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In 1994, Haji went for a counseling program organized by Theta. At the end of that program he picked up the interest of opening a school. They called it Have Mercy so that everybody would feel sympathy. In other words, it was everybody’s school. In the initial stage, it was in a very sorry state. All of these structures were being rented, and the director was getting some money from that. He had to evict all of those people who were renting to open up this school in 1995.
They started with only 35 pupils, but now we are dealing with 300. There are students here who are regarded as orphans, who don’t have their relatives, like their mother and father. The father died of Aids and even the mother died. We also have students who are coming from low-income families. They are coming from families where they take only one meal at home. And then there are students who are coming from families with at least a subsistence living. We get some funds from students who are coming from low-income families, and some money from those people who are coming from families that are well off. The orphans cannot pay for their schooling, but, as we are teaching these children, we don’t segregate. In other words, the orphans are not taught separately so they are not even more upset their parents have died.
In the initial stages (of the school) we learned there was a problem. These children sometimes don’t even take supper. When we told this problem to the Theta official, some people sponsored a program of giving them food. Now they are given breakfast and lunch at school. Hunger played a very big role. Even in the afternoon you could find children dozing because of hunger. Now their education is stabilizing because their needs are met in terms of their eating. Secondly, we also had the problem of financial resources for textbooks. These teachers need a variety of textbooks to consult while they are teaching We don’t have our own syllabus and we are under the Minist1ry of Education of the government. But even funders through the Theta organization responded to our need and supplied us with textbooks.
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We also had a problem in the initial stage, as the children did not have benches. The children were sitting on the bare ground. So when we explained our problem to Theta, they donated some desks.
Initially we also had the problem of water. We used to travel very far from the school to fetch water from the nearest well. And sometimes there were many people using these wells. When we explained this problem, we were able to acquire tapped water, our own water within the school campus. This has played a very big role because normally we boil this water and then pack it in jerricans. Now the students have drinking water and we are also using this water to prepare their meals at the school.
At first, we also had the problem of too few teachers. But we are improving, slowly by slowly, and we now have a team of 11 teachers. We have teachers for the baby class up to primary 7 and in 2002 we had our first graduating class. They performed very well. We had 80 candidates and managed to get 1 first grade, 5 second grades, and 2 third grades from our performance. So we can say it was an achievement, it was our first time.
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T: For us, they just come here to acquire education. We give them free education and even provide them lunch and breakfast. They then go back to their guardians, but they are nearby.
C: Were you trained as a traditional healer?
T: I, myself, was not trained, but the director was trained. For me I was trained as a teacher, to provide them with an education.
C: How did Haji become a healer?
T: He inherited this ability of being a traditional healer from his grandfather. He was never told to become a traditional healer but he inherited it.
C: What does he treat with herbal medicines?
T: He gets his herbs from very far, in the village areas a hundred miles from here. They treat the burns caused by dry heat, even skin rashes, Herpes Zoroaster, and any kind of skin rash.
C: Is he a spiritual healer as well as an herbalist?
T: He just uses local medicine but he can also do spiritual healing.
C: Has the spiritual healing been useful in working with the boys, the orphans, in the school?
T: He is able to prevent any kind of problem in the school.
C: Can he give an example of a problem that comes up?
T: At the moment he doesn’t have an example.
C: When he was first forming the school?
T: Initially he had 15 quarters here that were being rented. So chasing them away was not simple, but in the end he managed and they opened up a school. All of the money he had up to the present time he had the objective of using for the future generation, most of all those suffering from HIV/AIDS. He deeply thanks the organization of Theta. They helped most in training him and helping him acquire the skill of caring for these orphans. Immediately after he finished the counseling program of Theta, he went into the community teaching and counseling those people. He realized there were so many people who were just roaming around and were not yet at school. That is when he developed the interest in opening up the school. That is why immediately after he opened up this school many people came. They wanted to acquire this kind of free education. This is the beginning of the term; some have not even turned up yet. At the moment half of them have turned up and the others are coming next week.
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This is their culture; they normally appear here the second week of the term.
C: What are the skills that you learned from Theta, how have they helped you”
T: He learned a lot. As he said, after the training he went into the community and even now he realizes there has been a great change. People used to say there is no way AIDS can be induced but now they know. We put on plays, we sing songs for the public, and we show what is taking place. We call the parents, they come here and the children sing for them.
He would like some money to buy trophies, which will be competed for. Before the trophy is awarded we lecture them on AIDS. Fighting Aids through sports, and even songs.
C: The children must like that.
T: Yes
C: Many people associate traditional healing with witchcraft. What would you say to them?
T: Here in Uganda it is not a great problem because they have different associations that organize them so they normally fight against that which is bewitching and whatever. And being trained by Theta, that cannot happen.
C: What is the association that organizes the healers in this area?
T: There is Uganda Herbalists and Cultural Association. He is a member and vice president of that organization. Having been in various organizations under the Minister of Health, they can’t get themselves involved in that bewitching.
C: Have you had any association with biomedical workers, how do they feel about your work?
T: Theta has played an important role connecting traditional healers with biomedical workers,
C: So do any of the biomedical workers keep in contact?
T: In case of any problem beyond his training, there is a local health center and a biomedical hospital a half a mile from here. The people appreciate what he has done for them as a traditional healer and they bring their children to him.
C: Does Haji belong to a religious group?
T: Muslim. He has two wives and 15 children.
He was born a Muslim and all his family are members, even his father.
He is 55 years old. He has tried to train the younger generation in traditional medicine so that even if he leaves, they will continue with this activity. He inherited it from his father who is now very weak and cannot go around.
So the problem they have now, as traditional health practitioners, is that they are very worried the medicinal herbs can get exhausted. There is some medicine they want to produce in larger amounts, but they do not have the land where they can grow those trees. Normally it is produced on a very low scale. He prefers to mix different herbs because it makes the medicine more powerful, but because they are lacking that land, they cannot get that medicine. And because the country is developing very fast, they are deforesting, cutting down trees. There is a way they can graft one type of tree on another, which is what they want to do if they can get that land.
One of the orphan students is called into the room. The child can speak in English.
Interview with Have Mercy Primary School student.