Hello friends!
For those of you who have been praying, thank you so much! This last week has been incredible and I am so excited to share with you a few stories.
To begin, Myangayanga has completely stolen my heart and I have already cried at the thought of leaving in 2.5 weeks. I have been teaching all different class levels but have really grown fond of teaching science, geography, and music.
July 6th marks the day of Saint Maria, the Saint in which my school is named in honor of, and this week we began preparing for the celebration. Thanks to a very generous donation to a man at my family's church, I was able to purchase a double set of drums for the school so the students can perform the traditional dance at the celebration.
Obtaining the drums was not a simple task. The headmaster and I traveled about 4 hours to Mpigi in 3 different taxis (which are 14 person vans that always carry at least 20 people at a time..and often chickens, mattresses, etc). After much negotiation and careful selection, we headmaster Peter chose the drums he liked best and we head back to the village.
The journey back was so miserable we had no choice but to laugh at the ridiculous situations we faced with our 6 HUGE drums. In the end, we traveled 10 kilometers down a dirt road on 2 boda-bodas (motorcycles) that carried 2 drivers, the 6 drums, and Peter and I. It was crazy!
The students, teachers, and community members were overjoyed when they saw the drums and have been practicing non-stop. It is amazing to see the confidence and excitement the kids feel when playing the drums and dancing to the beat.
Madam Christine, Madam Mary, and I have been teaching the school choir after school everyday. It is so fun! I have figured out a few of the local songs on guitar and play them with the choir. We have 3 songs that are sounding great and have added some awesome dance moves. Choir practice is my favorite part of the day.
After school and practice I usually go to my place and sing songs and play games with my neighbors, many of whom cannot afford to pay for school. I have also become friends with the the boys in town who are my age. This week one of them invited me to play soccer with them!
I played 2 days last week and scored a goal both days! The people of town find it very entertaining and hilarious because girls in Uganda do not play soccer, especially where I am living. I look forward to the games and can't wait to play every night this week.
I could write a million paragraphs describing how much I love the children in the village, but will instead simply tell you they are amazing. The love they give me everyday makes me wish the days were twice as long so I could have more time to be with them.
Teaching has been a small challenge because of the lack of materials and text books, but that is no surprise. What has been a surprise, however, is what is taught in the classes. I would say that ninety percent of the material taught focuses on survival in a village.
In science class, the children learn about different breeds of rabbits and their uses, the different types of chicken cages, how to plow, etc. In geography, they learn about the geography and weather of Uganda and nothing else.
I have found so much joy teaching the kids about the solar system, what a continent is and what the 7 continents are, weather around the world, etc, etc. It never ceases to amazing me that the kids remember everything I teach! The next day they are SO excited to tell me they remember exactly what I taught them the day before.
My time here is up, but thank you so much for reading and for all of your prayers and emails. Be thinking of ways to raise money for Myangayanga because I am already planning to raise money to pay for better text books, basic school materials, and eventually buildings!
Oh PS! Conquering fears! I forgot to write that these last 2 weeks I have conquered a TON of my fears. The list includes: sleeping alone in the pitch black, motorcycles, spiders, goats and COCKROACHES (my house was infested with them!!) and much more
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
week 1!
So I have been in Uganda for a little over one week now and could write endlessly about my time here. I spent my first few days in Gulu with the Rock Harbor team and friends at Gulu Bible Church. Returning to Gulu was a surreal experience filled with so much joy. I saw so many of the same children and they even remembered songs that I had taught them a year and a half ago. We were fortunate enough to see a hip-hop performance from the kids at HEALS, which was amazing! One of the girls taught the rock harbor girls and I an awesome hip-hop dance (however, she looked a million times better doing it than we ever could!)
After Gulu I took the bus down to Kampala and made the journey to my new home, the Mukono district. I have met some amazing people here with the organization who are working in other villages around Mukono and have been able to travel around Uganda with them on our days off.
On June 16th I made the trek out to my village, Mayangayanga, where I will be living for the month. Mayangayanga is a tiny, peaceful village about an hour from Mukono town . Peter, the headmaster of the school where I teach, brought me to the school were I was greeted with 307 smiling faces singing songs of thanks.
The school has one small building for the baby class and all other classes are held outside, under trees, with blackboards tied to trees and wooden benches. Peter is a wonderful man with a contagious passion for education and development. He started the school, which is private (no government support) about 6 years ago in order to provide children with a better education than those that are government-funded.
Peter's school, Saint Maria Primary School, has about 7 teachers who love children and work very hard to make due with the little the school has. The salary of these teachers is only 25,000 - 50,000 shillings per month (which is about 13-25 US dollars). Because of the poverty in the village, parents can only afford to pay 17,000 shillings a quarter ( 3 US dollars a month). For lunch, the school can only afford to feed the children porridge.
Fortunately, Peter had been able to purchase land and hopes to soon gain enough funding to build classrooms. We have estimated that the cost of construction per classroom is about $2,250 and he only needs 8.
Life in the village was hard to get used to at first as I am the only mzungu (white person) for miles and am living alone. However, I am surrounded by great kids who are on my doorstep morning, noon, and night wanting to sing songs with me on guitar, teach me Ugandan dances and songs, take silly pictures, or go for a run at sunset.
Living in the village is a much different experience from my previous trips to Africa and to say it has been hard would be an understatement. Though I am so blessed by the most welcoming and loving people, I even more aware of the extreme contrast between life in the US and how most of the world lives. Some things are very beautiful, but others are painful and my heart breaks for something new everyday.
As the closest internet is here in Mukono town, about an hour and a half away, I am unable to write everything that I wish to tell you all about, but will share all my stories when I return to the states! Please keep Mayangayanga in your thoughts and prayers!
ps. this weekend i camped in jinja with the other volunteers and conquered the Nile a second time..boom! I also went to church in Ggaba and was able to spend the day with David, Jona and Jackie, and their adorable twins! :)
After Gulu I took the bus down to Kampala and made the journey to my new home, the Mukono district. I have met some amazing people here with the organization who are working in other villages around Mukono and have been able to travel around Uganda with them on our days off.
On June 16th I made the trek out to my village, Mayangayanga, where I will be living for the month. Mayangayanga is a tiny, peaceful village about an hour from Mukono town . Peter, the headmaster of the school where I teach, brought me to the school were I was greeted with 307 smiling faces singing songs of thanks.
The school has one small building for the baby class and all other classes are held outside, under trees, with blackboards tied to trees and wooden benches. Peter is a wonderful man with a contagious passion for education and development. He started the school, which is private (no government support) about 6 years ago in order to provide children with a better education than those that are government-funded.
Peter's school, Saint Maria Primary School, has about 7 teachers who love children and work very hard to make due with the little the school has. The salary of these teachers is only 25,000 - 50,000 shillings per month (which is about 13-25 US dollars). Because of the poverty in the village, parents can only afford to pay 17,000 shillings a quarter ( 3 US dollars a month). For lunch, the school can only afford to feed the children porridge.
Fortunately, Peter had been able to purchase land and hopes to soon gain enough funding to build classrooms. We have estimated that the cost of construction per classroom is about $2,250 and he only needs 8.
Life in the village was hard to get used to at first as I am the only mzungu (white person) for miles and am living alone. However, I am surrounded by great kids who are on my doorstep morning, noon, and night wanting to sing songs with me on guitar, teach me Ugandan dances and songs, take silly pictures, or go for a run at sunset.
Living in the village is a much different experience from my previous trips to Africa and to say it has been hard would be an understatement. Though I am so blessed by the most welcoming and loving people, I even more aware of the extreme contrast between life in the US and how most of the world lives. Some things are very beautiful, but others are painful and my heart breaks for something new everyday.
As the closest internet is here in Mukono town, about an hour and a half away, I am unable to write everything that I wish to tell you all about, but will share all my stories when I return to the states! Please keep Mayangayanga in your thoughts and prayers!
ps. this weekend i camped in jinja with the other volunteers and conquered the Nile a second time..boom! I also went to church in Ggaba and was able to spend the day with David, Jona and Jackie, and their adorable twins! :)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Where to start?
I will be posting here to keep all of you back in the states updated about my many adventures while I am home in Uganda. Keep checking back because I have many stories to tell already!
BOOM
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