This last weekend we had a Teaching and Learning Conference here in Gulu, and I had what would become my best day yet in Gulu. I was finally feeling better thanks to Cipro. That seriously may be my favorite modern medical invention. So I was able to eat my first real meal in days and not get grossed out at the smell/sight of the food. The conference was all about the new Emotional Intelligence curriculum being implemented in the 11 Invisible Children Schools across northern Uganda. It is definitely exciting to see Ugandan teachers become excited about the student as a whole being and not just the test scores they earn. If you’re a teacher, and your reading this, keep in mind that besides normal teenage issues, many of the students in secondary school in northern Uganda have some form of PTSD due to the horrific events of the war with the LRA. It’s crazy some of the statistics we talked about.
Ok, but enough about that, you are reading this to hear about Christine. She’s a teacher from Pabo (where I was in 2008) and she teaches Geography. She and I never taught together, but we did spend some time together in the Teacher’s staff room during the day. We would talk some, but she wasn’t someone I thought I had left a big impression upon. I was definitely wrong.
She attended the conference this year and we were catching up on old times as I asked her about Pabo. I then remembered that last time I saw her she was about 6 or 7 months pregnant. I asked her about her baby and she started to talk about the little baby girl she gave birth to. At one point she said my name, but it seemed like a little miscommunication between the two of us, so I just dismissed it. I asked her what her daughter’s name was and she told me the acholi name, even spelling it. “What is her English name?” I asked next. “Trisha. That’s why I said it earlier, I named her from your name”, Christine replied. I couldn’t believe it. I started to melt in my chair at the thought of this woman naming her daughter after me. She and I weren’t even close friends, but she had decided to name her daughter after me. Although it is not uncommon to have a baby named after you, I was still floored. Trisha is not a name you ever hear in Acholi land, and in fact many Acholi have a hard time pronouncing the ‘ish’ sound. I couldn’t believe it. As we talked, I told her that I was going to come out to visit Pabo on Friday. She then told me she would bring my namesake (her words) to school with her on Friday. She has to be around 2 years old now, and I can’t wait to meet her. Pictures will follow—I promise!
As if they could get any better, but then it did. Jolly is an acholi woman who is featured in the Invisible Children Rough Cut video and after meeting Jason, Bobby, and Laren back in 2003, she became an integral part in forming Invisible Children, Inc. She is now the country director for Invisible Children. She attended the conference on Friday and then she proceeded to invite all of us American teachers to her house that night for a bon fire. Really it was just a campfire, but I was definitely excited. We sat around a small fire and Jolly’s father, Norman, told us stories about the Acholi. (Side note for RATE- for the record, yes there were lots of ‘trees’ sticking out and through the fire-as it should be! A true African fire.) As we sat there on bamboo mats next to the fire, they also served us this amazing meal with real beef. Little pieces of steak were like heaven as I’ve never had that kind of meat here in Gulu. I had the urge to curl up next to the fire, a common past time of mine…haha. But I opted for lying back and looking up at the nights sky. The stars were amazing that night and I felt like I could lay there and look at the stars forever. Probably one of my most favorite nights in Gulu. Thanks Jolly and Norman for your hospitality.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Grading=the Devil
If you know anything about me as a teacher, you know that I hate grading. I spent all day, and I mean ALL DAY grading. We gave a Senior 2 (8th grade) Exam for an hour and a half and then from 10am till 5:30pm we graded all TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTY exams, by hand of course. It was intense. Maybe I should bring Scantron to Gulu. About half way through the grading process I could list off the A,B,C,D code for all of the fourty questions.
Watoto
Rewind about a year and a half, think cold dark nights and jersey Christmas lawn ornaments. Before going to a friend’s Xmas party, Julie and I went to hear a Ugandan Choir sing at a church service. It was phenomenal. The choir was made up of both children and adults from Uganda but they focused on helping Ugandan orphans by giving them an education and helping them develop an interest in the arts (dancing, singing, etc.). Julie and I bought tshirts, which was not a surprise for me, but as for Julie, I think it is the first tshirt she’s ever bought! (believe it people!)
Fast forward to this June. While Down Under, I visited a Mega Church the one Sunday morning I was in Sydney. I was sitting waiting for the service to start and reading the small pamphlet found in my chair. When I got to the last page I started to read about the church’s women’s ministry and what/who they were supporting. As I read through the article it started to speak about the women of Gulu, in northern Uganda. I couldn’t believe it. I almost peed my pants right then and there. In just a few hours I would get on a plane, fly around the world and travel up to Gulu to meet the very same women that were spoken about in the article. The Hillsong church in Sydney was supporting the Watoto church in Uganda, and specifically the church in Gulu (not one of the other 5 located throughout Uganda). Needless to say I went to the service at Watoto my first Sunday here in Gulu.
The service was the first of it’s kind that I’ve ever been to here in Gulu. Many of the churches here are either Catholic or Anglican (due to the British Colonization). Thus many of the services are full of ritual and strict practices. Because of the cultural differences I’ve felt at time that these rituals have lost their meaning with the Ugandans. This has made it difficult to attend church and see some of the people as honest in their faith. Although I am sure some of my impressions are clouded since I don’t know much about the Catholic or Anglican traditions. Either way, the service I went to at Watoto was really good. They had people up front playing instruments and a whole choir. The pastor preached a good sermon and then there was even more singing at the end. I think singing is my favorite part of church. I just kept thinking how surreal it was to be at this church I had heard about on two separate continents. The world truly is a small place.
Oh, and I brought my tshirt with me and am wearing it around town of course.
Fast forward to this June. While Down Under, I visited a Mega Church the one Sunday morning I was in Sydney. I was sitting waiting for the service to start and reading the small pamphlet found in my chair. When I got to the last page I started to read about the church’s women’s ministry and what/who they were supporting. As I read through the article it started to speak about the women of Gulu, in northern Uganda. I couldn’t believe it. I almost peed my pants right then and there. In just a few hours I would get on a plane, fly around the world and travel up to Gulu to meet the very same women that were spoken about in the article. The Hillsong church in Sydney was supporting the Watoto church in Uganda, and specifically the church in Gulu (not one of the other 5 located throughout Uganda). Needless to say I went to the service at Watoto my first Sunday here in Gulu.
The service was the first of it’s kind that I’ve ever been to here in Gulu. Many of the churches here are either Catholic or Anglican (due to the British Colonization). Thus many of the services are full of ritual and strict practices. Because of the cultural differences I’ve felt at time that these rituals have lost their meaning with the Ugandans. This has made it difficult to attend church and see some of the people as honest in their faith. Although I am sure some of my impressions are clouded since I don’t know much about the Catholic or Anglican traditions. Either way, the service I went to at Watoto was really good. They had people up front playing instruments and a whole choir. The pastor preached a good sermon and then there was even more singing at the end. I think singing is my favorite part of church. I just kept thinking how surreal it was to be at this church I had heard about on two separate continents. The world truly is a small place.
Oh, and I brought my tshirt with me and am wearing it around town of course.
Tom and Jerry
Although I prefer to talk about Tom and Jerry, two family members, in this case, I’m thinking of mice. There’s a mouse living in our closet, and he has interrupted many a nights sleep. I thought he was harmless until I found a plastic bag of peanuts up on my bed had been eaten into, and then the mouse pooped on my pillow case. Since then, I’ve declared war on this mouse. Oh, and I should mention that I’m sleeping on a top bunk, with a mosquito net that is ALWAYS tucked in. I thought keeping food on my bed would be the safest place possible. Obviously not.
Being out-witted by a mouse was a big blow to my African ego. So I’ve decided that the little man will not get me down.
Danielle and I spent the weekend here alone, while everyone else was on either a Safari or a Rhino trip. Since there was no one around to make noise, the mice were out. Danielle and I were watching DVD’s on our computer, and she spotted a mouse running from the couch we were on, and over to another couch. She jumped up and screamed, and I kicked my flip flop up into the air. Since I have amazing aim, it came up and hit Danielle in the leg, causing her to freak out even more because she thought the thing that hit her was the mouse. We attempted to set up a homemade mousetrap; a wash basin, a piece of cut up plastic waterbottle, a broom with the longest handle in the world (no really, I swear), and a piece of bread with peanut butter on it. I was going to take a picture of it, but never found my camera. Picture the basic upside-down being tipped open with the water bottle. The broom is sitting next to the bottle, waiting for the mouse to scurry under the basin to get the peanut butter bread. When we would see the mouse move under it, we would push the water bottle and the basin would fall upside-down trapping the mouse. The only problem was that we didn’t think through it too much, and decided once the mouse was in the basin the only thing to do would be to leave it there and wait for it to die. Lucky for Jerry, he never went after the bread, and we gave up.
Since I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking the mouse was in my bed, I’ve just gone to extremes and bought these rat traps. Apparently they don’t sell mouse traps here. I can’t wait for the mouse living in our closet to die. Hope that’s not too morbid.
Being out-witted by a mouse was a big blow to my African ego. So I’ve decided that the little man will not get me down.
Danielle and I spent the weekend here alone, while everyone else was on either a Safari or a Rhino trip. Since there was no one around to make noise, the mice were out. Danielle and I were watching DVD’s on our computer, and she spotted a mouse running from the couch we were on, and over to another couch. She jumped up and screamed, and I kicked my flip flop up into the air. Since I have amazing aim, it came up and hit Danielle in the leg, causing her to freak out even more because she thought the thing that hit her was the mouse. We attempted to set up a homemade mousetrap; a wash basin, a piece of cut up plastic waterbottle, a broom with the longest handle in the world (no really, I swear), and a piece of bread with peanut butter on it. I was going to take a picture of it, but never found my camera. Picture the basic upside-down being tipped open with the water bottle. The broom is sitting next to the bottle, waiting for the mouse to scurry under the basin to get the peanut butter bread. When we would see the mouse move under it, we would push the water bottle and the basin would fall upside-down trapping the mouse. The only problem was that we didn’t think through it too much, and decided once the mouse was in the basin the only thing to do would be to leave it there and wait for it to die. Lucky for Jerry, he never went after the bread, and we gave up.
Since I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking the mouse was in my bed, I’ve just gone to extremes and bought these rat traps. Apparently they don’t sell mouse traps here. I can’t wait for the mouse living in our closet to die. Hope that’s not too morbid.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday July 11th
Here in Gulu things are really picking up. I have taken the last of my Cipro, so I am finally feeling better. It makes such a difference between feeling bad and feeling good, for some reason it’s just sucks so much more to be sick in a foreign country. But enough about that…
Since I’ve been feeling better, I have spent more time at school near the end of the week. We were able to see a small school assembly of sorts. Some girls did a debate on “military means being the most sustainable way to bring peace to northern Uganda”. Their points were fascinating and most of the time it was nice, but other times it was a little hilarious with the things they came up with as valid points. Other girls did some native dancing. I had never seen a dance like the one they did. It was called Dikki dikki, which apparently is just a dance for peace time. There were a few more speeches in true Ugandan style, and then the afternoon assembly was over.
On Thursday night was one of the World Cup Semifinal games. I went over to a local restaurant and watched part of it, but left at half time to go to bed. The only bad thing about the World Cup over here is that the games do not come on until 9:30pm which means you are up till midnight watching the game. This is especially annoying for the final game. It is on tonight which means I will of course be watching the Netherlands beat Spain, but I have to be at school at 7am on Monday morning. This requires me to be ready and on the road by 6:30am!!! Feels like a school day in America.
I take back what I said about there only being one bad thing about the World Cup in Gulu. Really, the worst part is that the power is always on now when the games are on, but after tonight I have a bad feeling that we will not have power as often. I guess we’ll see.
This weekend we had our annual Teaching & Learning Conference for two days here in Gulu. All of the Teacher Exchange Participants and some others from the schools are invited. I thought it was a pretty good experience, considering some of the other conferences I have sat through.
Now that the conference is over the teachers split into their two groups; one went on Safari and the other went to a Rhino Sanctuary (my group). Since I have been to the Rhinos before, and it was not included in the price of the trip, I decided to stay back in Gulu. Danielle and I were the only two to stay here, so we made plans to see an old teacher. Dolly was an English teacher at Pabo, and is probably one of the coolest female teachers I have met. We had dinner with her last night and it was SO good to catch up with her. She is now living in Gulu and attending Gulu University getting a degree in Development. There are so many NGO’s here in Gulu that having a Development degree is very popular because you can work for one of the many, and I mean hundreds, of NGO’s.
We then came home and watched a movie from a laptop. No surprise there, but I fell asleep and saw about 30 minutes of the movie. The only eventful thing that happened was our adventures with a mouse in our house. But I’m going to leave you all hanging, and tell you about it in the next post. If I don’t create some suspense then you wouldn’t come back to read my blog!
Since I’ve been feeling better, I have spent more time at school near the end of the week. We were able to see a small school assembly of sorts. Some girls did a debate on “military means being the most sustainable way to bring peace to northern Uganda”. Their points were fascinating and most of the time it was nice, but other times it was a little hilarious with the things they came up with as valid points. Other girls did some native dancing. I had never seen a dance like the one they did. It was called Dikki dikki, which apparently is just a dance for peace time. There were a few more speeches in true Ugandan style, and then the afternoon assembly was over.
On Thursday night was one of the World Cup Semifinal games. I went over to a local restaurant and watched part of it, but left at half time to go to bed. The only bad thing about the World Cup over here is that the games do not come on until 9:30pm which means you are up till midnight watching the game. This is especially annoying for the final game. It is on tonight which means I will of course be watching the Netherlands beat Spain, but I have to be at school at 7am on Monday morning. This requires me to be ready and on the road by 6:30am!!! Feels like a school day in America.
I take back what I said about there only being one bad thing about the World Cup in Gulu. Really, the worst part is that the power is always on now when the games are on, but after tonight I have a bad feeling that we will not have power as often. I guess we’ll see.
This weekend we had our annual Teaching & Learning Conference for two days here in Gulu. All of the Teacher Exchange Participants and some others from the schools are invited. I thought it was a pretty good experience, considering some of the other conferences I have sat through.
Now that the conference is over the teachers split into their two groups; one went on Safari and the other went to a Rhino Sanctuary (my group). Since I have been to the Rhinos before, and it was not included in the price of the trip, I decided to stay back in Gulu. Danielle and I were the only two to stay here, so we made plans to see an old teacher. Dolly was an English teacher at Pabo, and is probably one of the coolest female teachers I have met. We had dinner with her last night and it was SO good to catch up with her. She is now living in Gulu and attending Gulu University getting a degree in Development. There are so many NGO’s here in Gulu that having a Development degree is very popular because you can work for one of the many, and I mean hundreds, of NGO’s.
We then came home and watched a movie from a laptop. No surprise there, but I fell asleep and saw about 30 minutes of the movie. The only eventful thing that happened was our adventures with a mouse in our house. But I’m going to leave you all hanging, and tell you about it in the next post. If I don’t create some suspense then you wouldn’t come back to read my blog!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Tuesday July 6th
Today was our first day at school, and unfortunately mine was short lived. I woke up with my stomach doing flips, and my upper back/shoulders extremely tight. I stayed at school for the first part of our team teacher meeting, but then my teacher didn’t have any classes, so I went home. I watched an episode of Glee (props to Rachel!) and then fell asleep on the couch for an hour and a half. I felt much better when I woke up, and continued to feel better and better as the night went on.
Unfortunately this morning, Tuesday, I woke up with a stomach ache as well. So I have left school early again, came to the internet café briefly and then I will go back home to rest.
I have officially been partnered with Anying Ketty as my partner teacher. Unfortunately she is giving tests this week and next week, so I’m thinking we won’t start teaching together for awhile…oh well! TIA. I am excited to work with a woman, and to learn about the Acholi culture from a woman’s perspective.
Hope that you all are well, and I will write about more adventures to come.
Unfortunately this morning, Tuesday, I woke up with a stomach ache as well. So I have left school early again, came to the internet café briefly and then I will go back home to rest.
I have officially been partnered with Anying Ketty as my partner teacher. Unfortunately she is giving tests this week and next week, so I’m thinking we won’t start teaching together for awhile…oh well! TIA. I am excited to work with a woman, and to learn about the Acholi culture from a woman’s perspective.
Hope that you all are well, and I will write about more adventures to come.
Sunday, July 4th
I have now been in Gulu for about 5 days, and things are pretty similar, or at least the important things are the same. The people are just as inviting and welcoming as they ever were. Ugandans still know how to have a good time. And of course, they have the best sense of community.
We have just been sitting through a lot of orientation meetings, visiting old friends, and making new ones. As of right now, I’m not sure exactly who I will be teaching with, although I did go visit Sacred Heart Secondary School. It’s an all girls school, so I am definitely excited to teach physics to a classroom of girls. The teaching partner/pairs was re-arranged a little because one of the schools was closed down.
Last time I was here in 2008, I was teaching and living out in Pabo, one of the Internally Displaced Persons Camps outside of Gulu. There was another group of teachers at Atanga Secondary School which is also a camp. Well, apparently this week the students at Atanga S.S. were unhappy with their school officials, and thus they rioted. There are different rumors about why they started rioting, but I imagine it is about food. Apparently they won a district sports tournament (maybe futbol, or track?) and when that happens they are usually given a celebration party. This party typically includes a goat. But as the rumors go, Atanga S.S. did not have the money to purchase a goat for the students, they were mad, and thus they rioted and maybe even beat up the Headmaster. We’re not completely sure what happened, and Invisible Children cannot go to the school until the Ugandan government does something about it. So the 3 teachers that were suppose to live out in Atanga and teach at Atanga SS have been given placements here in Gulutown.
Last night we had a 3rd of July Party here at our house. It was a ton of fun. Students from Awere S.S. (where I taught in 07) came and did a bunch of traditional dances. They were SO good, and I loved watching them dance. I really enjoyed seeing some of my students from 2007 and talking with them. I also had the chance to visit with Agnes. She is the woman who did our laundry and house cleaning in 2007 and 2008. She still works at the other house, on the other side of town. I have not yet gone over to the old house, but I think I will try to go sometime this week. Doreen is the cook there, and she and Agnes are two of my favorite Acholi’s. Agnes now has an 18 month old son. I got to sit and hold him while she sat and ate dinner. I told her all about my niece Maggie and how she is the same age. Jared is Agnes’ son and he is so comfortable with Munu’s (white people) that I probably held him for 45 mins without him even squirming. It was really great to catch up with her and to hear about Gulu through her eyes.
The party included not only people who work for IC (like Agnes) but we also all invited our partner teachers. Since I don’t yet have a partner teacher, I ended up inviting another man named Robert. He was in charge of our lodging out in Pabo two years ago. He is really funny, sometimes on purpose, mostly because of cultural differences that he doesn’t realize are hilarious for us Americans. His ‘filler’ phrase is one of the most hilarious things. Every third sentence include the phrase “let me say like…” For example I was asking him about living in Kampala vs. Living in Gulu. His reply went something like this, “ Let me say like, I am going on here in Gulu, just like that since we had met. I am here in Gulu, let me say like, for 3 years. My brother and I are working together at, let me say like, this photo shop here in Gulu.” And it proceeds like that. I guess he doesn’t usually say it in every sentence, but I couldn’t help but accentuate it.
We got a DJ for the party, and proceeded to have a dance party for about 5 hours. At one point while I was just dancing around with everyone, I realized that people around me were greeting an Acholi man who was dancing just next to me. As many Americans were saying, “Hey Jacob! We’re so glad you came” and “Happy American Independence Day Jacob.”, etc…I then realized the man next to me was THE Jacob from the Rough Cut video. Because of his openness and vulnerability in front of 3 California kids, Invisible Children is now changing the lives of hundreds (I would argue thousands) of Ugandans here in the north. It was pretty surreal when you think of the impact of just one person. It starts as the tiniest pebble, dropped in a pool of water and next thing you know the ripples from that tiny pebble is affecting and changing the environment great distances away.
Definitely the most exciting thing about returning to Gulu is to see the lives of the Acholi people changing and improving. Everytime I come here it has been wonderful to see how Komakech Sheargold’s (partner teacher 07) life and his family’s life has changed for the better. He no longer has a regular bike, but he was actually able to afford a motorbike, and he now uses that to get around town, from Awere SS to Gulu University to Laliya, his village. It is pretty much priceless to the see the improvement of people’s lives here in Gulu.
We have just been sitting through a lot of orientation meetings, visiting old friends, and making new ones. As of right now, I’m not sure exactly who I will be teaching with, although I did go visit Sacred Heart Secondary School. It’s an all girls school, so I am definitely excited to teach physics to a classroom of girls. The teaching partner/pairs was re-arranged a little because one of the schools was closed down.
Last time I was here in 2008, I was teaching and living out in Pabo, one of the Internally Displaced Persons Camps outside of Gulu. There was another group of teachers at Atanga Secondary School which is also a camp. Well, apparently this week the students at Atanga S.S. were unhappy with their school officials, and thus they rioted. There are different rumors about why they started rioting, but I imagine it is about food. Apparently they won a district sports tournament (maybe futbol, or track?) and when that happens they are usually given a celebration party. This party typically includes a goat. But as the rumors go, Atanga S.S. did not have the money to purchase a goat for the students, they were mad, and thus they rioted and maybe even beat up the Headmaster. We’re not completely sure what happened, and Invisible Children cannot go to the school until the Ugandan government does something about it. So the 3 teachers that were suppose to live out in Atanga and teach at Atanga SS have been given placements here in Gulutown.
Last night we had a 3rd of July Party here at our house. It was a ton of fun. Students from Awere S.S. (where I taught in 07) came and did a bunch of traditional dances. They were SO good, and I loved watching them dance. I really enjoyed seeing some of my students from 2007 and talking with them. I also had the chance to visit with Agnes. She is the woman who did our laundry and house cleaning in 2007 and 2008. She still works at the other house, on the other side of town. I have not yet gone over to the old house, but I think I will try to go sometime this week. Doreen is the cook there, and she and Agnes are two of my favorite Acholi’s. Agnes now has an 18 month old son. I got to sit and hold him while she sat and ate dinner. I told her all about my niece Maggie and how she is the same age. Jared is Agnes’ son and he is so comfortable with Munu’s (white people) that I probably held him for 45 mins without him even squirming. It was really great to catch up with her and to hear about Gulu through her eyes.
The party included not only people who work for IC (like Agnes) but we also all invited our partner teachers. Since I don’t yet have a partner teacher, I ended up inviting another man named Robert. He was in charge of our lodging out in Pabo two years ago. He is really funny, sometimes on purpose, mostly because of cultural differences that he doesn’t realize are hilarious for us Americans. His ‘filler’ phrase is one of the most hilarious things. Every third sentence include the phrase “let me say like…” For example I was asking him about living in Kampala vs. Living in Gulu. His reply went something like this, “ Let me say like, I am going on here in Gulu, just like that since we had met. I am here in Gulu, let me say like, for 3 years. My brother and I are working together at, let me say like, this photo shop here in Gulu.” And it proceeds like that. I guess he doesn’t usually say it in every sentence, but I couldn’t help but accentuate it.
We got a DJ for the party, and proceeded to have a dance party for about 5 hours. At one point while I was just dancing around with everyone, I realized that people around me were greeting an Acholi man who was dancing just next to me. As many Americans were saying, “Hey Jacob! We’re so glad you came” and “Happy American Independence Day Jacob.”, etc…I then realized the man next to me was THE Jacob from the Rough Cut video. Because of his openness and vulnerability in front of 3 California kids, Invisible Children is now changing the lives of hundreds (I would argue thousands) of Ugandans here in the north. It was pretty surreal when you think of the impact of just one person. It starts as the tiniest pebble, dropped in a pool of water and next thing you know the ripples from that tiny pebble is affecting and changing the environment great distances away.
Definitely the most exciting thing about returning to Gulu is to see the lives of the Acholi people changing and improving. Everytime I come here it has been wonderful to see how Komakech Sheargold’s (partner teacher 07) life and his family’s life has changed for the better. He no longer has a regular bike, but he was actually able to afford a motorbike, and he now uses that to get around town, from Awere SS to Gulu University to Laliya, his village. It is pretty much priceless to the see the improvement of people’s lives here in Gulu.
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