Back to Primary school

Through the KiBO foundation I have met many interesting people. Last Thursday Abraham introduced me to the head teacher of Kisugu Church of Uganda Primary School, a very impoverished school that KiBO students have recently helped support. They invited me to come and teach, so on Friday I went to meet with them to discuss where/how I could be used. This is where things get interesting...I feel like I say that a lot. For the record, this year has been interesting.

Anyhow, so we drove past a few school buildings and up to a set of gates that said "Kisugu Primary School"...or something like that. I went in with Remy and we asked for the head teacher. They said he was away, but they gave us his mobile number. I had forgotten his name, but I called anyways and told him who I was, and that I wanted to talk to him about volunteering at his school. He seemed surprised and just said: "I'll be there in 2 minutes!" In non-Ugandan style, he came flying up the hill on a motorbike (or "bodaboda") within about 2 minutes!

He greeted me with a big smile, and I couldn't understand why I didn't really recognize him...He brought me to the office and asked me how I heard of his school, and how I got his number. Hmm...well...does KiBO foundation ring a bell? ....Nope. He proceeded to tell me that his school was called "Kisugu St. Stephen's primary school", and that the school I was looking for was probably "Kisugu Church of Uganda primary school". This was true. But he went on to say that he was so excited when he got my call because their school has a great need for teachers, and they have been looking ever since they started for any sort of partnerships with teachers from overseas! He told me he understood if I wanted to teach at the other school, but that he welcomed any commitment I could give to their school, as he considered my (completely random) showing up a total blessing. Long story short, I'm pretty sure I was supposed to drive just past the other Kisugu school in order to meet this awesome man. As of tomorrow, I'm meeting an english teacher from their school and I'm gonna help out with grade 5!

I also went on to meet the head teacher from the other Kisugu School (whom I had met), and they also assigned me to two grade 5 classes (English), as well as a joint grade 5 class doing sports and games (ie - Ultimate frisbee) after school. I'm pretty pumped for tomorrow. The only problem is that it really won't be much of a commitment because they go into exams in 2 weeks...but I'll have a couple of weeks to make a connection with 2 very needy schools, possibly improve some english and teach them about the world, and play some sweet ultimate games. Hopefully I can help out in such a short time.

Remy is in the process of getting involved in some very interesting and creative ways, and will possibly be going outside the city to help with arts n' crafts sorta stuff in a village nearby, so he won't be joining me at school.

So it seems that anywhere I go this year, I always get pulled back into teaching at good ol' Primary school. Hooray for maturity! The crowd I've been hanging around this year might be slightly different to the first year university crowd this september. We'll see if I fit in...