BEST DAY IN GULU

This last weekend we had a Teaching and Learning Conference here in Gulu, and I had what would become my best day yet in Gulu. I was finally feeling better thanks to Cipro. That seriously may be my favorite modern medical invention. So I was able to eat my first real meal in days and not get grossed out at the smell/sight of the food. The conference was all about the new Emotional Intelligence curriculum being implemented in the 11 Invisible Children Schools across northern Uganda. It is definitely exciting to see Ugandan teachers become excited about the student as a whole being and not just the test scores they earn. If you’re a teacher, and your reading this, keep in mind that besides normal teenage issues, many of the students in secondary school in northern Uganda have some form of PTSD due to the horrific events of the war with the LRA. It’s crazy some of the statistics we talked about.
Ok, but enough about that, you are reading this to hear about Christine. She’s a teacher from Pabo (where I was in 2008) and she teaches Geography. She and I never taught together, but we did spend some time together in the Teacher’s staff room during the day. We would talk some, but she wasn’t someone I thought I had left a big impression upon. I was definitely wrong.
She attended the conference this year and we were catching up on old times as I asked her about Pabo. I then remembered that last time I saw her she was about 6 or 7 months pregnant. I asked her about her baby and she started to talk about the little baby girl she gave birth to. At one point she said my name, but it seemed like a little miscommunication between the two of us, so I just dismissed it. I asked her what her daughter’s name was and she told me the acholi name, even spelling it. “What is her English name?” I asked next. “Trisha. That’s why I said it earlier, I named her from your name”, Christine replied. I couldn’t believe it. I started to melt in my chair at the thought of this woman naming her daughter after me. She and I weren’t even close friends, but she had decided to name her daughter after me. Although it is not uncommon to have a baby named after you, I was still floored. Trisha is not a name you ever hear in Acholi land, and in fact many Acholi have a hard time pronouncing the ‘ish’ sound. I couldn’t believe it. As we talked, I told her that I was going to come out to visit Pabo on Friday. She then told me she would bring my namesake (her words) to school with her on Friday. She has to be around 2 years old now, and I can’t wait to meet her. Pictures will follow—I promise!
As if they could get any better, but then it did. Jolly is an acholi woman who is featured in the Invisible Children Rough Cut video and after meeting Jason, Bobby, and Laren back in 2003, she became an integral part in forming Invisible Children, Inc. She is now the country director for Invisible Children. She attended the conference on Friday and then she proceeded to invite all of us American teachers to her house that night for a bon fire. Really it was just a campfire, but I was definitely excited. We sat around a small fire and Jolly’s father, Norman, told us stories about the Acholi. (Side note for RATE- for the record, yes there were lots of ‘trees’ sticking out and through the fire-as it should be! A true African fire.) As we sat there on bamboo mats next to the fire, they also served us this amazing meal with real beef. Little pieces of steak were like heaven as I’ve never had that kind of meat here in Gulu. I had the urge to curl up next to the fire, a common past time of mine…haha. But I opted for lying back and looking up at the nights sky. The stars were amazing that night and I felt like I could lay there and look at the stars forever. Probably one of my most favorite nights in Gulu. Thanks Jolly and Norman for your hospitality.