26 May 2009

Post date: May 26, 2009 3:26:14 PM

May 26 - Tuesday

My last few days in Uganda were sad, as they have been in the past, sad to leave what has become home. I met with all of the children at Kibiri School one last time a on the 12th. Dinah from Action for Peace and Conflict Transformation (APCT) came, as she has many times in the past, to help with the peaceful place visualization and collaboration exercise for making a peace banner. The children chose three images that symbolize peace for them --- a mango tree, a crested crane, and peace dancing. They're all out of uniform because they're on a four week vacation break from regular school. We all sang and danced and had some joy filled last few moments together. Hopefully I get a chance to see them a few more times before they graduate from P7 in November.

I'm not sure if I have shared that we're working to get a weekend of training for all of the teachers at Kibiri. APCT will be coming in to help all of the teachers learn new skills of how to better work with and connect with their students to create a more peaceful learning environment. We will continue to track grades as a gage to how the children are doing overall.

I'd like to exit this segment with a link to a review of a recently published book. It's about aid in Africa. I think you'll find it thought provoking. There are things I would agree with and things I might take some exception to - but I will let it stand on it's own for you to be your own judge: Dead Aid, By Dambisa Moyo - Reviews - Independent.co.uk.

Thanks for journeying with me on my first BLOG.

Kevin