TESS v2

INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of 2008, the fifth year of running the scheme, we have 245 children from Teso being sponsored, most at secondary school with a few in technical and vocational schools and in further education of various sorts.
In December 2007, we again ran an 8 day Retreat (a bit like a summer school) for all the students except those in S2. The programme was very varied and included topics such as corruption, relationships, sex, different careers, study skills, and simple development projects. They had practical sessions in which they made clay ‘ovens’, baked cakes in tins on open charcoal burners and vaccinated chickens. We taught them a range of games, puzzles and exercises which our children play from the time they are toddlers, but which they have never experienced. They also had plenty of time for rest and relaxation and creative activities, including writing. They responded enthusiastically to the writing and drawing competitions. Each day started with worship and a talk on various young people in the Bible who were used by God even though they were still only children or teenagers. The girls often started spontaneous worship and dancing. Perhaps the highlight for many, having never been outside Teso, was a day trip to Jinja to see the ‘source’ of the river Nile as it leaves Lake Victoria and Bujagali Falls a few miles downstream.

THE 2007 CHALLENGE TO WRITE A SHORT STORY OR POEM

Whilst on the Retreat in December 2007, the sponsored children were invited to write a poem or short story on a variety of set topics which included:-

a traditional story (these have been collected in a separate book)
the best or worst day of my life
beginning with the words: “Just as the sun was setting, .......”
ending with the words: “.......... and they all lived happily ever after.”
beginning with the words: “You can’t leave anything behind. You bring it all with you, whether you want to or not” (from Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney)
“If only a mango tree could speak. It has seen it all: the best and the worst” (from George Alagiah)
starting with one of the following words: Tragically ...., Frustratingly ...., Happily ....., Mysteriously ....., Desperately ,,,,,,

About 200 entries were handed in. Although we wanted to give prizes to the best, we weren’t able to read them all whilst there and so brought them back with us. I am very grateful to Jonathan Clark, Immaculate Akurut, Pam Miller and Brenda Clayden who read them all and picked out the best for publishing, and also Ros Pearse and Gill Bayley who helped with the typing. We have done the minimum of editing.

One of the reviewers wrote: “These entries are a commentary on life as experienced by the sponsored students – so different from that of teenagers in the UK. The most common subjects are AIDS, poverty, corruption and the troubles caused by the LRA rebels. For many the ‘best day of my life’ was the day they knew they were going to be sponsored. There is no romantic verse, nor poetry describing the wonders of nature. Yet these are not poems of despair: For most of the students, their faith in God enables them to meet and overcome all the difficulties that life throws at them.”

The 2006 challenge
The students were invited to write a short story or poem begining with one of a number of suggested sentences or words, some of which were from poems or stories written by published writers. This explains why many of the poems are similar. Of the choices they were given, the words or sentences which they used included:

Africa my Africa (or Uganda or Teso)...........
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs......................
Africa of whom my grandmother sings.............
Curiously, ....................Sadly, .........................
Walking, ......................Mysteriously, ..............
Frightened. ..................Large..........................
All endings are also beginings.
It was a perfectly ordinary Friday afternoon in Teso until.........



Together with some biographical information about each girl, their stories and poems will give you quite an insight into their lives and culture, their concerns and feelings.

Some are very powerful and moving. All are a real achievement, especially when you consider all that they have gone through to reach this point in their short lives- and they are writing in a foreign language!

Together with some biographical information about each girl, their stories and poems will give you quite an insight into their lives and culture, their concerns and feelings. Some are very powerful and moving. All are a real achievement, especially when you consider all that they have gone through to reach this point in their short lives - and they are writing in a foreign language!
(Note: Several end with “For God and my country” - this is Uganda’s motto)

Entries appear in no particular order. SS means Secondary School and HS means High School.