By Father Dominic, June 2021
Please receive lots of greetings from Rubanda, our School and the entire community. Thank you for your
prayers and thoughtful accompaniment. My trip was very hectic but successful. Right from the start, I
had troubles here in Maine of not receiving the Covid-19 Test Results that was a necessary for my travel.
Having failed to receive the results, a friend advised me to just travel to Boston and probably I would
take one in there. I was very lucky; I got my test there as a big surprise of its kind at the very last minutes
of check-in to the flight. It was so stressful, but God provided a peaceful flight to Entebbe thereafter.
When I arrived in Uganda, there were already rumors that a second lockdown was going to take place
because of the new wave of the virus. This indeed happened a few days later and the curfew got me on
my way to Rubanda and had to spend a night about 70 miles away from home and arrived the following
day on June 6th, 2021.
My greatest hope was to meet the students of grades 4-6 at the school who had been at school
completing their academic year of 2020. But unfortunately, they had all gone home a day before due to
the new partial lockdown. However, on the positive note, all these grades had just finished their final
term and successfully promoted to the next class. On a sad note, the Nursery grades through grade
three were supposed to report that same day for their reopening phase but never had their chance due
to the second closure. You should have been there to witness the frustrations in the lives of these
students. Before sitting down, one of the students at home approached and asked me,” Father, when
shall we finish our school?”. I had no idea.
After a while, I rushed to the school to see if I could find some remnant students. It was all empty. All
students had left a day before except the staff and administrators who had remained behind to put
things in order. I had a short greeting and send off to all staff except the essential workers and
administrators.
With this experience, I had to reorganize my vacation from the way I normally did it, spending much of
my holiday engaged in the school with students to spending it in my family instead. I had a few visits to
the school. I had Administrators meeting, had rounds of tours in the school, fields, organized the
launching of the new Board of Directors of the Rubanda Solidarity Development Association and took a
few administrative decisions. Before I could realize it, was already time to start worrying about how to
travel back to USA in the amidst of lockdown and ban of both private and public vehicles on the road.
THE FUTURE OF THE SCHOOL
The general atmosphere when it comes to comment on our school and indeed on education system in
Uganda it’s to continue to live in hope that soon or later, they will get out of it. There seems to be more
understanding and calmness among the citizens: parents and students either because they understand
better the reality of the virus now in the second wave for having cared for a covid-19 patient or have
buried a dead relative. Or they have developed a more sense and courage of how to deal and live with the virus.
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