This week was painful! I got sick after taking my antimalarials on Tuesday and spent the rest of the week trying to stay out of the latrine without much luck. (What are "1.5"s you might ask...well think of what going number 1 means and then, going number 2, now find the middle ground!)
My teacher is amazing. He is such a hard worker. He is always prepared and he knows all his students by name! (All 240!!!)
The power is on today after being out for about 4 days. Maybe it will stay on for more than one day!!
I will post pictures soon **hugs**
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
No Power
Urgggg... no power all day today in town. Even now I sit writing this and hoping the power will last long enough for me to be able to post this. My phone is dead, my computer will be soon and once the power goes so does the internet.
Today schedule was sooo busy. I got to school at 8:00 am, which means I left the house at 7:30am, and then
1) we had a meeting from 8 - 9am with our partner teachers
2) we attended a full staff meeting from 9 - 9:35
3) taught two classes from 9:40 - 12:20
4) took lunch
5) graded exams for 2 hours with my teacher and am no where near finished!!!!!
The day was also very dry and dusty! My throat hurts :(
Today schedule was sooo busy. I got to school at 8:00 am, which means I left the house at 7:30am, and then
1) we had a meeting from 8 - 9am with our partner teachers
2) we attended a full staff meeting from 9 - 9:35
3) taught two classes from 9:40 - 12:20
4) took lunch
5) graded exams for 2 hours with my teacher and am no where near finished!!!!!
The day was also very dry and dusty! My throat hurts :(
First Day of School
We arrived at school at 10 am for our meeting and we were trying to organize all the teachers. We found a new partner teacher for one of my colleagues but my teacher was missing....for 2 hours! We had to postpone our introductory meeting to the following morning but all was not lost. I was able to observe my teacher teaching one class lesson. It was Senior 2 Pink. He taught a lesson scientific notation. He was very charismatic and the students were participating. Otim and I seem to be having communication issues as I misunderstood what his schedule was yesterday when he announced that he had no more lessons but then he was unable to join us for lunch because he had another lesson I was unaware of.
Hopefully we will communicate a bit better in the coming weeks. Hopefully...
Hopefully we will communicate a bit better in the coming weeks. Hopefully...
Watoto Church
It is Sunday July 4th. I want to go to a church very close by but do not want to go alone so I ask who is attending church in the morning. I remember praying with our assitant director, Danielle, earlier this week and ask her which church she is planning to attend. She tells me Watoto and that it is only about a 10 minute walk from our house. I am excited to go and have no idea what to expect.
Once we get to the church it is packed! The ushers find me a seat. Worship is in full swing and they are singing a song in Luo. People are in their Sunday best jumping up and down and sweating! It is hot!! The next song comes on and I am flabbergasted, it is a Hillsong song!! in English!! One of my favorites! I sign along. As worship continues it is like I am back at my christian club in high school. There are many songs that are familiar. There is a collection and the sermon begins. The pastor opens with Isaiah 61:1-4. “ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me!...” He continues on and starts to speak about finding freedom, healing and deliverance in Christ. I am bawling. This is exactly what I have been studying this week during my quiet times. I am doing the Beth Moore study “Breaking Free” and wanted confirmation that I should be doing this study. I know that Watoto will be my home church while in Gulu and I will be joining a cell group close by to our home that is lead by the pastor! I am excited to see what new revelations this church will bring for me!!! One of the other teachers was also very moved by the service. I am excited to see what relationship God wants to develop between the two of us.
Tomorrow is our first “work day.” I am so excited to get to school tomorrow and find out my schedule so I can begin planning and working with students!!!!!!
p.s. I get to take a shower tomorrow, thank God because I feel so dirty! These baby wipes are not cutting through the red dirt. I use like 10 a day!
p.p.s. Check it out: http://www.watotochurch.org/
Once we get to the church it is packed! The ushers find me a seat. Worship is in full swing and they are singing a song in Luo. People are in their Sunday best jumping up and down and sweating! It is hot!! The next song comes on and I am flabbergasted, it is a Hillsong song!! in English!! One of my favorites! I sign along. As worship continues it is like I am back at my christian club in high school. There are many songs that are familiar. There is a collection and the sermon begins. The pastor opens with Isaiah 61:1-4. “ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me!...” He continues on and starts to speak about finding freedom, healing and deliverance in Christ. I am bawling. This is exactly what I have been studying this week during my quiet times. I am doing the Beth Moore study “Breaking Free” and wanted confirmation that I should be doing this study. I know that Watoto will be my home church while in Gulu and I will be joining a cell group close by to our home that is lead by the pastor! I am excited to see what new revelations this church will bring for me!!! One of the other teachers was also very moved by the service. I am excited to see what relationship God wants to develop between the two of us.
Tomorrow is our first “work day.” I am so excited to get to school tomorrow and find out my schedule so I can begin planning and working with students!!!!!!
p.s. I get to take a shower tomorrow, thank God because I feel so dirty! These baby wipes are not cutting through the red dirt. I use like 10 a day!
p.p.s. Check it out: http://www.watotochurch.org/
SHSS / Fourth of July Party
Today was our school visitiation day for Sacred Heart. All four of the American teachers working there got on boda bodas in long dresses so we have to sit side saddle and went on a 20 minute ride to get to our school (car taxis do not really exist here, so you get a boda boda which is a motorbike). Once we got there we met Peter the director of studies and got a tour of the school. The campus is beautiful, there are many construction projects underway. Unfortunately our teachers were not in school! My teacher was protoring a mock exam. I thought it was at our school but it was not. It was a school in the center of town. Therefore we only got a tour and then left for the day.
While a bittersweet start to the day, it was our 4th of July party!! Once we got home we had a meeting to join together group 1 (teachers who had been in Gulu since June 14th) and my group 2 (we arrived in Gulu on June 28th). We had a discussion on Pedogogy for Liberation by Friere. Then we prepared for the party. Awere Secondary School, a school which is in a village some distance from town, came to perform for us traditional Acoli dances. It was marvelous. One of the students I taught from Layibi was part of the dance troupe. He told me about his hardships with being able to pay school fees and then having to drop out of Layibi, a top secondary school in this region. IC has instructed us that we cannot indivisually support students. I would love to say I would pay for his school fees but when would it end? Who could I say no to afterwards? How would I be able to follow up and make sure he was doing well? I will trust in how Invisible Children works in Gulu. I recommended he apply for the sponsorship program. I will let people in the office know his name and pray that he applies and is chosen.
Afterwards we had our adult 4th of July party (on Saturday July 3rd) and it was wonderful! It was a great mix of Acoli and mzungus (foreigners). We had rented a DJ and gotten snacks and drinks from town. Each teacher donated $6 US to cover all the expenses. Many people from the neighborhood looked on and danced from the other side of the wire linked fence (don't really know how I feel about that yet...)
I danced so much that the dress I was wearing had sweat from the top to the bottom and my arms got chaffed from rubbing up against it! I got complimented many times by different Acolis on my dancing abilities :)
I passed out from exhaustion at the end of the night.
While a bittersweet start to the day, it was our 4th of July party!! Once we got home we had a meeting to join together group 1 (teachers who had been in Gulu since June 14th) and my group 2 (we arrived in Gulu on June 28th). We had a discussion on Pedogogy for Liberation by Friere. Then we prepared for the party. Awere Secondary School, a school which is in a village some distance from town, came to perform for us traditional Acoli dances. It was marvelous. One of the students I taught from Layibi was part of the dance troupe. He told me about his hardships with being able to pay school fees and then having to drop out of Layibi, a top secondary school in this region. IC has instructed us that we cannot indivisually support students. I would love to say I would pay for his school fees but when would it end? Who could I say no to afterwards? How would I be able to follow up and make sure he was doing well? I will trust in how Invisible Children works in Gulu. I recommended he apply for the sponsorship program. I will let people in the office know his name and pray that he applies and is chosen.
Afterwards we had our adult 4th of July party (on Saturday July 3rd) and it was wonderful! It was a great mix of Acoli and mzungus (foreigners). We had rented a DJ and gotten snacks and drinks from town. Each teacher donated $6 US to cover all the expenses. Many people from the neighborhood looked on and danced from the other side of the wire linked fence (don't really know how I feel about that yet...)
I danced so much that the dress I was wearing had sweat from the top to the bottom and my arms got chaffed from rubbing up against it! I got complimented many times by different Acolis on my dancing abilities :)
I passed out from exhaustion at the end of the night.
Meet the Teachers
Today we get to meet our partner teachers for the first time. I am so looking forward to it. I could not meet my new teacher without reconnecting with my all my friends in Gulu.
I went to the market and spent my lunch time with Patrick. He took me to a restaurant near the market with delicious food. We ate curried rice and beef. It was a great experience to chat with him about his studies, the changes I noticed in Gulu town and his excitement over his first exposure in a hospital at Kitgum.
After lunch I left for Layibi to meet with Robert, physics teacher, and reconnect with his wife Maureen. Robert was part of the reciprocal exchange we had this past January. He was a fellow teacher at Layibi last summer and we became very fast friends. He is very respectful and curious. I always had a great fun when we spent time together. He also got to come and dine in my home in NYC. So it was with great joy that I visited his home this summer. Before heading out I asked Patrick what I should bring as a gift. He often was my Acoli intermediary to gift giving. He suggested passionfruit, as people had been a bit ill in the home recently. It was the perfect gift and brought much joy to Maureen when I gave it to them. I finally got to meet Mark, Robert's son, who I had danced with last summer. Maureen was heavily pregnant last August and we went dancing, so I always say I danced with Mark before he was born. He is a very bright and curious boy and once we danced again he took a liking to me. I also got to meet Robert's daughter Tina. She was so polite and cute. All in all, I had a wonderful day.
This leads into our meet the teacher dinner. While most schools were a bit late, no one of the staff of Sacred Heart arrived within the first hour. It was a bit disheartenening at first but once they arrived, we were all very happy to speak and get to know one another. My partner teacher is Otim Francis. The Acoli people are named by the circumstances surrounding their birth. Otim means “born in a foreign place.” He is called this because he was born in Kampala and not in Gulu town. He has been teaching for three years and I am looking forward to working with him. He teaches S2 Math at Sacred Heart.
p.s. Oh yeah by the way I totally wiped out in front of all the teachers. My thigh hurts :(
I went to the market and spent my lunch time with Patrick. He took me to a restaurant near the market with delicious food. We ate curried rice and beef. It was a great experience to chat with him about his studies, the changes I noticed in Gulu town and his excitement over his first exposure in a hospital at Kitgum.
After lunch I left for Layibi to meet with Robert, physics teacher, and reconnect with his wife Maureen. Robert was part of the reciprocal exchange we had this past January. He was a fellow teacher at Layibi last summer and we became very fast friends. He is very respectful and curious. I always had a great fun when we spent time together. He also got to come and dine in my home in NYC. So it was with great joy that I visited his home this summer. Before heading out I asked Patrick what I should bring as a gift. He often was my Acoli intermediary to gift giving. He suggested passionfruit, as people had been a bit ill in the home recently. It was the perfect gift and brought much joy to Maureen when I gave it to them. I finally got to meet Mark, Robert's son, who I had danced with last summer. Maureen was heavily pregnant last August and we went dancing, so I always say I danced with Mark before he was born. He is a very bright and curious boy and once we danced again he took a liking to me. I also got to meet Robert's daughter Tina. She was so polite and cute. All in all, I had a wonderful day.
This leads into our meet the teacher dinner. While most schools were a bit late, no one of the staff of Sacred Heart arrived within the first hour. It was a bit disheartenening at first but once they arrived, we were all very happy to speak and get to know one another. My partner teacher is Otim Francis. The Acoli people are named by the circumstances surrounding their birth. Otim means “born in a foreign place.” He is called this because he was born in Kampala and not in Gulu town. He has been teaching for three years and I am looking forward to working with him. He teaches S2 Math at Sacred Heart.
p.s. Oh yeah by the way I totally wiped out in front of all the teachers. My thigh hurts :(
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Atanga School Strike
Today there was a strike by the students at Atanga Secondary School. This means that the Teacher Exchange will not be going to tAtanga village (border town to Sudan) this summer. Since I am going to Anaka we had a meeting to decide, among the 7 of us who were going to be in the villages, who really wanted to go to the vilages and who would not mind staying in town. I left the decision up to the new people. I love the town and would love the opportunity to see the village but I have great relationships in town I can improve upon as well.
I should probably explain the school system in Uganda. It is very similar to the 1920's British education system. They have 7 years of primary school referred to as P1 - P7, then they have 6 years of Secondary School referred to as S1- S6. The first four years are referred to as Ordinary levels, or O levels (yea HP!) and the students sit for their national exams at the end of their S4 year. They then work on S5 and S6 which is referred to Advanced or A levels.
It turns out another math person REALLY wanted to go to the village so I traded places. I will be working at Sacred Heart Secondary School (). It is an all girl school. I am very excited to be working with the girls this year because last year I worked at St Joseph's Layibi College, an all boys school. While I loved working with the boys, I am very happy to get to work with the girls of Gulu town!
Today I picked up my outfit from Irene in the market. The outfit fit perfectly and looked great! On my way out of the market I stopped by my friend Patrick's stall.
Patrick is now a medical student. He just finished his first year of medical school. Last summer he was working for his brother while trying to figure out what to do. He knew i would look for him at his brother's stall so he waited for me there. He took 2 weeks before leaving for Kitgum so he could welcome me back to Gulu. Kitgum is a village northeast of Gulu where he will be spending time doing medical practice.
I should probably explain the school system in Uganda. It is very similar to the 1920's British education system. They have 7 years of primary school referred to as P1 - P7, then they have 6 years of Secondary School referred to as S1- S6. The first four years are referred to as Ordinary levels, or O levels (yea HP!) and the students sit for their national exams at the end of their S4 year. They then work on S5 and S6 which is referred to Advanced or A levels.
It turns out another math person REALLY wanted to go to the village so I traded places. I will be working at Sacred Heart Secondary School (). It is an all girl school. I am very excited to be working with the girls this year because last year I worked at St Joseph's Layibi College, an all boys school. While I loved working with the boys, I am very happy to get to work with the girls of Gulu town!
Today I picked up my outfit from Irene in the market. The outfit fit perfectly and looked great! On my way out of the market I stopped by my friend Patrick's stall.
Patrick is now a medical student. He just finished his first year of medical school. Last summer he was working for his brother while trying to figure out what to do. He knew i would look for him at his brother's stall so he waited for me there. He took 2 weeks before leaving for Kitgum so he could welcome me back to Gulu. Kitgum is a village northeast of Gulu where he will be spending time doing medical practice.
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