Murchison Falls National Park Uganda Africa

Genesis 9:12-17
12 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.
17 So God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.

Teaching Together

I wish you could have seen the professional learning community that spanned the globe...it was born yesterday.  There were teachers, both Ugandan and Canadian, sitting & discussing in small groups every issue of education from the definition of "learning" to discipline strategies for hours.  They were animated and and engaged.  They immediately loved and respected each other.  They added value to each other's lives and the Ugandan educators gave SO generously of their time to connect with us...strangers...but, now friends!  They are SUCH a delightful, warm, and devoted people.  

I wish you could have seen.

I wish I would have thought to take a picture.

I will though.

Consider this, I asked the Professor, at the last minute, to come and address the teachers who had already been dismissed about 10 min earlier at 7:30pm after teaching and collaborating all day.  He came up and they were all so enthralled in discussion that he chose not to disturb their excellent and empowering work.  

"Fruition", a synonym of our Latin name NITEO is what I think of when I think of the teachers yesterday.  For me, it is the fruition of almost two years of studying both the Ugandan educational system, and researching through my graduate program how to support, encourage, and build up professional educators.

I would venture to say that...

We are all learning and growing through this journey.  I had one teacher exclaim last night, "I could leave tomorrow, after two days in Uganda and feel like it was completely worth it and totally effective."  That was high praise.

Hugs to you all!!

Team Photo

The End of the Road

In terms of the container, the end of the road has come. The final box was removed jointly by Dodi and Darwin.

The photographs DO tell the story.

Safari tomorrow at Murchison Falls for 14 of the 17 team members.

Success!

Early this morning(7:00 am) we made our way to the centre to open the container. Through the diligent efforts of the team, by 9:30 we had it completely emptied. The teachers are at the schools today, and I am sure the are having a great day.

Hope you enjoy the photos, they paint a picture of a dream come true for Karine and I, and are a reason to celebrate for Niteo, First Lutheran, the community of Kelowna, and all our other partners in this effort. Thanks to all!

We have achieved our dream!

Finally!

The container is at the centre and the Team of Resource Centre workers are resting up because we need to have it unloaded by 11:00am or it starts to cost...just like when we loaded it in Kelowna.

I will post some photos on the blog as soon as I have an opportunity, and share the details then. For now, it is sleep time. We had a long and lovely afternoon. The team went to Nateete, and were blessed by a program of singing and African dancing at Living Hope Orphans School. Later we took them to see our friend Bernadette to be fitted for African outfits. Our evening ended with a celebration and Chinese Food feast at Fang Fang.

All involved expressed how much they were already enjoying Africa, and commented on what a bustling and energetic city Kampala is...we even managed to cross the street without incident, which in Kampala is HUGE.

We are bursting with joy as we just got news about the safe delivery of our container. After working for the last several days to make sure that this would indeed happen today, it feels like VICTORY!

The credit goes to God, he did it on His time... and I pray I will be able to sleep, as I consider how in just hours now we will unload the precious resources it contains.

The Team is Here!

Safe and Sound!