July l6,2008

We had a busy day helping our teachers (Rona,Joyce). Kavita, I (Bob) helped Rona. Kavita made an experience chart which I found very beautiful. I, a college teacher, with very little experience working with very young children find working with very young children extremely interesting. Now I see how this very beautiful chart with all these beautiful pictures helps the children learn how to read (the pictures correspond to the sentences that refer to them). I find it amazing how these children, whose native language isn't English, are not only able to learn how to speak it but to also write it. Later in the day we--the volunteers--met and while eating Indian food saw oxen passing near the restaurant. Kavita and I vowed we would take pictures of the "cows" for next time (people here have never heard the word 'oxen'). Early in the day we all visited 'Soweto', an extremely poor area of Namuwongo located near the railroad tracks. We,while trying to find a family there,found ourselves jumping over cesspools and ditches. The people we finally found(the family of one of our students) were extremely nice and friendly. Later we visited a school to where many of the students we are personally supporting go. The teachers were extremely friendly and allowed us to visit the classrooms. It was so good to visit our students. We visited a student, an orphan adopted by his mother's sister. The student misses many classes because he must first bring his aunt's daughter to school before going to his own school. This means that he often arrives late to school. And, because they will not allow him into class if he arrives late, he must then go home. This disturbed all of us. Bob