Leaving school!

Winnie finished her course at St. Joseph’s Technical Institute this week!
I met a very proud girl, carrying her leaving certificate, when I stopped by St. Joseph’s today.


Winnie has been studying carpentry and joinery, and now she and her classmates are ready to leave school for good.
She looks forward to start working and hopes she will find a job in a furniture shop.
However, her future is still very uncertain. There are very few jobs out there- and very many young people looking for work. With a median age of 15, Uganda has the world's youngest population, and the share of unemployed youth among the total unemployed is 83 percent, also the highest in the world (according to the new Africa Development Indicators launched by The World Bank in 2008). Finding a job is not going to be easy.
She has decided to stay in town instead of going back to her village because although her prospects of finding work related to her studies are low in and around the Kampala area, they are even worse in the villages.

I hope Winnie and her fellow classmates succeed in finding jobs- Winnie herself is quite optimistic saying that even if she doesn't find something in the line of carpentry, there will always be some small jobs around for those who are able and willing to work, and with her certificate, she is better off than many others.





Winnie and Grace, one of the teachers at St. Joseph's

Exams

My students at Budo are almost done with their final exams.Nervous boys and girls can be seen reading their textbooks or notes all over campus..

The classrooms are hushed save for occasional shuffling of the exam books or the scribbling of pens on paper.

My work here is mostly done. I walk, or rather tip toe, around with my camera-not wanting to distract the students at such an important time, but also not wanting to miss capturing this atmosphere of finality and nervousness.

The students are in the thick of it now, but will soon be celebrating.

Success to everyone!!

Only one week to go..

Back at work

The past few weeks I have been teaching at Budo again. I have been making photo stories with the Adobe Youth Voices Club and given lectures on HIV/AIDS to the S5s. On Monday the S1s (first year students) arrive and I will be filming them as they come to register and settle in to their new homes on campus. I will also be working in the girls' dormitories some evenings and will continue teaching science subjects. The beginning of term is as always a very busy time, but most of the students (apart from the S1s) have now settled in well after the holidays and seem ready to leap back into learning:) This is good, since it is a short term with a lot to cover in very little time.

There are plenty of exiting things going on, both during the day and in the evenings and I am looking forward to a busy and fun first term.

The staff room at Budo

Geoff reading about difficult people and how to deal with them...


On Friday I visited St. Joseph together with Charles to have a look at the new girls' dormitory. Unfortunately it was not finished in time for the beginning of term and the girls' are still sleeping outside of campus, but the headmaster Mr. Iga David hopes the girls will be able to move in next month. The dorm has room for up to a 100 students, but only 40 are expected this term. Hopefully more girls' will enroll next year.
The work in the dorm is done mainly by students from St. Joseph and their teachers, and it is a very good learning experience for the students.

Tiling around a shower in the girls' bathroom

Finishing the floor



Yesterday we went to an introduction party, which is kind of like an engagement/wedding party, where the groom officially asks the parents' if he can marry their daughter. An official church wedding usually takes place a few weeks or months after the introduction. This was the party for the daughter of one of our colleagues at St. Joseph. They are Acholi, from the north of Uganda, and the ceremony was a bit different from the Buganda ceremony. It was lots of fun, and lots and lots of singing and dancing..
The women were all very beautifully dressed (most of them in their traditional gomesi) as you can see from the pictures below:


The bride to be (in blue) and her friends waiting to be introduced to the guests






That's all for now
Hope everyone is well:)
Linn

2010

Happy New Year everyone!!!
The holiday is over and I am back at work again:)
Here are a few photos of some of the things I have been doing the last couple of months:

HOLIDAY
I spent 4 weeks travelling around Uganda and Rwanda. Plenty of nice people, scary and cute animaIs and lots and lots of fun!!


Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda: We left some bananas in the car and this poor little guy went crazy..He really really wanted those bananas...


Leopard and zebra

and elephant.. Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda

With my little sister Gine at Mweya Lodge on New Years Eve


Uganda on a plate: Fruit and vegetable road side markets,colourful and beautiful. And yummy!



Ugandan police boat at Kalangala, Ssese Islands,Lake Victoria

A few weeks back we were invited to spend a day at George Semivule's, headmaster at Mengo, farm outside Kampala. Beautiful surroundings:) We got a tour of the farm, which was very interesting, all sorts of strange fruits and vegetables, and Jane and mrs Semivule organized a delicious meal for us.

Dinner at the farm

African bbq

At Mengo: touring the school with Tormod's parents before heading to the farm

WORK


Inspecting the new girls' dormitory at St. Joseph Technical Institute with Charles. The girls are coming next week and the dorm must be ready by then. Fingers crossed..


Filming Winnie at work- she has been working at a carpentry shop over the holidays but she will be back at St Joseph next week to continue her studies (carpentry and joinery)


At the moment I am working on a documentary about education in Uganda, with particular focus on girls.
In Uganda, girls account for 47% of total enrolment in primary school and 32% at secondary level. Drop out rates for girls are high due to, among other things, the cost of education (families prefer to pay for boys' education if they have to choose because they will stay in the family whereas girls will join another family), early pregnancies (35% of girls are pregnant or have given birth by the age of 17- and these girls are not allowed to come back to school), work, taking care of ill family members, and sexual violence.
I am following three girls (so far) from three different schools (high school and university level), filming them at school, at work and at home. The girls speak from perspectives of advantage and disadvantage, and talk about their struggles,frustrations, achievements, and dreams.
.
Interviewing Winnie in Kisubi


That was all for now. Will be back with more up dates soon!!

Linn