What does a typical day in the life of a Kingsway Christian student look like?
4 AM – Rise and Shine, and Studying!
The students are not sleeping in until the last possible moment as many American teenagers do. Instead they rise at 4:00 am, a couple hours before dawn!
The first thing they do is get themselves physically ready for the day by brushing their teeth, washing their face, and bathing.
Next, is Morning Prep which takes place from 4:30-6:30 am. The focus of this time is on mathematics. Many students struggle with mathematics and the teachers want to see improvement in this area, so they are devoting the first part of the day to tackle what is most challenging for them academically.
6:30 – Morning Tea
The students then get a 30 minute break for morning tea. This is followed by 30 minutes of cleaning the compound and leaving it spotless.
At 7:30 students begin what is called their Early Morning Lessons. This is a 3 hour time block followed by a 20 minute break.
Then the Mid Morning and Afternoon lessons begin and continue for about two hours until their Lunch hour.
1 PM – Chapel and Lunch
Before they eat, the students and teachers have a time of praise and worship as well as a brief sermon.
Then a meal of maize, beans, and vegetables is served.
The afternoon activities include games and sports, and runs from 2:00-4:40 pm. After a long day of academic work, students change out of their school uniforms into casual clothing and head to the field where they can play football (known as soccer in the U.S.), netball, or volleyball. This time is supervised by the sports teacher, and is always opened and closed with prayer.
As most of us know, sports are a great way for kids to grow physically, mentally and socially. It also helps students hone their athletic skills and talents outside of the classroom. Sports are greatly loved by Ugandans too.
The latest project at Kingsway, involving the help of both teachers and students, is the making of a basketball court. The ground has been leveled, and the next step is to compact the soil before pouring the concrete and putting in the posts for the basketball hoops.
4:30 Fetching Water
When games and sports are done, students fetch water that is used for bathing and for washing their school uniforms and sports jerseys. Each day a different class takes a turn hauling water for school use. Because Kingsway’s well is not working, they need to walk over 2 km each way to fetch water from a community well. It’s a long hike, especially uphill back to Kingsway with a full water jug!
After all that physical activity, students are hungry. Supper is served at about 6 PM followed by evening devotions in the Chapel from 7-7:30.
After devotions, the young men and women of Kingsway head back to their dorms and spend the rest of the evening studying until lights out at 10:00 pm. This fairly rigorous schedule leaves little room for boredom or idleness and makes supervising a large number of young people more manageable.