Return to Uganda

Jennifer returned to school today. First, one of the teachers at her school, UNIFAT, gave her a placement test. Jennifer scored really high on the English portion -- she went from knowing little English to near fluency while she was in the United States -- but did fairly poorly on the math section. She was assigned to a form 4 class. Because the Ugandan system is based on the British model, form 4 is not equivalent to American 4th grade, though I don't know the exact difference. There was a 15-year-old girl in her class who is closest in age to Jennifer, 16. There were a number of 13- and 14-year-olds too. The education of a lot of kids has been interrupted here because of war, poverty or other hardships.

Jennifer stood out among her 90-plus classmates. First, she hasn't gotten a school uniform yet and so was dressed in a black t-shirt and pink skirt. Secondly, she was the only student with a water bottle on the long desks kids sit behind. She was, in fact, the only kid with anything other than a notebook and pencil in front of them. She had a little trouble following the teacher's instruction for an assignment, but got it in the end.

Some kids looked at her once and asked her what she had brought them from America. Actually, kids were staring more at the two white Americans, me and photographer Michael Wirtz. After we leave Gulu, which will happen tomorrow,I think the novelty of Jennifer having been in the United States will quickly wear off.

I think Jennifer will have many challenges in getting used to being a full-time student in Uganda. Her schooling was sporadic in the U.S. because of her many surgeries and doctors' appointments. Jennifer obviously feels a bit overwhelmed now, but I hope she will triumph over any difficulties because education is truly the key to her future -- and she has a lot of catching up to do.