On the border with Congo…

July, 2013 This year with a sizable donation from an anonymous donor ten schools in the districts of Arua (near the northern border with Congo), and Soroti (centrally located) received book assistance. This brings the number of schools we have helped in Uganda, to 50!  All books were ordered ahead of time so that they could be delivered during Vicky’s visit to the area. In every case, the school held an assembly and students, teachers and at times parents on the P.T.A. and local officials came to witness the handover of the textbooks. Speeches were made, songs were sung by the school children, and their National Anthem was sung. For some schools, students had never seen a white person before due to the remote locations. In all the schools, teachers and administration were overjoyed at having new books.

Something as simple as a book, so common here in America, is just not available as a resource. Without a book, the teachers do not have a sequence of lessons to work from that correspond to what students will be tested on at the end of the year. They can work from memory, and often do an amazing job with very little. However, working from memory has its limitations and when it comes to helping students to graduate from Primary and go on to Secondary, or Secondary and go on to Technical School or University, fewer and fewer students are able to keep up. A goal of the UN is for all children in African countries to achieve a primary education by the year 2015. This is a challenging goal, as 70% of students in Uganda drop out of school before completing their Primary School education.

For the ten schools in Arua and Soroti, life has just changed. A large box of carefully selected textbooks has arrived, and teachers are eager to begin using the new lessons to work with the children. Books teachers have selected have been chosen in English, Literature (classics), Math, Science, History, Geography, and other areas as well. One exciting thing about Arua, is the connection with a thriving Rotarian group. They have already been instrumental in putting in latrines and water tanks in some of the schools, and since education and literacy is one of their main tenets, Rotary has agreed to monitor the progress of the schools now that the books have been in place. This partnership with the Rotary of Arua will help us to understand why some schools are making significant progress, while others seem to be taking more time to see growth.