No Photoshop Needed!

This is one of the pictures from our Safari.  I saw so many giraffes, they were close enough to touch at some points in the trip.  It was amazing to watch all of these animals in their natural habitats.

With Love from the "Pride Lands"!

BENJAMIN!!

This is Benjamin!  He is one of the students I met at Sure Prospects! He couldn't speak but he was absolutely fantastic! I was very close to bringing him back to the United States with me.  He gave me a bracelet with his name on it to keep :) I miss Benjamin a lot!  

With Love from the "Pride Lands"!

Lions, and Hippos, and Warthogs... OH MY!!

For the past two nights we have been off the grid at Murchinson Falls National Park. We experienced a completely new level of darkness, an entirely new environment and a lot of different animals. The campgrounds itself were a very interesting sight. Upon our arrival, there were wart hogs to greet us. That is when it dawned on most of us that we were in the middle of nowhere. Once everybody settled in, we sat around the lawn looking up at the stars and were awestruck by how vivid they were. The next day, we woke up bright and early for the sunrise and to cross the Nile to experience an African safari! The safari was phenomenal! We sat on top of our safari vans and snapped thousands of pictures of the wildlife that we encountered. After a tiring 4 hours of the safari, we experienced a 3 hour boat ride down the River Nile to view Murchinson Falls. The day was near perfect with the views and the magnificent Ugandan weather.


Words  really can't describe my experience at the park. The animals, the sights we saw, everything was just.... breath-taking!  I can't wait to upload pictures when I get home!


With Love from the "Pride Lands"!

Sure Prospects

HELLO EVERYONE!!

The other day, we spent an exciting play filled day at Sure Prospects Institute. Sure Prospects is a school for both children with special needs and those with out special needs. After an hour on the bus we were split up into four teams to cheer on the students during the game day. We walked out on to the field and were greeted by cheers and smiles. The children, ranging from preschool to their last year of primary school, were watching and taking part in the games (relay race activities). It was interesting to see that many of the children were given spoonfuls of sugar during the games. Once we finished the games and giving the children many hugs and pictures we headed back to the school. Many of us sang songs (head shoulders knees and toes, and the hokey pokey) with the kids and danced.

Our group was lucky to meet the head master Francis and find out more about the school. The school has 320 students and 32 teachers. The average class size was 25 students with the exception of P1which had 50 students! I don’t know about you guys but I cant imagine being in a first grade class of 50 students. Another fact that Francis shared with us was the ratio of students with out disabilities to those with disabilities was 3 to 1. The students have a range of different disabilities from autism to learning disabilities to physical handicaps. However, teaching a variety of children is not seen as a challenge at this school but an opportunity to help teachers and students alike grow. Francis spoke of many of the children acting as supports for their fellow classmates. The school unites every student. This “buddy system” benefits all of the children.   The school also provides additional support for all students. The motto of the school is to teach to the individual not the classes. Thus there are one on one aids available, specialized classes, and other accommodations available. Francis talked about having teachers sit in on other teacher’s classes to help evaluate and supervise each other.

Lastly, Francis talked about the challenges the school and teachers face. The school depends on donations and selling crops as sources of funding. Also receiving accommodations for students with special needs to take their exams to leave primary schools has been a struggle. Francis hopes to work with the Uganda National Institution Board to create a certificate of merit for students who can’t test in “traditional ways”. Discrimination towards children and workers who have disabilities has been a struggle for the students and the school.

Overall it was another eye-opening day.  The institute as well as all of the children taught me so much.  It was truly an incredible day!!


With Love from the "Pride Lands"!

Source of the Nile

Touching the Nile River!

With Love from the "Pride Lands"!

"The Law is Male"

Today, each of us awoke in our personal suites at Kingfisher Resort. After a buffet breakfast, we rounded a corner to find ourselves in a conference hall with Judge David Batema, who had come to give us a lecture on gender equality in Uganda.

His Worship David Batema graduated from Makerere University Law School in 1989 only to realize that the laws in Uganda had male standards and came from male perspectives. He learned and determined that Uganda's laws are "male".  The laws are made to cater toward men, their ideals, wants, and perspectives. He began preaching gender equality to magistrates before he even became one. He lives with the belief that “All human beings are born free and equal,” and he continues to spread this message to anyone who will listen, as well as some people who try not to.

To us, he stressed the difference between “sex” and “gender,” stating that sex is biological and natural while gender is the social construction of the differences between man and woman. These differences are created in our minds and often have to do with how we were brought up. These differences in upbringing became apparent when students from MUBS and Drake were posed with a simple question: “Whose daughter are you?” Students from MUBS replied with only one name, that of their father, while Drake students included the names of both parents. Mom, you are just as much as my parent as Dad and I would never think it as any different. 

His Worship David Batema also commented on the religious aspect that leads some people to justify patriarchy. He explained that in the Bible, God created man first and gave him the Universe, which is why many believe that God gave all of the power to man. However, woman was not created until after this happened, which would mean man’s rule does not go as far as to include woman. I found this to be an extremely profound interpretation of the Bible’s teachings. Christianity is prominent in the Ugandan culture, and often leads people to believe things just because it says so in the Bible and without any additional education on the subject. I am glad that there are people who are forward-thinking enough to analyze the Bible and find the messages within rather than taking everything at face value.

With Love from the "Pride Lands"!

Two Hemispheres At Once!

With Love from the "Pride Lands"!