PEACE FLAGS WILL SOON FLY IN BUPALA!

                               

     
       In three weeks, I’m leaving for Uganda. There are hundreds of balls in the air right now that need to be caught and put in their places, so stopping to describe what I’m experiencing is way down on my to-do list, but I want to fill you in before I go.

       Today, my friend and trusted engineer and liaison ‘in country’, Moses Bagonza, visited Bupala Primary School with a representative from Nogamu, an organic gardening outfit that teaches villagers how to become organic and fair trade certified, and then how to bring their organic produce to the international market. The message he just forwarded to me reads:

       At Bupala right now. Jane, the Nogamu lady is really good and keen on details. She has gotten the vision quite perfectly. She will prepare a report we will look at later. I will send over images as well. She is perfect. Am sure you will love her and her services.

Moses Bagonza & Kuchanga Foundation founder, Joanne Trangle

 

Sometimes all the pieces one needs magically fall into place, and then you have to wonder whether all the worry was necessary, because maybe this was all meant-to-be. 

 

For our last ditch effort, we’re creating Peace Flags to hang in the garden we are about to create.  This is a colorful reminder to the community in Uganda that our community wishes them success and well-being.  We are so abundantly blessed, this offering is our attempt to share some of our great fortune with their school community, because, as I often express in my Social Studies classes, we landed here by some accident of geography.  Our pen pals are as bright and curious and deserving of a healthy childhood and a school that encourages them to wonder and learn, so we’re making an effort to share some of our fundamental blessings with them. 

Come out and tie dye with us.  Every $10 donation will provide the flag-making supplies for you and for a student in Uganda, plus you’ll get a raffle ticket for a brand new bike donated by High Road Cycles in Wayne.  If you have a t-shirt or a pair of sox that you’d like to tie-dye to take home, bring it with you.  Stop by and tie-dye or paint a flag to fly in our garden. And thank you for letting our kids know that they can help make a difference in the world.

 

                         

 

 

 

 

Garden Explorers!

    Sixth graders spent the day exploring the pleasure garden at Chanticleer on Friday as part of our investigation into sustainable gardening practices.   Scott took us around the back of the operations to see how the gardeners create compost, and Emma shared the secrets to a delicious edible garden.  After a picnic in the grove, we created PEACE FLAGS to adorn our pen pals' garden, and explored Chanticleer with a sense of wonder and curiosity. 

    When we returned from Chanticleer, we transplanted some of our classroom seedlings into larger containers.   Thank you, SCA, for your generous grant which encourages us all to grow more eco-conscious, and thanks to the gardener-artists at Chanticleer for inspiring us to grow beautiful things!