Safari at Murchison Falls

This past weekend was our safari at Murchison Falls. On Friday night we went out in town to say good-bye to the group 2 Teacher-Exchange teachers (which means we are down to our final two weeks). Saturday morning instead of excitedly getting ready, we were trying to comfort the sick members of our group. A total of four people were feeling miserable. We passed around the immodium and advil and convinced them to still come for the trip.

To say the van drive was bumpy would be an underestimate for sure! At least I was not feeling sick before we set out. We stopped in Anaka to pick up the five teachers from our group who teach and live there. Anaka is a former Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. Since the conflict in the North ended (within the last couple of years), many people have left the camp and returned to their land. The school only recently relocated to their original site (within the past few months), having been displaced during the conflict due to sercurity concerns. Teaching in Anaka is certainly a different experience to teaching in Gulu, especially as compared to St. Joseph's Layibi College. I've included a few photos of the school (including temporary classrooms and the invisible children laboratory block). It was great to finally get the chance to see what it is like for the Anaka teachers.

We got back on the road and continued on to Murchison Falls. From the gate to the boat dock we saw elephants, giraffes, hartebeests, waterbuffallo, and more, all very close to the van. We were so excited! At the ferry dock, we protected our food from the babboons before boarding the boat. There were SO many hippos, nile crocodiles, waterbuffalo along the way. I was also excited to see the bee-eaters (birds) as it was African bee-eater habitats we worked to manage in Hungary on the Round Square environmental service project. The birds migrate to Hungary.

We had a lovely meal at Red Chilli's campsite and then went to bed early (wearing shower caps in case of lice) to avoid further illness. We were up before 6 am to get in line for the ferry in order to get out on the game drive when the animals were most active. It was a great game drive. We sat on the luggage rack on top of the vans and had a wonderful time. We even saw lions which are far from a guarantee. The last place we stopped was the delta where the white nile flows into Lake Albert. At this point, we were directly across the river from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It was sad to drop off the Anaka crowd on the way home but we will see them again next weekend.

For more photos of the safari follow this link to my facebook album: Murchison Safari Album

Physics is Phun!

It is really hard to believe that I am wrapping up my first four weeks in Uganda -- just two weeks to go. However, it does mean that it has been long enough for the students to feel like they are getting to know me.

The senior 4 students are in exams now. They will write 3 papers for Physics, each one is over 2 hours long. One is a practical exam (lab exam). Robert has been busy this week to ensure that there is enough equipment for everybody. For this reason the class was split into three groups of 60 students and those 60 students were split between two classrooms. One classroom had equipment for the required mechanics lab and the other classroom had the materials for the optics and electricity labs, of which the students chose one. I was so impressed with their industriousness.

Because Robert has been so busy supervising exams, I have taught the last two senior five classes on my own (120 minutes yesterday and 80 minutes today). The senior five classes is comprised of more than 100 students. The photos on this page are of that class. As I mentioned, many students crowd at the very front of the classroom, so they are actually writing on the lab demonstration bench where I have my materials. Today I was 25 minutes late for class because it was raining and the bodas (motorcycle taxis) don't go when it is raining.

Typically, at the end of a lesson, a group of boys will come to the front with copies of questions from old exams and ask me to explain how they should be solved. It is so much fun, because since returning to Canada, I have only taught grade 11 Physics, and these questions cover topics from grade 12 and Advanced Placement Physics. Topics I really enjoy like torque and circular motion.

Yesterday when I walked out of the senior five class, there was a group of boys from senior four waiting with questions. We sat in the shade of a tree and reviews nuclear decay and standing waves. It was really fun. Seriously - even during summer vacation.

I had a challenging year this past year, where I had trouble getting through to some of the boys in my classes, especially in the grade 11 classes. It was very hard to watch really bright students seriously underacheive. Teaching a typically boy-friendly subject like Physics, I feel that it is very important not to alienate them. I have been listening to lectures by Dr. Michael Thompson (http://www.michaelthompson-phd.com/) on the matter. And I recently bought "The Minds of Boys" by Michael Gurian.

When I was first assigned St. Joseph's Layibi College, I was nervous about being in an all-boys' school. By the end of the school year at home, I was feeling better about the whole issue. It was especially nice that so many of the grade 12 boys seemed to enjoy talking with me about Science and life in general and also many of the grade 11 boys were achieving better results towards the end of the year. I left feeling optimistic about next year. This experience has further increased my confidence. The boys at Layibi seem to really enjoy Physics and often approach me with Physics or Math questions.

I just downloaded a video of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster to show them as an application of resonance. Now, I must head back to the school for the senior one vs staff football (soccer) game. Don't worry, I am not playing.

St. Jude's Children's Home

On Sunday we visited St. Jude’s Children’s Home in Gulu. Children’s home is a more appropriate title than orphanage. In Uganda, a child is not only its parent’s child, but the whole family and community. Most children who have lost their parents due to the conflict, AIDS, or other causes are taken in by family or community members and raised as their own. In fact, often in a family, if someone has the means they will take over the care of their sibling’s children or at least their children’s school fees. Many of the people we have met are caring for or have cared for their nieces and nephews.

The children of St. Jude’s are there for many different reasons. Some are true orphans, they may have been discovered among the ruins of a village which had been raided, or for whatever reason, no family can be located. These children are in the minority. Most are there temporarily. Perhaps their mother died and their father is not currently able to care for them. Some children are there because their families are too large to be able to support all of the children and staying at St. Jude’s means that they get the opportunity to go to school. Some children are HIV positive and can be given proper medical care if the stay at St. Jude’s. There are currently 92 children at St. Jude’s with 8 “mothers”. One cannot adopt a Ugandan child unless they have lived in the country for at least three years.

Another amazing thing about St. Jude’s is their residence for families of children with serious disabilities. The homes allow the family to stay together while allowing access to proper care to serve the child’s needs.

We were really unsure of what to expect, or what was expected of us. We packed balls, and Frisbees, and I grabbed the bubbles I had brought with me. When we arrived, the children rushed over to the mutatu (van) with hands out-stretched. They were eager to play with us, hang out, and talk to us. Blake has been involved with the home for the past two summers and has taught a number of children about photography. Many wanted to use our cameras. Later the children sang and danced for us. It felt strange at the end of the visit just to say goodbye. I get the feeling that the children see a lot of bus loads of people who come and play with them for a while and then

drive away. I still think they are very happy to see anyone who will sit with them and listen even for a little while.

Summary of Goals

One of the requirements of the Invisible Children Teacher Exchange Program is to produce a handbook as a record of the work we did together. It will serve as a reference for each of us in the future. I thought I would include the summary of our goals which appear at the beginning of the handbook. These are the goals that Robert and I determined would be valuable and also achieveable in the six weeks we have together. I want to thank everyone again for their donations which allowed me to be here working with Robert. We will work hard to ensure that your money was well-spent.

I have included a photo of all the teaching pairs from St. Joseph's Layibi College. Back Row: Sylvester, Blake, Edison, John Christopher Middle Row: Alfredo, Katie, Robert, Michelle Front Row: Brit, yours truly, Jennifer, and Raysa.

Summary of Goals

We will plan and present lessons together. Together we will examine lessons, evaluating multiple methods of solving a problem or presenting content. We consider the order of examples, working from simplest to most difficult. We ensure to describe solutions using general principles to improve student confidence in their ability to solve new problems. In presenting content we look for simple demonstrations which could be used, and simple real-life applications of the content.

We will work to produce an electronic copy of the ‘O’ level and ‘A’ Physics Teaching Syllabi. This will provide a document which can be easily updated when new syllabi are published on five year intervals.

For term three we will design a lab period or periods where students will rotate through six stations. Each station will contain enough materials and instructions for two individual groups to collect evidence and complete an analysis. By the end of the allotted periods, students will have completed six different labs. The labs will be selected from the syllabus or from previous exams. We will include additional questions to enhance the connection between the lab analysis and the concepts presented in class. The station approach allows many students to use the limited resources.

We will closely examine the resources available, including the digital science computer software provided by Cyber School Technology Solutions and the Ugandan Ministry of Education. We will discuss how best to make these resources available to students.

We will work to develop the necessary exams for term 2 and term 3. We will use the computer and printer available in the Physics office in order to prepare our own exams for photocopying, relieving some of the work from the office. It will also mean that electronic copies of exams are available for editing later, and encourage greater use of the available resources.

A flash drive has been left with Mr. Oryema. It contains copies of class notes, presentations, assignments, tests, and exams, in portable document format (.pdf) used by Ms. Russell in Canada. Additional resources include an electronic copy of the manual for the graphing calculator belonging to Mr. Oryema as well as copies of the questions, scoring guidelines, commentary, and student responses for Advanced Placement Physics B exams for 2003 through 2009 as produced by the College Board in the USA. The AP exams may be useful as they contain many questions similar in content as well as difficulty level to the Ugandan National Examination Board questions.

We will visit an internet cafe and explore how the internet can be used to find sample questions or additional resources for the teacher. We will create an email account for Mr. Oryema to facilitate continued sharing of resources beyond the dates of the teacher exchange.

We will contribute in a meaningful way to the round table discussions and research initiatives from Invisible Children. We will attend all round table meetings, arriving on time and prepared with the required materials. We will speak candidly when asked to share opinions and ideas. We will develop questions to be used in a survey of students regarding struggles in obtaining and maintaining education, balance of school life and outside responsibilities, plans beyond secondary school, and perceptions of economic value of university level education. We will then input the data into a spread sheet and analyse our findings.

A sanctuary not just for Rhinos

With the first week behind us, the group 3 North American teachers went to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for the night. (http://www.rhinofund.org/). We left on Saturday morning after our book club. The 15 of us with our driver travelled three hours toward Kampala in a van designed to carry 14 passengers.

After lunch (served much later in Uganda than in Canada) we headed out to meet the rhinos. We drove into the sanctuary and then got off the truck to look for the rhinos on foot. We found three of them: two pregnant females and one male. At one point one of the females was within 10 m of us. The owner of the guesthouse suggested we back up slowly while the ranger said “Bela, go back. Go back Bela.” Surprisingly Bela the Rhino listened to the ranger.

The sanctuary has 7 of the 9 rhinos in Uganda. On the 24^th of June, one of the rhinos had a baby, which they named Obama. We didn’t get to go see the baby because his mother is very protective and thus aggressive. In 1986, there were no rhinos remaining in Uganda due to poaching. Two of the rhinos at Ziwa were donated by Disney and flown over from Florida and four others came from Kenya.

When we got back to the guest house, we grabbed water bottles and went for a short walk before sunset. The whole thing was so relaxing. We had dinner and people played guitar and sang around a bonfire. Before breakfast we walked out to a swamp but did not see the hippos or crocodiles that lived there. We were accompanied by Jesse, the sweetest dog ever.

On the way back to Gulu, the van stopped at the side of the road and our driver said that we had to pick up the conductor. Now we had 17 adults in a van with 15 seats. Needless to say we were very happy to get out of the van when we reached the IC house. Some people headed into town, others went to the pool at Acoli Inn, but I decided to stay in the quiet house and finish my novel, the first I’ve read since arriving.

In the evening I went to a cafe in town for dinner with one of the other teachers. While we were sitting there Jolly Okot, the Ugandan director of Invisible Children came in and talked to us for over an hour. She talked a little bit about how the war affected her family and her thoughts for the future. Blake and I left the cafe a little star-struck. Jolly is an IC celebrity.

A note to all my generous donors, you did not donate money to send me to a rhino sanctuary and on safari, those trips are optional and at additional cost.