In the mid days of April this year on 17th, I was overwhelmingly nominated by the school patron World Starts With Me to come and represent my school at Gayaza High School in a students’ peer education workshop which was due to take place from 25th of this very month. I was given the letter which was requesting for permission from my parents to allow me attend the workshop.
It was really very sweet moment for me for everyone came to know where I was going and they wished they were me but all was just impossible. Meanwhile, me as a person I took it as an opportunity which knocks once at every man’s door.
On a Saturday morning at exactly 3:00pm, I had all lost sleep and I was just fantasizing on how the journey would be and in general how Gayaza High School looked like.
No sooner had I walked out to go and ease myself than my mother came to wake me up and organise myself for the journey that I was to have that day. As a mother, she helped me organise and pack for me what was necessary for me to move with and what would sustain me in the workshop. I went and took a bath and later had my breakfast. As soon as all that was done, both parents briefed me on how i should behave and above all we had a prayer that we asked God to give us journey wercies and also asked him to bless the workshop that we were to have.
It was my turn now to board the taxi from Namutumba up to Jinja where I was to meet my patron Isiko Mark so that I go with him up to Gayaza for I did not know the geography of the school apart from the history that I knew about it. At around 1:05pm, we reached Kampala Old taxi park where we boarded the Gayaza taxi that would make us reach the long awaited destination, Gayaza High School.
On arrival at Gayaza High School entrance, the security official directed us where to go which was the room am in now, the computer room, there we met a frank and extrovert person by the name of Mr.Kakinda Daniel who asked me to get a mattress and meanwhile retained my teacher for a cup of tea as a way of hospitality and mutual understanding because they were friends.
On my way to the room where I was allocated to go, I observed that exposure is also a basic in someone’s life and in particular mine. The atmosphere of the school is just good characterized with lots of nature like trees, blooming flowers, short grasses which is maintained by the responsible people who take care of them. Not only did I observe the environment, but also the powerful and lavish infrastructures in the school which include the flats, flash toilets, computer rooms that are well equipped, the dining hall and the beautiful scenery of the football pitch which is well tamed. Besides that, I observed that the environment in the school is not littered and dusty like those that I left in the Far East Busoga in Namutumba. That gave me a sense of understanding why the people this way excel both academically and socially because it all starts with the surrounding environment and the person as a whole.
Dusk approached and we were asked to go to the Dining hall for dinner as per the invitation letter. On reaching the mess, I was overwhelmed by what I spotted because the scent of cakes assaulted my nostrils and so had to respond by getting a cup of tea which was accompanied by cakes. As the saying goes, say the truth and be set free but I really appreciate the meals that I get from this workshop from day zero. This is a lavish life that I am in.
Ascending away from that, I got the chance to enter the Gayaza computer room on the late hours of the day one. We were expected to be briefed on what was expected of us, knowing our facilitators, and also knowing each other. It was a marvelous evening for I found new friends and I met the lost old ones and we had to about one another. All in all, the first facilitator I came to know was facilitator Sanyulye who is a soft spoken person and approachable with the facilitation of day zero. We were released to go and have good times in the new residential areas which also had a conducive atmosphere where I almost thought I was out of the country and yet I was within.
Generally, the Gayaza community is one of its kind which is a compliment to very many that I have ever been in. First and foremost, its people are very social and kind. This was evidenced when I shared with two of its components like Nakato Joy and Mirembe Esther who school from here. That made me feel that am in the right place because at first I had the mentality that people from the big schools are braggarts but then it was the contrary.
Most amazing thing that even no one should ever forget is the practical making of liquid soap that we made. It was something that I thought was impossible but it came to be possible when I made it and had it not been Gayaza student workshop for peer educators, I would not have learned how to make liquid soap and now that am going to import the practice of making liquid soap in my school. The other most important experience I came to know is that when I entered the toilets and came to learn how to separate them.
Fortune also befell me when I reached Gayaza and to be facilitated with personalities like Kakinda Daniel, Matovu Richard, Deo, and extra who inculcated me with prior knowledge that I would have not learned elsewhere in life even in my own school. For example like issues of how to pursue our dreams, what life is and the ups and downs that try to hinder our progress, and also the inspirational talks and quotes that i learned and still learn from them.
In conclusion, I thank the organizing Director of World Starts With Me who has enabled the student peer education to get exposed and also come to learn how to associate in public.
