First day of school (9/3)

The dorm rooms at the school where some of the students live

Today was our first day of school.  We arrived at the school at about 8:40 am.  All the kids and teachers were outside just kind of hanging out.  Right away, we met with the head teacher, King James.  King James talked with us and told us how excited he was to have us.  He explained that while here, we are to work collaboratively with the teachers so we can all learn from each other.  He said, “To be a good teacher, you must be a good learner, ” which I find to be completely true.  King James also wanted to remind us that this experience would be like none other that we have had in the United States, because this isn't the United States, it is a third world country.  This is something that is constantly in the back of my mind,  King James then told us that the first week at school we would be observing in all the classrooms, and then on Friday we would decide which room we wanted to teach in for the remainder of our time here. 

Rwentutu Christian School

After talking with King James, he held an assembly for all the students.  He welcomed the students back, as this was their first day back in a few weeks.  They finished their 2^nd term about a month ago and were just starting their 3^rd term today.  Because of this, King James explained, that only about 60 students were there of the 200 plus that were supposed to be there.  And also because it was the first day back in awhile, King James asked the kids to help clean up the school.  So the kids spent about 2 hours cleaning out the classrooms, moving desks, tables, and chairs around, picking up trash in the school yard, cutting the grass (with a machete), sweeping, mopping and so on.  

Everyone working together to clean up the school

Taking a little break

The playground equipment includes some swings, a carousel, and a soccer field  

The view from the school

About an hour into clean up, King James held a meeting for all the teachers.  The meeting started with an opening prayer.  Then King James introduced us to all the teachers and they introduced themselves to us.  The teachers really struggled with saying my name, as almost everyone here has, since in Uganda they only know Daniel, a boy’s name.  Most times when I introduce myself everyone laughs.  The teachers also gave us our Ugandan names.  Mine is Muhindo Danielle since I am the second child in my family and I followed a child of the opposite sex.  Then the meeting moved on to King James talking to the teachers about some of the school values.  These included spirituality, punctuality, professionalism, personality, responsibility, and organization.  After about the first 20 minutes of the meeting being in English, it quickly crossed over to the local language of Lukunzo.  At times the teachers would shift back and forth between English and Lukunzo, so we got the gist of the meeting.  The teachers were voicing their concerns for the school.  Some of them that we picked up on were that the teachers wanted the school to hire some men to help clean up the school as opposed to the students doing it each morning, the teachers wanted to make sure all staff are attending chapel, and the teachers want to have meetings at the beginning of the terms so that they can remember their teaching methods and strategies.  The final suggestion that one teacher made, was that this meeting that they were having should take place before the term begins.  This seemed to make a lot of sense to Katie and I, as the entire time the meeting was taking place, the kids were just outside playing, unsupervised. 

Meeting Ruthie for the first time

After the meeting the kids were served a late lunch and then they played volleyball.  We left at this time, as King James told us no learning would be taking place today because there was just too much to work out on the first day of the term.  Needless to say, our first day of school was a little disappointing, but it was all a learning experience.  We learned about the vast differences between the school system in the US and the school system in Uganda, and have come to realize that we cannot compare the two, because they are just too different.  We are looking forward to seeing some learning tomorrow!