Those who are following this blog please spread the word on the following proposal; If you know or have any laptops 1.2Ghz or more and it is of no longer any use it can be of great use at my Secondary School where I am teaching in Uganda. Please send any used laptops to the following address (Gary Brown 725 Charlie Brown Rd. Central City, Ky 42330), this is my parent address they will clean and restore the laptop and ship any to my address posted on this blog. Upon arrival the laptops will be used for student in the computer lap (St. Marys Senior Secondary School is one of the few schools with a working comp. lab + internet) and by faculty for marking grades. If you wish to contact myself my information is posted on this blog. I greatly appreciate any donations and the school and students will be forever great full.
Thank you again and feel free to contact myself or my parent at anytime. Happy Holidays!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Income Generating Projects / Activities
The following is a list of IGA/P's that I am currently working on or will implement in the future.
1) Production of paraffin from heating and condensing plastics
2) Solar-ovens: keywords to search for "Kenya solar cookers" is by far the best results with google search.
3) Recycling paper: check out cardsfromafrica.com, and organization based out of Rwanda which produces greeting cards to be sold online. Atleast this is a great fine-arts project at minimum.
4) Paper jewelry: A trend for many fund raisers in schools and community groups is making paper jewelry, this can be done almost with no cost. To find more information, try researching "triangle paper beads, and paper beads", the process takes some refinement but I have found local groups that are willing to give much needed insight into the production of the jewelry.
I hope this may provide some grounds for the reader to kick-off a great IGA/P. GL.!
1) Production of paraffin from heating and condensing plastics
2) Solar-ovens: keywords to search for "Kenya solar cookers" is by far the best results with google search.
3) Recycling paper: check out cardsfromafrica.com, and organization based out of Rwanda which produces greeting cards to be sold online. Atleast this is a great fine-arts project at minimum.
4) Paper jewelry: A trend for many fund raisers in schools and community groups is making paper jewelry, this can be done almost with no cost. To find more information, try researching "triangle paper beads, and paper beads", the process takes some refinement but I have found local groups that are willing to give much needed insight into the production of the jewelry.
I hope this may provide some grounds for the reader to kick-off a great IGA/P. GL.!
Friday, December 5, 2008
SMAGS
SMAGS (ST. Mary's All Girls School) foundation stone, by far a prime placement for any volunteer. With around 500 students all secondary level (secondary equates to highschool) it has near every amenity an education volunteer could wish for: example 3 labs (max 60students per) with running water / gas and stock rooms, chem lab with a well stocked assortment of chemicals and a far amount of glassware, and a library that is has a collection that is impressive by any standards. The library and labs where a joint venture by the Ministry of Edu and Chinesse Embassy and I am very grateful for what they have done. Also a rarity at many schools, SMAGS has a computuer lab with 6 working desktops and a computer course that is an intro to computers along with an intro to microsoft word / excel. Alot of fun can be had helping students with powerpoint, many enjoy making presentations and sending them to their family and freinds. The school puts the resources to great use daily. St. Mary's is a boarding school and one of the few left due to large harsh financial diffuculties placed on the school when accomidating 500 students. Traditionally boarding schools and private school require larger school fees payed per term for 3 terms a year. While our school fees are modest by comparison it has become for seeable that fees will increase, I plan to post a blog that might help solve this problem. The next post will be all the IGA/P (Income Generating Activities / Projects) that I have implemented and will begin, hope this might help future volunteers! Eboyai Ejok *stay well.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Ore / Casa / Home
Lucky, definitely! If you do feel you might sweat your housing situation my advice is don't. Be prepared for the least effective accommodations and maybe you'll get a surprise. The best part is my location, being surrounded by the majority of teachers/headmasters/admin for the surrounding schools systems. There are 8 schools within the Madera region and I am lucky to be close to town (few miles) and deep enough into a community I have ample opp's to have cultural fun. PS> Josh Apolot is running by in the pic, a great neighbor who you can see smiling a mile away!:)
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Yoga Noi!
Well let me update you!
1st - we (meaning me) have internet now, which is MTN mobile internet (max rate 236kbps) which costs 420kshilings + air time which is 90k shilings a month. Not great but can blog + more :)
2nd - What is my job description? I am currently at St. Mary's All Girls Secondary School. The subject I cover is chemistry. A secondary school is basically the equilvalent to US highschool, ranging from S1 level to S6 level. Withing the levels S1-4 are considered O (ordinary) level and S5-6 are A (advanced) levels. Currently the school covers 11 subjects CRE (christian religuos studies), Commerce, Arg., Chem, Physics, Biology, Math, Geo, Hist, English, and Fine arts. Originally schools in Uganda (secondary) could provide 18 subjects but as policies change they have begun to limit subjects to help provide more focused education for students (I am not sure if I agree upon the method). The classes that I have taught thus far are S2,3, and S5. My O-level students number around 250 but A-level only comprises 4 students.
Other projects that I am working on for the school are as follows: grant writing, IGPs (income generating projects), Chemistry Club, and soccer coach.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Sorry !
Heres the news.
Due to an unexpected snow storm leaving JFK we got to spend 2 days in Brussels Bel. and it wasa great experinece. I reccommend going to Delirium inthe town square for the best beer you will ever drink. Now that I am settled into my training it has been very interesting and fun. I am giong to be teaching ina secondary school in sororti district at an all girls school. Secondary schools are for ages teens to twenties and is the second stop after primary school for 7 years. Secondary school ranges from s1 to s6 and as you progress a student begins to filter into only 4 ares of study, mostly sciences based or buisnes based.
There are 60 volunteers that made the trip but so far 5 have ET or early terminated. Three groups comprise the volunteers Education, Economic Development, and Health. We are the first group of volunteers to have any secondary educatoin teachers. This is because Secondary education has yet to become a manditory feature by the Ministry of Edcuation, the perks are that most secondary sites have internet and running water. My district in the NE is based in the language Ateso which is the most difficult language in Uganda.
As far as the experince of Uganda goes it is hard to determine while I am still in training. Four more weeks until we move to our sites and i cannt wait. Luweero is our training site town and itis one of the least developed regions because it was the center of the last major revolt in Uganda. However it is a very safe town and we have not had any incidents as of yet. I have only expireinced one attempted pickpocketing which another volunteer quickly halted. You can find anything in Kampala but from what I hear keep your eyes and ears open because a riot can spring up in seconds although i have not seen one yet luckly. The major attractions are rafting and site seeing. I have heard ofsky diving but am relucant to go because it does not sound like a good idea to sky dive in Uganda....this could just been a grose generalization......i want to...!
The language test or LPI is very easy it consists of greetings and then acting out a simulation of ordering food or being at a market etc....so future volunteers dont be worried. This is not a fitting area to put this but my most valueble tip in packing is pack lite on cloths because you can buy them here cheaply. Just bring a rain jacket...atm i am in the internet lab because i am trapped by a rain storm, they dont last long but they can blast gallons quickly. More posts to come and pictures..........Peace )
Due to an unexpected snow storm leaving JFK we got to spend 2 days in Brussels Bel. and it wasa great experinece. I reccommend going to Delirium inthe town square for the best beer you will ever drink. Now that I am settled into my training it has been very interesting and fun. I am giong to be teaching ina secondary school in sororti district at an all girls school. Secondary schools are for ages teens to twenties and is the second stop after primary school for 7 years. Secondary school ranges from s1 to s6 and as you progress a student begins to filter into only 4 ares of study, mostly sciences based or buisnes based.
There are 60 volunteers that made the trip but so far 5 have ET or early terminated. Three groups comprise the volunteers Education, Economic Development, and Health. We are the first group of volunteers to have any secondary educatoin teachers. This is because Secondary education has yet to become a manditory feature by the Ministry of Edcuation, the perks are that most secondary sites have internet and running water. My district in the NE is based in the language Ateso which is the most difficult language in Uganda.
As far as the experince of Uganda goes it is hard to determine while I am still in training. Four more weeks until we move to our sites and i cannt wait. Luweero is our training site town and itis one of the least developed regions because it was the center of the last major revolt in Uganda. However it is a very safe town and we have not had any incidents as of yet. I have only expireinced one attempted pickpocketing which another volunteer quickly halted. You can find anything in Kampala but from what I hear keep your eyes and ears open because a riot can spring up in seconds although i have not seen one yet luckly. The major attractions are rafting and site seeing. I have heard ofsky diving but am relucant to go because it does not sound like a good idea to sky dive in Uganda....this could just been a grose generalization......i want to...!
The language test or LPI is very easy it consists of greetings and then acting out a simulation of ordering food or being at a market etc....so future volunteers dont be worried. This is not a fitting area to put this but my most valueble tip in packing is pack lite on cloths because you can buy them here cheaply. Just bring a rain jacket...atm i am in the internet lab because i am trapped by a rain storm, they dont last long but they can blast gallons quickly. More posts to come and pictures..........Peace )
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
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