Day Trippin'

Disclaimer: I'm not talking about drugs here. I'm referring to a Beatles song. Alright, moving on.

Morning Madness

When the Bwera Secondary School Bus, reserved by Rwentutu Christian School for the day, came blazing down the dirt road, almost the entire school ran towards it, cheering and screaming. Many students in P4 and younger raced down to the fields and caught a ride with the bus up the alternative route to the school entrance, giddy with the opportunity to be on a school bus, even though it wasn’t taking them anywhere. After a while, we eventually piled P5 through P7 (76 students) 7 adults, the headmaster’s daughter, and Cassie and me into the bus, and took off up the bumpy dirt road. The kids were ridiculously excited, singing songs and cheering at everyone we passed. We had to make a stop to fetch water (for drinking and for cleaning dishes) at a nearby river, because the tap at the school had been out that day, and when the adults left to do so, several street vendors came aboard. That happened all the other times we stopped too, and let me tell you, those vendors hit the jack pot. Students were practically throwing their money at these people for chapatti, biscuits, fried cassava chips, water, soda, goat meat, and fried plantain.

On the bus!

Anyways, for all of those anxious to hear about the trip that I, the staff, and all the wonderful donors worked so hard to make happen, here is what happened:

“This will be a memorable day”

First we stopped at a fishing village on Lake Edward. A man explained several fishing methods and discussed the types of fish found in the lake. Many students bought oyster shells, which, if you use them as spoons, is supposed to help your health, I guess. We piled back in the bus and drove over to Lake Katwe, a salt lake. The salt mining from this lake is a major source of income for the area.

Demonstrating the gill-net method

Walking among the salt lake mines

A hunk of raw salt

Kabugho Joness, not thrilled with the taste of the salt lake

Then, we headed over to Queen Elizabeth National Park in Mweya and stopped for lunch. The administrative staff had decided to bring our own lunch instead of buying the overpriced lunches at the park. But it was still a special meal; we had rice and beef, and they usually only get meat on Sundays. I’ll have to thank the cooks, because they apparently started working at 4 in the morning in order to cook this meal in addition to the regular meal for the rest of the school.

Some P7 girls sharing lunch

After the kids ate upwards of 10 pounds of food (Okay, I’m exaggerating, but the portions here are MUCH bigger than we are used to), we dashed off to the highly-anticipated boat launch. The teachers stayed behind as the students filed off the bus, so the students of course ran ahead and piled onto the boat. I was surprised to discover that there was only one boat ready, as opposed to 2, like we booked. I found out that the other was broken, which really annoyed me, because they had weeks in advance notice of our booking, but I realized that they probably didn’t have enough money to fix it. Still, the boat was filled with about half of the students and no teachers, so we had to force some to get off and let teachers on. I was frustrated because I wanted to be with my entire P6 class to help them build connections of the animals they would see to what we had discussed in class, but most of them were on the boat without me. The boat driver wouldn’t let Cassie and I on the boat, because there was a misunderstanding about the fees we had to pay (none of our fees were included in the fundraised money, because that money could buy a lot more for the students than it could for us, since the fees are higher for bazungu). So Cassie, about 35 students, and I had to wait 45 minutes in the hot sun for the boat to return.

The boat ride was cool and relaxing, though. The students were excited to see hippos and buffalo. I at least got to hang out with 4 of my students and talk about wading birds, kingfishers, and hoofed mammals. I was disappointed that there wasn’t as much biodiversity as there was when Cassie, Matt, Alex and I took a boat ride on the same channel a few weeks before (in a different direction). They did not see elephants, wild pig, eagles, or lizards, like I did. It was a much shorter ride and we stayed farther from shore. But I think that all of the students enjoyed just being on a boat. They were all excited to have their photos taken while standing on the top level of the boat, and I think it was still a valuable learning experience.

Welcome back!

Hippo!

P6 + Teacher Rau + Baby Claire + 2 random dudes. Don't worry, they're happy, they just don't usually smile for photos!

Finally, we explored the park museum/learning center. It had geographical, ecological, and historical information, so it was interesting to all students it seemed, just in different ways. I watched them bounce around from exhibit to exhibit, and many students begged me, "teacha- get my photo here!" I personally loved discussing the beautiful stuffed birds with students. 

Learning about Uganda's national parks

Bwambale Eriab with an elephant skull

Shortcomings

We were disappointed to find that there was not, in fact, a zoo in Mweya, which John (my science CT, who had planned the trip) had led us to believe, for some reason. And we were not able to visit a famous bridge, as was promised to the students, because the bus driver had somewhere to be (even though we were not given the slightest estimate for a time to be back at the school). Only a few students got out to take pictures at the Equator line, because of miscommunication between teachers, which all students would have loved to do.

One of the lucky students who got his photo at the Equator

So, per usual, there was a distinct lack of organization, which was frustrating because the trip was my idea, but I couldn’t plan it because I’m not a local and don’t know how to book things, etc. I also took issue with the pedagogy used throughout the trip, such as tour guides making students copy exactly what they said into their notes. How is this different than the problematic lecture format that teachers use here, besides changing the venue? At one point I was able to tell my students to write what they saw, heard, smelled, tasted (the salt lake), and felt, but I didn’t have the time to explain how to write this like a scientist, and I couldn’t talk to my students alone about the connections to our curriculum. It just hit home for me that you can’t just assume that being on a field trip will be a great learning experience. In the future, when I can have more control, I will be sure to plan out every step of a field trip. You have to ask so many questions. How are students grouped? Are they given prompts to answer, or free to write whatever they observe? Are they given reflective opportunity throughout, or after? There’s so much more to field trips than people realize.

I was also incredibly angry, sad, and frustrated to discover that one of my students was not present on the trip. I don’t know for sure yet, but many of my kids said that he didn’t go because he didn’t have a uniform. Thursday afternoon, the eve of the trip, the teachers gathered P5 through P7 to discuss requirements for the next day. They listed almost 20 things that students must do and have before embarking on the journey: clean shoes, ironed uniforms, shaved hair, a signed permission slip (given the previous week)… the list went on. I didn’t know if all of those things would be possible for some students. I didn’t entirely buy the teachers’ assertions that students without all of these things wouldn’t be allowed on the bus, but they put on a pretty convincing act. They thankfully gave the students extra time to accomplish all of this work, cancelling the afternoon classes that day. But they only gave me an hour notice of this, so I was mad that I wouldn’t be able to teach science, which I’m behind in.

Anyways, many students had torn uniforms or had just transferred from another school and couldn’t afford this school’s uniform, so just wore their old one. But most students were able to borrow other students’ old ones, or those of kids from younger grades, who wouldn’t really need their uniforms that day. Nason, however, is a newly-transferred student of mine, a tiny and incredibly shy 11 year old. Also, I don’t know how much this affects his social interactions, but his ethnic background seems to be a little disfavored. I suspect that he was too shy to ask anyone to borrow theirs, and didn’t bother to come to school that day. I talked with the headmaster, and he was sad and frustrated too, and said that he would have let the student come. I was frustrated because of course the other teachers would have too, but their scare tactics were too intense and made Nason actually believe that he wouldn’t be welcome. Students who can’t afford uniforms certainly can’t afford trips like the one we took, and it makes me so angry that he missed this opportunity, which was meant for students like him.

Reverberations

Unfortunately, the trip also had some negative ripple effects on the rest of the school. Of course the students from P1 to P4 were all jealous and disappointed that they couldn’t go on a trip, too. It seems that their behavior that day might have been affected by their frustration. Also, some classes were missing teachers, who went on the trip with us. One teacher, who wasn’t even a teacher for P5 through P7, went with us without telling her class or the other teachers who shared that class with her. As I mentioned before, the tap wasn’t working at the school, so students had to go and fetch water from the river. With the older students all gone, young kids were struggling to carry huge jerrycans of water. Alex and Matt told me all about this experience and the rest of their chaotic day, and I’m sure they’ll mention it in their blogs (http://matthewteachingabroad.blogspot.com/?m=1 and http://soccerfanatic10.wordpress.com/). I felt so bad that my project had negatively affected so many people, even if it had a positive effect on others.

Perfection is hard in an imperfect world

From all the hype built up around this trip, I was imagining a blissful day, with my students eagerly exploring, making exciting revelations– a teacher’s dream. I also feel responsible for reporting a perfect day to all who supported this trip. But I think that telling you all the truth can provide a learning experience for all of us. Nothing can be perfect, and that’s just the way the world is. I know that I’m a perfectionist, so perhaps you can read through that, and won’t see too many problems with the trip. And in the end, it was still a success. 76 students still had grins on their faces yesterday. They cheered when they saw a herd of elephants on the side of the road, and laughed when they learned that a group of hippos is called a school. They asked questions about things they saw on Lake Edward and in the museum. So I want to again thank everyone who gave these students the opportunity to do something different and exciting. Learning really can change people’s lives, and I’m so excited to have students talk and write about what they learned.

Musoki Nichole & Musoki Sophia: both the first-born girl