Hello all! I’ve been absent for a while, mainly because things
are happening at my school! This is exciting, and my plan is basically to throw
bunch of balls in the air so that I can focus on many things at the same time.
Those who know me know I love to multitask, and I’m forcing myself to do it so
that I don’t go crazy.
I’m part of a 20 volunteer grant involved in getting new
books donated to our schools as part of a program called Books for Africa. This
in turn is helping me motivate the librarians at my school to move old,
outdated books out of the library and into a storage room. Why not use the
books for raw material or burn them, you may ask? (We burn a lot of trash
here.) One of the librarians told me that the Ministry of Education recycles a
lot of old books, so they go to the school and pick them up to take them to the
recycling place somewhere in Kampala (or Entebbe?). So I’m planning to meet
with my principal to work out a storage place where they can go. This isn’t
even thinking about the larger plan, which is moving the library to a larger
building (right now it’s cramped and dark and not cleaned very well). But that’s
for the future.
I’ve started teaching ICT – Information Communication Technology,
for those who were as confused as I was when I first heard it. Basically it
means computers. Until this week, I was only teaching theory, as we hadn’t
tested any of the computers or husks of computers which were hanging out in the
lab. The second man in charge for ICT came back from his university studies
this month, and he’s been crazy helpful. He actually knows a lot more about
computer hardware, and especially power regulation in a country where power is
not reliable or steady.
PICTURES
The parts which are working.
One of the working computers, set up so we can install some software.
The parts which are not working. Looks like a lot of Googling for me. Is it worth it to fix keyboards and mouses?
The other working tower which is not hooked up at the moment. We had to move a hard drive from a different tower into this one to get it to work.
Our power setup. The extension cord is running to solar. We found out the limits of this, as the battery died after about 5 hours of desktop use/people charging their laptops/phones/etc.
Solar batteries.
Solar controller - on/off switch and battery/load indicator lights.
I’m teaching ICT at night, because the current class
schedule is insane and doesn’t allow for ICT during the day. Or rather they’re
not willing to give up time during the day. I’m teaching 3 nights a week, in
order to fit in all the Year 2’s, which is the only year I’m teaching right
now. The students are split into three groups called streams, and so each night
is supposed to be a stream. The largest attendance I had was on Night One, but
after that it’s steadily dropped off.
Many students are studying for exams, but I suspect many of
them have been waiting for the computers to start working before they start
coming. The students call these practicals, and not a night goes by when
someone doesn’t ask “Madam, when will we have
practicals?” However, in a Year 2 of almost 200 students, only about 62
total have come to two weeks of classes. So I figure I’ll give those students
first dibs on the “practicals”, while the rest will wait and learn some sort of
theory first before jumping in.
When I started teaching, I didn’t want to go too low, so I
didn’t define some basic terms like ‘mouse’ or ‘keyboard.’ It became evident
that while many of the students had heard of computers, they had no idea what
anything was called or how to use any of it. So the next lesson I defined
things, and still it takes them a while to remember the terms and how devices
work together. It’s a bit unfair to them really, that the outside world of
applying for jobs or moving up in their lives is becoming more based on
computers, while they don’t really receive good computer instruction at all
during their education.
I’ve also been teaching Maths, though the way that happens
has changed 2 or 3 times since the term started. At the beginning of term, we
were grading exams, and so classes were sort of a free-for-all. I hadn’t been
assigned topics so I wasn’t really teaching, just grading exams and trying to
keep my house in order (turns out I’m super bad at cleaning house every day).
Then we organized a slot on the timetable (schedule) for me to teach, and I was subsequently out of town for various
reasons (not on purpose) on that day. The one day I came back and taught in my
schedule was a good day. Then the Director of Studies announced we were
combining all the streams to teach in mass classes because all the departments
had too many subjects and not enough time really. So that week ended in me
teaching Math for 2.5 hours, trying to cover as many subjects as possible.
Now the timetable has changed again, because the school is
playing host to some British visitors, who have been giving high priority. They
are now taking two hours in the morning to discuss instructional materials,
theory, and early childhood development. It seems no one on the staff besides
the principal knew that they were coming. Even they were confused at the
timing, asking why they were teaching during exam prep. But they had already
come and couldn’t really go back, so the schedule was shifted.
I’m also attempting to work on HIV/AIDS awareness at my
school. We’re working with the Anti-AIDS club at my school to arrange some
activities for close to the end of term. But it’s not finalized yet so I don’t
want to spoil the fun!
That’s all school-wise I can think of at the moment, but I
did want to mention that I white-water rafted the Nile for the 4th
of July weekend with a bunch of other volunteers, and it was definitely worth
the obscene amount of money I spent over that weekend. It was loads of fun, and
there’s a professional photographer that goes along the river, so there’s some
pretty great pictures of me falling out of the raft. Class 5 rapids baby! I’ll
be sure to upload them when I have the time/internet.
I don’t take a lot of pictures, but I’ll try to be better
about it.
Until next time,
stay well.
