meaning – discovery

Penpals with Busolwe

My certification practicum starts after the long weekend. I am sitting at a crammed desk with a pile of 15 books: four about literacy, two about science, three about classroom newspapers, two about gardening and plants, and a few others on classroom management and considerations. I have another pile of post- in notes which I am using as bookmarks on thought provoking pages.

Just now I received an email from Busolwe, with a handwritten letter from the grade 2/3 teacher. I had approached Busolwe Mango Grove last year when we were doing our second annual fundraiser back in November. I was astounded to learn that our school has grown to 200+ students! There are 70 grade two and threes. It is so exciting to know that my students will have penpal buddies in Uganda! I hope that the logistics follow through. But here is the letter which has added so much meaningful to my morning of planning:

Holiday plans

It is exciting to finally have time to do something other than attend lectures or write assignments. Aside from a little holiday shopping, I will be mostly spending this holiday season preparing for our spring fundraisers for Busolwe Mango Grove Junior School with my colleagues Stephanie Sammartino and Hannali Popoca Fehr. Many of my blog posts about my service in rural Uganda can be found under the tag “Africa”.

Though our fundraising initiative is no bigger than a few schools each year, depending on our connections, it is meaningful for us to share our story with the students at those schools. With the support of a few schools, this rural school has grown from just these students to 200+ students in K-6 taught by 9 teachers.