This is part 2 of a 5 part series, titled : The Boarding School Dilemma – Balancing Mission and Family – The Ubangi Academy. Part 1 shared about the dilemma of serving in missions and family separation of a boarding school for their children’s education. It posed various questions and laid the path forward for this series. In this episode you will hear about the Ubangi Academy (UBAC), located at Karawa in D.R. Congo as a school and dorm environment. This boarding school housed 30-45 kids each year, grades 2 through 12. It was a complex and structured environment with children, ranging from ages 7 to 18. The schedule, rules, pressures, social constructs, expectations for behavior, chores, cultures, and sub-cultures will be explored in detail so the listener can understand the environment of the children that grew up there. This episode also shares about the benefits of being in an environment with numerous other children, games, play time, being in band and choir, school plays, sports and other activities. Also, many deep friendships were formed at UBAC that still remain strong even today. This episode will hopefully provide context and understanding of what it was like for someone living in this dormitory and school environment.
Future episodes will feature the parents’ perspective of sending their children away, followed by kids that attended UBAC and their experiences. The wrap up episode will be the take-aways and how to move forward using our dorm experiences for a fulfilling life. Enjoy listening to what was the Ubangi Academy.
**Rated in 2024 to the TOP 25 Best “Life Stories” Themed Podcasts Worldwide – https://blog.feedspot.com/life_stories_podcasts/
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Another great episode. Brought back a lot of memories… Thanks, Jeff.
Jeff
Nice summary
Brought back a lot of memories
My name was used many times, I’m so proud to be the author of a new English word- the fig. We thought we were so creative (and mature!!?) back then.
Jeff
Funny how you viewed my academics, I always thought I studied A LOT. In my mind it was Christine Thorpe who would ace the tests after little studying. But you were right about the academic rigor, I was well prepared for College, and I give much credit to ALL the teachers at UBAC, for me Mr. E was the most impactful and I ended up as a math major largely due to it.
On a more serious note, a little ‘birdie’ told me that Jeff Aiken’s analogy of the dangerous, frightening, and life threatening boat trip was very well received. We all come out of it with a different perspective.
I would like to add to this and take it further. According to Jeff he took major precautions that it would never happen again. This is the part that was missing for me. Sending a child away at 7 years old is a dangerous and frightening experience and precautions should have been taken so that this never happened to anyone else at such a young age. The trauma, tears, homesickness, lack of parental support and guidance , of early childhood, should have encouraged mission boards and parents to change their approach to this frightening and mostly negative experience.
This could have involved easy changes such as home schooling, weekly radio contact with parents, more dorm parents for younger children, one on one counseling with a designated adult etc. I know this might be controversial statement but I’m not sure why it would be controversial? It was a different era back then but now that I’m a parent I KNOW that my children would not have handled this well at 7 years old.