Bwera Workshop Days 2 & 3

A hearty breakfast in my room this morning includes (left to right) tomato sauce, sugar, soya tea powder, freshly roasted g-nuts, spaghetti, hot water in the thermos, my tea, scrambled eggs, deep fried and salted chips with pieces of tomato, rye bread and utensils. The meals are amazing!


After sharing the recycling projects of the bottle cap box and plastic bag mats, the teachers showed me some student flip flops, common with the youth here in Uganda. They last forever because they are made from old tires!


On Day 2 we discussed the remaining environmental concepts, vocabulary, and questions, then moved into some teaching strategies - many of which had been modeled through our exploration of environmental education.


Once the importance of student-centered learning was somewhat clear, we got to know Gardiner's multiple intelligences.


and Bloom's Taxonomy of Thinking, which encourages teachers to call students beyond knowledge and comprehension, toward evaluation, analysis, and synthesis - creating newness from your learning. We wrapped up Day 2 with a stellar volleyball lesson that included activities for each intelligence.

Another village walk happened today after school, with the Nelsons, Gideon and Lazarus leading me to the river that borders Congo and Uganda. In the cool river, banana boozers make pure, distilled alcohol from bananas fermented in the jungle. The distillers had packed it in for the day, but we found the fermenting fruit on our way out.


This would be strong juice. It stays in the bucket for five days.


Then the concoction is filtered into an empty barrel in the pit at the bottom of this slope, between Nelson and Lazarus. The wood structures keep the chunky stuff contained.


Once filtered, the juice sits in the jungle for three more days before it is distilled through heat and pipes at the river's edge. The guys managed to find a sip for us with a local gathering of men at someone's place.

There were a few other interesting things along today's walk.





vanilla beans,


some women's work that needed doing,


the river that borders Uganda and Congo,


Lazarus fishing,


Gideon posing,


The Nelsons showing affection, as men do here.


a palm oil tree


and it's prickly, unripened berries,


a coffee sifter (Arabica, Corona and Robust are grown here),


some rare beans that once were plentiful and will be planted at the school.


and the magnificent Western Rift Valley.


Workshop Day 3 my camera battery was being charged (no electricity at home). We applied environmental integration, modern teaching methods, multiple intelligences and high levels of thinking to each teacher's subject area. In the afternoon, everyone learned to plain and crochet, having collected plastic bags as homework.

Dinner is squash, Irish potatoes, rice, beans, cabbage and tea. I use the spoon to serve and now eat with my hands.


with love from Jen