Uniforms

Today, I went to TAOST to work on follow-up accountability with a recent proposal. The proposal was working towards giving the children at this school uniforms. Uniforms are an important part of the Ugandan school system - many schools require the students wear a uniform, including the government schools. The students that attend this school are not able to afford uniforms or many other clothes, and so having the uniforms now is a huge gift and encouragement to them. These uniforms reinforce the importance of education and that they should take pride in their school.

The day I visited the school I was going to check on the names of the children receiving uniforms and take pictures of the children. I had no idea how much fun I would have doing this. Immediately when I arrived, the girls gathered around me, posing for my camera and showing off their uniforms. After about fifteen minutes of this, the teachers organized it so I would visit each class and take a few pictures. The children were so sweet and giving me warm greetings as I walked in to the class room. The kindergarten and first grade classes I will never forget though - each time my camera flash would go off the children would literally scream with laughter. They had such an expressive response, that I began to laugh also, which caused them to laugh even more. Soon the children were bouncing off the wall and I was laughing too hard to actually take quality pictures. During this madness, I'm pretty sure that I grabbed the nearest teacher and exclaimed, "I love my job!"

Also...You will notice that not all of the children are wearing uniforms and this is why -
1. They are new to the school and they will be covered in round two
2. They forgot - this is especially true of the little ones
3. They have a solid taost t-shirt - this means the kid was the head of their class and they got a special t-shirt for this. There were two kids in every class that received a t-shirt like this.
4. I had a hard time getting all of the kids in the school pics.

Enjoy!
Lori, Fount of Mercy's International Development Director