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Published: April 26th 2007
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Another Round
Visiting some of the schools renovated by Soft Power, the kids greets us with a song...and...surprise! more songs and clapping This last week I have worked alongside Soft Power Education, another non-profit I found online prior to this trip. Soft Power is a British registered, non-religious charity, working closely within the local community of Jinja. Their aim is to develop and improve educational facilities for children. Starting off initially by building two pre-schools for AIDS orphans, they now have constructed/renovated close to 30 schools, all made possible by monetary donations and volunteer work. This means, any donations made go 100% into the project...a big reason why I wanted to contribute myself.
After meeting wiith the staff of Soft Power, We've decided the best way for me to help is by painting the “teaching aids” requested on the classroom walls of Wakitaka Primary School. This would be perfect since I just don’t have the energy to meet any more people. A nice and relaxing/easy thing to do my last week in Jinja. But I should really know better by now, that trying to get anything done in a week’s time frame here is next to impossible...leaving this assignment anything but nice, relaxing or easy. Ongoing obstacles including (lack of) transportation, downpours, missing drivers, missing teachers, classrooms locked with no keys,
Wakitaka School 1
Renovated schools. The murals on the outside of the schools were done by another volunteer decisions on what to paint, how to paint it, where to get the paint, what kind of paint and FINDING THE PAINT meant it took 5 days to actually begin.
QUIZ:
If it takes 4 hours to buy 2 batteries, how long does it take to buy 5 cans of paint?
Paint color requests: Red, yellow, blue, white and black. Any artist knows you can make practically any color with those basics, and I figured (wrongly) they would be easy to get. Yes, easy I am told. We just order it from Kampala (1 hour away) and they ship it from Kenya (one COUNTRY away). Should be very quick, about a few weeks or so until it gets here no problem. Alright, I know that working in 3rd world countries always requires a plan B (and C, D, E, F...) So my Plan B: Let’s work with the colors they do have, Flamingo pink, ripple “mint” green, baby blue and black. Hmmm, a nice pastel motif. The day I am supposed to begin painting they forgot to bring the blue. And the pink and green “exploded” in the heat from sitting in the truck too long. Plan
Wakitaka School 2
Renovated schools C: A limited color palette of cream and black. I appreciate Danyne trying to make me feel better by assuring me the muted colors are suiting for a classroom. It will be a less-distracting environment for the children so they can concentrate on learning...or...something.
On Friday I met with the teachers to discuss what teaching aids should be painted. After 2 hours and much debate the list is presented for the first classroom (5 grades, 3 classes per grade):
Grade 4: Stream (Class) III Ugandan Road Safety Signs
A compass
20 3-dimensional geometry shapes
10 examples of pictograms and fractions
The muscle system
The skeletal system
The digestive system
Parts of a flower
Parts of a leaf
The process of a flowering plant
Types of pollination
Types of seeds
The lifecycle of a cockroach (!)
6 types of weather thermometers
3 clocks
4 Traditional African musical instruments
About halfway down the list I break out in laughter, but I’m the only one laughing...and I better get to work.
I spent the day drawing out the figures and none of them, with maybe the exception of the parts of a flower, were fun to draw. The
3-dimensional geometry shapes were particularly painful. I question the time and effort put into this classroom. And then begin to question the time and effort (and money) put into this trip in which I had such a short amount of time. Was I really making a difference? Was drawing the lifecycle of a cockroach on a wall REALLY making a difference? I question as I construct my trapezoid. There was a small glimmer of hope when I turned around to notice an audience of children and some teachers bright-eyed and amazed. I also got some clapping and a few “thumbs up” when they saw me use a dinner plate as a template to draw circles. ”Well done! Very clever!” I have been clapped for more times this month then I have in my whole life. If you want to feel appreciated, you should come to Uganda.
www.softpowereducation.com Special thank you!
Chuck Torpey and The Bragitikos Family. Your monetary donations have been given directly to Soft Power to help renovate/construct the schools of Jinja
Cost Breakdown:
$5 buys a shovel or 2 gallons of paint (of course, that's if you can find the paint!)
Done!
Patrick is one of the teachers at Wakitaka and kept me company during the week. You'll note that above my head is the anus of the digestive system $10 pays the wage of a tradesman for one week
$40 provides 6 tons of building
$100 provides a water catchment tank
$200 pays three teachers wages at a preschool
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Linnea Anderson
non-member comment
my hero
that would be you. You are my hero. You can't hear it but I'm clapping for you.