The Ubangi Academy (UBAC) dormitory at Karawa, D.R.Congo was where all the kids went to boarding school for their education, grades 2-12. This episode explains a typical day during the week with school, and a normal weekend day. The schedules were structured from wake up to going to bed. Roger Wickstorm, my roommate from 1970 (50 years ago), shares his perspective and memories of a typical day at the Ubangi Academy.
Copyright © 2020 by Jeffrey W. Eales. All rights reserved. No portions may be reproduced or transmitted in any format without the prior written permission of the author.
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Awesome, Jeff! We have thoroughly enjoyed these memories recounted by former UBAC students.
Great fun listening to this podcast Jeff. Listening to Roger was almost like listening to Uncle Marv as well. Good job on getting the clean room and going to Gbosasa as well.
I loved this episode! So many memories. I never won a clean room prize!!
Has UBAC been resurrected? I attended RFIS in Yaounde from 2008 to 2010, and I of course had many classmates whose families had worked in the DRC before moving or sending their kids to Yaounde. Last I knew, UBAC hadn’t been operating since about 1990!
Yes, as noted at the end of the episode, 1997 was the end of the Ubangi Academy due to the civil war, unfortunately. In the 2000’s it was used for multiple schools and now is for a medical training school. CK
Wow, just found this page and it brought back a lot of memories. I attended in the mid 70’s starting as probably the one and only 6-year-old. My experiences were often far from positive.
I just stumbled across your blog and podcast while randomly zooming in on Karawa in Google Maps (as one does from time to time). I’ve only listened to this episode so far, but will make time for the rest soon. Aside from the nostalgia this brings back, I was particularly struck by how consistent things stayed at UBAC over the years. Your descriptions from the 70s were nearly identical to what I experienced at UBAC in the late 80s, down to the exact agenda of each day, the banana bread at 6am, calling the sentinel for hot water, and pitying the slow peanut sheller kid.
(Btw, despite overlapping at UBAC with your youngest brother and your dad being a close mentor and partner to my dad for many years, I don’t believe we ever met. Not even when your family – with just your brothers, I think – once visited the Lewis family in our shared hometown in WI sometime in 1984 or 85 when our family was first prepping to go to Congo.)
Also, I don’t believe this has been shared in the UBAC Facebook group, and I’d be happy to do that, if you agree, as I’m sure many would appreciate the blog and podcast. Or you can do it, of course. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2373771542
I remember at Sunday lunch at UBAC, the dorm would always invite a missionary family or single missionary to have the meal with us. At the end of the meal we would always sing, “Tell us a story Uncle/Aunt __________, tell us a story. Tell us a story Uncle/Aunt __________, tell us a story. Make it long. Make it sweet. Make it so it can’t be beat. Tell us a story Uncle/Aunt __________, tell us a story.” And then whomever it was we were singing to would tell a story.