Waving that white flag

Tuesday, I put on my cleanest shirt, combed my hair and faced the teacher that has been fighting us, and our program, for the last 5 weeks. It was time to make some peace...

Teacher Daphine, Jacques and I had a frustrating, interesting, yet ultimately hopeful first talk. Jacques, the Director of HOPE and our partner-one-day, opponent the next, really came to bat for us this time around. He said a lot of what Courtney, Adam and I had been thinking but really had no appropriate place to say. The teachers respect him, they listen to him, and finally he realized that he, himself held the power with the teachers and it showed as he advocated for our program.

That talk with the teacher got me to thinking: What is the real reason behind her distrust of our program? Where is the lack of understanding? But more importantly, What did I know about this woman? I stuck around school later that same day in hopes to find out.

I learned she was my age, had 2 children and a big extended family that she lived with. She liked to watch sports and hesitantly admitted to playing back in her 'younger days'. She liked board games. She liked to wear make-up and after having offered to do mine MANY times, I guessed she fancied herself a good make-up artist. She is Ugandan by nationality and has lived around here most of her life. After I ever so politely tried to avoid her offers to doll up my face, I went home. It was unsettling to me I had never tried to get to know her until now; until it proved necessary. I realized, too, my frustrations with the situation at large may have been a bit misplaced; she wasn't the only one to blame for the lack of communication. We are the outsiders, it is not Africans job to make me or the other volunteers feel welcome (although it'd sure be nice sometimes!). Maybe, because of whatever circumstances, we will always be the first to see that we have to go out of our way to fit in - but really, that's the reality of the situation when you are the foreigner. Granted, there is no excuse for flat out rudeness from locals, but as an outsider it seems a bit silly to expect locals to go out of their way, in their own homeland much less, to make us feel comfortable.

The time that I spend at school, I try to mostly spend it with the kids. I often sit with the headmistress and chat with her. There are a couple other teachers I am friendly with, but to be honest, the three of us Americans do not look like a united front to the teachers; we have varying levels of interaction with all of them and it has certainly impacted our program, most clearly (and negatively for that matter) at present with teacher Daphine.

We want the threats and beating to stop and, similar to my last post, Courtney, Adam and I need to be the ones to build that bridge to the teachers to make anything happen. We need to extend ourselves outside of our own comfort zone. It takes one person to realize a change is needed, but to really create an impact, it'll take a team.