Photo Friday

Look at these beautiful faces!

Ah, the love of reading.

Uganda's National D.E.A.R. Day

March 5, 2015

 

 

Schools and other organizations all over Uganda dropped everything and read during the 2nd annual national D.E.A.R. Day event co-sponsored by the Peace Corps and Uganda's Ministry of Education and Sports.  From school children to boda boda drivers to embassy officials, Uganda is building from the heart promoting the love of reading.


Click on the link to view...
Uganda's D.E.A.R. Day 2015 video 

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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Walking the dirt roads of Uganda I've learned...

1.  I get stared at a lot.

2.  I must greet absolutely EVERYONE in the local language, even if I'm running.

3.  Boda bodas (motorcycles), matatus (taxis), buses, cars and even cows have the right of way. 
     Walkers beware!

4.  Dust gets up my nose....uh....dust gets EVERYWHERE.

5.  Never walk home alone in the dark.

6.  My feet may never be clean again.

7.  The miles pass quickly when walking and talking and laughing with friends.

8.  The birds always sing, the flowers always bloom, the sun always shines (well, it does rain 
     occasionally), and the eucalyptus trees always scent the air.

9.  I find my peace in the natural beauty of this country.

10.  And the people I meet while walking the dirt roads of Uganda teach me the value of living a life 
       of simplicity and gratitude.

 

Ants in my peanut butter...

From poolside service at Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe on Saturday to discovering tiny red ants in my peanut butter at breakfast on Sunday, my life in the Peace Corps takes me on a roller coaster ride every day.

After a demanding, exhausting yet overall inspiring week of Teacher Boot Camp in Kira Primary School we (the volunteers) were treated to our very first weekend off in a month.  IN A MONTH!!  It’s December 6 and I’m lounging at a ritzy pool in Entebbe not far from President Museveni’s compound enjoying a cool swim with my friends, a hot cheesy pizza and a COLD beer.  Okay, maybe two.   This is Africa??   Yes, at least for one day.

Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe

I woke up Sunday morning to the warm sunshine beaming through my window and the resident roosters crowing. Best alarm clock ever.  Ah, another day off...YES!  A day to do laundry...by hand, write lesson plans, update my blog, (if the Wi-Fi is working) organize my “stuff” and maybe get in a run.  First things first, breakfast.  Right now one of my most valued treasures is a jar of peanut butter I bought at a local market kept tightly sealed in a Ziploc baggie.  A banana with peanut butter was on my breakfast menu.

Horrors!!  Tiny red ants invaded my baggie and were crawling all over my treasured jar of peanut butter.  In this moment I was as far away from yesterday’s poolside experience as I could be.  Yes, THIS is Africa too.  

The Peace Corps is tough some days...actually a lot of days.  It's amazing how something so small and in reality rather insignificant, like ants in my peanut butter, becomes a moment of defeat.  The ants won...but only if I let them. Because sprinkled in among the tough days, the "ants in my peanut butter" days, are precious small moments that make it all worthwhile. The moments that bring me back to center and reaffirm why I’m here in Uganda in the first place. 

Moments like this...

And this...

And

My P3 students and co-teachers at Kira Elementary.

this...


 

It's only been two weeks....

and I could fill a book with the story of my new life in Uganda, a beautiful country I am falling in love with. Ugandans are warm and welcoming people.

I sleep under a mosquito net, take cold showers or bucket baths, eat matooke and chapati, drink tea twice a day, hand wash my clothes and successfully mastered the pit latrine!! I've run on the red dirt roads, been soaked by the heavy rains, felt the warmth of the Ugandan sun and marveled at the generosity of my new friends on the other side of the world.  I've been greeted with, "You are most welcome" over and over again.

I am so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by the most dedicated, intelligent, kind and supportive group of volunteers who have become my new family.  Thirty-eight strong, we just spent our first two weeks at Kulika Education Center to begin our intensive training. Two days ago we packed up and moved to Shimoni PTC (Primary Teacher College) for three weeks of Teacher Boot Camp. We'll spend Thanksgiving at the Peace Corps Office in Kampala eating turkey with all the fixings.

The food cravings are getting intense...and it's only been two weeks!

Kulika entrance

My dorm room

Our training center at Kulika

We were welcomed by students at Kamurasi Primary School with a traditional dance.

Kampala Taxi Park.  Wish me luck!

This map is in the Peace Corps Office in Kampala and shows where all the current volunteers in Uganda are living.  I'll be in the southwest corner of the country near the town of Mbarara teaching at Kabingo Demonstration Primary School.  I can't wait to have my own pushpin and yarn on this map!

 

My first African sunset...

...at 30,000 feet