Joy…  Dignity…  I keep coming back to these two words when the images of my summer in Uganda play in my mind. My memories are filled with smiles sincerely shared, with music pounding from tribal drums and angelically sung from young ladies, with prayer from deeply thankful believers, with long conversations around the community table, and with the faces of poised, determined, hopeful young ladies trying to make a future for themselves. It was truly a transformative experience…  joy…  dignity… I continue to be uplifted by the joy with which my new Ugandan friends live their lives. I am humbled by the dignity that is the essence of the young ladies, men, and women that welcomed me into their community at Kalungu.

The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (RSCJ) belong to an international religious order of Sisters with teaching as their primary ministry. The RSCJ have shared their teaching ministry in Uganda since the 1960s, and the RSCJ have taught at the parish school, St. Charles Lwanga Girls’ Training Center, Kalungu (GTC, Kalungu), since the 1970s. Ever since 1984, the school’s headmistress has been a Ugandan RSCJ. Under the guidance of the RSCJ, the 450 secondary boarding school girls are now receiving a strong Sacred Heart, college preparatory education. Their school motto is “Dare to be true.” The school is nestled next to the tiny village of Kalungu, near Masaka, a four-hour drive from Kampala, Uganda’s capital.  The O-level students (“ordinary” curriculum) study fifteen nationally required courses including Math, English Language, English Literature, History, Geography, Fine Arts, Christian Religious Education, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Typing, Business, Economics, Luganda, and Kiswahili. They study these subjects concurrently for four years, culminating in national exams that qualify them for further study at A-level. The A-level students (“advanced” specialized curriculum) concentrate for two years on four subject areas of their choosing. Again, this intense academic preparation culminates in the national exams that will qualify them for university and the precious government scholarships.

It was within this context that I spent my month of June, 2006 volunteer-teaching math to one hundred girls in Senior-1. These girls are the equivalent age as our American 8th grade. Despite the fact that the girls do not have textbooks, they sit 50 to a classroom, they must copy every lesson from the chalkboard, few have luxuries such as calculators, and most struggle to afford the pens and exercise books, they are learning algebra and geometry that would match the standards of our California curriculum. Despite the fact that the village was without electricity for months so they studied by a few dim generator bulbs, the rain water reserves were depleted because the well water couldn’t be pumped without electricity, the health threat of unsanitary water and malaria was constant, and they live in dormitories of one hundred students each with only a bunk bed for personal space, these students were thriving in their academic and spiritual education. The contrast of so few resources yet such a strong desire to learn made the task of teaching both daunting and fulfilling. In addition to my teaching math to Senior-1, I substituted every time there was a need, held supplemental evening math sessions, tutored older students, proctored and graded mid-term exams, and worked through any and all math problems with girls who brought their homework and tests to me. But this was just the “official” part of my experience; math teaching was the skill I could give to the young ladies of GTC, Kalungu.

What I did not expect were the gifts that were showered upon me.The seven Ugandan RSCJ Sisters welcomed me to live with them in community in their convent at the school.  These women shared their home, meals, prayer, stories, concerns, music, and love with me.  We lingered long after dinner talking about our cultures and our families.  Sr. Betty and Restie taught me drumming late in the evenings (the lay teachers living nearby couldn’t understand why they were hearing drumming into the wee hours of the night); Sr. Mary taught me to shake my “cabina” in tribal Ugandan dancing; Sr. Flo welcomed me to her dairy farm; Sr. Seco modeled graceful professionalism with her dedication to the school; Grace shared late-night conversation with me; and Sr. Noellina inspired me with her vitality, her deep faith, and her wit (and she taught me to peel a mango). These Sisters became my sisters.

The lay teachers welcomed me into their community. They shared their mid-morning tea and cassava doughnuts, they invited me into their classes, they taught me Uganda history and politics, they shared their family hardships caused by HIV/AIDS and poverty, they showed me where to wash my chalk-covered hands, they invited me to evening rosary prayer. The men and women lay teachers became my friends.

The young ladies of GTC, Kalungu eagerly welcomed me into their choir (I’m a lousy singer!) to share in their joyous liturgical music. They taught me drumming, they shared their family photos and stories often punctuated with death or illness due to HIV/AIDS, and they shared their matoke (cooked banana), posho (corn porridge), sweet potatoes, avocados, and sugar cane. I was able to hug Bridget, Jennifer, Hannifah and several others who are being sponsored by Sacred Heart, Atherton and let them know first hand that they are loved by students and families in California. The girls welcomed me into their dormitories late in the evening as they washed their clothes, pumped water from the well, and finally had a moment to relax (wake up bell rings at 4:00 am!). They talked, danced, sang, and giggled with me. These young ladies became my daughters.

St. Charles Lwanga Girls’ Training Center, Kalungu is just one gem in the RSCJ Uganda-Kenya Province. Five miles down the road is Kyamusansala where the Sacred Heart Primary School is another gem flourishing after it’s opening in 2003. Their school motto is “Open to learn, love and share.”  Srs. Annette, Susan, Lucy, and Priscilian are educating 350 girls with a Sacred Heart primary education that will give these girls greatly improved opportunities for their lives. After my month in Uganda, my husband joined me and we were off to Kenya. We visited Sr. Rosemary and the RSCJ health clinic and handicapped children’s school in Chekalini Parish. I spent a day with Sr. Jennifer in Kibera Slum, Nairobi where we witnessed the RSCJs teaching in the Laini Saba Primary School, a Catholic parish school in the heart of one of Africa’s largest slums. The RSCJ Uganda-Kenya Province is very much alive with communities that are doing God’s work despite terrific hardships and lack of resources. What I experienced in my six weeks with the RSCJ in the Uganda-Kenya Province is that with joy and dignity the Sacred Heart of Jesus can and does create a better world.

Gracious God…  loving Jesus…  thank you with all my heart for the gift you gave me. Thank you for the joy I experienced in the smiles, the song, and the love of our sisters and brothers in Uganda. Thank you for the blessed dignity that I witnessed despite the enormous hardships caused by poverty, the legacy of colonialism and dictatorship, the scourge of HIV/AIDS, and the evils of contemporary civil war.

Gracious God…  loving Jesus…  please bless my friends in Uganda. Please bless the RSCJ Sisters who minister to teach, guide, and love these young women with a Sacred Heart education. Please bless the many families who struggle to send their daughters to school. Please bless the lay teachers who educate these young women who will be the future leaders of Uganda. Please bless the hungry, the sick, the illiterate, the laborer, the orphan, and the refugee.

Gracious God…  loving Jesus…  I witnessed your grace in Uganda. Please let your Holy Spirit protect my friends in Uganda.

Deborah Farrington Padilla
Sacred Heart Preparatory
Atherton, California, United States