By Annemaaike Kruisselbrink | Co-Founder & Uganda Country Director
Hello from sunny Gulu!
Yes, the first months of 2018 have been full of surprises for us. Were all of them good surprises? Not necessarily. Were most of them good surprises? Absolutely! Since we think you deserve honest reports more than happy reports, we are going to update you on all the details:
Surprise #1: Our new partner school - Gulu PTC Demonstration School - is doing more than amazing! As we speak, we have just finalized term 1 of this school year. That means 5 teachers workshops, 6 days of lesson observations, 1 parents training and 1 learning & evaluation meeting down. We were even given a 'bonus' of 16 student-teachers, doing their school practice. We are seeing teachers learn eagerly about the various learning difficulties. We are noticing teachers become more aware of the uniqueness of their students and relate more to their individual learning needs. We are observing teachers become more interested in the parents' experiences with their children, so that they can understand the origin of specific difficulties better. And perhaps most importantly: we are having open, honest conversations with the teachers about how complicated it can be to identify and help children with learning difficulties. In their words: "We feel so comfortable with the way you relate to us, that we can tell you what we don't know." We are honored and we can't wait to start off term 2 together!
Surprise #2: Working together with our oldest partner school - Gulu Primary School - proved to be more challenging this year. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to align our project activities with the school's programs, we had no choice but to conclude that this partnership was no longer viable. A tough decision, since our very first activities took place at this primary school. We are going to miss the teachers and students dearly and we are grateful for the support and learning experiences they gave us, it helped us get where we are today. On the bright side: Highland Primary School is welcoming us from the start of term 2! More to come about this new partnership in our next update to you.
Then, surprise #3 was visible for you on our very own GlobalGiving page: all our teachers workshops for 2018 were funded within one (!!) week! Between 9 and 13 April, GlobalGiving's Little by Little campaign offered a 50% match for all donations up to $50 to show that even the most humble donations can make a big difference. We saw quite a few of our lovely supporters take advantage of this opportunity. Did you...? Thank you once again! Now we will be able to complete our intensive training program for the teachers at our partner schools this year.
More and more surprises keep coming! Our first professional training is already in the works for July, featuring the wonderful team at Unified for Uganda. We were invited for a conversation about trainings for one of the local Primary Teachers Colleges, which will involve about 200 student-teachers and their lecturers. Our next study skills holiday program for students may take place a little later than planned, because it may turn out quite a bit bigger than we had in mind... You will know more when we do!
Want to make a change with us every month of the year? Consider becoming a recurring donor through GlobalGiving! Go to our project page using the link below and set up a monthly donation of your choice. We believe every student counts - together, we can make that happen.
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