Kibuye Project overview




AASU’s first community project is focusing on the village of Kibuye in North Eastern Kamuli, on the shores of the Victoria Nile. Kibuye has an estimated population of 60,000 people and is spread over 27 by 35km. The majority of the population is highly dependent on subsistence farming and barter trade within village in order to survive.

Before the project began, Kibuye was dependent upon one borehole for safe drinking water. Due to long lines when collecting water many have been choosing to fetch water from the river, which has caused illness through water born diseases. The village also only has one school, consisting of two classrooms accommodating roughly 600 children. The children that can’t walk the distance to the school simply don’t attend. The majority of children do not attend school, either due to distance or family circumstance, consequentially 80% of Ugandans over the age of 15 are illiterate.

So far within the Kibuye project AASU has been able to buy four acres of land at the East end of the village on which we have built a bore hole and are currently building classrooms for the Arise and Shine Nursery and Primary School which is due to open for the start of the school year in February 2011.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Education and relaxation



Last week I went to the village and took something educative with me: a poster of the  human body and the names of the different body parts stated on it in English.

It was great to see the enthusiasm of the children while we studied the different parts of the body in English. The children liked it a lot and learned something at the same time. The class was interactive and it was nice that I had the opportunity to do this.

During the adult literacy classes I used the same poster to teach adults in the village the names of the different  parts of the body. At a certain moment I noticed a crowd of people standing interested around something in the classroom..... and that something was the poster of the human body with the names of the different body parts stated on it. Great to see how something small can make a crowd gather around it. At the end of the class we practiced the different names of parts of the body in English. After that I asked several students to come to the front and write down the right name in  English  for each part of the body  I pointed at on my own body. This was at the other side of the class, so the poster was not visible for the student in front of the blackboard. This was a funny situation because the practice they had was minimal and thus it was logical that some of the students did try to get a peek of the poster with the correct answers on it. The students that sat behind the tables betrayed the students who wanted to pick and were laughing, the student in front of the class had to laugh and I was also having a great time. The students picked up the names of the different parts of the body very fast and this was nice to see! Next week  we will make a rehearsal and the week after an exam on this and/or other topics would be great in order to take care, and examine to what extent, that the knowledge stays in the head of the students.

Great was also that my buddy brought a soccerball for the kids of the village. It was amazing to see how happy they are with this gift of my buddy. I had the honour to take the ball with me to the kids and they were cheering from excitement and starting running towards me. I had the great privilege to play soccer with the kids from Kibuye Bandali in Uganda. An experience that I will never forget!



This blog was prepared by:

Amar
Posted by Arise and Shine Uganda at 1:51 AM

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