Golden Moments

      "My name is Teacher Sandra and I like flowers."  

      "My name is Patricia and I like sexes?"

Wait, did I really just hear Patricia, my sweet, 10 year old student introduce herself and say she likes sex?  No, this cannot be what she means. "Oh, you like suckers; sweet candy."

      "No, I like sexes."

My mind is racing. Ok, maybe she means saxes...but no, she has probably never even seen a saxophone.  Maintaining my smiling teacher cool, I search the faces of the four other students hoping one will translate for me. None seem at all concerned about this startling answer.  Richard finally pronounces her word again for me..."Christmas".  Oh thank God. Patricia likes Christmas.

Sexes-Christmas...hmmm?  Well, they both have two syllables!

And so begins my first day of small group literacy instruction with my P4 students at Kibingo Demonstration Primary School.  Peace Corps selected the P4 grade level for intensive literacy instruction because that is the first year students are taught exclusively in the English language.  Lower grades are taught in a mixture of the local language and English. At this level we can build a strong foundation in phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension strategies. (Sorry for the jargon)

Kibingo is a small rural village school with a very low enrollment compared to other primary schools in the country.  I have twenty-six P4 students while a PCV friend of mine in northern Uganda has over two hundred. That amount is the entire enrollment of Kibingo from pre-K through P7. We have thirteen staff, including the cook.  (Beans, rice and matooke is the lunch menu EVERYDAY)

My school is extremely lucky to have a brand new library.  The previous PCV worked for two years to get it built and filled with books donated by Books for Africa.  Although most of the books are not culturally relevant...they are books.  And a very good friend of mine said the top ten ways to become a better reader are to READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ, READ!

My main job is to support the three goals of the Peace Corp Uganda Primary Literacy Project. (I'll get through this quickly but feel free to skip to the next paragraph :-)

Goal 1: Improve Teaching
     Teachers and pre-service teachers will implement more effective, student-centered and          literacy based teaching techniques.

Goal 2:  Increase Pupil Success
     Pupils will improve literacy skills, raise academic success, and develop leadership skills in       the classroom or through extracurricular literacy activities.

Goal 3:  Improve the School Community
     Community members will increase participation in their school and student learning.

In my short time in Uganda I have observed teachers and classrooms of pupils in several schools. I witnessed dedicated and passionate instructors as well as unmotivated and disinterested ones. But one of the commonalities is the teaching methods used which include chalk and talk, rote memorization, parrot the teacher, and copy off the board all done while pupils sit, sit, sit and sit. There are no textbooks and few if any instructional materials. Students bring composition books to copy into. Praise is rare, caning and shaming are prevalent.

 

Yikes! This is an overwhelming and daunting challenge and it is why I'm here. It's why all the education volunteers have been invited to serve in Uganda.  Every day I walk down the road, push through the gates, and enter Kibingo Primary School hoping for just one golden moment.  Like reading aloud Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom to the P1 students and seeing their faces light up. Or laughing with my P4 students as we try to spell our names with our bodies.  How do you make an "S"? Or watching the P2 teacher get her pupils out of their seats to play Simon Says.

And today it was Patricia who, to my huge relief, likes Christmas.  And Hope, who said, "I like Uganda's frog."

     "Uganda's frog?" I questioned.

     "Yes, Uganda's frog. The one waving on the frog pole."

Golden moments, keep 'em coming!

Homestay, Homesite, Homesick

Home is where the heart is...

They opened their hearts and their home to me.   Me, this stranger from America who would spend an entire month living with a Ugandan family in Bushenyi while I studied Runyankore, the local language of the southwest, with five other Peace Corps trainees. My homestay family welcomed me, fed me, helped me study, laughed at my cultural mistakes, always protected me and made me a member of their family.  The day before I left, I was even given my Runyankore name, “Natukunda”, God loves us.

The month passed quickly and it was time to return to Kampala to be sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. On the day I had to leave, Mamma Rhoda had a gift for me.  Rhoda is 67 years old and doesn’t speak English and we struggled to communicate every day. She loved me like a daughter and I longed for a heartfelt conversation. Her gift on my last morning with her was a song.  She sat me down and sang a beautiful hymn in Runyankore.  The lyrics meant God will protect me and guide me back to them. I’ll remember that moment forever and how music and tears and love filled that room.  

I walked away from the first place I could call home since I came to Uganda in November and in less than a week I walked into my new home, the one I’ll live in during my two years of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  The cleaning, the shopping for supplies, and the settling in took days and days and still continues but I’m slowly turning this modest house into my home and I can FINALLY UNPACK my suitcases. I’m learning to coexist with the colony of bats in my ceiling, (actually I want them gone ASAP) the geckos on the walls and the ever-present spiders. Yes, this is my home and I am grateful for the electricity, running water, indoor toilet (YAY!) and the welcoming community I am now a part of.  

 

Yet, now that I am finally in my very own home, ironically homesickness is hitting hard.  I suddenly have free time again; a blessing and a curse. Too much time to think.  So to my family and friends back home...I love you and miss you very much.  All the new memories that fill this home will be shared with you.  And ya know, Uganda isn’t really that far away...hint, hint. Come make some memories with me!

Home is where the heart is...

My heart is also right behind these gates for the next two years at my school, Kibingo Primary

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