Hey Everyone!
Better late than never! Here's some videos of our sweet CarniBull day at the college! (For more info on the big event, check out this post!). Enjoy!
Also - I added a few more pics to our day to day album on Facebook. Click here if you're interested!
~ryan & emily~
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
The Best of Times
Serving in another culture really is the best of times and the worst of times. One of our volunteer friends says that every day is a roller coaster, and we have come to see that as truth! Though this week has definitely had some "worst of times" moments, today was the best of times! One of those - "THIS is why I'm here!" kind of days!
It has been an average, everyday kind of day - nothing too special. But we've had so many little moments that just affirmed our integration into the community and our purpose for being here that it just felt great! While we were in Bushenyi doing some shopping we had some great conversations with the shopkeepers in the local language. We didn't get called mzungus at all! The often rude Boda drivers were just funny and friendly today. We had a great time chatting at the market. We've had great conversations with our neighbors and college staff about some projects we are working on around the house. We had our counterpart and dear friend over for dinner and had a great couple hours of just talking and sharing with one another. It was a perfect day!
So, although we go through our ups and downs, and the blog sees lots of them both, just wanted to say that today was one of the best of times! You never know what a day will hold, but today was a great one! During college, I wrote this quote on my bed as the first thing I would see in the morning: "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson. And I guess today was a reminder that despite yesterdays downs, today could and will be a great day!
Thanks for reading. Love and miss you all!
~emily~
It has been an average, everyday kind of day - nothing too special. But we've had so many little moments that just affirmed our integration into the community and our purpose for being here that it just felt great! While we were in Bushenyi doing some shopping we had some great conversations with the shopkeepers in the local language. We didn't get called mzungus at all! The often rude Boda drivers were just funny and friendly today. We had a great time chatting at the market. We've had great conversations with our neighbors and college staff about some projects we are working on around the house. We had our counterpart and dear friend over for dinner and had a great couple hours of just talking and sharing with one another. It was a perfect day!
So, although we go through our ups and downs, and the blog sees lots of them both, just wanted to say that today was one of the best of times! You never know what a day will hold, but today was a great one! During college, I wrote this quote on my bed as the first thing I would see in the morning: "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson. And I guess today was a reminder that despite yesterdays downs, today could and will be a great day!
Thanks for reading. Love and miss you all!
~emily~
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
A Black Friday Alternative
Hey everyone! Me again!
Twerwaneho Orphans Community Initiative (TOCI) is located in Fort Portal, Uganda, and dedicated to helping orphaned children and children with special needs. Twerwaneho (pronounced "Twer-wan-eh-ho") means to work hard for ourselves and that is what I hope to teach the children here in Uganda, to work hard for themselves and then to help others. Each of the pieces of jewelry and craft are designed and handcrafted with love and made to help raise money for the children. I am happy to do special colors and custom orders.
So this Friday is the big black Friday shopping event, right? Well if you're looking for an alternative for some neat holiday gifts, here's an idea!
This is an etsy site that was created by another PCV in Uganda. She works with orphans and vulnerable children to make crafts, and all proceeds go towards continuing this work. Here's what she says in her bio:
I am a current volunteer in Uganda and am constantly learning from the amazing women around me and am happy to share with you what I have learned. My crafts are made of of beads, natural materials such as banana or palm fibers and seeds and upcycled fabrics.
Twerwaneho Orphans Community Initiative (TOCI) is located in Fort Portal, Uganda, and dedicated to helping orphaned children and children with special needs. Twerwaneho (pronounced "Twer-wan-eh-ho") means to work hard for ourselves and that is what I hope to teach the children here in Uganda, to work hard for themselves and then to help others. Each of the pieces of jewelry and craft are designed and handcrafted with love and made to help raise money for the children. I am happy to do special colors and custom orders.
All proceeds go directly to TOCI to support the orphans, vulnerable children and those with special needs.
She hopes to add more to the site in the weeks to come, but it might be a good place to look for a unique gift that will make a difference this season!
Love and miss you all,
~emily~
Monday, November 21, 2011
Got Savings?!
Hey Everybody!
Hope all is well with you! Happy Thanksgiving! We are sad to be away from home on one of our favorite holidays, but hope that everyone has a wonderful time being together and celebrating the holiday! We are having some PCV neighbors over Thursday and plan to make mashed potatoes, vegetarian gravy, soy chunks (taste better than they sound!), bread, green beans, and pumpkin cake! So, it should be a good time, even though we can’t be home and celebrating with family there!
Things at the college are winding up for the year! First year students begin their exams in just a couple of days, and two weeks from now the year will be finished! We will be helping “invigilate” the exams for the first year students (3 days of exams, 6 hours of testing each day!), then our work at the college for the year will really come to a close! Outside testers are coming for invigilating the second year exams, and all marking of the exams is done outside of the college at a national marking center. Hard to believe we’ve basically finished our second of a total of 6 terms here at the college!
Even as things are winding up for the year on our primary projects, we’ve started another really exciting secondary project! We are working with thirteen local businesspeople and community members to set up a VSLA (village savings and loan association), and we are so excited about it!
In Uganda, a very small percentage of people use banks. They have high fees and are inaccessible for much of the population. As a result, microfinance is big. There are microfinance institutions in every town we’ve visited and many people use them to take out loans. However, even microfinance doesn’t work for most lower class businesspeople and community members, as many people don’t have much credit or “reliability” from a traditional banking standpoint, and again interest rates and fees are high.
The VSLA is a response to all of this. It’s an opportunity for community members to come together to save with one another each week, and grant out loans to one another each month. It’s wonderful because all of the money comes from the people in the group and stays within the people in the group. Interest is charged on the loans, but is payed back into the group so that at the end of the saving cycle (about a year) whatever interest has accumulated on the loans is paid back to the members based on the percentage of the total that they have saved. It’s a really exciting model that encourages sustainability and community togetherness, and doesn’t rely on outside grants or mzungu money! :-) So, we’re in the midst of the beginnings of our first group. So far the group has gotten organized, elected leaders, written an constitution, and collected all of the necessary supplies. The plan is that the group will begin saving with one another in the next week or two.
The VSLA model was started by an NGO in Uganda and has now expanded into other countries as a banking option for poor communities. So far it seems to be exactly what Uganda needs and we really hope that it can fill the need for savings and accessible loans in many of our community member’s lives. There is a great manual that’s walking us through as facilitators and tons of details about the VSLA project that I won’t bore everyone with here! But, if you’re interested you should google VSLA or check out vsla.net. It’s a really exciting opportunity and we think it has great potential for communities like ours in Uganda and other countries in similar savings/loans positions.
So, that’s something we’ve been excited about in the last few weeks and will definitely keep you posted about in the weeks and months to come!
Love and miss you all!
~emily~
Hope all is well with you! Happy Thanksgiving! We are sad to be away from home on one of our favorite holidays, but hope that everyone has a wonderful time being together and celebrating the holiday! We are having some PCV neighbors over Thursday and plan to make mashed potatoes, vegetarian gravy, soy chunks (taste better than they sound!), bread, green beans, and pumpkin cake! So, it should be a good time, even though we can’t be home and celebrating with family there!
Things at the college are winding up for the year! First year students begin their exams in just a couple of days, and two weeks from now the year will be finished! We will be helping “invigilate” the exams for the first year students (3 days of exams, 6 hours of testing each day!), then our work at the college for the year will really come to a close! Outside testers are coming for invigilating the second year exams, and all marking of the exams is done outside of the college at a national marking center. Hard to believe we’ve basically finished our second of a total of 6 terms here at the college!
Even as things are winding up for the year on our primary projects, we’ve started another really exciting secondary project! We are working with thirteen local businesspeople and community members to set up a VSLA (village savings and loan association), and we are so excited about it!
In Uganda, a very small percentage of people use banks. They have high fees and are inaccessible for much of the population. As a result, microfinance is big. There are microfinance institutions in every town we’ve visited and many people use them to take out loans. However, even microfinance doesn’t work for most lower class businesspeople and community members, as many people don’t have much credit or “reliability” from a traditional banking standpoint, and again interest rates and fees are high.
The VSLA is a response to all of this. It’s an opportunity for community members to come together to save with one another each week, and grant out loans to one another each month. It’s wonderful because all of the money comes from the people in the group and stays within the people in the group. Interest is charged on the loans, but is payed back into the group so that at the end of the saving cycle (about a year) whatever interest has accumulated on the loans is paid back to the members based on the percentage of the total that they have saved. It’s a really exciting model that encourages sustainability and community togetherness, and doesn’t rely on outside grants or mzungu money! :-) So, we’re in the midst of the beginnings of our first group. So far the group has gotten organized, elected leaders, written an constitution, and collected all of the necessary supplies. The plan is that the group will begin saving with one another in the next week or two.
The VSLA model was started by an NGO in Uganda and has now expanded into other countries as a banking option for poor communities. So far it seems to be exactly what Uganda needs and we really hope that it can fill the need for savings and accessible loans in many of our community member’s lives. There is a great manual that’s walking us through as facilitators and tons of details about the VSLA project that I won’t bore everyone with here! But, if you’re interested you should google VSLA or check out vsla.net. It’s a really exciting opportunity and we think it has great potential for communities like ours in Uganda and other countries in similar savings/loans positions.
So, that’s something we’ve been excited about in the last few weeks and will definitely keep you posted about in the weeks and months to come!
Love and miss you all!
~emily~
Monday, November 14, 2011
Pics
Hi Everyone,
I added a couple of pictures to our "Life In Bushenyi" album. Nothin' too special, but check them out if you like! Click Here!
Love and miss you all!
~emily~
I added a couple of pictures to our "Life In Bushenyi" album. Nothin' too special, but check them out if you like! Click Here!
Love and miss you all!
~emily~
Monday, November 7, 2011
Seasons
Hey Everybody!
November at home means crisp leaves, cold air, football games, and upcoming holidays! We’re still in the heart of the rainy season these days in Uganda, but we’re also heading into two other exciting Ugandan seasons - exam season and grasshopper season!
First - the lighter of the two - it’s grasshopper season in Uganda! Just to be perfectly clear, grasshopper season means the season for eating grasshoppers! It’s a time of year literally everyone looks forward to! In certain parts of the country grasshoppers are jumping around everywhere in plague-like proportions and people have set up lights to attract the grasshoppers and enormous bins underneath the lights to collect them. The collected grasshoppers are then delegged, salted, and deep fried. They are sold in markets and on the bus for about 20 cents per bag. This weekend while traveling back from Kampala, the bus merchants usually selling meat on a stick, grilled bananas, and sodas had bags and bags of deep fried grasshoppers as well! Ryan was brave enough to try them, but I was not (I prefer grasshopper mint cookies!!). He ate the whole bag (probably more than 50 of the little guys!) like it was no big deal while I watched, totally grossed out!!! When I asked him if he’d get them again his response was short and sweet - “definitely!” So, with another exciting food under his belt, my dear husband can say he has tried a Ugandan favorite snack food! I am, however, still blissfully ignorant of the crunch of the grasshopper! :-)
The other big season that everyone is obsessing about right now is the big exam season. Exams are HUGE in Uganda, and the entire country takes the same standardized exams at the same time. The Ugandan school year runs from February to December, so exams are all beginning now that we are in the final month! The exams started in the last couple weeks and everyone, including our students, are all abuzz about them!
Ugandan students take a number of exams throughout their schooling years. At the end of each year of school there is a big promotional exam that determines their ability to pass to the next level of schooling. Beyond the promotional exams, students also take a number of really large exams that to a certain degree determine their future possibilities and thus have a lot of importance! Those “biggies” are the PLE, the UCE, and the UACE.
At the end of primary school in P. 7 (like our 6th grade) they take their PLE (primary leaving exam) to assess their primary learning and determine their further schooling options. If they go on to secondary school, they take another big exam (the Ugandan Certificate of Education exam) after completing their first four years (O level). (Most of our PTC students come to us after completing this level). But, if that goes well and they have the funds to continue with secondary school they move on to A level and finish their two years there with the Ugandan Advanced Certificate of Education exam. With a population of 32 million people and half under the age of 15, you can imagine just how many Ugandan kiddos are stressing about exams as we move into November.
As you move around the villages and towns, signs posted everywhere ask for silence because exams are in progress. Radios are talking about the exams. Strangers in taxis are all talking about them - it really is a phenomenon!
And, the exam frenzy has not passed by the Bushenyi PTC students. The last few weeks have been a time for a great deal of studying (or revising, as they call it!) and much talk about what the exams will hold. Our first year students are gearing up for the promotional exams that will determine if they can return to school in February, and our second years are working on the big ones - their final Grade III Teacher Certification Exams. From what we can figure out, the exams will start in about two weeks, and by the first weekend in December everything should be completed. Results come out in late January or early February, after which those passing students can begin work as primary teachers, or return to school for their second year of PTC studies.
The whole exam craziness is a bit of a stressor for us to. It’s hard to know how to help our students be prepared, but still work to develop critical thinking skills in the midst of it. Many of our students only want us to tell them past exam questions and answers, and absolutely refuse to do any higher level review. (i.e. the discussion groups I tried to facilitate today were an absolute disaster!!) It’s also hard because many tutors aren’t going to classes, and the ones that are seem to be teaching a quicker version of everything they have taught over the entire year. Even considering “cultural sensitivity,” I simply can’t bring myself to do this! I’ve had a lot of time thinking about this working in Title One schools in the states, and my philosophy is that the time before a test should be more of a spruce up on things that should already be known, and not a mad blitz to reteach everything in a shallow and test-focused manner. I know it’s the same debate that goes on in America - should we teach to the test or trust that the good teaching we’ve been doing all year will by its very nature prepare our students. Add to it the “only one right answer” mentality of so many Ugandans and its a bit of a mess.
Then, there’s the discouragement I know every teacher faces at one point or another in realizing that all the work they have done appears to be a complete loss and nobody seems to have gotten anything from it! An example - today I went to teach my Special Needs Education classes and tried to foster some reflection on what they had learned about SNE and what they thought about the current status of SNE in Uganda. I got very few people to give me any sort of inkling that they had learned a thing from me all term, and the most enthusiastic students could only come up with this: they think teachers who teach children with disabilities should be paid extra salary and should not have to work with them if they do not want to. (Thus, completely going against everything have tried to help them understand over the past six months!) So...it’s a bit of a challenge.
Then, there’s the aspect of the scores. According to the university that regulates the exams, a student can pass and become a primary teacher by achieving a minimum score of 50% in each of the examinable subjects. This means that we are passing students who may know exactly HALF of what they should know! It’s especially alarming because every bit of content on these exams is covered through teaching the national syllabus, so in theory it would be possible and even reasonable for students to get very high scores! It’s hard to see a lot of hope for a struggling educational system when we begin to understand the cycle of poor teaching and unprepared teachers.
But, in all of it, we’re doing what we can. I keep trying to remember “We Are Marshall” and trusting that more got through to the students than they are letting me see on the surface. There’s a wonderful sustainability in teaching in that even if few people actually learned, more than just cramming for exams, those few people could actually reach hundreds, or thousands of kids during their time as a teacher. So, it’s good to keep that in mind as the exam craziness threatens to make us feel a little down about our work here so far.
So, that’s what’s on our minds these days - salty grasshoppers and stressed out students! Hope you are all well and enjoying the final days of fall! We love and miss you all!
~emily~
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