The second school I have volunteered at is particularly close to my heart, and I would like to share some of my experiences with you.
Kazuru Primary school is a government school, hidden away on a beautiful hillside surrounded by banana, pineapple and tea plantations; green rustic hillsides, and of course, the dense and phenomenal Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. It's a bit of an adventure to get there every day from our lodge, as myself and another volunteer go by foot. The journey is extraordinary: the views are spectacular, the smell of fresh dew and coffee plants is magnificent and the locals we meet along the way are extremely friendly and always smile and greet us. We come across a few road blockages occasionally in the form of some goats, a pig, a fallen banana tree or even a long horned cow. In the heat of the morning sun, myself and Roi (a fellow volunteer) were definitely out of puff on arrival to the staff room every morning, but at the half way point of our journey, when you can see Kazuru nestled comfortably on the side of the hill and hear the children singing in the distance at their morning assembly, losing your breath is worth it. Sometimes I wonder am I really just unfit or does the school and its' beauty literally take my breath away?!
As I'm sure you have gathered it is a VERY rural location, and the school enrolment is no more than 160 pupils from the surrounding hills and small village of maybe 8 houses. It educates pupils from nursery age up to P.6… they have no classroom to facilitate a P7 class nor do they have enough teachers for it. In total there are 6 teachers, theoretically one for every class; however staff attendance is an issue. Quite often the headmaster (who is the main maths teacher) and my mentor James (a very good teacher) are at meetings. The majority of days I have been at Kazuru there have often only been 2/3 teachers present. This means the children are often left without a teacher for most or all of the day. However, unlike us unruly children (as we were in school) they quietly take it in turns to teach their fellow class mates from the text book or a revision paper. I am constantly amazed every day at the stark contrast in behaviour between children in the Ugandan schools and children back home. I must commend the kids here for their dedication to learning and education; they genuinely want to be in school because they understand it means a better future. But it is so unfair for those who desire something so badly, to be denied it - simply due to lack of funding.
On arriving at Kazuru, one of the first things I noticed was that there English level was not the same as it was in my previous school (Mothercare P.S - which was based in Kanungu town). Due to how rural the school is, the English level among the pupils is poorer, and although I am teaching P5, I have found my P4's at Mothercare understood me much better. Part of the problem is the government recommendation that children should be taught in the local dialect (Rukiga) until P3 level; private schools like Mothercare have children learning English from nursery level up. Nonetheless, the children at Kazuru strive to understand you and in little over four weeks I have notice their English has improved; especially one of my pupils, Francis. His English is still the worst in the class, but slowly and surely I see him understanding the instructions for the lesson without having to turn to his neighbour and peek at what he is doing. The class, as a whole, initially were very reluctant to come forth with answers, but day by day, they get more and more confident at answering questions and better at their work. The sustained involvement of Volunteer Uganda will make an immense difference to the lives of the Kazuru children. Not only will their English improve but their confidence will soar to new heights. Roi and I are only the second set of volunteers at the school and although we may still be a novelty, I can really see the true appreciation from the children. Especially at lunch time, reluctant to leave to go home for lunch they linger about and ask questions and even teach us Rukiga on the board. To show their thanks we get gifts of pineapples, avocados and passion fruits on a daily basis…. I even get a daily hair restyle from the girls!!
The teachers too are extremely thankful and helpful to us when we are teaching. They enjoy friendly banter at lunch times; especially Sylver the deputy head who was so kind to invite us to his house for Sunday dinner. Little did we know it was a community affair with a number of important members of Kazuru community in attendance for the speeches (a lot of them his relatives). For my family who are reading this, it was like being at Grannie Dee's on a Sunday!!
The boy I mentioned earlier, Francis, is close to my heart. Although not the brightest in the class of 20, he is endearing. Just today he visited me at the lodge with about 10 pineapples… a token of his appreciation for the medical care Volunteer Uganda helped him obtain for a rotten hand wound he sustained from a panga. On one of my first weeks I noticed a bandage on his hand and was curious to know what had happened. When he showed me his hand I was bewildered to say the least, it was oozing, red and very poorly stitched… to the point of festering. Myself and JB (a teacher trainer) took him to the headmaster who assured us that the boy was going to the doctor over the weekend to get it cleaned and re-stitched. Monday morning it was even worse, past the point of stitches. We arranged for Francis to come to the lodge the next day and took him to the doctor. His hand thank goodness has much improved, but I genuinely did fear that he was going to lose it. The reason Francis injured it was due to wanting to have the sharpest panga in his class to clean the compound… boys will be boys; but due to his rural location and financial status (orphaned and living with his grandmother), he didn't seek medical help, even though the pain was keeping him up all night.
Although Kazuru is set in a beautiful location and offering education to children of the surrounding area that perhaps would not travel the length of town to the other nearest schools… I can't help but wonder is an Education with a view enough? The highest mark in term three exams in my P5 class was 46% in English. However, despite the many challenges Kazuru faces on a daily basis from staff to poor English levels, I firmly believe that Kazuru will go from strength to strength with the help of Volunteer Uganda and that it indeed it has an education with a view… a view of hope, sustained improvement and a flourishing future.