Oh hey there!

Hello again my poor neglected blog. I've “been lost” as they would say in Acholi-land. What a year it has been! Sorry for the silence. I can’t believe it is already October. Since my last post (I really thought I had posted since then…), a lot has changed. In January, I left ECM and began as the Director of a small but growing private primary school. It has been an extremely challenging position, but I couldn't be much more excited about its potential.

 I am very thankful for my time at ECM. The children of Tegotatoo village will always have a special place in my heart. I learned and saw so much. I got to try out and problem solve teaching techniques in a village setting. I learned from the villagers, the teachers, my workmates, and especially from the children. My class for kids unable to afford or otherwise not in school was probably the hardest to leave. I was thrilled to discover that the church who had hosted our class decided to take it upon themselves to hire a local teacher to begin a preschool! This is huge as preschools in a village that size is uncommon and it shows progress in the struggle to promote an attitude of valuing education in the village culture. I loved my position working directly with students. I knew for some time that my work with ECM was not going to be my forever position. Slowly, I was taken in another direction.

Mercy’s Village Primary School is in the final term of its fourth year running (Ugandan schools run Feb. – Dec.). It has 175 students enrolled in its five classes (and growing). Here I have the opportunity to encourage and train teachers. With Uganda’s shockingly high drop-out rate and low literacy in primary school (deeply linked), there is a lot of room for improvement. This year we have begun several initiatives to promote literacy, including read aloud, a fantastic new phonics curriculum, independent reading time, and storytelling writing activities. It is a lot of fun dreaming but extremely challenging as I learn how to be an administrator. The school currently employs 17 local staff (1 operations manager, 1 head-teacher, 6 full time teachers, 1 part time teacher, 1 teachers’ aid, 1 nurse, 3 cooks, 2 guards, and 1 part time cleaner). This year I've helped the school hire; train; buy land; defend land rights; discipline staff; mediate; evaluate teachers and staff; meet with community members, government officials, and management groups; develop policy; write contracts; manage finances; organize and oversee programs; design and begin constructing a new building; and sort through countless problems that inevitably arise. Needless to say, it keeps me busy.

This year has been difficult for me in many ways. I am thankful that I was able to take a trip back to the US not long ago. It was a much needed break and time of refreshment. I was so blessed to see so many friends and family members during my time. Thank you all for your prayers and support.