Teaching in the schools.

In Uganda, I was able to teach, alongside a few other volunteers, in three different schools. Our first school was Richard's school for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (Bushika Junior Education Center). The second school was Mustard Seed School, just outside Kikholo Trading Center. I can't remember the name of the third school (it's a bit fancy for my vocal cords), but I'll post a photo in a bit!

I already posted about Richard's school, but visiting that school was one of my most memorable moments in Uganda. Richard is a really good man, and has done some remarkable things for those children. I loved my few hours there. Here are some photos from that day:

Challenges for Bushika Junior Education Center (Richard's School for Orphans)

This is the school! They recently got doors and windows and benches inside for the children to sit on. I wish they had supplies though, like paper and pens.

We were teaching the "Fours F's" on how to prevent diarrhea (a real issue in Uganda, which leads to many deaths): Fingernails, Food, Flies, and. . .I forgot the last F, so I turned to Megan and asked, "Feces?" Yep! I know I look a bit mad in this photo, but I promise I'm definitely not:) (probably just sunburned from our FOUR HOUR HIKE that morning. . . . Thanks Julius!!;)

Happy kids:)

I love this photo. After we taught the children, they then performed a skit for us, about the importance of teachers. It was so cute, and brought little tears to my eyes. These kids are smart and important and determined to succeed, and gosh darn it, they're gonna make it!!

Another view of this wonderful school.

Ok! At this school we taught about diarrhea prevention, dehydration as a result of diarrhea, and rehydration using ORS, Oral Rehydration Salts.

Next school: Mustard Seed Foundation School

Mustard Seed Foundation School!

This school visit is a part of the HIV Outreach that FIMRC will be doing for the next month or so. Volunteers will visit all of the surrounding schools and give talks on how HIV is spread (and not spread), how we need to love and respect all people regardless of their HIV status, and the happy life outlook that HIV+ people can have despite their virus. Some of the children in FIMRC's OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) program are teased and mocked because the other children know they are HIV+. It broke my heart hearing that. So, FIMRC is going into all the surrounding schools with the aim to increase HIV understanding as well as mutual respect. 

Our very smart class:) Aren't they the CUTEST?!?!

GO BANANAS!

The banana song. . . a good ice breaker for students wary of crazy mzungu ladies. 

Teaching students how HIV is spread. There are some misconceptions in Uganda about HIV is spread: some say by food, some say by mosquitos, some say it is a curse from God. . . the list goes on. It's VERY important to teach students from a young age how it is spread, and also how it is NOT spread, so that these misconceptions are not propagated from generation to generation. If you know how it's spread, it can be prevented! I felt like a villain teaching 5 year old about sex. . . but I guess some things are important to know. After this lesson, we taught about respect (singing and skits included). Last, we played some fun games:)
 

We played a fun game at the end using a tennis ball. The kids lined up shoulder-to-shoulder in a huge circle and then passed the ball behind their backs to the next people. Someone in the middle had to guess who had the ball, and they never guessed correctly! Purpose of this game: you can't know if someone has HIV just by looking at them. Mutual respect is always important!

Last school: the one with the fancy name.

We taught the same curriculum in this school as the previous one, but we had only 20 minutes with each class, so we just eliminated the game and skits. This school is a government school, so they don't teach exclusively in english. Due to this language barrier, Richard translated for us as we taught. I kind of got used to pausing after every few sentences, good practice for the motor mouth. ;)

A beautiful room. There were like 100 (ok, I really have no idea, I'm not good at estimating) kids piled into this room. Literally PILED on top of each other. 

If you want to have a really good time, come to this field during school hours with a tennis ball, and throw it up in the air, and yell "HANDBALL!!!!!" and just wait. ;) You're in for the time of your life. These kids really know how to have fun, who needs silly video games when you have 200 friends and a tennis ball.

The little school rooms!

I thought the classroom was so beautiful.

That big face there is Richard ^^

We love cameras!

As we were leaving, this cute girl came up to me and gave me a hand-written note (we got lots of notes from kids while visiting schools, it's very common to express one's affection in the note-form, which I love!) It reads:

Dear my best friend girl:

*insert picture of flower*

How are you and how is your life

I like fish in water

My name is Namome

My friend is Namukmbrue

Good morning

Good morning

Good morning my best friend girl

God bless you amen

Kiss to kiss and love to love

love to love and kiss to kiss

Namukmbrue Good Monday

Good morning Namukmbrue

Good morning Namome

Namome Good Monday

Namukmbrue Good girl

Good morning

Goodbye my best friend girl

Namome and Namukmbrue girl

God bless you amen

Goodbye my best friend girl.