Along with the other UVP team in
Kasambika 1, we went to visit Kasambika Primary School today to conduct some
surveys with a group of students as part of our hand-washing program. As we
arrived, I saw some familiar faces that play soccer outside our house. As I
said Jambo (Hi) to them, they smiled out of embarrassment and ran off with
their friends. We met the teachers and all of the students under a giant tree
in the school yard. They even sang and danced for us! Afterwards, we began the
survey with the students. The Ugandans from each team led the survey and walked
around the group of students to ensure they understood the question and they
answered in the right place. After trying out the first 3 questions, it was
clear that most of the students were confused. It is at a time like this that I
reflect on having international students on the team. With none of us able to
speak Lusoga, we could only sit and watch as our Ugandan peers toiled with the
survey. The combination of poorly worded questions and an inability to read resulted
in our teams staying at the school for 2 hours rather than 1. Once we finished
the survey, we said our thanks to the teachers and the students and headed
home. Hopefully our visit to the school next week won’t be so disastrous. On
our way back, we were followed by a convoy of students and even walked all the
way back with some of our football kids. I’m slowly learning Lusoga from some
of them!
