Day #14

6-2-09

Wow. You think you know a culture and then you spend the day on five different school campuses (secondary) and realize there's still yet more to be learned. At each campus, the entire school held an assembly and welcomed us warmly with various "entertainment."
I must admit, I was very surprised/shocked when the first group of entertainers danced seductively to American music. It was only the first of many performances from the students that took me off guard. The dancing and the music screamed MTV and come to find out, that is exactly where they learned how to perform in such a way.
I guess after seeing the simple lifestyles of so many Ugandans, seemingly unaffected by the world's (or Western) definition of beauty and success, I found myself becoming very disappointed at the westernized culture that had seeped onto these high school campuses.
It appears the more educated you are, the more money you have (or vise versa). and the more money you have, the less innocent you are. In other words, the more you are affected by the values of western culture.
It's just so strange because it appears as though the culture found on campuses is so far removed from the culture found in the rural villages. I must admit, I am much more fond of the latter.
But regardless, I did make a lot of new friends today. I think I spent the majority of my time with Irene and Barbara from St. Lawrence University. They are all heading into their third and final years of University (Uganda has a different school system than the U.S.). Irene is studying human resources and Barbara wants to be a business manager. It was sad to have to say goodbye, but hopefully we'll keep in touch since we exchanged email addresses.
With both girls I talked about relationships and they told me how hard it is to find a Ugandan man who will not cheat on them. This really broke my heart- especially since the percentage of Christians in this country is roughly 80%.
But after hearing this, it was no surprise that they each expressed their desire to find a white man. Barbara even told me she wants to date my brother (since he's only a year older than me). When I told her he wouldn't be good for her, he reply was, "we believe love can change a person." I couldn't believe it. Once again I found myself feeling as though I were back in the States. This is exactly the lie so many girls in America believe, too. So sad...
So between the entertainment and the various exchanges I had with the University students, I would say Western culture has and is continuing to creep within the walls of secondary and tertiary schools.
I was also able to talk with a few students from the secondary schools. Another girl named Barbara was about to graduate from her all-girl school and soon enter a University, while Joseph was also aspiring to graduate soon and had great dreams of attending law school and becoming a "world changer." They were both so intelligent and full of questions for me. It's so interesting to observe these students and then compare them to other individuals in Uganda who are the same ages, yet live very differently in villages with children and spouses. I don't think we see such a large contrast in the U.S.