Don't leave your guts on the ground* ...and other eloquent eavesdroppings

Staying in Uganda for any length of time results inevitably in some delightful vocabulary and expression expansion. School assemblies & lesson observations provide the richest pickings of words and phrases. From classroom and staffroom conversations to meetings and greetings, they add colour, humour and definitely make the point. So without wasting time, (as they say) .. here are some of the best: 

On School Life

That wonderful warning: "*Don’t leave your guts on the ground" ... 'don’t forget' (to act on something you’ve agreed to do)

"Other schools have their ground troops on the ground and have started their campaign already" ... other schools are way ahead with their marketing strategies and recruitment of new pupils

"WTA is shaping a Science destiny" ... following the improved O' level Science results

But we can’t demand for milk without feeding the cow… we can’t assume great results unless we have spent the necessary budget on equipment & chemicals for practicals

Let's not push that dead horse up the hill ... no point in forcing primary schools that are unwilling to participate

‘Do something about this vice!’ ... memo to the whole school, reminding them to stop speaking ‘vernacular’ (ie they were persisting in not speaking English, which is compulsory in secondary schools)

At The Rock 

These mosquitoes are creating more business for The Rock ... referring to the serious increase of malaria

And on the subject of the lack of public confidence in the national Yellow Fever vaccine campaign: 

• "The government won’t kill everyone, as we are the source of income that they swim in"
• We all want to go to heaven, but we don’t want to die first
• Some people will just want to hide their children (from vaccine campaigns) 

 On getting ahead in life

“Here in Uganda you don't need ‘know-how’, you just need to have ‘know-who’ ” ...(it's not what you know...)

“Who are those people who attend church but are just ‘putting on a cloth’?” .. people who are very visibly in church on Sunday, but behave hypocritically the rest of the week

And the final words go to Muhamadh,   (chatting outside, just before leaving work)

“You know, God is everywhere. Yes, even here in the garden. It doesn't matter where you are”

And in those 3 words, Muhamadh neatly sums up one of the big 'God questions'. As a practising Muslim, he had no problem in joining other parents at the local church prayers for his daughter’s exam class. Why not? As they say..