We Lock Up Our Hoes

The joys of starting a garden in this country. It's not your typical throw-on-some-work-sloves-and-buy-some-mulch, à la American. In Uganda, the one and only tool used for gardening/digging/weeding/harvesting/you-name-it, is the hoe (trust me, the puns we are able to spin are endlessly entertaining), known as a fuka in local language. And here, we call it digging, not gardening. My fellow PCV Aaron, who lives on an island in Lake Bunyonyi and teaches at a high school, came over to our place for the weekend and helped me dig up the land. About a month ago we did the first dig to churn up the dirt and kill the grass, which grows at an exponential speed here on the Equator. Despite having already dug up the small plot of land behind my house, naturally it looked like nothing had been done, since things grow so fast here. We basically had to start over.

Digging time 

The locals passing by on the street were perplexed why we were a) digging on a Sunday [it's pretty taboo, since it's the Lord's Day) b) planting when it's the dry season and c) digging with weird, colorful things on our hands (work gloves). It's the dry season here now, and certainly not the time to be planting. I decided to still plant my sweet corn, radishes, beans and herbs cuz I'm officially adopting the Honey-Badger-don't-care and do what I want. Also, plants can still grow in dry season, they just need to be watered. But to the folks from around here, it's unheard of and they think I'm crazier than before. After 4 hours of backbreaking work, we dug up my plot of land and planted seeds. To show for it, my hands are covered in some gnarly blisters and I got an awkward but brutal sunburn patch right above my pant line from bending down all day. Hopefully some little seedlings in a few weeks will make it all worth it. If I can't grow veggies in this fertile, equatorial country, then I am royally screwed.

World's most awkward sunburn

Mzungus in the Mist

Teaching the Daily 5

After more than a month of traveling, squatting at fellow Volunteers' houses, taking one matatu ride after another, it's nice to finally be home. My school started a week late since… well, because. The Bakiga [Ba-CHEE-ga] people do what they want. Caitlin recently came up with a great metaphor that the Bakiga (that is, those who live in the Kabale district of southern Uganda) are the Honey Badgers of Uganda (if you haven't seen the skit, watch it here, and you'll understand). They just do (and take) what they want. School was supposed to start on the 27th of May, but my school made the executive decision to start a week later (fine by me!). 

On Friday, to kick off the term, I held a small workshop with our teachers. We're still short two teachers, which are apparently being sent our way by the district commissioner, but I'll believe it when I see it. 

Introducing Bloom's Taxonomy

I was a bit apprehensive to have a teacher training, and was dubious about how it would turn out. My counterpart at the school isn't as collaborative as I would like, so I planned the workshop myself. One of my biggest fears is that the teachers wouldn't take me seriously-- I probably look about 18 years old to them, and here you tend not to be taken seriously until you're married and have popped out a few kids. Since I've done neither, I was doubtful of the turnout, especially on a Friday afternoon. To my surprise, it went wonderfully. My roommate and fellow PCV Caitlin came along, and together we made a great team. We first covered Bloom's Taxonomy and higher levels of thinking, and how to include critical thinking in lesson plans. We introduced Daily 5 targets to promote literacy in every day's lesson, and teachers seemed to respond well to it. I created a "Teacher of the Month" award to motivate teachers to utilize our resources in the Library, and to include reading time in their daily schedule.

Let the fun and games begin! 

After spending over an hour trying to promote literacy throughout this workshop, our headmaster ended on a great note, saying "If you want to hide something from an African, hide it in a book!"
Thanks, buddy.

In other words, Africans are not known for ever reading books, unless they are studying for something, but the whole concept of "reading for fun" is lost on them (at least those in my district..) I showed them our new donated BASE Pack, one of six in Uganda at a PCV's school, donated by the King's Foundation. This big backpack is filled with games such as a parachute, cricket bat, frisbees, soccer ball etc. We spent one morning at our IST Workshop playing all sorts of games, and had a blast. Six of the donated packs were dispersed to 6 Volunteers to pilot them as the schools. As a regional captain for this pilot program, we are going to see how we can use the pack to encourage and motivate good behavior on behalf of the students.

We collaborated as a staff on which behavior we'd like to target, and settled on participation and work ethic ("laziness" as the teachers call it.)  I reminded teachers that good participation and work ethic could translate later on not only into better test scores, but also a great school culture. As part of the workshop, I took the teachers outside to play some of the games so they could appreciate the value of the BASE Pack. When I asked my counterpart if she thought the teachers would like to play some games, she sounded skeptical. I thought it would be like pulling teeth to get them to do some Teambuilders.

Fruit salad!

Instead, the response was phenomenal. The teachers loved the games, and even better, all the students crowded around and howled at the teachers playing these relays. They could see for themselves all these games they could play if they performed well. We first took out the parachute and did a few activities, and they didn't want to put it away afterwards! Next Caitlin helped me set up the game where you hold hands in a line and have to pass a hula hoop down the line. The teachers set up two teams, and I had them each choose a team name. We did relay races with bean bags and balancing a frisbee on the head. We were all howling with laughter, especially the students who were standing around watching. I think it was really important for them to understand how valuable the Base Pack can be as a tool, and the best way to do that was to play the games and have fun! 

Bean bag relays

I'm also happy because it sets a good standard to do more teacher trainings. There's so much good material I could cover with our staff, including engagement strategies, positive reinforcement, and promoting literacy. And I'm sure I can entice them with a few Teambuilders after the hard stuff is done...

Teamwork on 3!