Help Children with Learning Difficulties in Uganda

Hello dear friend,

And just like that, we have reached the middle of the 2019 school year! That means we are half way through our one-year collaboration with our newest partner schools as well. A good moment to reflect on the past 6 months and look forward to what the next 6 will bring!

By now, the established teachers, teachers to be and parents have dived into the details of specific learning difficulties. With the teachers at Kasubi Army Primary School, Gulu Town Primary School and Gulu Prison Primary School, as well as with the student teachers at Gulu Core PTC, we have worked on understanding difficulties like dyslexia and dyscalculia. That includes looking at the different types, their characteristics, and the different possible causes. Especially talking about the causes offers eye openers to them, every time we do it. Why? Because it emphasizes one of the most important aspects we are trying to communicate: children who experience learning difficulties are NOT lazy, dull, or to blame for what they are struggling with.

To make sure that the (future) teachers walk away with practical strategies to support these children as well, we dedicated a full workshop to the development of individualized support plans for learners. Once we have completed our year of partnership, every school will be able to continue setting up and using these plans after we have left, led by a focal person within the school. 

At this point, working with the student teachers at Gulu Core PTC has truly become one of our favorite elements of our project. The fresh energy, the creative ideas and the eagerness to learn that they bring keep us on our toes! During this second school term, we meet the student teachers in their second (and final) year on a weekly basis, and we look forward to it every time. At the same time, we are working together closely with their lecturer who covers Special Needs Education, to ensure that he can integrate the workshops into his own teaching during the next years to come.

In May, we got to change the training scenery for a couple days, as we were invited to come and train the teachers of Shalom Primary School in Pakwach District. We were lucky enough to find an excited team of teachers who actively participated in our 1.5 day training, AND to see some wild animals from the neighbouring national park on our way back: elephant, buffalo and hippo alert! Whenever we can, we include trainings at private schools and other education-based organizations, so we can expand our reach even further.

If you are interested in continuing to support our work, GlobalGiving has a great opportunity coming up that might sound familiar to you… That’s right, Little by Little is back! In other words: from 12-16 August, the humblest donations are celebrated with matching funds for every single donation. In April, the matching funds ran out pretty quickly, so the August campaign will be BIGGER than ever! This campaign will help us cover the remaining costs for our trainings for the rest of 2019, so you know exactly what good your (tax-deductible) contribution will do. We will keep you posted!

Much love from Gulu,

The Backup Team