what a week!

I know I said I was going to update my little thermometer every couple of weeks, but this past week I received a new donation EVERY DAY!

My new total is a very exciting $1977 USD.

I also received a message from PayPal this week saying that they noticed that I was fundraising for Invisible Children through this blog. They required me to provide information about collection and submission of funds. They also required comfirmation in the form of a letter signed by a director of Invisible Children Teacher Exchange that I am, in fact, authorized to fundraise on their behalf. I submitted all the required documentation this week. I must say that I am impressed with PayPal and their accountability for uses of their organizaiton.

Correction to my previous post: Invisible Children mails out their receipts for each year all at once. Therefore although I will submit your funds in March, April, or May, your receipt will not arrive until sometime in January 2010.

Tonight I received my Teacher-Exchange Acceptance Packet. This 48 page document details the documentation, vaccinations, packing list, itinerary, etc. I will peruse it tomorrow night and list some highlights on the blog. It all seems a lot more real now.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me in this project.
Melody

Fundraising Update

Well, I am off to a great start. I have raised $1380 USD so far for the Invisible Children Teacher Exchange.

I will update the little thermometer every couple of weeks.

If you make a donation, you will receive email confirmation from me immediately. On March 1st, I will make the first submission to Invisible Children, providing them with a list of all of the donations. You will receive a receipt from them after that time.

Thank you so much to those who have supported me thus far!

teacher-exchange in Northern Uganda

This summer I will be spending 6 weeks in Northern Uganda near Gulu. I am participating in the Teacher Exchange program through Invisible Children.
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/theMission/Teachers_Exchange

The photos of the lily and the children are actually from a trip I took to Tanzania in 2004. I had no idea that at this same time, not far away, Northern Uganda was into its third decade of conflict. Villages had been destroyed and children lived in fear of being forced to become child soldiers. Northern Uganda has experienced relative peace in recent years and a permanent cease-fire was signed between the Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan government in February 2008. Sadly, the LRA has since been committing atrocities in neighbouring DR Congo.

When I watched the film "Invisible Children" (http://freedocumentaries.org/film.php?id=114) I was struck by these children's desire for education even amid the conflict in their lives. Their pleas with the documentary film makers to please not forget about them led to the development of the Invisible Children organization.

I visited the site after seeing the film and was thrilled to read about their teacher exchange program, now in its third year. There are many willing teachers in Northern Uganda where the student: teacher ratio is 150:1, but there is not a significant teacher training program. This led Invisible Children to create the teacher exchange. They pair up International teachers with Ugandan partners. We spend the first week learning about the culture and the Ugandan educational standards. For the remaining time, I will be team-teaching with my partner teacher and working with them to develop student-centered lessons. We will also attend an international conference on Education in Conflict.

I've been given the task of fundraising 4000 US dollars (~5000 CAD) to cover my flights and accommodations and food for 6 weeks plus the cost of a flight from Toronto to New York. I would greatly appreciate your support in this endeavour. Any funds raised beyond what is required (see how optimistic I am) will go towards providing additional support to the teachers in Gulu in the form of classroom materials and further training. Unfortunately, Invisible Children is a registered charity in the US only, which makes it difficult to get any kind of corporate sponsorship. If you have any ideas, please share them with me at melodyrussell@gmail.com.

I am lucky to be teaching at a school which places an emphasis on internationalism, service, and education. They have made a significant contribution, recognizing the project as professional development on my part.

Each year, Invisible Children produces a brief video highlighting some of their progress. This is the video released for Christmas 2008.