“Meeting Jacob”

The purpose of visiting Liberi Secondary school in Kampala (center of Uganda) was to compare the status and facilities of schools in the central region of Uganda to those in Northern Uganda, where we would be teaching. Just a brief explanation, because of the war, education in Northern Uganda took a huge hit while the schools in central and southern parts of Uganda are more prosperous. Part of the reason is because, while primary and secondary education is supposed to be free, parents of school children end up paying quite a bit for teachers and upkeep of the schools (in addition to supplies, uniforms, etc.). Families in the south who haven’t had their homes and businesses and jobs and livelihoods destroyed in the war have more money to contribute to these things than families in the north. So, Amy, who organized the teacher exchange program wanted us to see the differences between the schools. Tired and still a bit disillusioned this supposedly more progressive school had a student population of >3000 girls and boys…all in uniforms. It had no bathrooms that I saw (just outdoor latrines), and housed about 400 girls in a dormitory that was packed three beds high, one right next to the other. I started wondering what my school would be like. Since then, I have seen the school that I will be teaching at, and it is nowhere NEAR as nice as that school. My school doesn’t even have complete walls…but I’ll get to that in a later entry. What I did want to tell you was about someone that I met…someone I never thought I would ever meet in my life, but actually had the pleasure to shake hands, hug and get a picture with. His name is Jacob. If you are familiar with the original movie that Invisible Children put out, there is a young boy from Gulu that they interview in a hut with two other displace boys. He tells his story about night commuting to avoid the rebel army and how he lost his brother in the war. In the middle of the story he starts crying, tears strolling down his face and he says something about how his heart starts beating (basically his chest starts pounding) every time he thinks of his brother. He was just so broken down from his experience with the war. That boy is Jacob, and it was his story that inspired the "My heart is beating for Invisible Children" T shirt that some of us have. Today, Jacob is in advanced level high school classes at Liberi and preparing to take his entrance exams to go to university to study divinity. It was amazing to see how far he has come since telling his inspirational story in that documentary. I can’t wait to see and hear more stories like his…stories of perseverance and success!