Sandra Washburn – Page 2 – Oysters and Pearls

Canes for the Vision-Impaired

Dear Sandra,
I have given four white canes out yesterday during my training with a group of persons with disabilities at St. Jude Consolation Home. It was a big group consisting of different types of disabilities. Among the group there was Lucy, Lakwonyero, Santos and others. I have called this meeting to organize the disabled persons within the Municipality into groups of four and have them elect their leaders in order for them to seek assistance from non-governmental organizations and other charitable organizations. It worked well and the elected leaders will meet on the 13th Sept. to discuss a way forward and report back to members on 11th Oct.

Man having just received his white cane. There were new blind persons that attended the meeting and they requested me to obtain for them the white canes. I have given some to a few because I only have very small canes (for young children) only. If you have the possibility of getting more white canes it would help me addressing their needs.

Samuel

The letter above was written by the director of the St. Jude’s Consolation Home. Samuel was the one who introduced us to the two schools in Gulu that are inclusive of blind

Teaching Robotics in Africa

Linz Craig from SparkFun was invited to teach a course in robotics to our students. Here are his thoughts and a great video of his journey.

Please enjoy Linz Craig’s blog: Teaching Robotics in Africa.

Holiday Training – August 2013

Literature Lesson This break is the most important one of the year for academics because the O-Level (Secondary Four) and A-Level (Secondary Six) candidates will take their National Exams just a few shorts weeks after returning in mid-September. We have limited the Holiday Training to those candidates and the two forms below them.

Many, but not all, of our students have the Booksense player which enables them to listen to the day’s lessons or books that have been scanned during their off hours. Others will read their Braille notes, which have been typed over the past few years, bound and carefully guarded. Achieving a Division I or II result is extremely important for these students to reach their dream of attending college. Their aspirations range from lawyer to journalist to teacher and other careers.

Even with their parents help, to afford the travel and living expenses associated with university level, some scholarship will be needed. Achieving at least three scores at the top level will assure a spot and some scholarship funding.

$Math Lesson$ We are particularly proud of our brave A-Level candidates who have chosen to sit for the Sub-Computer Mandatory Test from which they are exempt. These three are path-breakers for all

Engineering is Elementary: What Makes a Strong Mortor?

This week, the students are Materials Engineers, exploring the properties of various materials used in building a strong wall. Three types of soil – Clay, Loam and Sand – are explored for their adhesive properties and durability. Using their hands, mixing the different soil types with varying amount of water, the students made “rock sandwiches” which dried overnight. The following day, these were given the earthquake test (how many shakes to make them fall apart?) and observations about cracking were shared with the group.

The teachers opened the “store” for students who had prepared their Engineering Diagram and list of supplies requested. They could choose up to six scoops of the various soil types and up to 10 tablespoons of water. The gravel was already rationed in bowls.

Wall construction began in earnest outdoors with everyone getting down and dirty in the lower field. The walls were transported to the Director of Studies office for overnight drying. Friday, the students will test to failure, and a very large crowd is expected to observe.

Additional photos are in our Gallery

Engineering is Elementary: Testing for Failure

EiE (Engineering is Elementary) finished the week with the Engineering Design Process. Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create and Improve are the five steps. In the small groups of three, the students sketched plans for their bridges. After reviewing the available materials, they wrote a list of supplies that they would need to get at the Store from Teacher Kate, keeping within the constraints of the amounts of each of the materials.

Sitting with the supplies, they began to experiment how to construct the bridges. Even the teachers were in suspense of how the problem would be solved. One clever student figured out that a wiki stix could be formed in a way that would hold the popsicle stick in place and this caught on among the other groups and then we saw binder clips, transparent tape and more wikis used to fasten the sticks and then the cross beams.

Recording the amount of materials used was the final step before testing for failure. First, a barge was passed under the bridge to check that the width was adequate. After that, notebooks representing pedestrians

Engineering is Elementary: Do you know this word…Process?

Engineering is Elementary is a program designed to be used within Elementary Schools to relay the concepts of Engineering, using a hands-on approach. Two experienced teachers from Boston Museum of Science arrived in Gulu last Saturday evening and will be teaching two of their 20 modules to two groups of students.

The first stop on Sunday morning was breakfast at San Kofa Café to fortify ourselves for shopping in the market for custom designed clothes in the local African fabrics.

Orientation at the school, for Kate Sokol and Erin Fitzgerald started on Sunday afternoon with a complete tour of the campus, including visiting the inside of each dorm and classroom, the athletic fields, the kitchen and the small pine forest planted in 2005 from seedlings. Every room was orderly and swept spotlessly clean. As far as the eye could scan, there was not a single piece of trash. Our hosts, Rev Ochola and Deputy Headteacher Dolly Oryem gave a detailed history of the school, including events leading up to their Centenary in 2014.

Sixty students in two classes of 30, inclusive of blind and visually impaired students as well as sighted

Holiday Training – Ropes Course

Blind Annex Students at The Recreation Project, pass a Hula Hoop without unclasping hands.

During an unscheduled holiday, several Blind Annex students returned to Gulu High School for math and computer training. One morning, students visited The Recreation Project and loved the challenges of the Ropes Course. Here, they are passing a Hula Hoop around the circle while keeping their hands clasped. Ben, the leader is timing the passing, so everyone is focused on cooperating to pass it swiftly.

Passing the hulu hoop without breaking hand-holds

First Term Holiday Training

Holiday Training started on Monday May 4th. For the first time, we are having a residential training session which costs more but also allows us to do more and gives the students free time for self-study or hanging out with friends that they miss seeing because they are at different schools. Here is the report from the teachers for the first day:

It was raining outside so we took over the dining hall, which is finally open now that the books have been returned to the library. Also, I’m trying to incorporate the 4 non-GHS students in my S3/S4 maths class and use them as a resource to help teach. Yesterday we paired up into teams of one student from GHS and one student from Iganga, and had a math competition. I think we’ll keep the competition going all week.

Traveling Light – Not a Chance!

Heading to Uganda always presents a struggle to fit everything into six suitcases, if possible. Once I had 11 bags. Here is a photo from March 2013 of just my luggage in the vehicle…my business partner Denis directs the bellmen from Speke Hotel and our driver, Henry, to fit everything snuggly. This was after off-loading several items in Kampala with Nyaka Aids Orphans Project Country Director, Jennifer Nantale.

Preparations for Summer 2013 Travel

Plans for summer 2013 are in place and now we are all busy making lists of what we will need to take with us to complete all the teaching that is scheduled. My suitcases will carry robotics kits, laptops and software, flash drives, microscopes, books and snacks.

It’s important to bring some snacks with you because Ugandans tend not to eat between meals or in their cars like we do. They sit down for a meal and enjoy it with friends or family. My snack selection will include tins of nuts, bars of chocolate and different kinds of energy bars. I like to bring something new for the students to try. Last time it was Butter Rum LifeSavers and Craisins, both of which were a big hit. We are bringing some branded water bottles this year in hopes of promoting reusable vessels and that we will also consume fewer plastic bottles. KOR gave us a discount and a friend who works with a printer is preparing the stickers.

We don’t consume tap water, but St Jude’s Orphanage has wonderful fresh water right out of the ground that we can use to fill our bottles.

Sandra

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