Learning through Experience

Even though I have once before gotten the opportunity to visit the Kibaale School, I have never gotten the chance to actually be in a classroom and see what it’s like to be in the school. So today, we got the opportunity to sit in on a P5 (grade 5) English class. It was really interesting to see how much different the classroom there is from the classrooms in Canada. The biggest difference that I noticed is how the classroom is conducted as a whole. The students over here have a different kind of respect and response to the teacher than I have observed back in Canada. Of course we (well most of us) still have respect for the teacher, the way you show respect here is different. When the teacher comes in and walks up to the front of the classroom all the students stand and welcome the teacher to the classroom. When they answer questions, they stand and properly address the teacher. And when the class is over, all the students again stand and thank the teacher for her lesson. The lesson wasn’t much different than what you would experience in Canada; the difference is in the classroom environment. The classroom was a place where the children were to be proper. With this being said I still did see some of the kids goofing off, and even saw a few pieces of rocks flying across the classroom at each other behind the teachers back. No matter where in the world you are, kids will always be kids.   

We also got the amazing opportunity to go into the special needs class. It was here that Kristen got to meet her sponsor child, which was an experience in itself. In this class, all of kids are deaf (I believe) which often comes along with other difficulties. We learned some basic sign language so that we could communicate with the kids, and by doing this we were able to in a way connect with them just by having simple communications with them. As we were talking to the teachers about this special group of kids, we learned a little bit about them. Though so many of the kids at this school have come from unfortunate situations, the children in this class have come from situations where many of them were essentially rejected out of society. Within this culture, handicaps are viewed entirely different than they are in Canada; often times the differences are not understood and these kids are abandoned and left to either die or fend for themselves. This is not always the case, but in many situations this is what happens to the children. Hearing this made me almost break down and cry in the classroom. These kids have all been given a second chance and are becoming productive people within society, overcoming the stigma that surrounds them. They are learning and growing, but most importantly they are being treated with love and respect. We only were able to spend a short period of time in the classroom, but it was a really touching experience.

 

Much of the reason why these kids have been so successful has to do with the teachers who have taught them, and essentially taken them in. The teachers work so closely with these kids, taking the time to make sure that their special needs are met. The school also recently hired a teacher who herself is deaf. She works in the classroom alongside the other two special needs teachers. It’s amazing how well the kids respond to her and her presence in the classroom. One of the teachers was telling us how every day the children bring to school gifts for her. This just shows the love and relationships that these teachers have with these kids. It is apparently the way that the teachers care for each one of the students; they love each one despite their differences. As I continue my way to becoming a teacher, this is an example of someone that I want to be lie. It’s an example to aspire towards.

While we were in Kibaale we also experienced a torrential rainstorm. We got stuck huddling under the eaves of a classroom while everything around us flooded with water. Everything, including us, was soaked to the bone.

An ant that decided to land on the windowshield.

morning after....all the wings that we find on our porch

And on a completely random side note, lately Kristen and I have observed a sudden influx in what we originally thought were dead flower petals that were making their way into our house. What we later found out that these weren’t flower petals, but instead the wings of the giant flying ants that mate, die and then the smaller ants eat the bodies and leave the wings. Apparently at this time of year, there are lots and lots of them around. In Kibaale they have huge ant hills, and as these ants fly out the kids grab them and eat the bodies, leaving the wings. And if you don’t like the idea of eating a live bug, you can also fry them up; apparently they taste like popcorn.