Vision

It is our desire to use our talents and resources to assist the teachers at primary schools in eastern Uganda in providing their students the best education possible.

We also plan to use our association to provide a connection between primary schools in Uganda and in our community in order to enrich the educational experiences of students at both.

Time in Uganda

What's New

The latest One Word post can be found by scrolling down to the post entitled Ujumbe Redefined.

Labels are used to identify the subject matter in the various posts. The blog can be sorted by label by picking from the list in the Labels box in the right margin, just below Contacts.

New letters access!!
All of the letters from the students at Aturukuku and Patewo Primary Schools can now be viewed... check them out in the box below! When you click on the image, the album will open in a new window. From there, you can scroll through the collection and read what the African students wrote to their US counterparts.

Letters from Primary School Students in Uganda

Background

During our first trip to Uganda in 2006, we visited Aturukuku Primary School in the town of Tororo in the far eastern part of the country. The school had 13 teachers and about 350 students in grades P1 through P7.

We learned that all of the teachers walked to and from work, requiring a good deal of their time and energy. The school had no running water and no electricity. There was no library at the school and no means for the teachers to make copies of materials for their own use or for the students. These issues were distractions from the primary job of the teachers ~ lesson preparation and leading the students in their studies.

How could we not try and find some way to help, to share something of what we had with these children who called us Muzungu (white man) and welcomed us under that marvelous tree in front of the school...


...with singing and dancing. And a poem...

So we did what we could, with much help from church families, friends, coworkers and local schools. It seemed to be so little, but it meant much to the school in Tororo. Reports of the projects at Aturukuku are in posts in this blog.

Then, during our visit in 2008, we met with the teachers at Patewo Primary School in the rural area west of Tororo Town. There are 7 teachers for an enrollment in grades P1 through P7 of almost 700 students! Our plan is to meet with the school staff in 2010 about the barriers they face in providing the kind of education they would like the students to have and how we might be able to remove at least some of them.

Projects Completed

Posts with details are available for the highlighted projects. Lists below are in "Blog post" order - the item connected to the newest completed project is first. Scroll through the posts to find the descriptions...

At Aturukuku Primary School in Tororo
Books to begin library
Document processing equipment for the office
Letter exchange between U.S. and Ugandan students
Uniforms for students
Water and electricity
Bicycles for the teachers

Ujumbe - Textbooks

Here in the U.S., school and textbooks are are almost a single, unified concept. They go together and school would not be school without a backpack full of books to carry. But this is hardly the case in rural Uganda. There are few if any textbooks in the primary schools. Perhaps one or two for teachers' use and, at best, a few to be shared with classes which are usually quite large.

In addition to seeming fairly obvious to us, a report from Clemson University documented the significance of students having access to textbooks. The study attempted to relate performance on the important Primary Leaving Exams to conditions at the schools. What was found was that access to appropriate textbooks was the most significant factor in students acheiving good scores.

So, we have committed to providing textbooks to the students at Aturukuku and Patewo Primary Schools. Each school teaches four subjects in seven grades. There are a total of about 1,000 students. Our plan is to get enough textbooks so that there is one book for every 3 students.

Interested in helping? Send an inquiry to the email address in the "Contact" section in the sidebar.
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