Day 3:

As I write we are experiencing one of the strongest rainstorms I have ever seen. It is probably raining at a rate of 3 inches per hour right now with gusting winds and lightening. Believe it or not the roofs of the school are holding up fine, but the foundations are not, as water is leaking through the bottom corner of the teachers lounge right now. Uganda is amazing! It has rained very little in the two weeks we have been here, even though it is the beginning of the heavy rainy season, and it was sunny and blazing hot just a half hour ago. I had to finish my math lesson a few minutes early because no one can hear above the crash of the torrential rain on the tin roofs. Also, because the school has limited electricity, the rooms get very dark when the sun is not shining. What is mind boggling is that it rains in Portland almost everyday for 7-8 months and yet I am fairly certain that we just received the same amount of rain here in just the last 75 minutes.

The teachers here are really wonderful people; they have even given me a Ugandan name, Mr. Lumu, which means ‘alpha’ or ‘one’; it’s a tribal thing. The five teachers, including the headmaster, whom I am sitting with now waiting out the storm, have combined teaching experience of 98 years! They all completed teacher training programs and genuinely seem to care about the children. It is very refreshing to see their dedication to their profession and to be part of their team for three weeks. I am quite lucky to have found this school.