Day One as a Teacher at Nansana Community Primary School

Well, my first day as a teacher at Nansana Community Primary School was great! Teaching wasn't nearly as scary or difficult as I thought it would be. The children were all so attentive, and very well behaved. I arrived at the school at 9am, and studied the material for the English class I would be teaching at 11. While I was reading outside, one boy asked me to come into his class and meet everyone. The younger ones immediately came and started playing with me, one girl spent almost half an hour playing with my bangs and trying to tuck them behind my ears.

I taught the English class in one of the buildings which the secondary students had actually built, bricks included. The students were incredible well behaved, much more so than I remember the students in my classes ever being! I read the students a story (Mr. Chameleon and Mr. Elephant) and then had them answer a set of questions. The chalkboard the had at their end of the room (there are two classes in the building, one at each end, but with no wall or curtainto separate them) appeared to be nothing more than a wooden board painted black. I would love to find some chalkboard paint and make them a new one. I can probably find some supplies in Kampala this weekend in fact.

These children could really benefit from some updated materials such as chalkboards and textbooks. The teachers here work with what they have, and do an incredible job with the limited materials. I've decided that I'm going to start raising money for the school once I'm back in Boulder. It would mean the world to these children. The children I asked today all had dreams of becoming doctors, farmers, nurses, musicians, and lawyers. Right now, staying in school is the most important thing for these children, but with the school having limited resources, they need all the help they can get.

Teaching a Reading class in the afternoon was so much fun. Once I began asking the students to read out loud, I began to notice that their reading levels were quite varied. So instead, I went around to each student and read a paragraph out of a story with them, helping them with the words they didn't understand. The books I used were slightly more advanced, and getting some simpler and more structured reading books would be really beneficial. I think I'm going to look for some books like that next time I'm in downtown Kampala as well. I would love to go to some elementary schools in the Boulder area to see if they could donate any of their books to the school. I have so many ideas for how I can help the school once I'm back at CU. I hope that those who read this become as inspired as I have. If any of my Boulder friends feel moved enough to come on board with me in raising awareness, supplies, and money, I would be so grateful =)

Americans Have Watches but Ugandans Have Time

Today was my first day as a volunteer at Nansana Community Primary School, as well as their Secondary school, Extreme College. Starting tomorrow I will be teaching English, Reading, and Writing to primary classes 4, 5 and, 6. This will be an adventure in itself seeing as I've never taught before! However, after talking with some other volunteers, Melissa and Cindy, I'm pretty confident that I will be able to adapt to the position as teacher quite easily. The students already call me Teacher Kristin (and yes, Kristin not Kirstin, but I'm hardly concerned about that!). The entire school holds approximately 400 students. Many of these students are orphans whose parents have died from HIV/Aids. While most of the orphans have been taken in by members of the community, 80 or so live at the school.

Seggawa oversees the entire school, and was very welcoming when I met him today. He immediately introduced me to the children and gave me a tour of the primary school. I learned that since most of their donations go towards teacher's salaries and food for the children, the students have taken it upon themselves to build each additional school building or dorm that the school needs! It's incredible, they have such spirit and drive. They even make the bricks themselves. I'm so inspired by these children, they have such respect and appreciation for the teachers, and for learning.

I also met with Dorothy who is the director of the Primary school. She was very welcoming, but promptly wrote up my schedule for me. If all goes accordingly I will be teaching at the primary school three days a week and at the secondary school two days a week. After touring the school, Zach, another volunteer and I, went to grab some lunch at a hotel down the road. After finishing our lunch, we boda boda'd to a taxi park and from there took a taxi to the Secondary school, called Extreme College. And yes, it was my first boda boda ride ever! Although I was wearing a skirt, I refused to sit sideways. I bunched my skirt up in between my legs, said a quick prayer, and hopped on. The motorcycle took off and there was no turning back, so I clung on for dear life. However, it was rather thrilling and not nearly as terrifying as I'd expected!

So after taking the taxi to Extreme College (i love the name), Zach, Melissa, Cindy, Eric and I sat down for a meeting with Seggawa, Dorothy, Job and the rest of the teachers to discuss the grand opening of the secondary school which will be held next Wednesday. Each volunteer, including myself, is expected to give speech at the ceremony. I've never given a speech before, so this should be interesting. Not to mention, it will be in front of 600 people, one of which will be the Vice President of Uganda! Wish me luck!

My Weekend in Queen Elizabeth

Rest in Peace Blueblockers, you will truly be missed. My favorite sunglasses are currently sitting at the bottom of a crater lake underneath Courtney and Eric’s balcony at Jacana Safari Lodge. Jacana Safari Lodge, situated inside Queen Elizabeth National Park, is the most beautiful place I have ever stayed. Hands down. Not to mention they have an absolutely phenomenal chef who showed off her talent in the 3 and 4 course meals she treated us to at every lunch and dinner. Our meals were served on an out door patio next to the lake, and the sunsets we observed from there during out dinners were beautiful. Another cool thing about the lodge is that it was in the Southern Hemisphere! The equator runs right through Uganda. We stopped there for some lunch on our way to the lodge, and upon leaving the equator; we got our first taste of safari when we drove past a herd of zebras!

At the lodge, I was treated to an entire cottage to myself. Both our cottages, the Arts’ and mine, were nestled in the jungle, at the edge of the lake. As the lodge had some spare cottages available, I was treated to an entire cottage for myself. I had a lovely little fenced in porch which opened up to a large circular room that held a king sized bed, a closet and a beautiful wooden desk, all for me! To the left of my bed was the bathroom, which had the neatest shower I have ever showered in. The showerhead made me feel like I was washing under a waterfall every time, and the pebbles that served as its floor added to the outdoor feel. While the sleeping arrangements and meals we were treated too made me feel like I was living in a 5 star resort, the monkeys that played tag on my roof, and the baboon that so boldly blocked my path on my way to dinner reminded me that I was definitely still in a jungle.

On Saturday we left the lodge and went on a game drive through the park. Beating the sun, we woke up at 5:45, had a wonderful breakfast of omelets and fruit, and then headed off for our game drive. I wore white shorts, which was a very poor decision on my part. By the end of the day they appeared to be a shade of pale red rather than the crisp white they had started out as. Africa is a very dusty place. We drove around for hours in the morning, and saw a wide variety of animals. We came across a lion, which unfortunately was sleeping, and not as exciting as I expected him to be. We saw a ton of warthogs, and I have decided that Disney’s depiction is much more pleasing to the eye. The impalas were very entertaining, and seamed to love having their pictures taken. So did the deer-like-creatures, which we later learned were called Water Bucks. At the very end of our drive, we managed to see some elephants off in the distance, but the telephone pole they were hanging out took away from the safari feel.

After driving around for a few hours, we took a boat tour along the channel. We first came across a heard of water buffalo. Apparently water buffalo are quite dangerous, so we kept a distance. Next, we came up to a herd of hippos. They looked incredibly harmless, until one of them decided to charge at our boat! That was enough for Courtney to decide she no longer liked hippos, and cringed every time we came across a new herd. We also saw a crocodile swimming near our boat, and were relieved to find out they only eat fish. After seeing more water buffalo, and more hippos, we finally stumbled upon some elephants! And boy are they HUGE. Huge and beautiful, no wonder they are called gentle giants. We saw a total of nine, each seaming bigger than the last. We watched them play with each other in the water, greet each other, and wash each other off with their trunks. The elephants were definitely the coolest.

Hills and Sunsets

Of the seven hills surrounding Kampala, I have now seen the sunset from two, Tank Hill and Kololo Hill. These past five days have been incredible. I love the walk to the shopping center. It's not too far, about fifteen or twenty minutes. If you're lucky, the sidewalk is free of parked cars and you can walk along it the entire way. If you're unlucky, your path is blocked and you have to join the heavy traffic on the road! I've decided my first boda boda ride will be from the shopping center to the apartment, it's practically a straight shot so my chances of flying off have to be pretty slim. But then again this is me we're talking about, so I should probably consider investing in a full-body protective suit.

The walk to the shopping center is really interesting because you're confronted with so many different aspects of Ugandan life, in one short trip. Along the sidewalk is a seemingly endless nursery, with some of the most peculiar plants I've ever laid eyes on. The nursery stretches from our apartment to about halfway down to the shopping center. You constantly see men and women walking down the sidewalk with baskets balanced on their heads, I don't know how they do it! Eric and Courtney have both tried balancing baskets full of bananas on their heads, and say they are extremely heavy, these people must have some strong necks!

Tonight we drove out to Peter's house for dinner, where we met Melody's mother. In order to get to their house we had to drive through a totally packed street. There were so many different vendors out selling their merchandise, everything from fruits and veggies to shoes and beauty supplies. I would have loved to get out of the car and roam about, the hustle and bustle of it all looked so appealing! I exchanged phone numbers with Melody's brother after dinner, as Eric insists he take me out dancing. What an experience that will be! Hopefully my American dance moves won't make me look to silly!

Uganda is truly blessed with beautiful citizens. The women are beautiful, the men handsome, and the children have the sweetest, most precious faces I have ever seen! I think my red hair and white skin are pretty rare sites for them, and they always giggle at smile at me when I wave. Today as we were walking past the primary school next to our apartments, some children saw us and started shrieking, "Hi Misungu, Hi Misungu!!" Tomorrow we are driving down to the equator and to Queen Elizabeth National Park. I can't wait! I plan on taking a million pictures and uploading them as soon as we're back! Okay, until next time!

My first days in Uganda

Today is Monday, and my second day in Uganda. We are staying in the beautiful city of Kampala, about 45 minutes away from Entebbe and the airport. Our flight landed just after sunrise, over Lake Victoria. In fact, our landing strip as so close to the lake that for a moment I thought we mind just land in it! After we retrieved our luggage, two drivers, Caleb and Joseph I believe, drove us to our apartment in Kampala. And what a drive it was! Here in Uganda, the rule of the road, in my opinion, is every man (or vehicle) for himself! At first I was a little nervous and would grab my armrest every time a motorcycle clipped by us. I began to relax a little once I realized every one was laughing at my reaction.

After arriving at the apartment, I took a much-needed nap, and afterwards went for a short swim. That evening, the family I am staying with and I drove up Tank hill to have a drink and watch the sun set. I tried my first African beer, it was Kenyan I believe, and very tasty. After the sunset and the children began to shiver, we drove back into town and had a lovely dinner at a restaurant called Spurs. Out of all the places in the world, Uganda is the last place I expected to find a Native American themed restaurant! Shortly after arriving at the restaurant, we were joined by Melody's family. They were all extremely warm and welcoming, and their children are incredibly cute. I really look forward to working with Peter, Melody's brother who is an artist. We plan on visiting the orphanage later this week to get a better understanding of what I will be doing.

The next morning (this morning) Courtney and the kids and I walked in to town to buy a few things and a local shopping center. As I walked past a truck full of construction workers, I heard one of them call out "Hey Misungu!" which is what they call white people here. On the side of the road were rows and rows of plants and flowers for sale, pity I couldn't buy any (no where to plant them at the apartment)! After purchasing some beach towels and bottled water we started on our walk back home. About half way there I came across a boda boda driver wearing a CU hat! This got me very excited and I immediately started up a conversation with him. Boda Bodas are moped/motorcycle taxi's that zip through traffic so fast it's a wonder how the passengers manage to stay on them! It's only been two days, and already I am blown away by this country!