Education Is Big Deal!

In 1993, at 8 years old, my grandfather decided I was old enough to walk the approximately 6 miles to school alone and learn from Henry Michael. Teacher Henry, as we called him, had completed a second grade education, from where I don’t know, and he taught the children who were just starting school [K-3]. I would wake up wash my face with dirty water and brush my teeth with my (stick) branch of the tree.no breakfast in South Sudan begin the long walk arriving at school between 9:00 -10:00. As soon as we arrived at the tree, all the students would have to clean the area by sweeping with elephant grass, set up the rocks [our seats] with space in front of them for writing [paper], gather sticks [pencils] for writing, counting, and arithmetic. The master on duty would beat the drum at 11:00. It was time for prayers where we would call on God, who is the giver of wisdom and knowledge, this was our sign it was time for class to begin. Different classes were set up around the mango tree for different levels of learning, like primary grades. Teacher Henry would speak in Moru, our tribal language, but we had to learn in English. I learned the alphabet, numbers, body parts, animal names, shapes and many other general English words. Teacher Henry would teach us, give us an assignment and make us practice in the dirt, while he moved to the next class under the tree to teach. When it was time for a student to take test, all students would leave from under the tree and he would call you back one by one and asked you questions to see if you had learned the lesson he had given. School was Monday through Thursday until around 3:00pm and we had no water or food during our school, unless you brought some with you. On Friday, all of the students and their families had to pay for the education by going to Henry Michaels tukul and working in his garden. There was a rotating schedule because there was also a garden to be worked at the school. We would be tested once every month during the school year. At the end of the school year there would be a big festival using the food grown in the school garden and each student would receive their grade and promotion status in an announcement to the people. Festival was a big deal and I worked very hard to learn my lessons so I could move on to the next group under the tree. Still to come next week.