This Is The Way I Walk To School

This is the start of my third week at Ruharo Infant School. Something I have enjoyed greatly each day is my walk to and from school. It's a solid twenty minute walk from our house, but it's one that I've enjoyed from the first day! I've learned that Nkokonjeru road, as quiet as it typically is, is a busy one first thing in the morning. All kinds of people travel it going all sorts of places.

Children and teachers going to school.

Mothers on their way to get milk from the milk men with large tin cans strapped to the back of their bicycles.

Men and women carrying hoes and pangas to do work in the gardens and fields.

Young men moving their cattle to graze.

Boda drivers dodging potholes and puddles with skill.

Sometimes I even have an acquaintance of mine waiting for me at the top of my road or running to catch up with me, baby and jerry can for milk in tow, so we can walk together for a few minutes before we part ways.

As I walk, I usually pray for the day ahead of me and that God with continually fill me with joy and wisdom in all my interactions, especially those at Ruharo.

I have found that this is also a wonderful time to practice my Runyankole. Even after just two weeks, I've seen people's responses toward me change. As I walked and greeted people my first week ("Orire ota?".. How did you sleep?, "Agandi, ssebo?"... How are you, sir?), I was always the one to greet people first. If I didn't greet them, they would typically pass me by without a word or eyebrow raise (another form of greeting and recognition). Sometimes I would catch people by surprise and they would laugh or simply ask, "Nomanya omu Runyankole??!" (Do you know Runyankole?), and I would happily reply "Nkirimu ninyega, empora empora" (I'm still learning, slowly slowly). On the rare occasion that someone did greet me first, it was always in English.

Last week, on Thursday to be exact, I noticed a change in these interactions. I pass many of the same people each day, and I always greet them in Runyankole with smile. That day people began greeting me first, "Agandi, nyabo. Oriregye?" Some even called to me from a short distance or stopped a conversation they were in to say hello. And not in English, but in Runyankole. In my mind, this was a turning point. People are going out of their way to include me in cultural norms and know me well enough to know that they can greet me in Runyankole and I can respond in Runyankole, much to their delight.

Eventually I see the sign in front of the roadside duka (small shop) advertising a "Gym/Elobics," and I know that I'm nearly at school.

I have mostly been meeting the teachers and students and observing in the different classes, babies through P4. I've purposely been trying not to teach anything yet so that I can first develop relationships, learn about Ugandan schools, and evaluate where I can be most helpful and where God wants me to spend my time. Even though I've turned down teaching lessons on the spot many times, I have sung the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" more times than I care to mention. Teachers and students alike love it and want to learn every word! Even the 3rd graders think it's pretty cool to move your thumb and pointer fingers in such a way :)

Although I have already faced many challenges at Ruharo, I'm actively trying to remain positive and not make premature judgements about teaching practices and systems here. I've noticed that even within this small, rural school, there are amazing differences between the classrooms and teachers. Everything from the atmosphere to the discipline and planning techniques vary greatly from teacher to teacher, and it, of course, makes all the difference for the students.

Each morning the students meet in front of the school to have "parade," a time for singing songs and repeating poems and rhymes. Before the children go to class they sing the national anthem, the school anthem, say a prayer, and sing a song. Often the song is "Nothing but the Blood."

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

What can make me whole again? Nothing by the blood of Jesus.

Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white a snow.

No other fount I know. Nothing but the the blood of Jesus.

I pray that they, the children and students, learn the deep significance and truth contained in these words.

I pray that the teachers would see the children as the gifts from God that they are and would realize what a great honor it is to teach and care for these young ones.

And I pray that I would be writing a letter of love and grace on the hearts of the children and teachers at Ruharo.

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 2: 2-3