Volleyball at St. Mary's!

My time in Gulu is now over. This last and final week has been absolutely incredible! We had some incredible lessons in class. The students are finally getting used to working in groups, and realizing it is a safe environment. They are becoming open to the new strategies Denis is using, and that is huge when they have been taught by 'talk and chalk' their entire lives.

When we arrived at St. Mary's I noticed there had been a volleyball net laying in the corner of the staff room. I told my self there would be a volleyball court put up at St. Mary's before I left Gulu. Everyday I would bring my volleyball to school and the students would wait outside the staffroom every break to play. We passed it around in a circle, and they seemed to love it! I couldn't even imagine what they would be like if they had a court to actually

play the real game of volleyball. SO this week I was determined to make it happen. I found some tall wooden poles with Denis' help. We found a panga, which is a machetti, to help dig the holes for the poles. The S-4 boys completely took ownership of the project. I thought it was great! Thursday came around and the net was up and ready to go! The students put 6 people on each side, 2 ref's, and a whole cheering section around the court. I could not help my smile from ear to ear after I left school that day. Friday we played probably 6 games on break and after school!

I will not have internet access for the next few days, so I am planning on writing one final blog when I return to the U.S.

We are leaving Gulu today, going on a Safari, rafting down the Nile, then BUNGEE JUMPING over the Nile! So pray for my safety over these next few days :)

Thank you for your continued encouragement and prayers through this journey! I love you all and will be home soon!

Fort Patiko

Fort Patiko! This place is about 45 minutes outside of Gulu. Parker, you will like this, a little bit of history for you. This place used to be known for Arab slave trading in the 1800's. A man named Sir Samuel Baker from Europe came down and ran the Arab's out, shut down the slave trading business there in 1872. It was hard to think that this breath takingly beautiful place could have been used to house and trade slaves from Northern Uganda.

So we took a Saturday afternoon drive out to Fort Patiko in Mutatu's (vans that carry 15 people, even though they have been known to fit 30 Ugandans in one, no seat belts, cheetah patterned seat coverings, a not even enough room for your legs to fit with out your knees bulging into the seat in front of you). They told us to pack hiking shoes, thick pants, and long sleeve shirts. Knowing we would be hiking a little, I thought to myself what could we possibly be doing to need such attire, considering it is mostly warm here, and there are not many mountains, but a few hills. I did not think any hiking in Uganda could compare to hiking the Grand Canyon. We arrived to 20 long horned cattle grazing. As we drove into Fort Patiko, we saw large rock formations, kids playing soccer barefoot, a woman carrying large jury cans of water with a baby wrapped around her back while carrying a baby in front of her as well. The women here absolutely amaze me!

We had a tour guide show us around and explain the Fort's history. It was hard for me to pay attention, I just wanted to take in the beauty of the place and explore! There was a small mountain in the distance, and I had feeling we would be climbing that. After the tour, we started off on our hike. We had a Ugandan show us the way, and then there were also a few children that wanted to make the trek with us, but I thought to myself,they were not dressed for this. They had no shoes, no shirt, they couldn't possibly be hiking to the top with us. We started through some short grass and palm trees, then the grass started to get taller and taller until it was towering over us. The children were hanging with us. We started up the mountain and it was muddy steep, and hard to find the path, the children were leading us now. We got about half way up and we walked out onto a plateu that had tons of fun rocks to climb and take pictures. We then went to the top, we had to grab hold of a branch and scale a rock towards the top (reminded me of hiking the Superstitions, when you get to the top, if you've done it you know what I mean). The children were helping us find knoocks and crannies to grab onto and put our feet. When we finally got to the top, it was a "I'm really in Africa" feeling. It seemed as though you could see forever. The children sat with us, just listening, and watching every move we made. I couldn't help, but parallel these children to God's love for us. We sometimes doudt, we begin the walk with Him, we start trusting in Him little by little, by the end He is leading us step by step, protecting us from danger, guiding us in to an absolutely beautiful relationship with Him.

As we came down the mountain, we were all starving, we walked back to the Mutatu's and a few people had stayed back and barbequed a feast for us! We were supposed to have shishkabob's but we ended up having a new redition since the chicken we got had bones in it. It was delicious! We sat in the grass and ate dinner, talked to one another, and watched as the children played an intense game of futball. They would have to play around the cattle that would walk through their game every so often. Smaller children were crowded around the edges of the field, eager to watch and maybe even get in the game.

I left Fort Patiko feeling a whole new appreciation for Africa, Uganda, nature, God, children, food, competition, and relationships.

Rhino's!

This past weekend, we went on a short 3 hour trip to a Rhino Sanctuary! It was so fun!There are a total of 8 Rhino's in Uganda, and 6 of them were at this sanctuary. 4 of the rhino's were from Kenya, and 2 of them were from Disney World! The whole purpose of this place is for the rhinos to breed. It was such an incredibly relaxing weekend. I finally had time to really process a lot of things. It rained almost the entire time, it was wonderful! Phil and I, being from Arizona, appreciate the rain!

So many thoughts running through my head...

So many thoughts running through my mind…

SO I have 6 days of teaching left, 13 days left in Uganda. Where has time gone? Have I done any good in Gulu? What will remain after I am gone? What does Denis really think of me, and my strategies? We had a huge victory on Tuesday in the classroom, with the students modeling multiplying fractions on their own, and I felt like he was finally sold on some of the new strategies.
This week, I have been reading the newspaper a ton. People here get their news solely from the radio and the newspaper. There are 2 main newspapers, one is from the government and is many times biased and uses the paper as propaganda, and the other is much more reliable when reporting and quoting the news. It makes me wonder how is the media used in the U.S. to influence the way we Americans think, do we see the true reality of what is happening around the world?
When we are sitting in the staffroom, planning, marking, or just conversing, and someone walks in with the newspaper, it is like they have just walked in with GOLD. Everyone is grabbing at it or looking over eachothers shoulders to read it! Much like how my dad and I used to race for the sports page in the morning at the breakfast table when I was growing up. So this week I have found myself reading a lot of the newspaper with Denis (the reliable news paper). Earlier this week the ICC (International Criminal Court) has put out a request for the arrest of the Sudan President, Bashir. It has made headlines daily. Many of his supporters are protesting, as well as the AU (African Union) which is made up of many African Presidents. The American in me could not believe that anyone would ever support this man! He is a man who had been committing mass genocide through rape and torture in Darfur and Southern Sudan for years! If I was in America, I would say thank God the ICC has finally decided to arrest this man! Being in Uganda, hearing so many different sides of the story, everyone would agree that this man is corrupt, cruel, and has committed numerous crimes against humanity, but many believe that even if Bashir is taken out of power, another power hungry president will come into control. I asked one of our partner teachers, William, how would the ICC actually go about arresting Bashir and he told me that either his own Government would have to turn him over, the surrounding countries could go in and take him out, or they would wait until he is on a trip to another country and that government could turn him over. If the ICC cannot even arrest him themselves and it many times causes severe conflict, meaning war, so what is the point of the ICC? In the paper, many are not supporting the request to arrest Bashir because they feel like it will cause huge conflict if the oppressed Sudanese from Darfur and the South rise up against Bashir and his government…but these people are being massacred! So what are they to do?
There are the Arab Muslim Sudanese in the North that mostly support Bashir and there are the Black African Sudanese in the South that have been oppressed by the North. Then there is Darfur in the West part of Sudan in which the people are also Black African. An estimated 35,000 people in Darfur have been killed (The National Refugee Committee estimates it to be around 2 MILLION) and 2.5 million displaced throughout this war and it still continues. In displaced camps, girls as young as 8 are being raped, 1,000 babies under a year old die weekly, hunger and fear are part of each and every person’s daily life. Even though I have heard these facts before, now after actually seeing the displaced camps and hearing the peoples stories of family and friends being murdered, it hit me. It hit me hard this week. I sat in the staff room deep in thought. Denis asked me if I was ok and I told him that I was thinking about everything I had just read and heard and it was all so terribly sad and overwhelming. He said “ I am sorry Casey, but we are used to hearing and seeing these things every day. That is just how it is in Africa.” After he said that, my heart just broke! They have settled, they have given up.
You may ask what this ‘war’ in Sudan is about. Well many say it is a religious war, between the Muslims and the Christians, others say it is the Arab government using the Janjaweed rebels to wipe out the indigenous Black Africans, some say it is because they have found oil in Southern Sudan so the North is trying to capitalize on the oil by continuing to oppress the South. Several people believe that China is supporting this war because they are heavily invested in the oil in Southern Sudan. There have been numerous accounts of the finding of weapons from China being used in Darfur.
How does this war in Sudan and the request of the arrest of Bashir have an effect on Northern Uganda? The big question that I could not help but ask William. He told me that most people believe that Bashir has supported Joseph Kony and the LRA during the20 year war in Northern Uganda. Bashir is now calling on the President of Uganda, Musevini, to support him. The Sudanese government warned that the indictment of President Bashir on genocide and war crimes charges would have a direct negative impact on the peace talks between Uganda and the LRA. William told me that he feared that Bashir would ally with Kony and that the LRA could be back in Uganda in a day if the Ugandan government did not back Bashir.
Quotes from today’s paper about the situation in Darfur:
- “Bashir has selected his weapons, they are: rape, hunger, fear”
- “They rape women in front of them, children, and fathers.”
- “They kill our males and dilute our blood with rape. They want to finish us as a people, end our history.”
My thoughts are scattered, but I feel like I am no longer naïve or ignorant to what is happening and I cannot just sit back and watch. But where do you even begin to help?
I have asked around and here are some suggestions I’ve received on how to help:

· Read NOT ON OUR WATCH by Don Cheadle (The main actor in Hotel Rwanda) and John Prendergast.
· Go to SaveDarfur.org
· Read ‘They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky’


The prayer of my heart has been the lyrics to this song, ‘From the Inside Out’ by Hillsong.
A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
LET JUSTICE AND PRAISE BECOME MY EMBRACE
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

426 Students in one classroom!

Can you even believe it! Yes, there were 426 S2 (Sophmore) students in one massive classroom taking thier math midterm. I always heard about big classes in Africa, but at the school I am at, St. Mary's, my largest class is 70 students. Many of the other teachers on the trip are teaching at schools in town, and they have class sizes of a 120 students! Denis teaches part time at Gulu Senior in order to make more money to support his family since the teachers here get paid next to nothing. So today, I caught a boda into town at 7:15 and started teaching with Denis at 7:50. We team taught 2 classes and it was amazing! We had the students creating thier own problems, working in groups, even had group competitions! The students learned 4 rules of exponents today, which usually takes 3 or 4 days in the States! So then we (Denis and I on his bike) took the back roads out to St. Mary's which was a beautiful ride through all sorts of villages. We worked and graded at school for a few hours then we returned to Gulu SS to give a midterm. I had no idea what I was about to see. I noticed there were a lot of tests in Denis' hand as we walked toward this big building. As we walked into the building it was just one massive room, with hundreds of students preparing to take their midterm. I was absolutely speechless! There were 4 teachers monitoring. They handed our the tests and the students began testing. After today, I promised myself I will never complain about class sizes ever again!

My School...St. Mary's Lacor!

Here are some pictures of the school I am teaching at! The bottom picture is of Denis (white shirt) and I, and the other teachers at St. Mary's (Matt is taking the picture), who are all wonderful! This weekend we had a 2 day teacher's conference in which we learned about many participatory teaching strategies. I had learned about many of these strategies in college (thanks to Betz Frederick) but learning about the strategies this weekend had a whole new impact and meaning to me. After the conference, Denis was telling me how he is thrilled about working together and using these new strategies in the classroom. I also left the conference with a new excitement for teaching, both in Uganda and in the States! During the conference my mind was racing with a ton of new ideas to use in my classroom! After the conference, I had the privilege to go visit Denis' home and family. I met his wife, one of his daughter's and his father. His wife did not speak much English so I was a little disappointed that I did not get to talk to her as much as I would have liked to. Denis had an actual house, which is rare. Most people live in huts. He lived on his father's land. His father owns a vocational school that is located right next to Denis' house. There were a ton of huts right next to his house, and he told me that his father let these people come stay there during the war. I met Denis' mother, Rose a few days ago at her second hand clothes shop. We walked there in the pouring rain! We stayed for about an hour until the rain stopped and we had some of the best conversation!

So the pictures! Bottom to top:

1.St. Mary's teachers!

2.The main building of classrooms.

3. The building where the students get their lunch.

4. Our biggest classroom, this one of the nicest classrooms in Gulu.

5. A bunch of Munu's (white people) in the back of a truck on our way to the conference.

6. Me on a Boda! Dad, don't be scared, sorry I am not wearing a helmet, they did not have any, I asked!

7. Me and some of the girls I have become really close with while being here, covered in beaded necklaces! A lady and some younger girls that have come back from being abducted make them and they came over to sell them , so ladies back home be ready for some beads!

8. It started pouring rain so Matt needed a shower and there had been no water for 2 days, so he got his soap and literally took a shower in the rain...amazing! He is going to kill me for putting up this picture!

9. Down town Gulu!

10. Everyone staying at Christ the King! Even Sister Appelonia who is our gracious host!

11. And there it is, our home in Gulu!