Elizabeth's Post: Your education is your future. Guard it well.

Posted by Elizabeth
9:40 pm Uganda time


Well. It has been quite a day.

I am taking these few moments alone to write and to try and process what I have seen and experienced here so far. If my posts get irritatingly long, I’m sorry—there is much to write as each day here feels like a week, and our internet connection is unreliable so I am trying to post whenever I can! We are also trying to post pictures, but our days have been so busy that we come back to the hotel at night exhausted; the thought of dealing with technology at the end of the day seems next to impossible. We are, however, taking lots of pictures and I am also videotaping plenty!

Today we visited one of Uganda’s best schools, which is both a boarding and day school. (The title of this post comes from a sign outside of the school.) It is also where Savior attends, and we met him upon our arrival. For some reason I can’t explain, I wanted to cry when we met. I feel that we have been planning this trip and talking about him for so long, it was so wonderful to be able to meet him in person. At about age thirteen he is a sweet, sweet young man. He spent much of the time photographing his friends with my mom’s camera and walking around the campus with us as we toured the school. As we were leaving, I went to shake his hand—I was too shy to hug and not sure if it would be okay—but he came up and wrapped his arms around me. In the car on the way back to the hotel (it is an 1 ½ hour drive each way) those with us from local organizations told us how excited and happy Savior is. I was glad to hear it—he is so soft-spoken with us, it is hard to tell! We are going to try and take him out to dinner this weekend and spend more time with him, and also to buy him some of the clothes, etc. that he needs. I want to get to know him as much as possible while we are here.

We took a tour of the school with several people from local organizations and the school’s headmaster. They have a library, and very, very few computers, and are in desperate need of books and supplies. The headmaster showed us a building under construction; it is already housing several classes and will eventually hold all of the school’s classes. There are 1,520 students there. (Many of the students, I believe, are orphans; others come from families afflicted with AIDS) The classrooms have or will have electricity, chalkboards, and desks or tables for all of the children; nevertheless, their somewhat run-down state would never be acceptable at home…and it saddens me that we accept it here. What line do we cross where we lower our standards, decrease our expectations?

A college student from Kampala (he helps out at the school when he is not at university) asked my mom if we could visit his class and answer some questions for the kids. We did so and were greeted with the shy, excited smiles of many students. I was happy to answer the questions as I could and to see my mom work her magic in the classroom once again. The students (all around the ages of 11-13) asked us about US history, how they could find sponsors for their education, about the differences between American and British English, why we are white-skinned, and where the town of River Fork is located in the US. One student asked us why the American president decided to attack Iraq. Answering that one took us a while.


And the kids were so cool! Of course, they were shy and giddy and curious and smart like other kids. When they see you, many come up and shake your hand and introduce themselves like the young adults they are. Meeting them today was such a joy for me. I got the feeling they had fun, too. :)

Our visit to the school made this entire trip worthwhile. Despite the beauties of the country and its people, coming face-to-face with such relentless, pervasive, grinding poverty every day is really hard. (And I’m just seeing it—not even experiencing it!) Yesterday I really began to wonder if it is possible to change the world. As someone raised on a diet of Gandhi quotes and mantras of “Go out and make a difference!” (my mom’s students can attest to that), this is a big deal for me. And I’m still wondering.

But after meeting all of those kids today, I do not doubt the value of even the smallest efforts. Maybe we can’t change the whole world…I don’t know. But that tiny effort is so, so, so worthwhile. It may not shift the universe, but undoubtedly changes the entire world of one person. That has to be worth something.