development – discovery

Purpose and meaning

After four hours of a terribly stressful dream about losing my cool as a classroom teacher, I woke up to three alarms that S and I had set the previous night. We caught the 6a.m. bus that took us to the ferry terminal, and arrived in Gibsons, B.C. for our morning presentation at Cedar Grove Elementary School.

When we were in Uganda planning the kindergarten project, we had no resources to jump- start the vision. Our community in Busolwe wanted to establish a school that was attached to the library, and our role in the project was to design a guiding curriculum and present a budget to the Board of Directors of the library association so that they would endorse the plan. S. Sammartino contacted her mother who is a kindergarten teacher on the sunshine coast, and students raised enough money to purchase wood and hire a local carpenter who made the desks and chairs. After our departure, the Busolwe library community interviewed and hired teachers from the capital city, and with a surge in enrolment the school population was close to 200 students in its first year!

Our first fundraiser presentation last year raised over $500 Cdn and that went towards supplying and creating 5 additional classroom spaces for students in K-7. Today’s presentation was a virtual tour through our classroom, and the students were amazed by the great impact that their small coin contributions had made.

Following our presentation, teachers had booked us to come into their classrooms to debrief with the students. Last year we had spoken to all the intermediate students, so this year we visited all the primary classrooms. Students asked us what kind of food we ate, what languages are spoken in Uganda, how far the community was, and why did we name it Mango Grove school. It was amazing to share with the students their wonders and personal connections to this community of students halfway across the world.

It was extremely touching to speak to teachers and other workers in the school about why we still do this on the side of our busy lives. On our ferry ride home, I remarked that it felt like we were leading two lives. For me, this was one busy student teacher life; for Stephanie one busy counselor life; for Hannali one busy life of an aspiring diplomat. It was powerful to watch the video of our simple presentation. Although Busolwe still has many areas in which they are developing, the students who now attend Busolwe Mango Grove have become part of our lives. In a way, we have become international development workers without having anticipated so. Though we have our individual aspirations driven by our passions for education/counseling/international relations, our paths are woven together in this particular segment of our lives.

I am so blessed to have such loving, caring, big- hearted friends who believe in the potential impact of small actions in kindness and hope. At the end of extremely stressful or discouraging days, I remind myself that as long as my actions are grounded in purpose and meaning, any bad day will pass. On the whole, I have made a difference, however small.

“To the world, you may only be one person; but to one person, you could mean the world.”

Fundraiser presentation for Cedar Grove Elementary School

global community

One of the 15 5-year-old kids we enrolled in our Busolwe summer Kindergarten trial classes recently died. He was too weak to fight off some kind of virus because he already had severe anemia and was quite malnourished. We found out through a phone call to the village confirming the progress of the community projects, and to catch up with the family. We hope that he got the package of clothes, scrabble pieces, stationary, that we sent to the library school for Christmas. He probably didn’t.

The UBC Go Global International Service Learning program connects students who are passionate about global issues, and brings together people who truly care about people and love to grow as individuals. I reconnected with a girl I met two years ago through a random classmate, because we were both in Africa at the same time. She recently connected me to a girl she knows, who is preparing to go to Uganda this summer. This girl happened to be doing a research project on how the Go Global ISL Program prepares/challenges/changes the way students think about power and privilege in the world. We had an interview this evening.

A lot of my stories and recollections came flooding back to me during the interview conversation we shared. I recalled them so vividly; it was like I was watching a video of my experience. She asked a lot of really thought provoking questions, and I had the chance to collect my thoughts. It was actually a huge relief knowing that she really was listening to my stories, that she has done enough preparation and is willing to understand the situations that I described. Many of my friends have not (cannot) understand my experience to the full extent that I wish they could. I don’t blame them.

One of her questions was, “Who do you think gained the most: you, the community, or UBC?” If I were to personally answer the question, I would say I have, because I will never forget the conversations I shared with people I met in the communities, students I met through the program, the things I’ve written in my reflections.. this whole opportunity has definitely changed me, and I am grateful for it. In the long run, though, I hope that the community has gained most. That through the many students who have lived there with the community, the “backward” story of Africa will not be the only story of Africa. Through our experiences and stories, our family, friends, and future coworkers will know about a community in Africa. They will hear the happy and the sad stories. A lot of people who go to the different placements are students hoping to pursue a career in the field related to the placement theme. Ours was centered around Literacy, so many aspiring educators choose our placement. Some are centered around health, so many future doctors choose those placements. Perhaps one day when we are professionals, we will have enough of an influence to connect our communities with communities like Busolwe, so that there is a cultural exchange and partnership.