projects

Hey everyone!

 

 I happen to have super good interwebs right now so despite the lack of pictures I still wanted to do a post.  SO I decided to talk about the various projects that I'm working on right now.

 

 I have to admit I really hit the ground running with all of my projects because

1.     I’m no longer a n00b.  I’ve been here for 6+ month and I’m ready to do my thing! (actually a new peace corps group just came to Uganda a few days ago!)

2.     I just have so many ideas

3.     It’s time to start what I’ve came here to do!

Now I am a busy lady! (For the record I'm currently in the capital, Kampala, for two reasons 1. Training on Tuesday at headquarters (because I’m a VAC representative) 2. Meeting the Ugandan national girls lacrosse team because I was asked to be their coach [!?!?!])

 So let's get into this...

Primary project

 My primary project, the main reasons why I am here, is to be a literacy specialist.  Which include working with small groups of grade 4 pupils to improve their reading skills. Not only can the pupils not speak English but when they (barely) read they are just reciting words they have memorized.  (Example: if they see any word that begins with 'wa' they'll just say water) In my reading groups I've started teaching the pupils letter sounds, starting at the core so they can eventually decode words.  It's been going pretty well; I won' lie, it's challenging, but I see a lot of potential coming from this.

 I'm also working to implement alternatives to corporal punishment.  It is technically against the law but you would never know that if you visited my school.  Having said that I've got my work cut out for me to convince a bunch of teachers that have been canned and therefore are canning their pupils to stop and try something else. It’s a vicious cycle.  A lot of them aren't buying it.

Library

This project I'm SUPER excited about.  Uganda doesn't have a 'reading culture' which is mainly due to the lack of reading materials.  I never realized how I took the school library growing up for granted, not to mention library class in elementary school.  Probably about 1% of my school has held a book, and I don't even want to know how many of them HAVEN'T been to a library.  The average class size is 75 pupils at my school so it is out of the question to have a text book for each pupil.  When my school receives text books (which is rare) they come in sets of 10 : /.

 Having said that I've started a library project! I put together a committee of teachers, community members, a contracting company, and pupils to get a library at my school!

 We've had our initial meeting about 'Why a library', 'What is a library', and budgeting, which is where we’re currently at. There is a two-room-dilapidated building at my school which everyone thought would be a great library and study room space when renovated.  However, the contractor took a look at it and it's infested with termites to the point of no return.  So we decided that we would demolish the building and use some of its resources to build a new building!  So we're currently working through the budget, which at the moment is around $10,000.  I'm working with the head-teachers to bring that number down in any way possible. 

Peace Corps has grants for volunteers for things like this that are up to $10,000.  You're probably thinking, "That's great, it's just enough.  Why are you looking to bring the cost down?". The answer is that building the library is only half the battle, both financially and physically. Once the library room is built we need desks, chairs, shelves, cupboards, etc. built the stock.  & not to mention, we need books!! All the building and paying for books needs to be paid for.  Luckily, myself and a few other volunteers have looked into various book donation organizations and they're super cooperative (i.e. Books for Africa, The International Book Bank, etc.)!

So that's that, certainly a work in progress!

 

Girls Math Club

 I'm starting a math club for girls! As many of you know one of my majors was Math and it's something I really enjoy.  I truly believe in the magic of a good math teacher because I'm a product of some.  I've been EXTREMLY fortunate to have a handful of good math teachers that (especially) believed in me.  Without them I would have never discovered how AWESOME math could be, and what I could do with it!

Girls + Maths = Super Girls!!

That is a picture of my counterpart, Jacinta, and I & it says 'Girls Can Be As Good In Math As Boys'.

I'll be honest, I've never been too concerned with work-place-feminism because I believe the true female roles models are the ladies who are killing it at work and in their relationships, not the ones who are constantly fighting the man (literally).  Thanks to some amazing women before us we're able to make the choice for ourselves to be a stay at home mom, CEO, part-time employee, doctor, muscle builder, student, etc.  We're making our mark as proactive women and now there is no other place to go but up.  But here in Ugandan the women don't have the opportunity to be 'killing it a work' nor to make their own choices.  So my idea of equally isn't even possible for the future ladies of Uganda at my school. Therefore, as an American female, naturally, I'm making the choice to do something about it!

 Enter: my Girls Math Club for girls at my school and the neighboring teacher's college.

 One of my favorite jobs was being a math tutor at a local middle school [that my mother happen to also work at ; )].  I was working with students struggling in math to improve their basic skills.  An amazing, yet overlooked, method, for example, since you can't do algebra when you can't multiply.  My main goal was to invoke a fondness towards the subject.  This was easy for me to do because I am a math nerd and will always get excited when math is on the menu. So when I taught I built energy and passion into my lessons and without my students knowing it they were getting excited about math (What?! Yes, it's true). *Lead by example: "Miss Ceruti likes and enjoys math so it's possible that I could too.", said at least one of my students [I imagine ; )].

 I'm going to take the same concept to my math club.  If I model a GIRL, who LIKES, MATH I'm hoping these girls will think it is possible for them.  Then, like a cherry on top, I'm going to give them the encouragement they are seriously lacking. Girls + exciting math + encouragement - boys  = confidence to excel!

Okay, I could talk about math education all day, but I won't, so I'm going to sum this up:

 The pupils from my school and the students at the teachers college will meet once a week, separately.  At the meetings I’ll present the math curriculum (from the beginning) in a fun and entertaining way (games, puzzles, hands on activities, etc.).  Then, once a month both groups will get together giving the older ones an opportunity to practice new teaching methods, and the little ones a positive female role model to look up to.  BOOM

Girls Lacrosse Coach

Continuing my mission of Girl Power I’ve jumped into my secondary project:

I have been asked to be the Ugandan national girls lacrosse coach. Yup, you read that correctly, and I am PUMPED! In case you were unaware I dabbled in the game of lacrosse throughout middle and high school.  I played defense and I won’t lie, I wasn’t too bad. Yes, it’s true I stopped playing after junior year but that’s because of the stupid politics that went into SHS school sports.  As my dad would say, “It’s only a game.” (I wish more people had that mentality)

Let’s start from the beginning: Fields of Growth introduced lacrosse to Uganda is 2010.  http://fieldsofgrowthintl.org/  I met a volunteer that coaches the boys team, and he’s far more qualified than I.  He’s actually taking his whole team to America in a month to compete in the 2014 World Lacrosse Championships! They’re the first African team to enter. When I told him I used to play he mentioned the girls team is looking for a team. I figured this would be an awesome secondary project and asked him to get me in touch with the girls.  A few phone calls later and I’m on my way to Kampala to meet to meet the girls and have our first practice! They’re some great girls and they’re A LOT better than I thought they’d be. Fields of Growth is very excited about the girls team because it’s provides another option for girls to show Uganda what they’re made of and for them to play they only need a stick (they just brought a bunch of donated ones too!!).  I’m very excited to start this project.  Sorry, I don’t have more to tell because I just met with the girls yesterday.

 
Alrighty, hope all is well with everyone, enjoy the weekend : )

Actually found these pictures from a little picnic hike I went on with some friends near my village!
#TeamLeo xoxo

Team Leo!!

My friend Pamela & I.  Those are the Rwenzori's in the background

6 months completed!

So, I turned 24 a few weeks ago!! I'm super excited to spend this next year of my life in Africa!

 

Also, for the record I am having horrible internet troubles right now.  There are more picture but they're just not uploading : /

Rachel & I going out for my birthday!!

The month before my birthday we had school break.  The public schools in Uganda have 3 terms, which last about 3 months each, then a month in between terms for school break.

 The first week of school break was spent at a training near Kampala.  This was for all the volunteers that came with me in November an their Ugandan counterpart (the local teacher they work closest with).  The workshop focused on the work we will be doing for the next two years.  This includes but is not limited to implementing small reading groups, building/improving libraries, using alternatives to corporal punishment, and developing secondary projects.

My ccounterpart, Jacinta, accepting her certificate

 My counterpart is awesome! Her name is Jacinta, she is about a year older than me.  I'm super lucky because she's progressive, smart, and an all around cool chick!  She also has the most adorable little boy who just turned 1.  His name is Gabriel, but we call him Gabby and he's really warming up to me!  He and I kick the soccer ball around during school and he's taught me 'samba omipera' (kick the ball).

The next week myself and some friends went east to Jinja to see the source of the Nile River. We stayed at a cool place that look out on to the Nile, it was beautiful.  One of the days a few of us went kayaking on the river with a local guide, Abraham.  We started off paddling against the current, next, we went into a cool cave, then poured some drinks/opened some beers and lazily floated down the river back to the site.  (FYI there are not alligators in tis section of the Nile : /)

Our view

Getting into the kayaks

Us and Abrihim (note the cooler!)

After our little excursion on the Nile we continued more east and little north to Mbale.  This town is right next to Kenya near Mt. Elgon.. We met up with some other PCVs and basically chilled by the pool for a few days.

 Okay now you're probably wondering... "How did you get all this free time?  I remember you saying you only had a few days off a month!?!". My answer is loopholes!!! Before traveling to Jinja I stopped at a friends site and made instructional materials with her for her reading groups. While relaxing by the Nile I met with another member of VAC (Volunteer Action Committee) to discuss what we'd present at the upcoming meeting.  Then finally in Mable, well in Mable, I just utilized one of the 'free weekends' we get and, like I mentioned earlier, chilled ; ). (We are allowed two weekends a month to be away from our site, it's a nice luxury advocated for us by our country director!)

So after Mable school break is a little more than halfway finished.  Myself and my friend Rachel decided to go to Masaki to help clean out another volunteers science lab (loopholes baby!).
 A little background: 75 student in a classroom is considered small in Uganda. This makes buying books/materials/etc. for each student nearly impossible.  So when a school receives materials it's stored away in closets, shelves, head-teachers offices, because 1. There is not enough for all the students, thus planning a lesson around them is difficult 2. The teachers (especially with science equipment) don't know how to use the equipment 3. The teachers don't trust the students with the equipment.  These reasons are just more verification for a PCV to be at these schools. 1. We can train teachers to use whatever equipment they have despite their class size 2. We can train the teacher how to use them 3. We can develop initial lesson to teach the students about lab safety/how to use equipment/etc. to familiarize them with the equipment.
 Anywho, we spend about 4 hour going through two closets of some pretty awesome science equipment; of course we had to battle the infinite cockroaches, dead bats, gecko poop, and spider webs first!

Now, correct me if I'm wrong but I think that feat deserves a mini vacation!? (that's what we thought).  So us and a few other PCVs met at the islands in Lake Victoria.  Myself and 3 other girls traveled to the Sesse Islands via the WORST roadS I've ever been on.  Our trip to the islands sounds so glamorous but our actual trip was comically horrible.  We mockingly called our trip 'Sex in the City 3: Sesse Islands', identifying each of us as one of the main characters, me being Charlotte ; ), and made mocking jokes throughout this excursion. I'd also like to add that a few days before this I was violently ill, and my stomach wasn't performing at it's best.
 SO, the 4 of us crammed in the back of a little van meant for 7 but actually had 12 AND there was jerry-cans of gasoline in the back (we were off to a good start). In this car we drove an hour of the bumpiness road I've ever been on that lead to the CREEPIST dock I've ever seen; it didn't help that it had just stopped raining.  From there we waited for the ferry that would bring us to the island.  (surprisingly the ferry wasn't as shoddy as your probably picturing).  Once we got to the island all 12 of us got back in the van and got on another bumpy, curvy, swerve-y dirt road.  About 30 minutes into a young girl threw up, so that was nice.  A little while after that we had to stop for 20-30 minutes to wait for a rock to be blown up so we could pass. FINALLY, we got to the little town, Kagalangala, where our little resort was waiting!
 We stayed there for a few days (using the second and finally free weekend), lounging, canoeing around the island, and eating PB&Js (remember volunteer "salary").

 

On the way back to my site I stopped and met friends in Kampala and we went out for my birthday, having a lot of fun! I was able to enjoy a delicious burger, a whiskey sour, and a mimosa!!

Rachel and I, again before going out, again

So now I've been back at site for a few weeks, and I'm starting a lot of projects I'm excited about.  I've implemented a 'Teacher of the Week' to motivate my severely underpaid colleagues. I've also developed and implemented 'English Speaker of the Week' to encourage all the students to use English (that's the language they are assessed in, so knowing it is helpful). I've started my small reading groups, and more teacher trainings.  The project I'm most excited about is the building a library at my school!!  There is SO much going into this project so I'm just going to dedicate another post to that.  Be on the look out because this is going to be an awesome project and I might need your help!

The pupils excited to see who gets the award!

The recipients from each grade!

Calling out the names!