A look inside a primary school in Uganda

This is Pastor Robert and Rose's school for nursery and primary aged students. We spent the day there as they had "international day" during the summer break. Their school year begins in early February. We arrived in Kampala as school was releasing for the "summer holidays".

Rose is pointing to a water tank. They have water delivered every two weeks. There is no plumbing here so water is treated precious and valuable, as it should be. I know I have learned the value of carefully using, reusing and conserving water since living here.

There is a separate small building behind the school and this is hte kitchen. Here the women are cooking on large sigiri stoves big pots of food. They offer a meal here at the school every day because it is incentive for the children to come to school, as most of them hardly get a full meal each day at home. Anything to keep kids in school!

This is the tailor at the school who is now beginning to make the uniforms for the students. With this service they can reduce cost and increase quality. He does not use electricity, it is a foot pump sewing machine.

This is a classroom in the school. I was enamored with the handmade teaching aids covering the walls and hanging from string across the ceiling. All school is taught in English and many students come not knowing a word of it. A sign of dignity in Uganda is to be able to speak English because it shows you were sent to school.

These are some of the teaching aids the teachers make for the students. They are hanging all over the classroom. I found them so charming. The teachers have rooms to stay in on the school grounds. Each classroom has a volunteer from the community to assist the teacher. Being a teacher in this society is highly esteemed however not highly paid. Some conditions are universal. America has the same complaint.

School here is quiet. There are no active discussions. Books are very expensive so often the teacher uses the book to teach from but the children do not have their own copy. Inspiring the love of reading in the educational system in Uganda is a challenge not yet met. I would love to begin building the library of this school and fill it with books that enthrall the children and spark that fire of love for reading.

Last year the school was able to pour cement on the playground. It was dirt before and so when the rains came everyone was so muddy and it prohibited the necessary ability for children to get enough social play with oneanother.

This is a plate of the food they served to all the children and guests. Emily and my boys helped plate and serve the food to all the children in the classrooms. We saw in action how difficult it is to prepare the food, make it stretch so far and so the women in the kitchen are so used to seeing the plates return cleaned. Imagine their thoughts when they had full plates of food return from the kitchen by the bus load of Americans who arrived to give medical services for a week at the church. It is hard for us to imagine what a sacrifice and gift it is to receive a plate of food like this. Ther are children on the otherside of the school wall who would have given anything to clean those plates.

We saw as many as nine kids at once peering over the wall to see the international day at the school.

This is the medical team that arrived straight off the plane to receive a warm welcome from the staff and students of the school. They are here for a week to volunteer their services to the community.

The students surprised us all with a special performance as they danced to the bongo drums and sang songs about Jesus and recited psalms to us. Some of these costumes are made from banana fibers.

This is Mama Victoria. Mothers here are called Mama+the first born child's name. She has eight children of her own. Her sister died so she took her child to raise making a total of nine children to feed and educate. She is Christian, but her husband is muslim. She invited us to her small two room home. One of her children goes to Miracle Destiny School. It was important for us to sit in her home and visit and see how the families of the school live. I especially appreciated the lesson it gave my children. She told me, "God has been good to me. We are able to meet the needs of our children to feed and clothe and educate." I was humbled to see her appreciation for the basics God has provided. Rose and Robert work very hard to keep the costs of their school as low as possible so the families of the community can afford to send their children. They also raise sponsorships for children. Currently, they need nine more children to be sponsored. It costs three hundred dollars to send a child to school for a year. Anyone out there interested? Contact me and I can help connect you with a child who needs an education.

THis is another house we visited with a family at the school. This boy was reached for Christ by Patrick McCrory in 2007, and since then his mother has become a Christian and goes to church. They have six children in the home and the father is mostly absent and irresponsible for the needs of the family. She must raise and sell what she can to provide for the children. I loved seeing the big smiles on the faces of the children in that home and hearing how they want to be doctors, teachers, and business men. I asked the boy who knew Patrick if he has a bible and he said, yes I read my bible all the time.

This is their family saying good-bye and thank you for visiting us.

THis is Faith. She is nine years old. Her mother died, and her father has recently been sent to prison. Her aunt is a cook in the schools kitchen and that is who takes care of her now. Jack has sponsored her education from his pumpkin bread project. There are nine more children to sponsor before school begins in February. The future of Uganda is in these children. There is nothing but manual labor and suffering for them without an education.