A Narrow Path In A Distant Place (Lane Farr): The Miracle in Seya

08 August 2012

On Wednesday 08 April 2012, we had the opening ceremony for the school in Seya. As is usually the case here in Uganda, people started showing up about an hour after the advertised start time.

The fact that a school is standing on that plot of land is a miracle in so many ways. The head builders and citizens of Seya were up till after 4:30am pouring cement in the rooms, without any lights. (The day before I helped with concrete. Mixing everything by hand and then moving it into the rooms one wheelbarrow at a time was extremely tiring and took a lot of time. I cannot imaging how tired they must have been.)

The new school complete with yellow ribbon/bow in the front.

People gathering in the former school to start the ceremony. Pastor Francis (the MC) leading the ceremony.

Seya school students performing for us. I love these kids. They are my friends.

Elijah leading in his part of the song. I've talked about him before. This little guy walks around five-six miles every day to get to school. Then, after a full day of school, (which has involved heavy labor for the last few months) he walks back home. He is one of several kids who always comes and works along side me. We have had a lot of fun teasing each other/playing around during work.

During the program, Pastor Francis had all of us Americans come up and sing a song. (we scrambled and ultimately decided on "row row row your boat")Then he made the parents (PTA) come and perform a song . They were awesome. The people here are such fun/amazing people. They go through so much. I found out recently that several of these adults whom I have become friends with are HIV positive and their kids (also my friends) are likely to be orphans in the upcoming years. Thanks to pastor Josiah, so many orphans here have a chance in life. They deserve this school I'm so grateful I could be a part of this.

The man next to Pastor Francis was a government representative. He had many great things to say. Not the least of which was that he is going to move the application papers through to get some government-trained teachers to Seya and help them get funding.

The kids performing again. These four pictured here are among my favorites.

The pastors: Francis (on the left) and Josiah (on the right). Josiah was looking pretty good for having poured concrete all night and then woken up super early to set up for this event. Without Josiah in this community, there would be a lot of kids without a chance in the world. He is my hero in so many ways.

Just before the ribbon cutting.

A look at the section where the kids were sitting. The boy in the front left (with his legs crossed is probably my favorite of the boys. Pius is his name. I call him Pius the Powerful. We worked/played a lot this summer. He's such a funny/fun kid. We kept making faces at each other during the event.

Here's Pius trying to look serious.

I gave a speech soon before the ribbon cutting. It was really cool to be able to address all of the people I have grown to love. More than just brick and mortar, this school is a physical reminder to each one of them that they matter. That they are good enough to deserve a school in which they can learn.