Oil! Grease! Chai! wha’ever!

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“Desperate times call for desperate measures” or so they say. In our quest for a school, we made an appointment with the headmaster of a recommended primary school in town. The secretary ushered us into his office where we begun our plea. He shook his head and said, “I don’t know what to do for you”. We sat humbly, looking at him with pleading eyes. Again, he shook his head and repeated “I don’t know what to do for you”.
After a brief silence the conversation went something like this:
Headmaster- “I’m going to conduct interviews tomorrow, so if you pay 100,000 for the admission forms, I will interview your son. But it is not a guarantee that he will be admitted”.
My husband- “I’m sorry but we didn’t come with that kind of money”
Headmaster- “Where do you live?”
My husband- “Ntinda”
Headmaster- “That is not too far away, I’m going to be in office until 3pm. If you are really interested in the place, you can go get the money, I will be waiting”
Silence
My husband- “Thank you very much sir” and we bid him farewell.

As we walked out, he followed us into the parking lot. He seemed a little uneasy but was rather speechless. After a few minutes he went back inside.
Sam and I looked at each other in disbelief, had we just been asked for a bribe? Shock! And why did he follow us out? To assess our means of transport for measure? We are using taxis just like most other Ugandans. I guess that makes us less worthy.

We missed a slot in that school - don’t have oil to smooth greedy, shameless palms, so help me God. Let this not end in a “No Longer At Ease” sort of way.

Comments

  1. Maya8:59 AM

    Gosh, what a shame!! Even worse when you are so desperately trying to find a school for little Mitch..very annoying I must say!I am such a hooter, I would not let him get away like that..what nonsense is that??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wendal5:52 PM

    Maybe he followed you out to offer you a place after realizing that you actually had options and werent going to be taken for a ride - then on second thoughts went back in after realizing how much more of a fool he'd look for saying something like "it was his mistake, the application forms are actually free"

    That sort of school doesnt deserve a son like yours in their institution. He's (the HM's) bad reputation would be covered up your own good reputation & you'd unintentionally have referred the school to someone else just becoz they know your son is there.

    Dont go back. Keep your head up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. petesmama1:18 AM

    Sorry-oh.

    You will get lots more of that the longer you stay in Uganda. But you did good not to succumb to the chai requests. Something will work itself out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kymbugs10:27 AM

    I was going to make a glib British remark like
    'Would you want your son to be in a school like that - where clearly the headmaster has no scruples. What kind of values would your son learn?'

    Then I put on my African hat and acknowledged that it's tough to stay 'clean' in Uganda! Reminds me of that Chinua Achebe book that we did for literature in school 'No Longer At Ease' where this young man returned from England, full of ideals and determined not to be as corrupt and bound by tradition as other Africans. The book is about the gradual erosion of his ideals until he becomes just like the people he vowed not to.

    If you do not want to be part of the corrupt system, then be prepared to pay the price - as you've discovered, there is a cost. But God will honour your integrity and will raise you up. You need to think 'long term' though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. jny232:41 AM

    That was some heck of an HM yu met. He should have asked where yu bank as well so he could direct you to the nearest ATM machine.

    Have yu checked out Kampala Junior Academy? Its in the valley below the kla golf course. Believe me Mitch shall not miss his school in Philly.

    Oke, this' some kind of kalango as its my senga's school but ask around and many shall recommend it.

    ReplyDelete

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