This is the first entry of a series written by one of three Seattle area teachers working with our cooperating Ugandan Schools. We're hoping to maximize our Seattle's students' gifts by checking on our literacy centers, increasing the use of the donated books, and sharing pedagogy with Ugandan teachers.


Summer Literacy Trip: Day 1

Monday morning, we headed out with the goal to visit five literacy centers. We chose to visit them in geographic order starting with the one the furthest away. Heading out on a highway that ranged from well paved to groomed red dirt with the largest speed bumps I’ve ever seen to gravel and pot holes that the driver avoided by simply pulling into the oncoming lane of traffic.

We pulled up to an unpaved road that I was told was a good road for Uganda to the St. John Kaama school. The literacy center was locked. The teacher who acts as the librarian was at the hospital with a sick child. The school leader was in town with the keys in his pocket. It was disappointing that we couldn’t see the state of center, but we visited two classrooms. The youngest students who are in “Baby Class” were working on learning about accidents and road signs. Kate jumped right in and drew a Stop sign on the board. We were told that Wednesday is library day, so we plan on returning to see the literacy center in action.

When we visited Lutengo School, we were greeted by hundreds of smiling children with hugs and high fives. Their Literacy Center is clearly well used. The books however could use a good deal of organizing. They also have more books than they have room for. They would appreciate some help on how to organize their collection, so we plan on returning for a work session with some P6 students and staff. More about that when that happens. We found the same needs at Mukono Town Muslim, so we hope to return for an organization session. The good news is that there are several boxes of books that can be distributed, so if we decide books need to go because of their condition or reading level, we can replenish their collections.

We ended our visits at Mukono Boarding School which is a shining example of a school. Their Literacy Center is organized and well used. We didn’t see any work that we needed to do.

-Jean Bolivar, Librarian