Where Health and Community Converge

Today was a bit of a piecemeal day, as SK classes have finished in preparation for next week's exams and Hadassah kids were participating in a number sporting events.  School is winding down faster and sooner than I expected, and it should make the lat 1.5 weeks of my stay here very interesting and unpredictable.
The heads of SK seem very into the idea of academic competition after the success of the debate, and we now have an essay competition and spelling bee planned for Friday.  Essays are due tomorrow, and must discuss whether or not the student believes that teachers should cane students as a form of discipline.  I am interested to read the essays and hear the kids' opinions as well as see how they express themselves in writing.  The winner will read his or her essay aloud to students on Friday and will be awarded a dictionary (a hot, and expensive, commodity here).  The spelling bee winner will be granted the same award.  The idea is to allow the kids to work on their writing and language skills in a competitive--and fun--environment, and I hope that these sort of competitions will continue after we leave.  Honestly, I think the day of debate could be the most beneficial for the students, and I'm happy that the teachers seem keen on continuing it.

After ironing out the details for the end-of-term competitions, I spent the afternoon at Tobin Health Center, the Abayudaya's health clinic which serves the Mbale area.  As a private clinic, it's considerably nicer than public ones, meaning that most patients get their own beds and those who can pay can even receive private rooms.  Of course, drugs and overnight stays all cost, though the community often financially assists Abayudaya patients in need of treatment.
In addition to a clinic, the building, which includes a hair salon, barber/video shop and a few offices, also serves a sort of central meeting and gathering area for the central members of the community.  One could call it the it the Abayudaya JCC! The rabbi, his wife,  J.J. as well as the community chairman and various others can often be found working out of there at different times and the businesses there are also run by community members.  Spending an afternoon there involved running into all of these people as well as some of the friendly Tobin staff, including Saul, who manages the desk and lives in the Nasinye community I visited a few weeks back.  Eria, the current Abayaduaya Committee chairman, was also there for a while, and I'm hoping to speak with him more tomorrow morning about his role in the community.  I have not really gotten to know him much yet (he's around Nabugoye fairly often, but usually only for Yeshiva class or to talk to the rabbi) so I'm excited for the opportunity!

(In less interesting news, I continued to attempt my guitar playing, and continued to fail at scratching out an F.  My C and G are just fine...if any of you musical readers have advice, do let me know!)