I really need to shave

Hey all just got back to Gulu and have a few minutes to converse. What a great week in Atanga. No time for pics, meetings tonight and then we are going to Fort Potico, an old slave trade site. Anyways, miss you all and cannot wait to see you all but am having an amazing experience.

July 4, 2008

Today was a very long but enjoyable day. We had our teacher conference with all the teachers from the states and the teachers from Uganda. The purpose of the conference is to introduce more strategies into Ugandan schools that are participatory, rather than the lecture based approach that many of them use. It is difficult with classrooms of one hundred plus students but none the less, it is an opportunity for all of us to think a little bit differently about how we teach. It was great as a lot of the activities were drama based, but I learned a ton of things to use in my classroom here in Uganda, as well as when I head back to Waubonsie in the fall. Our teachers from Atanga seemed a bit out of their element during the conference and my boy Alfred seemed very overwhelmed and was very quiet throughout the whole day. The conference was great and it lasted the majority of the day until about 5 and then we had an opportunity to chill for the day. After we ate it sunk in that it was the 4^th of July and a couple of us decided we needed to celebrate a little so we went into town and checked out the scene. We visited this place called DA PUB and they played a bunch of American music and we got a little dance party started as you saw by the pictures of me with the Ugandan soldier. It was nice to sit and chat with some people and just relax with everyone. That is the one thing I do not like about Atanga is that I am with just David and the interaction with a group is something I enjoy a lot. Anyways Happy Independence day everyone.

July 5, 2008

Today was our American celebration. We had the second day of the conference and it went well, but it wrapped up around 2 and then we went American on Gulu. All of the American teachers went back to the IC house and played volleyball all day. It was great to get away from Uganda a bit. No one really talked about school or the situation there, it was all about home and being at the compound was a little sanctuary from the real things going on outside the fences. The one Ugandan part of the day was I left to go into town and grab something to drink (twenty minute walk, not just around the corner) and a bunch of little Acholi children were outside the IC house because they heard us all messing around. The were all grabbing my arms and messing with the hair on my arms and laughing and yelling “Munu” to me as I walked into town. Being white in Gulu is like being the Pied Piper, the little Acholi kids will walk and follow you all the way into town and then they realize they do not know where they are and get all scared and run home. On that trip was one of the more heartwarming things for me so far on the trip. As I was walking into town all of a sudden I hear someone yell Joshua. Being in East Africa I do not expect someone to just randomly shout out my name. It was Alan, a boy I met last week and played football with. He was really excited to see me and I made plans to go play football (soccer) with him tomorrow. Those are the relationships I am trying to build here, but also be there to be a positive role model in these young Acholi lives.

Playing volleyball today brought me out of my shell a little, because it brought the competitive and athletic side out and it allowed me to stand out in a group that is full of so many dynamic people. It is easy to get lost in a group of so many wonderful, dedicated teachers and humanitarians and this was a good day for me. Anyways tomorrow is a free day and I am planning on doing my souvenir shopping tomorrow, so cross your fingers you are on the list people. Steph you definitely are, Happy Birthday. I know it is late, I tried to call but am having trouble. Dude, you’re thirty. Congratulations on making it. Also, Jill congratulations on having Grant, I cannot wait to see him and I wish all of you the best. Apwoyo tutwal!!!

Monday July 7, 2008

Back to Atanga! Actually I am super excited to be heading back, which is something that really surprises me. We were about to leave and all of a sudden I heard the water running again and I dropped my stuff and took my first shower in God knows when, and I knew that I was about to go a week without running water so it was a good start to the week. It is amazing what excites me now, an ice cold shower.

The road to Atanga is a difficult one, especially after the rain. Since it is dirt, the rain erodes and washes away most of the road and makes some areas almost impassible. So we got back to Atanga S.S. and Alfred and I tried some activities that he learned at the conference over the weekend. It is good to see him incorporate some new ideas and incorporate the students more into the class. As I teach and am in front of the class more and more, the students are becoming more and more comfortable with me and the teaching is a lot of fun. The problem today though is it rained really hard and the roof is made out of tin, and it became too loud for the students to hear and we had to stop teaching, that is part of the many problems to get around here in Uganda.

Anyways I have a new friend at Atanga. His name is Liboso Martin, a student of mine in s2b (freshman year). He is 17 and is a freshman because the war displaced him from learning for a while. He wants to help me with my lwo and I desperately need it. In return I am teaching him some American slang (he asked me, not my choice), but he also wants me to come out and play some football with him. I am excited to be able to kick it around with some of the students. As I got to know him, he told me his story and it is a common one in Northern Uganda. He lost both his father and mother when he was six due to the conflict. The only family he has left is his grandmother, who takes care of him. She is 68 and Martin is worried about when she dies that he will become an orphan and be alone. He constantly worries about going to university, but it is expensive here and there is little to no government assistance. He is a great kid and I am happy that I have created this connection with him, but it is already hard to hear about his life, but it is a story that is very common in Atanga and Northern Uganda.

Tuesday July 8, 2008

Today teaching was great. Alfred and I are working great together and the kids are treating me like I have been there all year. Besides that there is not too much interesting going on. I have had some time to think about how to raise awareness when I get home and I have some thoughts and some things planned so everyone be ready. For now if you want to help out go to invisiblechildren.com and look to donate through the bracelet campaign. The small donations go straight to the scholarships for the children of Northern Uganda. I have seen how much this money benefits the students and it gives so many of them hope. Most donations that have been given to Invisible Children have been of ten dollars or less and have been by students and young adults of the United States. Just check out the campaign and step up and make a difference.

After school got a little crazy. We went with some locals we met to go and play some volleyball outside the primary school in Atanga. We were playing for five minutes when the school let out and honestly about 1000 kids swarmed the court and outlined it to watch the muzungus play some volleyball. It was absolutely insane, this crowd was bigger than a lot of my soccer games at UIC. Many were shouting “MUNU!” (white) as we would hit the ball. I cannot tell what people mean when they say that word. The adults and the students at Atanga do not say it and the little children say it because they want us to say hi or chase them. But the 10-14 year olds seem to use it as a derogatory remark so that is a little different. It was a blast to play with the locals and have all the children watch. The more that David and I immerse ourselves and are out in the community the more they will get use to us and hopefully accept us.

Wednesday July 9, 2008

So yesterday our debate team did so well we are in the lead of the debate competition Invisible Children is running up in the Pader district of Northern Uganda. Today we host the second round of debates and if we do well we will be in the finals on Saturday. So because of this there really was no class in the morning, but instead the everyone is preparing for the debate. Students are sweeping and preparing classrooms and doing things like that. There was some Physical Education though. The students were outside slashing the grass with large slashers and digging walkways for the event. That is something I think P.E. teachers at Waubonsie could try if they want. J/k.

Anyways the debate was so backwards. They followed parliamentary procedure and all the debate was were the students continually interjecting and arguing without any real debate going on. It was pretty frustrating.

Here is the crazy sighting and weirdest part of the trip by far. So we were walking down the street in Atanga and all of a sudden we spotted another muzungu. Her name is Katie and she is from Minnesota and she actually lives up here in Atanga in the IDP camp. She came to Uganda a year ago on missionary work and found someone, got married and has lived in the camp for the past couple of months. Absolutely crazy. It was good to hear some American English and just converse on our situation here.

The night ended with a great conversation with Emmanuel. He works for avsi.org and is monitoring the movement of people at the IDP camp. He is Ugandan and very highly educated and because jobs are so limited, he is stuck with this one right now. He has a degree in Environmental management and definitely blames the United States for the climate and other environmental problems that face Uganda today. He make a great argument, but I am just so intrigued to get a perspective from somewhere else in the world that is so remote from the United States and the modern world.