When Dreams Start to Come True

    Welcome to a new school year, welcome to new pen pals and returning pen pals, and welcome to everyone who has ever had a dream that they started to realize.  This past week brought thrilling news from our sister school in Uganda: the government built a brand new classroom building at the Buppala Primary School.  This two-classroom structure features windows "with glasses!"

 

 

      For those who have been following our work for a while, you know that the compostable latrine that we built last summer was the first new structure to go up in this village in over a decade. At the commissioning ceremony for the latrine, the local (regional) politician who was in attendance promised to expand development at BPS. Well, he actually delivered on this promise, and now there are two new classrooms at Buppala Primary School!    

             

                       


    Since last February, Radnor Middle School has provided lunch for the 600 students of BPS at a cost of $125/week.  That sounds unbelievable, but it's true.  A little bit goes a long way in Uganda, and as this new school year kicks off, we need to renew our efforts on behalf of our pen pals until they are able to sustain the cost of the lunch program on their own.  I am asking for our school community to chip in however you can to help with this effort.  Buppala students return to school tomorrow (September 16) for their new term, and our pen pal coffers are depleted.  We need to gear up for a new fundraising campaign to ensure that our friends can rely on a meal each day they attend school.  According to the Headmaster's report (which I am attaching to this post), enrollment has increased and the health of the students has improved since the installation of the latrine and the initiation of the lunch program.  Keeping kids in school is really the impetus behind this endeavor.



    In Uganda, public school ends after 7th grade.  Statistically, many girls are married off soon after (if their families can afford to send them to school).  I worry the most about the oldest girls.  They are so bright and beautiful, and I am confident that we can provide them with hope and opportunity that they would not have otherwise.  Fortunately, we have a plan.  This is yet another one of the dreams that is beginning to be realized for our sister school.
    I learned about a local entrepreneur and prior Peace Corps volunteer who has been transforming another village in Uganda with a dried fruit business that is growing and thriving.  Phil Hughes started Mavuno Harvest in an effort to help villagers profit year-round from the fruit that normally has to be sold off quickly at a very low price once it ripens.  Mavuno Harvest is found in Whole Foods stores and other health food stores throughout our region, and Phil Hughes is the first recipient of our COMPASSION IN ACTION AWARD which will be presented on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 @ RMS at our first-ever FAMILY CHAT.  I hope you will be able to join us.  In any case, our goal now is to help our pen pals develop an organically certified garden where they will grow fruit that can be sold to MAVUNO HARVEST.  This is a few years down the road, but the potential for the oldest students to become entrepreneurs who take responsibility for feeding the school population and improving life for the village is incredibly hopeful and attainable.  Meanwhile,
we will be emphasizing the theme of SUSTAINABILITY and looking closely at ways we can be more conscious consumers, particularly around our own lunchtime behaviors.  We are going to look carefully at how much waste we are producing and what we can do to minimize the amount of non-recyclable trash we are generating, as well as examining the nutritional value of the foods we are consuming.  Our gardening efforts will expand in partnership with the WATHERSHED classroom, and we will exchange letters about this shared experience over the years with our pen pals in Uganda.
    I will be participating in a service-adventure trip to Uganda next summer, and I invite anyone who is interested to consider joining us.  We will be living and working in the village and exploring the natural beauty of the Pearl of Africa.  Thank you for your interest and your support for this on-going effort.  Our small acts are indeed having a huge impact, and every little contribution is significant to the success of this initiative.  It's going to be an incredible year.  May all our dreams continue to evolve.  Thanks.

To read the full text of the report from Buppala School go to:  Report
To learn more about Phil Hughes & Mavuno Harvest, read this Inquirer article: Article
For Service-Travel Summer 2014 Information contact: jodi.sabra@rtsd.org
 
  

Lunch is Served!

    Well, what do you know??  The love and compassion continue to grow in our lovely village.  The students of Bupala Primary School have been receiving lunch, courtesy of the generous students and families connected to Radnor Middle School.  The lunch program began the first week of February, and will hopefully continue indefinitely.  Every child deserves a healthy meal at least once a day, and we're making sure our friends are nourished. 
    Our wonderful and reliable engineer from the latrine project, Moses Bagonza, is overseeing the delivery of this program, ensuring that the funds we raise are carefully delivered directly to the students of the Bupala School.  Moses and I communicate regularly about the purchase and delivery of nutritious foods for our pen pals.  As you can see from the photos, the Bupala School is grateful for everything our kids are doing to make a difference in the lives of their community.  Every purchase made at a bake sale, popcorn sale, pie-in-the-face raffle drive has added up to a hill of rice and beans for our friends in Uganda.  Keep up the incredible effort, RMS!
    Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this program.  A little bit goes a long way in Uganda.  For only $125, we are feeding the entire school of 500 students for a week.  If you would like to make a tax deductable donation, kindly send checks payable to RADNOR EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION c/o Jodi Sabra, Radnor Middle School, 150 Louella Ave., Wayne, PA 19087.

This is Africa

    I am in awe of so many things here...the spirit of the people who are so loving and so, well, struggling.   At the commissioning ceremony for our latrine yesterday (which was attended by local politicians and school directors and the village elders and parents and teachers and students ) , in my speech I said that while our circumstances are very different, our kids share a common language, and that's beautifully expressed in the tiles.  Our school and community send their love, and we will keep you in our hearts.
    Really, we have to step up, and I need everybody's help.  I'm pretty overwhelmed, but Buppala is our sister school. Mirembe, too.  And here in Uganda, sisters and brothers take care of one another.  When you drive through the villages, you see older siblings taking care of younger siblings.  At Bupala they even have a school baby.  Baby Joshua belongs to Teacher Kristen, but you see him in being passed around from student to student all day long.  It's beautiful.  The welcome I received from both the Mirembe School and the Bupala community was over the top.  I just kept thinking, DO THEY REALIZE I'm JUST A SPASTIC LANGUAGE ARTS TEACHER???   And then I would remind myself, I'm representing all of  Radnor and all of the friends and family members and supporters, and especially RADNOR EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION.  I feel honored and humbled...and responsible for finding innovative ways to make these schools better.  I always tell my classes that it's an accident of birth that we are born into luxury or poverty.  But privilege is a responsibility....so we need to work together to try to help our pen pals realize their potential.
    We were given a tour of the village surrounding the Bupala School including a poorly stocked health center with a terrific health aide who showed me the measly pharmaceuticals that were on hand.  Malaria is common b/c the region is surrounded by swamps where rice is farmed.  We trekked into the rice fields and were invited into a farmer's hut.  Another guy went out and caught some mud fish to show us what they looked like (kinduv like giant slugs with gills).  We were clearly the first Mazungus to walk into the rice patties in this region.  It was so cool.  Once again, the hospitality of the poorest people was astonishing.
     After the tour we hung out with the kids and sat out a rain storm together. During the rain, I showed Namayumbe Frank how to use my camera, then we sat with about fifteen kids all smooshed around us while he selected which shots were worth keeping and which to eliminate.  It was amazing. Frank picked it up so quickly.  I'll try to attach some of his pics...this is a kid who has never touched a piece of electronic equipment in his life.  Did I mention there's no electricity here?
     Ach, I could go on and on, but I want to try and attach some photos now.  On Saturday I leave for safari.  Time to talk with the animals....first the gorillas inBiwindi National Forest, then to Queen Elizabeth Park.  Thank you for following this and for caring about our pen pals.  They have so much to teach us.   I love you...Jodi

Kids seeing pictures of themselves...some for the first time ever.

The health center near Bupala

Ceremony and dancing

The tiles!!

Bupala Primary School - photos coming!

Hello friends.  I have so much to share, and the connection here is uncertain, but I will try to fill you in on where I am and how our project is progressing.  Right now, I'm in a hotel outside of the village where Bupala School is.  Soon, we will take a taxi full of men, women, children, babies & chickens into the town of Idudi where we will hire a boda-boda (a motorcycle) to drive us to the village.  We pass little compounds with families and goats and cows...and when they see white ladies they laugh and wave.  "Mazungu! Mazungu!" they holler....white lady, white lady!  The school is a good distance from town, and many of the children have never seen a white person before.
    The children crowd around to welcome us, they shake our hands and giggle.  Some take a while to decide if they are brave enough to touch our hands.  This is an extremely poor area.  There are about 500 students in this school, and for many of them, going to school means going without food all day. Their school day goes from 7:30 until 5:30.    This is difficult to describe, but their teachers are trying to encourage the kids to learn what is required to pass the national exams - something like our PSSAs -but there are no textbooks or resources.  Some classes meet under a tree without even a chalkboard. I  can't imagine how they manage.
    The latrine is lovely.  Yesterday the tiles were being put up.  The head teacher held the tiles up and explained that they were made by you because you love us.  There's a lot of love here.  While people may be poor and hungry, they are magnanimous with their joy.  They wave and smile with no hesitation, and when they claim to be your friend, they mean it...there is no cynicism here.
    There's so much need here that determining how we can best help Bupala and Mirembe Schools is the next challenge.  I have some ideas that we will explore when I return, but there is no doubt that these are our sister schools, and we have so much to share.  Here in Uganda, people take care of one another and older siblings are primary care-takers, so we need to do what we can to take care of our sisters and brothers here.
    Tomorrow from noon to three is 'a commissioning' for the new latrine.  I think it's a big party.  I just requested that we be able to feed everyone something.  These kids are hungry...that's so hard to witness.  These occasions are full of official speeches and welcomings and closing remarks...and drumming and dancing and ululating (look that one up on you.tube!) .  In any case, I am humbled by their appreciation and I am honored to represent our pen pals and Radnor and Hollywood and America.  We have so much to learn from our friends here, and so much love to share.  So, I bid you farewell and send you my love and gratitude.  Be well,  and I can't wait to tell you more!