Closer Through Connection

If you've followed my journey and would like to participate in the Peace Corps experience AND help the community you've come to know and love through this blog, this post is for you!

Hello,

I haven't written in quite a while. I have two ideas that I'm kicking around: writing about the end of my service and the barrage of emotions that comes with saying "goodbye" to a strange land and new friends who have become my world; and race and being white in Uganda. They're both pretty heavy, complex topics and I've been waiting for inspiration to strike to do them both justice.

So today, what I want to put down on "paper" is a PSA that might be less weighty, but no less important: Computers for Arua Hill!

Arua Hill is the primary school where I have been living and working for the past two years. My entire journey in Uganda, the ups, the downs, the highs, the lows, have been made possible by my time at Arua Hill. The teachers, as I wrote in my last post, are just some of the most extraordinary, inspiring individuals I have met.

Most of my teachers begin their days at 4:00 AM. They wake up, begin household chores (cooking, cleaning, getting their children ready for school, etc.), and then begin walking to work at 6:00 AM. They arrive at 7:00 AM to begin morning tutoring. When school "officially" begins at 8:30 AM, they teach classes of hundreds of students until 5:00 PM. Between lessons, they're at their tables, writing outlines for the semester (or next semester) -- a process which, by hand, takes a month. Or they're writing lesson plans for the next day (a single lesson plan, written by hand, can take 4 hours). Or, if they've finished both of these tasks, they're grading homework. At Arua Hill, giving "daily homework" means grading 300+ papers, by hand...

Every.

Single.

Day.

My teachers do all of this good-naturedly. Whether their paycheck has come that month, whether their children are sick, whether they're tired or stressed, they come to school, day after day, and work a full 10 hours to help make their country better, one student at a time.

It took me a long time to realize exactly how much work my teachers are expected to do. Now, my mother is a teacher in the United States. I've seen how early she goes in, how late she stays, and how hard she works, often without (in my opinion) sufficient recognition or pay. She does her job because she loves it, regardless of anything else.

Uganda is no different. Except… teachers here teach, not 30 students, but 300. And they plan, research, write, and grade every lesson, every assignment, every piece of paper by hand.

Tasks that, in the States, take a matter of minutes, take hours. Exams or lesson plans or outlines that could be slightly tweaked and re-used if they were electronically stored, are meticulously re-created every year. Visual aids and media that are a google search away in America are tediously sketched, outlined, colored, and labeled, on construction paper. Assignments graded by scantron in America fill an entire afternoon at Arua Hill.

And it's not just the inordinate amount of time that is wasted without computers that is disheartening; the quality of the lesson plans themselves suffer too. Despite the best efforts of my teachers, the fact is that their information is limited to what is printed in the government-issued textbooks they're given. These textbooks are often outdated or outright inaccurate. They are riddled with misspellings and rife with misinformation. Teachers and students are dependent on materials that are astoundingly ignorant.

Whereas in the States we take the ability to independently research and explore the world outside of our classrooms almost for granted, at Arua Hill that luxury is out of reach. "Self-directed exploration" is limited to archaic, ripped, out-of-date textbooks.

Arua Hill has given me so much these past two years. My teachers and students took me, a stranger, into their hearts without question. After 27 months, I wanted a way to give back to this community who welcomed me from the first day I uncertainly set foot in an Arua Hill classroom.

This is why I started Computers for Arua Hill. Computers for Arua Hill is an initiative to bring 20 computers to Arua Hill Primary School. A donor has already committed to supplying 20 computers, and the school has already built a computer lab complete with electricity and internet capabilities. All we need to do is raise $8,000 by October 1st. It is an ambitious, but with enough help, attainable goal. You can learn more here.

The potential impact on the quality of education at Arua Hill Primary School cannot be overstated. For the school's teachers, this would enable them to research lesson plans and visual aids, learn from online courses, and incorporate relevant media in lessons to improve the quality of their lessons. It would also drastically improve the efficiency of the staff's administrative duties, leaving more time for time with their students.

For the 1,955 students, this will provide technical skills, including typing skills and independent research abilities, necessary for a number of vocations. Additionally, it will improve the reading culture at the school as students, finally, feed their curiosity with self-directed exploration to the world outside of their classroom. Who knows, it might even lead to some pretty incredible blog posts by brilliant, Ugandan students themselves.

If this blog has touched you. If my experience with Arua Hill has enriched your life in any capacity, I would urge you to help us make this goal a reality. A donation of any amount is welcome, and appreciated.

Thank you for supporting and sharing this initiative. Together, we can make a difference. Together, we can bring the world closer through connection.

Thank you.

Warmly,

Laura

P.S. - Due to confidentiality concerns, all donations are completely anonymous, meaning I cannot see who donates or how much is donated in any one contribution. If you are a supporter, please message me so that I can thank you properly! Thank you!