July 25th 08
In just a few hours we will pack up all of our stuff and all 21 of us will cram into a mini bus, and ride down to Murchenson Falls, then to Safari, then to Kampala, then to rafting in Jinja, and then back to Entebbe Airport. I can’t believe that the trip is ending (again).
It’s different leaving Gulu this time. Last time I just kept thinking that I would never come to Uganda again, and even though that may be true now, it is still very bizarre to say goodbye for the second time.
Today we said goodbye to Pabo, and all of our friends there. The teachers and students at Pabo Secondary School were real sad to see us go. It was amazing to experience how much we all meant to them. One of the other teachers at the school (who did not have an American partner teacher) spoke during our teacher goodbye party just kept saying all of these great things about us, and how the friendships we offered would stay with them. I couldn’t believe that this teacher was saying these things about us, and I didn’t even know his name!
There were a few teachers who we grew closer to and even visited them at their homes. Although I hold their friendships to mean something very special to me, I have a feeling that no matter what, having an American teach at their school will always mean more to them than it does to me.
One of our partner teachers put it in very good perspective when he said that often the students at Pabo SS think that what they are learning is not important or the content is irrelevant to what the world considers essential knowledge. When we came and joined in their classes and taught them the same things we teach to American students the Pabo SS students regained confidence in the Ugandan Education System (although I would say it’s extremely flawed…but I won’t go into that now).
I can’t remember if I have blogged much about my partner teacher earlier, and because I can’t remember, you can just read it again. Odongo Vasco Bath is Physics and Fine Arts teacher at Pabo SS. He was originally just given the Acholi name of Odong, but then another child in his family was given the same name also, so he changed his to Odongo, b/c he was tired of being confused with his brother. I find that pretty hilarious. He currently lives about 2 hours by bike from Pabo SS, so he only travels home on the weekends. It is very common for the teachers of Pabo SS to live outside of Pabo town center (aka- the IDP Camp). Very many of them actually live in Gulu. So Vasco stays in a room in Pabo during the week, and goes home on the weekend. He currently has one wife. I say this because he use to have two, but apparently he didn’t pay for her dowry. This caused issues with her family, and the second wife’s brother came and stole her and her son back one night. I’m not sure how she felt about that, but I can’t imagine wanting to be second to another woman. I then asked him how many children he had, and he responded that he had 6 children.
I thought it would be good to write down his children’s names, so I pulled out my note pad and started writing. I soon realized that he didn’t know their names. I couldn’t believe it! Danielle and I were sitting with him when all of this occurred and we explained to him that it was not ok to not know the names of your kids. He then said he knew their names, but he just couldn’t recall them right then.
The next day at school he showed up with a list of his kids names. I thought it was good that he remembered until he confided that his sister-in-law lives in Pabo, so he asked her to list his kids names and ages. At that point the truth came out that he really had 7 kids. So absurd. I then told him about one of my high school friends who had 9 siblings, and I stood there and named all 10 of them. But with the difficulty of communication I wasn’t so sure he completely understood what I was saying.
Very soon we will be leaving Gulu, and it feels pretty surreal again. I do love this place, but I’m not sure yet if I want to come back for a third year. I have a lot of reflecting to do. As for the rest of July and August, I’m just excited to actually have a vacation. This year I am going to do a different Safari, and some of us that came last year are not doing a land safari, but instead we are going to take a boat safari. Don’t worry, I will watch out for the Hippos, and crocs. We are going to go up the Nile a little bit, so that eventually we will be at the bottom of Merchenson Falls. I’m excited for the boat ride.
Then we’ll go down and whitewater raft again, which I can’t wait for! I’m not sure if I want to bungee jump again because it was pretty insanely scary.
I have a few hours left before I leave Gulu, so I am going to go meet Komakech for one last time. Hope you are all well. Love ya.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
A typical day in Pabo
July 19th
Waking up on a Ugandan foam mattress, it takes me a second to realize that I am not in America, as my vivid dream leads me to believe. As I remember I am under a mosquito net, I hear the sound of a goat bleeting just behind my room. Actually I then recall hearing the sound of the disco (dance club) playing music all night. Luckily I have always been a deep sleeper, so even though it made me toss and turn at certain times, I slept through most of the night.
I begin to think that I should get out of bed, and start to get ready for school. I hear Danielle and Matt outside their rooms going to and from the latrine. Gotta love the call of nature. I finally make myself craw (literally) out of my bed net, trying to keep it tucked in as much as possible so I don’t have to fix it later.
Outside I greet Matt and Danielle, go about my morning business. First, I always set up our kerosene stove so we can make oatmeal for breakfast. I then start my routine of brushing my teeth, visiting the latrine, putting on my not-so-clean-but-not-so-dirty skirt and shirt, and eating oatmeal (of course accompanied by my malaria meds).
Making sure to take my school bag with bug spray, bottled water, and toilet paper inside, I then head out on my bike towards school. Danielle, Matt, and I typically ride together the 20ish minute ride to school each day. It’s really great to be out and riding a bike everymorning, only we become something of a Munu Parade, or so we call it. As we ride south, it seems like every kid who lives near the road hears other kids who live farther north calling out, “Munu! How are you?” or the alternative, “Munu byeeeeeee.”
Eventually the Munu Parade reaches school, and I no longer feel like such an outsider. Here the students are use to us, and even show us the same respect they would to any other teacher. I pass the morning assembly, where students gather and hear announcements, raise the flag, and gather for the start of each school day.
I then meet my teacher Odongo Vasco Bath, in the teacher room. Some days I beat him to school, but on this particular day, he has come earlier to class and is even marking papers before our first 8:30 class. We have three 80 minute (that’s not a typo) classes in a row today, which is the most I ever teach in one day. I actually kinda like Thursdays for that reason because they go quickly and then I am done by lunchtime.
Lunch includes some posho and beans. Its always hard for me to explain exactly what posho is like. It’s a type of cornmeal made into a thick mush, except its thicker than grits, but that’s that best analogy I’ve been able to come up with. The worst part about lunch is the food, and I often find solace in a Cliff bar (crunchy peanut butter is my fav.) but the best part of lunch is the country music hour. While sitting in the teacher room, Dolly (one of my favorite Pabo SS teachers) changes the station and we listen to MEGA FM and their daily country lunch hour. There’s just something reassuring about hearing Tim McGraw and Faith Hill sing a familiar love song while you eat posho and beans in the middle of Africa.
Although I am here to teach, and help the Ugandan teachers to think more deeply about their own teaching practices, I don’t know if most of you want to hear the details of an 80 minute physics class, so I am going to spare you the details. This year we’ve been focusing on using different teaching methods, and I am sure that there are many new things that I can use in my classroom at Upper Merion as well. One interesting thing about school is that the teachers love to play scrabble. They play scrabble at times when they are not teaching a class. It is even amazing that the Headmaster can walk into the room and the teachers just keep playing scrabble.
So after a few hours of sitting around, playing scrabble, and planning for the next day, the school day comes to an end. Typically the Munu Parade takes back off for the White House. Really the White House is the only building in Pabo which is made of white tiles; thus White House. When back at home we are greeted by Robert. He is in charge of the White House and probably one of our closest friends. We just found out the other day that Robert lives in Kampala, and really only came and stayed in Pabo because we are staying at his father’s hotel. I am amazed that he would come all the way to Pabo for over a month just because we are staying there. Even though I can’t believe that he’s living in Pabo, I am really glad that he’s there. Robert has become a good friend.
Once inside the place, there’s a little inner courtyard where we hang out, eat dinner, play cards, and wash our hair (only on Wednesdays though). No matter how good the day has been the best part is coming home and seeing Jovanna’s beautiful face. Jovanna is the 9month old of Harriet, our cook. They are both inspiring people. Plus, Jovanna is so cute. She has been scared of us (since we’re white) for the first two weeks, but today she allows me to hold her and dance around.
After we ate an amazing meal, we ended up playing a couple different cards games. We didn’t even realize the time, and after about 6 games, 10pm snuck up on us. With the full moon making the night so bright, we didn’t even realize what time it was.
So I brush my teeth, lock my room, climb into bed and tuck in my mosquito net. The day ends about the same way it began with a random goat bleeting somewhere behind my room. Slowly, I fade off to sleep.
Waking up on a Ugandan foam mattress, it takes me a second to realize that I am not in America, as my vivid dream leads me to believe. As I remember I am under a mosquito net, I hear the sound of a goat bleeting just behind my room. Actually I then recall hearing the sound of the disco (dance club) playing music all night. Luckily I have always been a deep sleeper, so even though it made me toss and turn at certain times, I slept through most of the night.
I begin to think that I should get out of bed, and start to get ready for school. I hear Danielle and Matt outside their rooms going to and from the latrine. Gotta love the call of nature. I finally make myself craw (literally) out of my bed net, trying to keep it tucked in as much as possible so I don’t have to fix it later.
Outside I greet Matt and Danielle, go about my morning business. First, I always set up our kerosene stove so we can make oatmeal for breakfast. I then start my routine of brushing my teeth, visiting the latrine, putting on my not-so-clean-but-not-so-dirty skirt and shirt, and eating oatmeal (of course accompanied by my malaria meds).
Making sure to take my school bag with bug spray, bottled water, and toilet paper inside, I then head out on my bike towards school. Danielle, Matt, and I typically ride together the 20ish minute ride to school each day. It’s really great to be out and riding a bike everymorning, only we become something of a Munu Parade, or so we call it. As we ride south, it seems like every kid who lives near the road hears other kids who live farther north calling out, “Munu! How are you?” or the alternative, “Munu byeeeeeee.”
Eventually the Munu Parade reaches school, and I no longer feel like such an outsider. Here the students are use to us, and even show us the same respect they would to any other teacher. I pass the morning assembly, where students gather and hear announcements, raise the flag, and gather for the start of each school day.
I then meet my teacher Odongo Vasco Bath, in the teacher room. Some days I beat him to school, but on this particular day, he has come earlier to class and is even marking papers before our first 8:30 class. We have three 80 minute (that’s not a typo) classes in a row today, which is the most I ever teach in one day. I actually kinda like Thursdays for that reason because they go quickly and then I am done by lunchtime.
Lunch includes some posho and beans. Its always hard for me to explain exactly what posho is like. It’s a type of cornmeal made into a thick mush, except its thicker than grits, but that’s that best analogy I’ve been able to come up with. The worst part about lunch is the food, and I often find solace in a Cliff bar (crunchy peanut butter is my fav.) but the best part of lunch is the country music hour. While sitting in the teacher room, Dolly (one of my favorite Pabo SS teachers) changes the station and we listen to MEGA FM and their daily country lunch hour. There’s just something reassuring about hearing Tim McGraw and Faith Hill sing a familiar love song while you eat posho and beans in the middle of Africa.
Although I am here to teach, and help the Ugandan teachers to think more deeply about their own teaching practices, I don’t know if most of you want to hear the details of an 80 minute physics class, so I am going to spare you the details. This year we’ve been focusing on using different teaching methods, and I am sure that there are many new things that I can use in my classroom at Upper Merion as well. One interesting thing about school is that the teachers love to play scrabble. They play scrabble at times when they are not teaching a class. It is even amazing that the Headmaster can walk into the room and the teachers just keep playing scrabble.
So after a few hours of sitting around, playing scrabble, and planning for the next day, the school day comes to an end. Typically the Munu Parade takes back off for the White House. Really the White House is the only building in Pabo which is made of white tiles; thus White House. When back at home we are greeted by Robert. He is in charge of the White House and probably one of our closest friends. We just found out the other day that Robert lives in Kampala, and really only came and stayed in Pabo because we are staying at his father’s hotel. I am amazed that he would come all the way to Pabo for over a month just because we are staying there. Even though I can’t believe that he’s living in Pabo, I am really glad that he’s there. Robert has become a good friend.
Once inside the place, there’s a little inner courtyard where we hang out, eat dinner, play cards, and wash our hair (only on Wednesdays though). No matter how good the day has been the best part is coming home and seeing Jovanna’s beautiful face. Jovanna is the 9month old of Harriet, our cook. They are both inspiring people. Plus, Jovanna is so cute. She has been scared of us (since we’re white) for the first two weeks, but today she allows me to hold her and dance around.
After we ate an amazing meal, we ended up playing a couple different cards games. We didn’t even realize the time, and after about 6 games, 10pm snuck up on us. With the full moon making the night so bright, we didn’t even realize what time it was.
So I brush my teeth, lock my room, climb into bed and tuck in my mosquito net. The day ends about the same way it began with a random goat bleeting somewhere behind my room. Slowly, I fade off to sleep.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Another Week in Pabo
July 11th 2008
Officially Half-way Through! I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Last weekend I was really ready to go home, mostly because I had been sick for about 3 days. I’m still not really sure how I got sick, or what made me sick, but I do know that something made its way into my intestine and it decided to set up camp. So I took some Cipro, which basically gets rid of any bacteria in your body, good or bad. That made me pretty weak for about 2.5 days, and I really would like to never go through that again. (Probably the worst sickness ever...except for that time I was sick and alone in Edinburg).
On Monday I was not very excited to be in Pabo, especially since I couldn’t do anything fun or eat any good food while I was in Gulu the previous weekend. But as the days went on, and the week came to a close I realized that I had a really nice week. I even found myself enjoying Pabo at different times. Lets take a look back at some of the highlights:
Scrabble- I am getting really good at playing scrabble. Things here are a little different when it comes to work. The students just stay in one room basically all day, and the teachers come in and out. When the teachers are not actually teaching they just kind of hang out and do whatever they want. One of their favorite things to do is play this Crosswords game, which is basically Scrabble. They love it so so much. In fact, Danielle, Matt, Vasco, and I played two games in a row. The American teachers then had enough of Scrabble, so we quit, and I think that Vasco then played another 4 games with other Ugandan teachers. They play sooo much scrabble. But today I guess it was a little different because we were waiting for this afternoon party to start, but it took forever for the event to start. So all of the teachers were playing different games to keep themselves occupied until the party started.
We were actually picked up by an IC vehicle at 3:30pm, so we left because the event was suppose to start at 1pm, but it hadn’t even started, so we just left.
Question of the Night- In an effort to get to know one another better, each night that we are out in Pabo, we each have to think of a question that we all answer. Some questions are intense…”if you couldn’t be a teacher, what would you be?” and “ But then there are others which are pretty tame, “How many cars have you driven in your life?”. Although I do like the rule that what happens in Pabo, stays in Pabo.
Major Rain storm- On Thursday, just as lunch was starting, this huge rain storm came through, and lasted for about two hours. It rained harder than I have ever seen it rain in Gulu (although technically we weren’t in Gulu). All of the teachers at Pabo S.S. stayed inside the teacher room and we just listened to the radio and hung out. The best part was that it was very equivalent to a colder summer rain in PA. One of those rainstorms where you just cuddle up on the couch and watch your favorite movie. Unfortunately there was no couch, and no tv, and no favorite movie for me to watch. The rainstorm did make me think of all of the great times when I’ve sat in the Guard Room at Gretna Glen while it rained hard. The weather did not actually seem very cold to me, but all of the Ugandan teachers were pretty chilly. It was funny to watch them cuddle up with random scarfs and other cloths or jackets, while the three American teachers were just fine with the temperature.
Random Rodents and other creatures- There are tons of lizards at Pabo. And that is actually something that I could do without. They love to hang out in the darkness of the latrines. It then makes it real fun to open up the latrine door, and watch some sort of lizard scurry up the wall and out the back window. But as much as I don’t like the lizards, I could really do without the rats. Well, I guess it could be worse. They are really not that bad, it was just this one time when Matt left our food on the table in the dark, and when Danielle and I returned to the table there was a big old fat rat sitting on the table eating our snacks. So we of course threw the food out….no Hepatitis A for me!
We are back in Gulu for the weekend, and after a few BBQ’s, we will then return back to Pabo for the week. We are heading out to this place called Ft. Patiko, which is apparently where this guy Sir Sameul Baker stopped the Ugandan slave trade. IT should be pretty cool. Then tomorrow we are having a big American BBQ with our teachers. I can't wait for real American food. The trip has been good so far, and I’m excited for it to get even better!
Officially Half-way Through! I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Last weekend I was really ready to go home, mostly because I had been sick for about 3 days. I’m still not really sure how I got sick, or what made me sick, but I do know that something made its way into my intestine and it decided to set up camp. So I took some Cipro, which basically gets rid of any bacteria in your body, good or bad. That made me pretty weak for about 2.5 days, and I really would like to never go through that again. (Probably the worst sickness ever...except for that time I was sick and alone in Edinburg).
On Monday I was not very excited to be in Pabo, especially since I couldn’t do anything fun or eat any good food while I was in Gulu the previous weekend. But as the days went on, and the week came to a close I realized that I had a really nice week. I even found myself enjoying Pabo at different times. Lets take a look back at some of the highlights:
Scrabble- I am getting really good at playing scrabble. Things here are a little different when it comes to work. The students just stay in one room basically all day, and the teachers come in and out. When the teachers are not actually teaching they just kind of hang out and do whatever they want. One of their favorite things to do is play this Crosswords game, which is basically Scrabble. They love it so so much. In fact, Danielle, Matt, Vasco, and I played two games in a row. The American teachers then had enough of Scrabble, so we quit, and I think that Vasco then played another 4 games with other Ugandan teachers. They play sooo much scrabble. But today I guess it was a little different because we were waiting for this afternoon party to start, but it took forever for the event to start. So all of the teachers were playing different games to keep themselves occupied until the party started.
We were actually picked up by an IC vehicle at 3:30pm, so we left because the event was suppose to start at 1pm, but it hadn’t even started, so we just left.
Question of the Night- In an effort to get to know one another better, each night that we are out in Pabo, we each have to think of a question that we all answer. Some questions are intense…”if you couldn’t be a teacher, what would you be?” and “ But then there are others which are pretty tame, “How many cars have you driven in your life?”. Although I do like the rule that what happens in Pabo, stays in Pabo.
Major Rain storm- On Thursday, just as lunch was starting, this huge rain storm came through, and lasted for about two hours. It rained harder than I have ever seen it rain in Gulu (although technically we weren’t in Gulu). All of the teachers at Pabo S.S. stayed inside the teacher room and we just listened to the radio and hung out. The best part was that it was very equivalent to a colder summer rain in PA. One of those rainstorms where you just cuddle up on the couch and watch your favorite movie. Unfortunately there was no couch, and no tv, and no favorite movie for me to watch. The rainstorm did make me think of all of the great times when I’ve sat in the Guard Room at Gretna Glen while it rained hard. The weather did not actually seem very cold to me, but all of the Ugandan teachers were pretty chilly. It was funny to watch them cuddle up with random scarfs and other cloths or jackets, while the three American teachers were just fine with the temperature.
Random Rodents and other creatures- There are tons of lizards at Pabo. And that is actually something that I could do without. They love to hang out in the darkness of the latrines. It then makes it real fun to open up the latrine door, and watch some sort of lizard scurry up the wall and out the back window. But as much as I don’t like the lizards, I could really do without the rats. Well, I guess it could be worse. They are really not that bad, it was just this one time when Matt left our food on the table in the dark, and when Danielle and I returned to the table there was a big old fat rat sitting on the table eating our snacks. So we of course threw the food out….no Hepatitis A for me!
We are back in Gulu for the weekend, and after a few BBQ’s, we will then return back to Pabo for the week. We are heading out to this place called Ft. Patiko, which is apparently where this guy Sir Sameul Baker stopped the Ugandan slave trade. IT should be pretty cool. Then tomorrow we are having a big American BBQ with our teachers. I can't wait for real American food. The trip has been good so far, and I’m excited for it to get even better!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Celine Dion, Country Ballads, and Spiderman
The past few days of school have been nice, as I’ve done a lot of observing and a little teaching. It’s kind of boring to sit for 80 minutes and watch my partner teacher Odongo Vasco Bath lecture on speed and velocity. One day I had to keep standing up in the back of the room to stay awake. I honestly don’t know how the students stay awake the whole time. I think part of it is that in America we are so use to being engaged in some way, whether it’s on a computer, watching flashy tv shows, or just living real busy lives. Vasco teaches really different from Komakech in some really great ways. He is pretty encouraging to students, and even jokes around with them at times. I’m amazed at his attitude towards the students actually because he is probably over 50 years old, and often in Uganda the older the teacher, the more rigid and strict they are. In fact, he even rebuked a class for making fun of a student who tried a problem on the board and got it wrong. He did it in a great way by explaining that the student was courageous for trying, and should not be ridiculed for his courage.
One of my favorite moments so far with Vasco was when he asked me about Spiderman. We were talking about pictures that students had drawn on their notebooks. He knew that Spiderman was tied to the US, but he seemed to be unsure if he was a real man. And he also didn’t understand why he was a spider. It was interesting trying to explain that he is a character who was bit by a radioactive spider. I’m not so sure he understood but I tried.
As for Celine Dion, all of the three nights we were at Pabo different people wanted to take us around town and show us different parts of the town. One of the nights we walked down to the ‘mission’ hospital which is apart of the larger Lacor (la-chore) hospital right in Gulu. We met a doctor who works and lives right on the compound. He invited us into his house, which was real nice and actually had a television. So I guess I should take back the comment about electricity. I guess it does exist, just not very common. Anyway he was playing a Celine Dion music video DVD on his TV, except he had it on repeat, so we listened to “Cause I’m your lady…..and you are my man…” about 5 times in a row. Danielle and I decided that we’ve had our Celine fill for the rest of the trip, maybe even the rest of the year.
And the other highlight of the week was that many teachers at Pabo SS listen to the radio while sitting in the teacher room between classes. On Tuesday there was about 30 minutes of straight country ballads. First Trisha and Garth Brooks, then Tim and Faith, then The Warren Brothers…and on and on. I actually find it pretty funny that people here really like American country music, but I’m not complaining about it!
I am now back in Gulu for the weekend, and excited to not be at Pabo for a few days. It’s been good to see the other teachers who are staying here and spend some time talking to other Americans besides Danielle and Matt.
Hope you all are doing well. I miss you all.
One of my favorite moments so far with Vasco was when he asked me about Spiderman. We were talking about pictures that students had drawn on their notebooks. He knew that Spiderman was tied to the US, but he seemed to be unsure if he was a real man. And he also didn’t understand why he was a spider. It was interesting trying to explain that he is a character who was bit by a radioactive spider. I’m not so sure he understood but I tried.
As for Celine Dion, all of the three nights we were at Pabo different people wanted to take us around town and show us different parts of the town. One of the nights we walked down to the ‘mission’ hospital which is apart of the larger Lacor (la-chore) hospital right in Gulu. We met a doctor who works and lives right on the compound. He invited us into his house, which was real nice and actually had a television. So I guess I should take back the comment about electricity. I guess it does exist, just not very common. Anyway he was playing a Celine Dion music video DVD on his TV, except he had it on repeat, so we listened to “Cause I’m your lady…..and you are my man…” about 5 times in a row. Danielle and I decided that we’ve had our Celine fill for the rest of the trip, maybe even the rest of the year.
And the other highlight of the week was that many teachers at Pabo SS listen to the radio while sitting in the teacher room between classes. On Tuesday there was about 30 minutes of straight country ballads. First Trisha and Garth Brooks, then Tim and Faith, then The Warren Brothers…and on and on. I actually find it pretty funny that people here really like American country music, but I’m not complaining about it!
I am now back in Gulu for the weekend, and excited to not be at Pabo for a few days. It’s been good to see the other teachers who are staying here and spend some time talking to other Americans besides Danielle and Matt.
Hope you all are doing well. I miss you all.
First Week of July
We are now back from our first week of life at the Internally Displaced Camp (IDP) called Pabo. There are just three of us staying at Pabo; Danielle, Matt, and I. We are living at a sort of Hotel (read room that locks with a bed, mosquito net, washpan, and jerry can) called The White House. I think that the people at Pabo love that the American President lives at a place called The White House also. And it is pretty nice, for IDP camp life. But there is no running water/plumbing and electricity throughout all of Pabo.
We left the Volunteer house in Gulu around 10ish on Monday morning, and rode up in an Invisible Children Vehicle out to the camp. When we got there we met some of our friends out in Pabo.
Robert- He is the man who runs the white house. He is probably in his late 20’s, because he is still single and he lives in one of the rooms at The White House. He has probably been the most helpful person so far. The first day he helped us by getting a lot of necessary things such as our nets, fixing our bikes, and making sure our latrine had a lock.
Harriet and Jovanna- Harriet is an Acholi woman who cooks for us. She is younger also, only 23 years old. She was actually a recipient of the Visible Child Scholarship Program at Gulu Central School, and she even went through S5 & S6 which is really unusual for girls. She is really nice, and we’ve had some great conversations. She has a little 9 month old daughter named Jovanna. She is definitely the most beautiful little girl in all of northern Uganda…or at least in Pabo. The only problem is that she is afraid of us because we are white. Maybe in a few weeks she will not fear us. (Ugandans do not use the phrases scared of, don’t like, and instead they use the word fear…it’s actually pretty classic.)
Walter Knox- Walter is the headmaster of Pabo SS, and he lives right across the street from us. He is a really great headmaster who has a good vision for the students and teachers at the school. There are maybe 160 students in Secondary 1, 140 in Secondary 2, and then the numbers of course continue to drop.
Besides just doing the Teacher Exchange this year, I have also opted to take two classes from NYU, to receive 6 college credits. One of my classes is an independent class and I have to create and run some sort of program. After being at Pabo for one or two days I realized that there really were no activities for the small number of girls that are at Pabo SS. After talking to Danielle a little bit and the headmaster, I am going to hold tutoring for the girls after school on Tuesdays and sports for the girls on Thursday. It will only be for three weeks, but I think I will help to lead some volleyball, frisbee and soccer. Teaching soccer/football will be interesting as the girls team at Pabo made it to a sort of national tournament, but did not have the fees in order to go. I’m thinking that I’ll just play with them rather than try to teach them, b/c really they will know how to play better than I will. But I am going to teach them how to play Frisbee, and I think I’m going to leave my Eastern University Frisbee at the school for them to have.
Lastly, I’ve just realized that maybe it would be good to give some background on both Danielle and Matt, whom I’ve been spending most of my time with.
Danielle is a 3rd year math teacher living in South Carolina. This is her second year back to Gulu, so it’s been fun sharing the camp experience with someone who I already know. She teaches 7th grade, and is pretty active at her church, so we have a lot in common which is nice.
Matt is a 4th year English teacher, who has taught in both extremely rural Alaska (think Into the Wild) for one year, and then returned to suburban Chicago. (Yes mom, there are a few teachers from the greater Chicago area…but none from Glenview or close to there.) He teaches freshmen and seniors just like I do.
We left the Volunteer house in Gulu around 10ish on Monday morning, and rode up in an Invisible Children Vehicle out to the camp. When we got there we met some of our friends out in Pabo.
Robert- He is the man who runs the white house. He is probably in his late 20’s, because he is still single and he lives in one of the rooms at The White House. He has probably been the most helpful person so far. The first day he helped us by getting a lot of necessary things such as our nets, fixing our bikes, and making sure our latrine had a lock.
Harriet and Jovanna- Harriet is an Acholi woman who cooks for us. She is younger also, only 23 years old. She was actually a recipient of the Visible Child Scholarship Program at Gulu Central School, and she even went through S5 & S6 which is really unusual for girls. She is really nice, and we’ve had some great conversations. She has a little 9 month old daughter named Jovanna. She is definitely the most beautiful little girl in all of northern Uganda…or at least in Pabo. The only problem is that she is afraid of us because we are white. Maybe in a few weeks she will not fear us. (Ugandans do not use the phrases scared of, don’t like, and instead they use the word fear…it’s actually pretty classic.)
Walter Knox- Walter is the headmaster of Pabo SS, and he lives right across the street from us. He is a really great headmaster who has a good vision for the students and teachers at the school. There are maybe 160 students in Secondary 1, 140 in Secondary 2, and then the numbers of course continue to drop.
Besides just doing the Teacher Exchange this year, I have also opted to take two classes from NYU, to receive 6 college credits. One of my classes is an independent class and I have to create and run some sort of program. After being at Pabo for one or two days I realized that there really were no activities for the small number of girls that are at Pabo SS. After talking to Danielle a little bit and the headmaster, I am going to hold tutoring for the girls after school on Tuesdays and sports for the girls on Thursday. It will only be for three weeks, but I think I will help to lead some volleyball, frisbee and soccer. Teaching soccer/football will be interesting as the girls team at Pabo made it to a sort of national tournament, but did not have the fees in order to go. I’m thinking that I’ll just play with them rather than try to teach them, b/c really they will know how to play better than I will. But I am going to teach them how to play Frisbee, and I think I’m going to leave my Eastern University Frisbee at the school for them to have.
Lastly, I’ve just realized that maybe it would be good to give some background on both Danielle and Matt, whom I’ve been spending most of my time with.
Danielle is a 3rd year math teacher living in South Carolina. This is her second year back to Gulu, so it’s been fun sharing the camp experience with someone who I already know. She teaches 7th grade, and is pretty active at her church, so we have a lot in common which is nice.
Matt is a 4th year English teacher, who has taught in both extremely rural Alaska (think Into the Wild) for one year, and then returned to suburban Chicago. (Yes mom, there are a few teachers from the greater Chicago area…but none from Glenview or close to there.) He teaches freshmen and seniors just like I do.
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