First Day of School

Caleb found a cockroach in his bed this morning. Under the mosquito net, right there on the sheets. It is not really pertinent but seemed worth sharing.

The younger kids started school today. I don’t have children so I have only had my own first days of school. But today I felt as if I was their parent taking my kids to school. \

In Uganda even if you pay school fees to send your child to school they still must come with supplies to fund the school. In addition to pencils and notebooks they must bring toilet paper, reams of printer paper, brooms, and so on. These supplies are used by the administration and teachers.

So last night we handed out everyone’s school supplies. Again, I have never been a parent but being one of four I remember the night before school to be a bit chaotic, finding out lunch box, deciding exactly how many binders we need, and oh what to wear that first day!

This time with a family of 48 kids last night was nuts. So many rolls of toilet paper, so many notebooks and they all look the same! I wondered how they were ever going to keep it all straight. Their supplies are not colorful and their folders did not have pictures of their favorite cartoon but they were so proud of what they received.

This morning with still some level of chaos the younger kids had on their uniforms (the upper school starts next week) with brooms and toilet paper in hand and were ready to go to school.

Like proud parents we had out the camera and video camera as we walked them to school and met their teachers.

I pray that it is a good term for each of them. I pray that they will study hard, that their teachers will work hard, and that they will each feel confident and able to be their best.