them as they go forwards, that they will have the courage, the wisdom and the grace to navigate the path that they are on, and bring hope into a very broken world.

Goats, manure, small businesses, and more

During my time in India with CRED Partner FIAM (Faith in Action Ministries), I was able to catch up to some degree with all of the programmes that they have on their books. The big two for them at the current time are St Joseph’s school which I have blogged about elsewhere, and church planting with associated church leader training.

But that does not mean that the other smaller projects have been forgotten, and it was lovely to be able to visit all of them.

The elderly community that they support comprises 18 older members of society who would otherwise be living alone and abandoned by their wider family. Instead, these 18, along with another 12 who are supported by a partner source of funding, live together under the one roof, sharing meals, conversations, group activities, and just enjoying living out their dotage with others. The lifestyle is simple, but it is communal, and basic daily needs are met, as well as spiritual and emotional support.

In a similar vein, the community of individuals who have had leprosy is another example of simple but supportive cooperative living. In this community, each of the members has some degree of physical limitation due to the affect of leprosy, mainly seen on fingers and or toes. However they are all living independently within the community, and have their own rooms including space to cook alone if they prefer. Communal cooking also takes place, as arranged between themselves, and there is a central ‘day room’ for group activities, including their weekly church service.

Two things stood out in particular to me on this visit. First was the joyous and enthusiastic welcome that I got. I had been to the community about 10 – 12 years back, and remember sitting with the residents and taking part in some singing and very simple conversations (due to lack of language overlap). On this visit, the residents remembered me from back then, and so welcomed me like an old friend – very special. The second thing was the location – I had forgotten that this little haven is situated right next to a rubbish heap. This in part due to the stigma associated with leprosy, and so the local authority weren’t willing to give any prime land for use by the residents. Instead, they got a piece of land that, back in the day, was near to a small piece of wasteland. Now, that wasteland is covered with waste – making it smelly, fly-ridden, and generally not very nice to be near. It’s a sad reminder of how these beautiful people are viewed by the wider society, and I give thanks to God that FIAM are demonstrating an alternative way of viewing and interacting with them – as beloved children of God.

The third project that I visited is the goat farm, or should I say goat sub-farm. FIAM currently own over 400 goats and have been gradually building this number over the years. The goats are all traditional breed, and spread between 7 farming families who are given a small salary for looking after a group of the goats in an organic and humane way. The prime age for selling a goat is between 1 and 2 years old, and the prime time for selling a goat is wedding season, because the main use of goats in India is for meat rather than for milk. So, selling goats at times of celebration is the way to go, and by having the goats split across 7 locations, not only is there less pressure for a big piece of grazing land, but there is also an increased reach out to families who are celebrating in some way. The goat project is primarily seen as an income generation scheme for FIAM, and their aim is to increase to 1000 goats in total which will provide an ongoing level of income to support some of their other programmes.

Another income generator that FIAM has set up is their compost business. A generous landowner had some farm buildings that he no longer wanted to use, and these buildings had a bunch of very long compost making troughs in them. FIAM now rents the buildings at a low cost and has set up an organic compost business. They employ a cooperative of 10 families, and between them, these families collect buffalo and cow manure from neighbouring areas (and trust me, there are a lot of cows and buffalo in this area, so that’s a lot of manure available!), bring it to the site, load it into the troughs, water the manure, add the worms, and generally tend to it for a month until ready to sell. The manure is really good quality stuff, is much liked by the farmers (especially those who are working big fields of crops) and it fetches a very good rate. The families get a good and reliable salary from the work, and all the profit goes towards the cost of some of the other FIAM projects.

Talking of income generation schemes, one other project of FIAM that is going well, but that I wasn’t able to visit an example of is the small business programme. This programme is a bit more ad-hoc but still very effective, and is essentially a micro-loan scheme whereby FIAM gives seed money as appropriate to help a family start a new business or boost an existing one. In so doing, the family, who will have been identified by church and community leaders as suitable for a loan will be enabled to climb out of a precarious financial situation. Sometimes the new business is to help grow a tiny little endeavour into something that makes money – eg progress from selling a few home-grown products at the side of the road, to having a handcart that allows them to reach more customers. Sometimes the new business replaces a previous form of income generation that failed through no fault of their own. This is often the case with farming, and the seed money can help the farmer begin a new line of farming so that not all the focus is on one endeavour. Once the small business is bringing in some income, the family start making contributions to repay the loan, and so replenish the pot to allow another family to be helped. So far in this way, FIAM have supported 276 families, and all are now in a much better financial place than they were.

It's been such a joy and delight to visit all of these FIAM projects over the past few days, and I am very grateful to Janaki and the team for showing me round. Creativity, community, hope and resilience are 4 words that sum up the visits, all underpinned by an unwavering degree of faith in God. A very good recipe for life!

 

St Joseph’s school – a wonderful place to be

St Joseph’s school in Nallajeerla was set up in 2008 by Janaki Menni, her wonderful father (now sadly died), and others within the FIAM team at the time. Over the years that I have known it, the school has grown impressively from a small-ish facility comprising just one class per year group. Now, there are 23 classes, an impressive school building, and next year it will go up to 24 as the last year of single form entry passes through, and all year groups are double form entry.

It is a wonderful, colourful, joyous place to be, and despite the fact that there are over 800 children on roll, it very much has a family feel to it. It has Christian values at its heart, and although faith issues cannot be shared explicitly in the national current educational system, and although the staff come from a range of different faith backgrounds, still those values are a golden thread that winds through all aspects of school life. Spending a week at the school has been a truly memorable and delightful experience, and I thought that I would share a few of my favourite memories with you to give you a flavour of the St Joseph’s way.

The children arrive at school over a staggered period. 7 school buses bring in a large majority of the students, and each bus has 2 school runs. So, the first group of students arrive early enough for the buses to then go off and get the second group of students. And whilst the first group wait for the start of the school day, they sit and do homework, chat quietly and prepare for the day. And all the while, the local students turn up on the back of motorbikes, or walking, or in tuc-tuc’s. It’s a very gentle start to the day.

Once all the students have arrived, school assembly takes place. For this the children stand in parade-ground precision, and it really is very impressive to watch them getting themselves sorted out. School assembly is a daily occurrence, and each day a different group of students (pre-selected and at least one per year group) stand at the front to assist with leading the variation components of the assembly.

These components include (not necessarily in this order) – school song, school prayer, school motto, national song (different to the national anthem), and headlines from the newspaper (a student picks out headlines each day from the newspaper relating to local, national, international and sport). Then there is a little talk from a teacher, or visitor, before the assembly ends with the national anthem. Everyone takes part in the group responses and songs and recitations, although as with all schools, the littlest ones were sometimes more interested in the world around them!

One of the things that has really struck me during my time at the school has been the politeness of all the students. Whether just in passing on the stairs or when walking along a corridor – always there is a hello and a wave. Doors are held open, and the students quickly help out if any assistance is needed. And there is a lovely level of interaction between the older students and the younger students – on the buses, in the playground, and moving around in the school generally.

Lessons have a stronger level of learning by rote than UK students would be used to, in part due to the limited amount of school resources available. But having said that, the quality of education is high, and this is shown by the scores of the students at a national and state level, and the number of parents who are wanting their children to come to the school based on those scores.

My role this week has been one of observing, sharing a ‘moral message’ in assembly each day, doing English conversation sessions with the older children, interacting with the younger ones in different ways, and doing two blocks of teacher training each day on a range of topics, including trauma, mental health and how to be a trauma-informed school.

This school might not have the biggest income, nor the most up-to-date resources, nor the most well-to-do students. But what it does have in shedloads is love for the students, wanting the best for them, and a determination to give them a really high quality and holistic education. It is true to say that they are walking a tricky line on the faith front regarding what they can and cannot say and do, but they are walking it with wisdom, humility, and a big dose of God’s favour, and the outcome is beautiful to see. It has been such a joy and pleasure to journey with the school this week, and I am so grateful to each of the staff and students for their welcome.

 

 

Elderly support programme

One of the other programmes supported by FIAM is providing support to 18 elderly people, each of whom is widowed and essentially abandoned by their family, leaving them with nowhere to call their home. The 18 live as part of a larger community of 30, and it was a delight to visit them all today. The residents all live together and have a live-in carer who is there for them and oversees the running of their home. They are also supported by a lady who comes each day to cook the meals.

It was humbling to be able to greet the residents, and help with serving lunch of rice, banana curry, and a local orange for afters. The residents age from 60yrs up, so it was also poignant to recognise that in another life I might soon be taking my place as a fellow resident.

Accommodation is simple and very communal – one of the bedrooms had about 8 – 10 single beds in it, and the others looked similar. Cooking is just on gas hobs, and it is all ground floor. But there is a sense of camaraderie between the residents, and a definite sense of family, which was so lovely to experience.

What a blessing to be able to go and spend time with these lovely souls in their later years, and to give a little love back to a generation who have gone before.