For over 25 years the Ugandan government, under President Yoweri Museveni, has been gradually putting back together its country following the devastating regimes of Milton Obote and Idi Amin. It's a long hard struggle. These dictators decimated the commercial backbone of Uganda and (particularly Amin) virtually destroyed the infrastructure of hospitals and schools and it has taken until now for the country to be able to claim that about 65% of children are able to attend school - the percentage would be a lot lower were it not for the monetary support and hard work of foreign organisations.
However there is a beautiful archipelago in north-west Lake Victoria called the Ssese Islands - 84 islands of which 53 are inhabited - where still only about 30% of children are able to get to a school. This is primarily because of its isolation from the mainland, thus it costs a little more for anything that needs doing, but also because of the historical non-reliance of the Bassese peoples on the rest of the country. Even though the majority of the population of the islands are now Baganda (from mainland southern Uganda and who support the Kabaka - king of Buganda) and other Ugandan tribes there seems to be a great pride in being Bassese (people of Ssese).
Because even now so few children are able to be educated it means that most adults on the islands have little or no formal education. That means they may have neither literacy nor numeracy. Asking a man how many children he has an getting the answer Bitono (a few) or Bingi (many) doesn't mean they've lost count - it simply means that they've never been taught numbers so only know Emu (one) so you can imagine the problems of handling money or operating a mobile phone. It seems so basic but we sit with our children and repeat "One apple, two oranges, three pears, etc." If no-one has ever done that for you how would you know your numbers? Thus at Maranatha Gateway we will be teaching basic numeracy. It would be so easy to align uneducated with "thick" yet the majority of these people are intelligent, friendly and communicative (as far as they are able.
That brings me to the next point - English! Why on earth would we want to teach English to rural Ugandan islanders? Well simply because English is the official language of the country - although you will sometimes see Luganda (the language of the Baganda) written it is far more normal to see English. Luganda, like most tribal languages, does not easily lend itself to reading and writing. Forms are in English and most communications in business are in English. All schools teach only in English from Primary 1 (7 year olds) upwards. To get a decent job you need at least some English.
At Maranatha Gateway we will be training adults in brickmaking, building and basic carpentry. Most live in wood huts, often with roofs of wood, straw or even plastic sheeting. Their floors are normally soil. This means that not only is keeping clean awkward but diseases are more easily contracted. During the rainy seasons - and on the island the rains may often come during the dry seasons - everything gets not only damp but very wet and muddy with more chance of illness. Even being able to modernise your own home, even if you're unable to build a new one, could make all the difference. These skills can also be used to bring work as our students are able to build basic structures for others.
Then there's crop growing and animal rearing. Both fairly basic to the subsistence of Ugandans but skills that have, in many cases, been ignored as people have had little incentive to sort themselves out. And, of course, as a Christian team we will ensure that biblical teaching is never far away from what we're doing. Maranatha means "Come, Lord" so we believe that Maranatha Gateway will be a place where people will come to know salvation in Jesus and be nurtured in Him.
We hope to start the first courses in January 2014.
Lawrence is in charge of our building team and will be instructing students
This was the first classroom/dormitory under construction in January. It's now virtually complete.
Some of these blogs will not just be about updating my journey over the next months and years but will be about introducing you to the Ssese Islands, Uganda and the people there. I encourage you to keep following the journey.
Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment