子供の手紙、届きましたか？　Have you received your letter from a child?

12月5日㈭にKitgum郵便局から発送した“ごあいさつ状”が支援者の皆様のお手元に届き始めたようで、関連していただいたご質問にお答えいたします。
Letters to our supporters that were mailed from the post office in Kitgum on Dec. 5 have begun to reach their recipients. In that connection we have received several questions.

Q１：「3学期が終わり手紙書きを始めた」そうですが、子どもは「期末テストが終わった、結果はまだ分からないが進級できると思うetc」と書いています。通知表がまだ、ということですか？　進級できるかどうか、とは、義務教育の小学校なのに落第がある、ということですか？
The letter I received indicated that the third term had ended and that the child was awaiting examination results but expected to advance to the next grade. Have the children not yet received their report cards? As the letter referred to whether or not the child would be promoted, does this mean that children can be held back at the compulsory primary school level?
A：学校、学年にもよりますが、テスト終了後は授業が無く子供たちは登校不要になり、1週間ほど経て終業日を迎え、この日に通知表が渡され、進級可・不可が分かります。しかし、その「採点期間」と称する時間が過ぎても通知表の用意ができない教師がかなりいます。来年度が始まるまでもらえないことも珍しくありません。今回も半数近くの子供がもらえていません。
進級不可つまり落第もかなりあります。特に中・高学年（P.４～P.7）は珍しくありません。経済力のある家庭の子供はリピートしたり、転校したりしますが、貧しい家の子は費用が嵩むので、落第、そのまま、小学校中退…になってしまうのが一般的で、図書館学習組の子供たちにもそういう子供が多数います。‘図書館塾’ではほぼ能力別に分けた5クラス各10名前後の子供をスタッフ1名が教えますので、5，60~7、８0名以上ものすし詰め教室の学校では落ちこぼれてしまった子供も目覚めて、適宜、通学を再開させるとトップクラスになる子が続出！
It depends on the school and the grade, but after examinations there are no classes and children need not go to school for about one week until the official last day of the term. On that day children receive their report cards and find out whether or not they will be promoted. But quite a few teachers are unable to prepare their report cards by the end of the grading period. Students often do not get their report cards until the start of the next school year. This year, nearly half of the children have yet to receive their report cards.
Quite a few children are not promoted. This is not uncommon among upper graders (primary grades 4 through 7) especially. Children from families with financial resources may repeat a grade or transfer to another school, but expenses for children from poor families run up, so in many cases they drop out of primary school after failing. Quite a few children who study at the library fall into that category. Children who attend classes at the library are divided by ability level, and one staff member teaches about 10 children. So, in many cases, children who had fallen behind at school where they were crammed into a classroom with anywhere from 50 to 80 other students, bestir themselves and when they go back to school are at the head of their class.

Q２：昨年までは40名前後の子供たちが手紙書きをしていたと思いますが、今年は半数くらいかと。どうしたのですか？  Through last year around 40 children wrote letters. This year the number is about half that. What happened?
A：既に当該の皆様にはお知らせ、ご相談してきましたが、昨2018年度末から今2０19年度にかけ、多くの子供が当PRAfricaの支援を離れました。家族とか親類とかの誰かが費用負担できるので当方からの支援を受ける必要がなくなったという子が15名ほどいます。
当方が通わせている比較的費用が安い公立小学校から、費用の高い私立小学校に転校した子どもも複数います。残りは、何らかの事情で、保護者ともどもスッといなくなってしまい、支援継続ができなくなったケースです。こちらでは氏名も住所も登録や届出制度など無く、痕跡なく引っ越してしまうのが一般的なので、日頃から子供たちにも保護者にも「引っ越す時は前もって相談を！」と言っているのですが、「ホウレンソウ（報連相‽）無し」が文化？なので徹底しません。「遠くに引っ越したらしい。」と分かった時には、元の住まいの近所の人々や仲良くしていた子供たちに聞いても何も手掛かりはありません。
 We have already notified some of our supporters directly, but from the end of the 2018 school year through this school year, PR Africa’s support of many children ended. In the cases of 15 children, a family member or relative was able to assume paying the school fees and our support was no longer needed. Several children we were sending to the public elementary school, for which the fees are relatively low, transferred to private primary schools for which the fees are high. The rest disappeared with their guardians for some reason, so we were no longer able to continue to support them. There is no system here by which people’s names and addresses are registered nor is there any notification system, and it is common for people to move away without leaving a trace. We ask children and their guardians to speak with us before they move. But in this culture it is common for people to move without informing others or consulting with them, so we are seldom notified. When we learn that a child has moved far away, even if we ask neighbors at their former residence or the children’s friends, there is usually no clue as to where they have gone.

Q３：日本の郵便局で訊くと、「航空便ならⅠ，2週間で届くはず」といわれるのに、どうして何か月も時には1年以上もかかるのですか？
When I inquired at the post office in Japan, I was told that air mail should arrive there in a week or two. So why does it sometimes take several months or even more than one year?
A：UGでは、郵便局は私どものいるKtgタウンのような各県庁所在地に一軒しかありません。またEMSなどの国際宅配便は個配が原則ですが、一般の航空便・船便などは日本のように個配はしません。郵便局の私書箱に入れられているのを適宜見に行き受け取るしかありません。郵便局にも決まった開業日・時間があるのですが、なぜか閉まっていることがシバシバあり、私書箱を✔するのも一苦労です。私書箱は年６万シルほどの使用料がかかり、一般の住民でこれを利用できるのはおそらく１％にも満たないと思います。私どもの支援を必要とする家では、郵便局など人生一度も行ったことがないのが普通、第一、家には紙も筆記用具も無いのが普通、あっても読み書きできないのが普通ですから…。引っ越し前に相談があったので別々の遠くの村に引っ越した後も当方が支援を続け、今も各々の村の学校に通っているAngee Irene とAcen Harrietは、書けるかも知れませんが、書いた手紙をどうやって投かんできるでしょうか？また支援者の方が、直接この子たちに届けたいと思っても宛先住所をどうしたらいいでしょうか?　私どもが年一回彼女たちを訪問する時に手渡し、受け取りするしかないのです。
 In Uganda, there is only one post office in each district government seat, such as Kitgum. As a rule, international express mail items are to be delivered individually, but items sent via ordinary air mail or sea mail are not. We must go to the post office now and then to see if there is any mail in our box. The post office has regular hours, but for some reason it is often closed during those hours, so we have difficulty collecting our mail.
 A post office box costs 60,000 shillings per year, and less than 1 percent of the general population can afford that. Most of the families that need our support have never been to the post office. This is typical. First of all, they have no paper or writing implements, and even if they did they cannot read or write.
 Angee Irene and Acen Harriet informed us beforehand that they would be moving to remote villages, and we have continued to provide support for them to attend school in their villages. They could perhaps write letters, but how could they mail them? Some supporters have indicated they would like to send letters directly to the girls and have asked what they should do about an address. All we can do is take the letters to them on our annual visits to their homes.