It feels like the setbacks never fail in Ndejje. Just when we think that we have established an after school program that can be successful, the locals who are supposed to be our support system here start to show that they don't understand why we are even doing the program in the first place.
The local director for Soccer Without Borders has been trying to help Courtney, Heather and me establish a good program to get kids into the youth center after school. We have a set schedule so that Tuesdays we have reading, Wednesdays games and puzzles, and Thursdays art. We have known for a while that it would be difficult to get students after school for a number of reasons: 1.) The concept of a youth center doesn't exist here, so people don't see it's value yet, 2.) Parents want their kids home for chores after school, and 3.) Many of the kids don't get out of school until around 6:30 pm.
Now, we understand that we won't be able to work with EVERY kid because of their parents' refusing them, and we are trying hard to address that, but we aren't getting any help from the locals. The local director and the Head Mistress (principal) of Hope Primary School have apparently been getting calls from concerned parents about where their kids have been after school and why they are getting home so late. We have tried sending home letters to be signed by parents so they understand what's going on. However, the calls keep coming. We have asked the Head Mistress to either give us their names (either of parents or the children) or have those parents call us, but she refuses to do either. How can we fix the problem if we don't know what the problem is?
The local director and Hope's Head Mistress have suggested that we limit the time we spend at the youth center with the kids so that we send them home at 5 pm. That literally would give us 15 minutes with the kids. They have also suggested that we start doing what we have planned for after school during the one hour a week that we spend in the classrooms with P3-P7. That completely defeats the purpose of our youth center. We have been here for 7 months trying to establish an after school program for the entire community, meaning getting kids for schools all over Ndejje to come to work with us, and they want us to throw that all away. We aren't here only to cater to Hope Primary School.
I've known for a long time that Ugandans are afraid of change and don't like new ideas. That's why they've had the same president for 25-going-on-30 years. That's why every restaurant serves the same five dishes in Ndejje. And it's why no one seems to understand, or even want to learn to understand, why Soccer Without Borders is here in the first place. Yes, it is hard work to establish an after school program. What we need is locals who are willing to do the heavy lifting, which is proving hard to come by. I don't care if that means Courtney, Heather and I will have to go to every kid's home and talk to their parents. I don't care if it means that we only get 30 kids who we know are able to come on a regular basis. It will all be worth it to know that we have established something that the kids can rely on and develop from. Now, all we need to know is which house we need to visit first.
