In Africa, many problems, and their impact, are visible – poverty, unemployment, traditional gender roles, drought, waste, famine, war etc. In Scotland, and many other European countries, problems are not so easily seen unless you know where to look. Substance misuse and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, isolation, poverty, racism etc all cause immense problems but they are not so easily seen. A challenge is to stop ourselves rushing to judgement of others whose lives are very different from our own.
In Uganda, I remember working with a teacher who was always one hour late for school. I said nothing but inside I was horrified. Imagine what would happen in the UK. How unprofessional. What a poor attitude. Later in a social situation, I learnt more. She lived 3 miles from school. She had 6 children and no husband. She also cared for her sick mother. She got up each morning, cleaned and prepared cassava or mataoke, lit the fire, cooked breakfast, prepared lunch pots for all her children, swept the compound for snakes, bathed and changed her mother and finished off her marking for school. She couldn’t do this at night because the single paraffin lamp was needed by the children to do their homework.
She then set off on the one and a half hour walk to school; arriving most days at 8.30am (one hour late). In order to do this, she rose at 4am every morning. She attended every after school training session I held. She wanted to become a better teacher. She never complained once.
As a teacher and head teacher in the UK, I worked hard – indeed very hard on many occasions. But I did complain (ask my husband) and I didn’t have to face Helen’s daily chores. It certainly challenged my thinking and reminded me to reserve judgement.
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