Field Trip!

FIELD TRIP! FIELD TRIP! FIELD TRIP!!! Wait, a field trip? Already? Haven’t you only been there for like, two days? Why, yes, I have only been here for a couple of days. However, we have site bids due TOMORROW, and so I have to decide whether I want to bid for Teacher Trainer schools, Literacy Specialist schools, or both. This field trip definitely helped with that.

Passing in Uganda...

The day started early, which was not ideal, but we got to bring sack lunches with us! Never have I been so excited about making a PB&J. We drove through Kampala to Buloba Modern Primary School. This PCV has been at her site for a year, so she is in the cohort before us. She gave us a tour and demonstrated what a reading intervention group looks like, something that is a huge part of the Literacy Specialist job. Then we watched a religion lesson given by an HCN teacher to demonstrate co-teaching possibilities. The kids were super cute, and very, very excited to see us. They danced for us and read poetry. When we left, I was left in a sort of shock at how many small children there were in such a small space.

The new pit latrine!

After this, we went to Buloba Teacher’s College, about a half an hour drive, to observe a PTC . When we got there, the students were doing exams, so we had to be careful about where we went on campus. We ate lunch, had a tour, and then got to see a sample lesson from the current PCV, who is in the same cohort as the first site we visited.  The students also danced for us; it was fabulous! I was struck by how much quieter the campus was compared to the primary school. Obviously the PTC students are much older than the primary pupils, but it left me shying away from the Literacy Specialist position.

Posho being cooked!

Improvising a classroom since exams were going on.

Overall, this was a great day! Driving through Kampala was noisy, smelly, dirty, and just overall stressful, but it was a great look at the different jobs. I really needed this in order to finalize my site bid. Now to type it up!