For the first time, a young man will travel to Bulabakulu to do voluntary service at the SHAK Junior School. We, and of course especially school principal Saad Luyinda and his team, are looking forward to the support from Germany. Anton Mayer from Markelfingen will first travel to Kampala next week (18 October 2025), where he will be picked up by Saad Luyinda. This will certainly be an exciting time for Anton, who will be reporting on his experiences at the school here on this page. We wish him much joy and success in Bulabakulu with wonderful, formative experiences!
22.10.2025
The first three days at Shak Junior School have already passed. On Saturday morning, I was picked up at the airport in Entebbe by the kind headmaster, Saad Luyinda, and his wife. Together we set off for the school. However, due to the traffic — it took us three hours to move just three kilometers — we couldn’t make it out of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. So, we spent the night at the Luyinda family’s home in Kampala.
On Sunday afternoon, we finally arrived at the school in Bulabakulu. There, I was warmly welcomed by the school team with a delicious Ugandan meal. To be honest, during the first few hours it wasn’t easy for me to feel completely comfortable. In Uganda, guests are welcomed almost like royalty — something that felt quite unfamiliar to me at first. But that’s part of the culture. Once I started talking with the teachers, I quickly began to feel very welcome.
Already on Sunday, I met some students who were quite surprised to see a white person. That same day, I handed over the set of jerseys and ten footballs sponsored by SV Markelfingen. I will never forget the reaction of the sports teacher. The students who were present immediately put on the jerseys and started playing with great excitement. What a sight!
On Monday morning, classes here always begin with a school-wide assembly. During it, they discuss what’s planned for the week, and afterwards everyone dances together to get active. That morning, I saw all 348 students for the first time — and they saw me. The children were actually more excited than I was. As I mentioned, many of them had never, or only very rarely, seen a white person before.
After this impressive encounter, the students returned to their classrooms. I spent the day with Saad to go over organizational matters and get familiar with the school. On Tuesday, things really got started: I spent the day — as well as Wednesday — in different classes to get an insight into the lessons. Most of the time, I joined the math classes, since I’ll be teaching that subject myself starting next week.
It was very interesting to see how and with what resources teaching is done here. To summarize:
The classrooms are structured similarly to ours, but the major difference lies in the equipment. The chairs and tables are smaller and less comfortable, and there’s usually just a single blackboard for teaching — no projector, beamer, or anything like that. Students generally don’t receive printed worksheets. Their own school supplies are very limited, too: three students often share one ruler — not because someone forgot theirs, but because there simply aren’t enough. Students always have to copy exercises themselves and draw figures by hand in math — which is, of course, difficult when rulers are scarce.
The teachers here have a strong but healthy sense of authority. They are always neat and well-dressed, even though most of them only live in small houses and eat the same simple lunch every day because it’s affordable. Most students also wear school uniforms — though sadly, some families cannot afford them.
The tasks they work on are all in English — even though over 40 different languages are spoken in Uganda. In terms of content, the exercises are quite comparable to those in our school system.
As I mentioned before, people here are incredibly warm-hearted. The longer I stay in Bulabakulu, the more conversations I have with all kinds of people. Even though communication can still be a bit challenging at times — their African dialect meets my German one — every conversation is truly valuable. The people here are deeply inspiring: their energy, politeness, and joy for life impress me every single day.
These first few days in Bulabakulu have already given me more than I expected. I am learning so much about school, community, and gratitude. I’m looking forward to the weeks ahead — to the people, the conversations, and the lessons I’ll get to teach.
28/10/2025
Now more than a week has passed – it flew by. But with so many new impressions and experiences, it could easily feel like a whole month.
The last two days of the first week of school were exam days for all classes. These take place once a quarter and determine whether the pupils will be promoted to the next class. However, the results are not recorded – so there are no report cards like we have, showing the grades for the whole year. The only thing that matters is passing the classes up to Primary 7 (comparable to our seventh grade) and then doing well in the final exam at national level.
The Primary 7 exams are already taking place in a week. So the tension is rising day by day, and the pupils are studying like crazy. I think that’s also one reason why the weekend here looked almost like a normal school day. The examinees still had lessons and studied hard – I was able to help them a lot, especially in maths, which made me happy.
Incidentally, some of the examinees and a few other pupils sleep in dormitories at the school. The others are picked up in the morning by two school buses and brought home again in the afternoon. These buses – about the size of a VW bus – are quite full, with around 25 pupils per trip. As they always have to make two rounds to pick everyone up, they start at five o’clock in the morning.
On Monday afternoon, I was allowed to ride along once. The trip was a real experience: the bus would not have passed its MOT for years, but it is still much safer than walking – which the pupils would otherwise have to do every day. A five-kilometre walk before school even starts – unimaginable for us. Just as unimaginable as the roads themselves. Of course, they are not paved, but I would never have thought that a real obstacle course awaited us there, with the incredibly uneven roads.
The toilets here are also interesting for us Europeans: there are no toilets as we know them, but simple holes – I think there are six of them on the school grounds. For the students who stay here overnight, there are also two outdoor showers (one for boys, one for girls). You won’t find a shower head – you just grab a canister, fill it at one of the water tanks and shower that way.
The children have become very accustomed to me, and we enjoy our time together. For example, they showed me the best way to wash clothes. I taught them card games and a dance. They were also very interested in my knee training, which I have to do because of an injury, and they trained diligently with me – which in turn made it much more fun for me.
Speaking of training: as soon as school is over, they play football behind the building. The children here don’t need grass, proper goals or sturdy shoes to play football at an impressive level!
As I wrote in my last blog, I can simply enjoy my time here thanks to the many nice people.
But there are also moments – especially when travelling on the school bus – when I see things that make me sad and give me pause for thought.
How can it be that German politicians are building cycle paths in Peru or endlessly discussing gender-neutral animal names, while there is such poverty here, for which Germany – or rather the whole of the West – is at least partly responsible?
Post from December 14, 2025
Incredibly, Anton’s stay as the first volunteer in Bulabakulu is already over. He received his certificate from school principal Saad Luyinda. This evening he will travel back to Germany from Kampala – surely with a suitcase full of unique memories and experiences.
Let’s give Anton some rest and relaxation first. Then he’ll surely report back here!
