To The North Once More

By Jennie Wellsand

Only having a short time in Gulu last week opened my eyes to a new challenge; building trust.  Fields of Dreams has only been partnering with these schools in the North for a month & a half & children aren’t running up to our team laughing & wanting to hold our hands.  The trust that we now have with our Kampala schools has not been built in the North yet.  There aren’t over 1,000 students singing my song & there aren’t 1,000 begging to hold their hands.

As our March team drove up to Gulu from Kampala on Monday afternoon, it was exciting experience the drive through a team member’s eyes who had never taken that route before.  The road to Gulu is bumpy, dusty & emotionally draining as you see young children (as little as age 5) walking on a busy road with vehicles flying by at 60 mph.  These children are typically on their way to lunch, walking home from school or pushing a bicycle with gallons upon gallons of water to a destination unknown.  At the beginning of the drive I decided to spend time listening to music to pass time.  I made the choice of listening to a band called All Sons & Daughters, I had a new album from them & hadn’t had the chance before leaving The States to give it a good listen.  This particular drive was NOT the best time to listen in.  ..Or was it?  As I listened to songs talking about the least of these & how hope is coming & is here, I began to think about the changes & impacts Fields of Dreams is making as an organization.   FoDU’s slogan is, Hope is a Basic Need.  ..And they’re providing hope in every area they are blessed to do so.

Today we visited two primary school, Koro & Gulu P.T.C.  We had the opportunity to observe classrooms & go over what a Dream Plan is with the older students.  When we split up to observe classrooms I quickly reserved the right to be with the little ones on campus & began my visit in the P2 classroom.  They welcomed me & I sat in the back with my friend Denis (FoDU’s Program Manager for the North) & the students counted from 200 to 230 in their native tongue.  These students were eager to learn!  The teacher asked students to write on the board numbers she’d call out, & almost every hand went up.  It was encouraging to see enthusiasm within these classroom walls.   The students were extremely focused & respected their teacher as well.  Me, being a 27 year old American, kept getting distracted by the wind slamming the door shut, the windows doing the same, the flies & the heat increasing throughout the hour & seeing Shane walk in the classroom with a video camera.  None of these distractions however phased the students.  They continued to keep a listening ear & seemed motivated to participate.

One thing I struggled with as I observed the next classroom was the lack of resources on site.  The P1 teacher, after warmly welcoming me, did a few reading exercises on the board, (once again, in their native tongue – I didn’t realize they started teaching in English at P3) the same enthusiasm filled these students minds as the P2 students.  The teacher asked the children to get their notebooks out & so many of them were lacking pencils.  A majority of the students were mumbling about something & the teacher looked at me & said, “They are complaining about their pencils!”  I looked over at the student next to me & the pencil was just a little nub.  The P1 class was much bigger than the P2 class.  I think there were about 90 students in P1 compared to maybe 55 in P2.  The rooms were about the size of my living & dining room in my apartment, which are not that large.  

So these evening, as I sit in a dark room because the power is out in Gulu, I am left wrestling with the question of how can I continue to provide hope in Uganda.  How can I & my occupation of being a full time musician help provide hope to the hopeless, to the hungry, to the hurting, & to the one who cannot yet trust because of this country’s past.  I’m ecstatic to be in the North once again, to be challenged, blessed & see hope remain.