Harriet, Girl Power in COVID 19.
Deep inside Muwangi lives a woman who was abandoned by her husband around the middle of last year, 2019. The man who got excited about another woman in the nearby village left to start staying with his new wife, leaving her with his 7 children, 3 boys, and 4 girls.
Despite the difficulty that comes with taking care of a young family in the rural Muwangi, Harriet’s mother rares and sells local chicken together with her tomato harvests to keep 6 of the children in school. Harriet’s sister, Rose is in Senior One, she goes to school in the nearby trading center.
When I made a support trip to Muwangi in May to distribute Readers and workbooks, it was difficult to find a local leader or a parent who speaks adequate English and could help me distribute the learning materials. I contacted Claire, A Teach for Uganda fellow placed in that community to suggest what would work for me. She quickly responded that a little girl lived not far away from the school called Harriet. She advised that she would be of immense help in the distribution exercise since she knew where all the other kids lived.
On the day I travelled, I was hesitant. I didn't know if it were actually the right decision to trust this young girl with work that clearly would take over 7 days to complete. I reluctantly chose to proceed. On meeting her, her exceptional collectedness and the English that came out of her impressed me. I got a strong feeling that the bridge to reaching the rest of the rural pupils was established.
The instruction I gave her was that upon the finish of reading, a pupil must return the Reader to her to exchange for another title, there were up to 5 children’s titles that the organization had provided. The workbooks, they could keep and complete the assignments as they waited for their Teacher leaders, Claire and Kenneth to reach the village and evaluate their work.
Within a week, Harriet had influenced her roughly 50 other colleagues to read at least 3 books. By the end of the second week, all 5 titles were read by three-quarters of the pupils. Thanks to the interesting content and pictures in the Readers, they instantly became a staple among the precious Muwangi children. When I called her mother to find out if the books were safe, she told me that I needn’t worry. All Readers were safe.
Now I hold this insatiable admiration for Harriet and wonder what a useful citizen this vulnerable young girl could grow up into with life’s best opportunities on her side. I live in hope that this will come to pass. I’m certain that sooner or later, a good samaritan will give her a better education experience after her primary. Personally, she has my constant support and encouragement and that of the Teach for Uganda champions serving her school and community. And I’m glad each day that Teach for Uganda thinks and is restless about quality education for her and her classmates.
