5 April 2009 - 1st Journey in the Classroom

Post date: Apr 7, 2009 7:03:53 AM

April 5^th (Sunday) Afternoon

Wow, it’s been an amazing week. I figured I would eventually get too busy to blog, and it has hit. It’s lucky for you all because there would be volumes to write about each day – and by now I’ve probably forgotten much of it all.

On Wednesday I had a great meeting at Mango Tree with all of the senior staff and everyone that touches items going into and of inventory. I went to Nada, a friend with a printing business here, to get the materials laser printed. It cost me 75 cents per color page. For Mango Tree to print in color using their basic HP ink jet printer costs them $1.00 per page. It’s something most of us probably have never thought of --- Ink Jets use a lot more ink. Nada would like me to come teach Yoga at her business. If I was living at La Fontaine still that would be easier, but the new place it is a bit far away. We’ll see – I’m enjoying my own little yoga practice in my little home.

Back to the Mango Tree meeting – I was very impressed with the interest, involvement, arguments, and process ownership of all involved. Everyone made good points, brought up relevant discussion items and issues, and helped find working solutions. The next big step for me is teaching Nathan how to fix the errors that have been injected into the Master Database, Inventory Database, and Pricing Sheet over the past year. His skills with Excel are fair – but he really needs to take it all to the next level of ability and understanding. As an inventory manager and assistant production manager it will serve him well at Mango Tree, or whatever company he works for in the future.

Nathan is an extremely happy-go-lucky young man. He has an amazing memory – which has enabled him to be partially successful at his job even though those interfacing with him in the Inventory Processes have not, to date, really respected the challenges and complexities of managing inventory levels for 300 items. I told his boss, Charles, to kick Nathan is the balls every morning – and I told the financial manager, Fred, to hit Nathan upside the head whenever he saw him. All of them laughed. I was really trying to make the point memorable that being an inventory manager was tough and whoever did the job needed to be stern, maybe even a little grumpy, to make sure everyone respected the procedures for storing and removing items. Ugandan culture is very polite – especially towards socially senior individuals. Everyone at Mango Tree needs Nathan’s position, responsibilities, and rules around the inventory process and database management – regardless of their social position. We’ll see how it goes. Fred agreed to conduct monthly spot checks of inventory levels and the inventory database – which will be really important since Nathan usually has an attitude that everything is okay. When I visited last year we talked extensively about the ties between financial and inventory management for the first time – so Fred is very aware of how inventory management affects his daily cash flow.

Friday I rode out to Edith’s school. The teacher that I’m working with, Herman, came to Kampala to help me figure out the bus system to get to the school. In good traffic it takes about 30 min by car to get to the school from Kampala and about an hour by bus. To get to staging point for the busses you have to walk through the ‘old taxi park’ where about 500 matatus are buzzing through this dirt/mud parking lot like bees in a bee hive. That’s an adventure in itself to ensure you don’t get run over or pick pocketed. (No exaggeration here – ask Margot.) The busses in a little muddy lot are going to several different locations --- some sounding very similar to my destination, Kibiri, but hours in the wrong direction. So that’s the second big challenge. The next challenge is finding a spot for my butt to sit, the guitar and my back pack. These busses are designed for about 35 passengers and have been modified with rickety pull down seats wherever they can be stuck so the bus can hold about an additional 10. I was able to get a rickety seat by the driver smacked up against the front windshield. The seat wasn’t attached to anything. I had to try and hold onto something so I would roll into the driver or person on my other side as we went around corners or over bumps. The man next to me kindly took my guitar and held in between his legs. There wasn’t anywhere else for it to go without interfering with the driver.

From the bus stop in Kibiri it’s about a mile walk to the school. Herman and I arrived at 9:30 in time for the morning assembly. It’s very similar to India here – where all of the children gather each outside morning in rows organized by grade level. They sing the national anthem and school song – and get the morning announcements. Edith announced my obvious arrival. I introduced myself and then asked for all of the children’s names – all 250 – at the same time.

From 10:00 – 12:00 I met with Herman’s class. We both agreed on the way to school that I could have 2 hours that day. I imagine the amount of time may vary as Herman sees fit – but I’ll at least have an hour each week. We started with the song “Peace will come” and the discussion around where peace comes from. I told them about Children’s Global Peace Project and all of the peace skills. When we got to empathy – that was a new word for them - so I took off my shoes and asked one of the boys to come stand in them while I sat in his seat. That idea just came in out of the blue and I think the visual will stick with them. To expand on the empathy we talked about the beauty of different customs within the tribes of Uganda, and we talked about different ways of greeting people around the world. Then the children greeted their classmates around them using any of the different greeting methods we learned.

At about 10:30 I stepped though all the different parts of the “Journey in the Classroom” process for kids. One, so I could understand if there were any cultural challenges to the components and ,two, so they could continue to get used to my accent and it wouldn’t be too distracting for them during their Journey process. We visualized a staircase that shimmered like the sun on the water, we talked about super heroes, we talked about different vehicles and different parts of our body, we talked about a campfire and I asked if that was a sacred and safe place for them, we talked about breathing in balloons with special qualities to help them out. At times they were shy - often I see that children are used to just repeating facts and information, and not used to speaking their own thoughts and feelings. Overall they seemed to be able to understand my accent and I didn’t seem to run into any cultural bumps with the tools used in the Journey process. Then we did some of Jenn Jaz’s favorite brain gym exercises to warm up for our Journey. The kids really got a kick out of those.

As I looked around the room I would guess from expressions on their faces that about 75% of the kids went deeply into the Journey process – but there’s really no telling and I know that just the collective consciousness and energy of just being present is healing. They all drew pictures, but none of them wanted to share. I’m hopeful that they might feel comfortable enough to share some of their stories before I leave. My plan is to observe Herman doing the Journey process after he’s seen me do it for a few weeks. He seems very engaged in what I’m teaching the children – so I am hopeful that I can help expand his possibilities of teaching skills. I will be giving Herman a Journey process over Easter Weekend – so that should help uncover possible cultural barriers to using the process here in Uganda. Dinah and Monica from APCT also would like to receive Journey’s so that should help me some more.

After the Journey process we had about 30 minutes left. It was raining outside, so we pushed all of the desks against the wall and learned two peace dances. There was some hand holding issues with boys and girls going on – which surprised me a little since I hadn’t seen it before in Uganda – and we worked through it. The only other children this age level I’ve worked with in Uganda are HIV positive children who come for monthly medication and counseling at Mulago Hospital. Those kids receive regular counseling and support, and have a close connection to each other – so I think hand holding was naturally easy for them.

When we finished at noon it was pouring rain – so I instead of walking to the bus stop and going home I sat with Edith and drank some really good black/ginger tea. Edith was planning on leaving and taking me to her old school near Mango Tree, but her car was in the shop and she didn’t want to walk to the bus station either. So, for the next hour I scanned all the schools Primary Level Education (PLE) government test results received from Jan 98 through Jan 09. Next time I hope to scan the seven years of quarterly grades of all of the P7 children currently at the school – both the kids I’m working with (the subject group) and the ones I’m not (the control group).

Around 1:00 it had stopped raining and I began packing up some things in the guitar case. One little girl, about 9, was watching me very closely. It was lunch time and the children basically had free rein of all of the school grounds – except the teachers’ lounge where I was. We made introductions and I went about my business while she continued to watch me. Finally I asked her if she would like me to play the guitar and sing a song. She smiled and nodded. I sang one verse and asked her if we should go outside. Again, she smiled and nodded. So we went outside where I found a few very young kids sitting on the large stone steps leading up to an abandoned and run down old church. So climbed the steps and sat down with them. Soon there were 10 kids singing with me, then 20, then 40. After playing three songs I noticed that the space around me was beginning to close in the kids seemed a little cramped. I asked them to all take a step back and that seemed like a big production. To understand what was going on I stood up to see above the crowd around me and discovered about 250 children standing around me – lol. So I stood up and taught them another song.

After that – they announced that they wanted to sing a song for me. So I stepped off the steps and – lol – the crowd followed me. I told them to all stand on the steps so I could see them and they could sing to me. After they sang two songs I noticed it was 2:00, and I asked them what time they needed to be back to class – complete silence – so I asked again to an answer of complete silence. I looked toward a few staff observing the show and they only smiled. Okay then --- I asked the children to sing another song and another song. At 2:15 I decided I was being giving some leeway and special treatment, and told the children they needed to get to class. With that they all scrambled off within seconds. I had an idea that they were late but couldn’t possibly be in trouble since the school visitor had been ‘making’ them sing past their lunch break time.

When I got back to the teachers’ lounge I discovered that Ruth, Edith’s administrative office manager, had dished up some lunch for me. There was enough posho (sp?) and beans for an army, and some greens with mini eggplants in them. The mini eggplants are really sour and a little tough to swallow after a while. Posho is ground corn meal steamed into semi-solid patties. I’m not sure why it’s white – but I am sure it pretty much has no flavor whatsoever. Strong taste and bland taste combined with the familiar taste of beans was all very edible – and I was very grateful for the very filling meal.

Around 4:30 (yes time flies when you’re in Uganda) Edith and I walked to the bus stop. We managed to squeeze into a bus heading towards Kampala – and after a half dozen stops (every 50 yards) I was able to work myself into a window seat that nearly seemed comfortable. They road was sloppy wet and muddy – and the bus spun all over the road. I thought we might have an interesting experience of rolling into a ditch – but not today – another day perhaps. As I got more comfortable in my seat I noticed that half of the back was not attached and if I relaxed too much it would probably break off complete. So there a mutually agreement struck between myself and the seat – I wouldn’t lean back to much and she wouldn’t break (not today anyway). In this delicate balance with the guitar case between my legs, and the bus bumping and sliding all over the road, and people struggling to gett on and off every 50 yards (or less) – I managed to fall asleep :o) I woke when we made it to Kampala and Edith asked, “Do you eat ‘polk’ - there’s a place nearby that has good ‘polk’ - we can have some while we wait for them to bring my car.” I immediately knew she meant pork, and responded that it sounded good, but I was still full from lunch. She looked disappointed and it didn’t take much more convincing for her to get me into one of her favorite little restaurants, where she ordered some ‘polk’ and a beer for each of us. She seemed very happy with the day’s activities and asked me about the singing during lunch. She had been in a meeting in her office the whole time and didn’t see the whole fiasco.

The ‘polk’ was fatty and very good. I know lots of people that love fatty pork, Edith being one of them and me not, but I was able to work my way to pieces that suited my taste. When Edith and I left the little restaurant it was already 6:30 and we sat in traffic for so long trying to get to her old school that we decided I could visit with her on another day. Edith would like me to work with them also. I’m not sure I have the time with all of the APCT schools I’m planning to visit plus all of my work at Mango tree - but I will go and see how it feels.

I talked a lot with Stephanie this weekend. Her boyfriend lives in Manhattan and she will be spending her summer at the beach in Portsmouth, NH – lol – imagine that. So I’ll be seeing more of her when I get back to the states. She told me the ‘swing-set’ version of her story about how she got involved in building a school in Kenya. I was really touched with her understanding of people and processes – and empowerment vs charity. She’s a really humble and intelligent young woman. To tell her story would be another two pages – maybe someday I can share it with you. Anyway, I think I can get her get the help she needs in Kenya to construct using Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSB) technology. I’ll refer you again to www.t4tafrica.com and Dr Musaazi if you’re curious why I’m promoting this.

I met even more Americans this weekend. I think the money that Bush budgeted for Africa is really showing up. There were fifteen of us Sunday morning at Cory’s going away brunch. Cory is leaving early to take care of some things back home. Stephanie seems pretty upset about his leaving early. They have developed a good friendship in the past three months. Jeffrey, at La Fontain, did an awesome job of serving all of us. He’s young – about 18 – and really does a good job of managing the place when Jacob is not here. Two of the people I met on Sunday were Matt and his girlfriend – they are friends of Stephanie’s and just arrived from Kenya last night. I gave them my extra SIM card to use in their phone while they’re here. Matt is a water sanitation engineer and knows tons about the bio-sand filters that Dr Musaazi builds here. Matt knows how to set them up and market them. He’s excited about meeting Moses – so we’ll need to arrange that soon.

I met a photographer on Sunday that might be able to come to Kibiri and take photos for a day. That would really be great. His name is Tadej Znidarcic – check out www.tadejznidarcic.com. He also is doing some building projects in war-torn Northern Uganda, near Gulu, and is excited to learn more about ISSB technology. Tadej is from Slovenia and has been here for all of two days. He lives in Manhattan also, and it seems like there may be some type of get together brewing for New York City this summer.

It’s beginning to feel like it’s time to get someone over here that knows how to manage large construction projects, can run with the ISSB stuff, and teach people how to manage projects – Rick, Stu, Glen??? It’s really a follow-where-spirit-leads-you type of place – you just have to get your ass here and let it happen. Wish I had time to share about the half dozen more amazing individuals and dozens of more amazing experiences – but need to get some work done this evening for Mango Tree.