Saint Joseph's College Layibi

St. Joseph’s College Layibi (SJCL) is an all boys secondary school. In Uganda, secondary school consists of 4 years of ordinary levels (S.1 through S.4) and 2 years of advanced levels (S.5 and S.6). Students receive a national ‘O’ Level diploma at the end of senior 4. This diploma allows them to go on to vocational school and teachers’ college to become a primary teacher. If a student goes on to complete ‘A’ levels, they will be eligible for university. Their scores determine which programme they will follow. Students who receive above a certain threshold are given a government scholarship covering their university tuition at a public (vs. private) university. SJCL had seven S.6 students earn government sponsorship last year. The school is held in very high regard in the district.

There are 1200 boys at the school ranging in age from 12 to 25 years old. The reason for the presence of older students is that some students missed years of school due to the conflict or family obligations. SJCL is a boarding school, in fact all students are boarding. There are ‘O’ level and ‘A’ level dormitories. The campus is huge with blocks of classrooms, dormitories, an assembly hall, church, dining halls, and lots of green spaces. Students and teachers are often dragging chairs and desks out under the trees to study, plan, or mark in the shade.

In the ‘O’ levels, the class sizes are approximately 80 students. In ‘A’ levels, students have more choice in the courses. For example in S.5 there are 131 students who’ve chosen a Science programme and 38 who’ve chosen Arts. There are 108 students in the S.5 Physics class I teach with Robert.

The students are remarkably quiet in class. I guess they have to be. For S.5 the students line up at the door, some carrying chairs, and race in to sit as close to the front as possible. Generally the lesson involves a description of the concepts followed by dictation of notes and then some worked problems solved on the board. Students do not have text books so the dictation provides them with notes from which to study for their exams at the end of S.6.

The staff is primarily male. There are only 4 female teachers and 60 male teachers. Many of the teachers live in staff quarters. The quarters include a small plot of land where most grown corn to be dried and ground into flour. Classes run from 8 am until 4:30 pm but a full-time teaching load is 24 forty minute periods per week. At 10:40 am there is tea and corn or chipati for staff and porridge for students. Lunch is served at 1:50 pm (officially, although sometimes it is not actually served until 2:20 pm – 10 minutes before the end of the lunch period).

We are spoiled at SJLC. Most schools serve beans and posho (called Ugali in Kenya, a mixture of corn flour water – Blake says it could be describes as homemade playdough, but I think it is a little more granular than playdough). We have posho almost every day, but there is also rice or potatoes. When we are served beans they are mixed with cabbage. We are also sometimes served a ground nut stew (ground nut is similar to peanut), a spinach-like mixture with eggs, eggplant deliciousness, and once a week we are served meat (beef or goat). We are also given banana or pineapple for desert.

Overall, our school and teachers seem really excited to have us here and are very keen to work with us. The students are also remarkably hard-working. Even though the school is technically a public school, schools fees are quite high especially since boarding costs are not covered. The PTA raises funds to hire more teachers and supplement government teacher salaries, pay for maintenance and more. Families sacrifice a lot to educate their children and the students know it.

Just a side note, SJCL is one of few all boys schools, there is a sister all girls school called Sacred Heart. Most schools are co-ed.

“This ain’t no Elephant Graceland”

On Sunday morning we packed up all our things in preparation for moving from Elephant Graceland to the Invisible Children volunteer house. I then headed downstairs for some cramming before our bookclub discussion about “Song of Lawino” by an Acoli writer Okot p’Bitek. I am happy to have read and discussed the book as it is very important to the people of this region. At the conference we were discussing Chinua Achebe as one of the classes is currently reading “Anthills of the Savanah.” The teachers at the table asked if we had read “Song of Lawino” and it was so nice to be able to say yes! They were very pleased. I am hoping to pick up a copy of the pair of books “Song of Lawino” and “Song of Ocel” at a bookstore here before I leave.

After the bookclub, a woman named Molly came from the Awer camp with paper bead necklaces to sell. There is a group of approximately 30 women in the camp who make the necklaces. It was a very successful visit for their cooperative.

From there we moved into a discussion about the research we will be conducting with our partner teachers. At Layibi we are examining student life. We discussed research methods, data collection, and analysis. It was all very interesting for me because I have never done research. I am looking forward to all I will learn.

Finally we talked about what it meant to live in the house. This is when Amy, the teacher exchange coordinator made the statement above. Instead of single or double rooms including shower and toilet in each room, we would be living in a much more communal way. I am in a room with twelve beds – bunk beds, three levels high. There are three other multi bed rooms in the house. At the moment there are approximately 30 people staying there. There is one shower, although it does have hot water, which I have yet to enjoy. There is one toilet inside the house which is for pee only. There is an out door toilet for “not-pee” as well as two latrines which I have been advised against using unless there is no water.

We unpacked as quickly as possible before heading out for dinner at Boma restaurant. It was lovely. Five people from our group will be at an IDP camp during the week. The camps are actually being dismantled although some are choosing to stay as over the years, the camp has become home, and will remain as a town. We enjoyed our last night together but did not stay up late as the Layibi crowd had to get to school for 7:15 am. eeeek!

As for sleeping in a room with 11 other people, and next to a kitchen. . . I love ear plugs and eye blinders!

It has been almost a week in the house now, and I can say that it is a lot of fun. Not to mention the delicious food prepared by Doreen!

July 4th in Gulu

The second day of the conference was July 4^th. Therefore our final dinner / party was also a July 4^th celebration. It was held at the Acholi Inn in the yard. There was a great feast and a dance party. There was line-dancing (see photo), a Michael Jackson montage, popular music from the area and lots more. When the Acoli music game over the speakers, many of our partner teachers tried to teach us Acoli dance moves. I don’t think we were completely hopeless.

One of the teachers from Layibi was SO moved by the whole event. He said that he just couldn’t believe the integration of ideas at the conference and the genuine way we were all integrating socially. After one of the Acoli songs, I thought he was going to tear up. He said he was so excited about the transformative experience ahead. I reminded him that it would be transformative for all of us. My partner teacher Odong Robert and his pal, another teacher John Christopher, had a rocking good time (photo at left). They were dancing and laughing so much.

At one point, the sparklers came out to great celebration. John Christopher kept saying “take my picture” with the sparkler, with the very tall teacher, with the cookie, with the brownie, dancing etc. At one point a man addressed the grouped. John Christopher and Odong Robert were so excited. He is the “president’s representative in Gulu district.” John Christopher of course instructed me to take his picture. Odong Robert said “If he is here, the security is good.” The politician chided us for not inviting him to the dance. Then he led a big congo line. I thought Odong Robert was going to lose his mind. Instead, he took a video of the dance with his telephone.

Some people paid the 7000 UGX (approximately $3.50) to go in the pool. All in all it was an amazing night filled with optimism and friendship.

Invisible Children Conference

The IC conference was centered around advocacy and empowerment of teachers and students. We were welcomed by Jolly Okot, the country director of IC and Patrick Mduga, the program manager of the Schools for Schools initiative. Their opening message was to encourage a more positive societal attitude towards teachers, by first building confidence in pride in the teachers of Northern Uganda. Many teachers did not choose the profession but were instead assigned to it due to lower examination results. Part of the teacher exchange is to expose the partner teachers and the staff at the partner schools to teachers who are passionate about their job and feel that it is valuable. Jolly talked about an experience arriving at the airport in Dubai and seeing an escalator for the first time. How she was frightened and embarrassed at her ignorance. She emphasized how we learn best through experience.

On the first day of the conference, each participating school from the first two teacher exchange groups (I am group 3) presented on a variety of topics: improving economic standing of teachers, improving communication between students, teachers, administration, and families, meeting student needs given changing curriculum, using current resources to promote need for more resources, overcoming the hurdle of large classes, balancing personal and professional life, and managing with minimal contact hours. Each school presented on one topic, they would describe the issue and then present short term and long term solutions. At that point the issue was opened up to all member of the conference. I was struck at the degree of conversation, and number of solutions offered.

We would break off into small groups by school and discuss how each of the issues mentioned appeared at our individual schools. This was the first time our group met our partner teachers. There are six of us placed at St. Joseph’s Layibi College. Our partners were there as well as the director of studies. It was so exciting meeting them. Their energy is wonderful and they seemed to have an excellent sense of humour. Because it was our first day meeting, we ended the day with dinner at a fancy hotel. The conversation was easy and fun. We came home very optimistic about the next six weeks.

The second day of the conference was centered around empowerment of students. We participated in a fishbowl – observing students participating in workshops: basketball skills, drama, art, rapping, and hip-hop dance. The last three were fascillitated by the youth from the previously described Bavubuka All Stars in Kampala.

I was most fascinated by the art table. The students had never used paints or a paint brush before. The only art they had done involved paper and pencil. What completely blew me away were all the questions from teachers regarding the mixing of colours. They were watching Zuzu from Bavubuka mixing red and yellow to make orange and utterly amazed. She described how adding white could make it lighter, or adding blue would make it brown. Then a teacher asked how to make blue and she explained that blue is a primary colour. She explained that primary colours can be mixed to make other colours but cannot be made by mixing colours. I got goosebumps at the level of interest and excitement in the teachers and couldn’t help but think back to Jolly’s comment about the escalator in Dubai.

We met back with our school groups and talked about student programmes at our schools. We were regularly told by teachers at other schools that St. Joseph’s Layibi is one of the top schools in the region and we are very fortunate to be there!

The day ended with an exhibition of the student workshops. The rappers performed in a mixture of English and Luo – their piece was called “Power to the People of Gulu!”. It ended with the dance to much laughter and cheers. The students certainly did feel empowered.

All of the teachers, both western and Ugandan, felt that they had gained a great deal by participating in the conference. The goal of increasing excitement and positivity towards the profession was achieved.