S4S Update: Teacher Exchange, USA Style

The gang sports IC t-shirts right before boarding their flight to the US.  From left to right:  James, Robert, Lydia, John, Alex, Geoffrey, and Ketty

The surfers carved parabolic lines across the faces of waves, miracles of movement that seemed to defy the natural laws he knew.  The ocean—impossibly vast—unmasked the curvature of Earth.  Heady, foreign scents floated in the salty coastal breeze.  For Geoffrey Allii, a visiting Ugandan teacher, the seaside scene in California’s Ocean Beach was mesmerizing.  Never before had Geoffrey left his home country, let alone been to the US; or seen waves lap at the edge of a beach; or chomped into a half-pound hamburger.  For he and his small group of Ugandan peers, it was a trip of awe-inspiring firsts.

Six Ugandan teachers have spent the past month in the US as participants in Invisible Children’s Teacher Exchange Reciprocal Program.  After a week-long orientation in New York City, dozens of blustery walks down Manhattan streets, and a few wobbly trips around the Big Apple’s most famous ice skating rink, the teachers traveled to different corners of the country to team teach with local high school teachers.  This team teaching experience fosters a bi-directional flow of ideas; Ugandan teachers learn from their American counterparts, but share an equal number of strategies and ideas with their host teachers, as well.

Getting to the US wasn’t easy.  Three months of intensive training and workshops at IC’s Gulu office culminated in a nail-biting string of interviews at the American embassy.  With just days to spare before their flights to New York, all six teachers were granted two-year, multiple entry visas to the US, allowing the program to proceed as planned.  The in-country training that the teachers completed revolved around big issues like American government, gender equality, and school culture, as well as logistical concerns like how to pack a bag for overseas travel, wash under a mechanized shower, and ride the NY subway system.

Once the teachers reached their teaching posts, everyone waited in Uganda with baited breath for their first batch of updates.  Slowly, through emails and phone calls, the stories started coming in, and much to the relief of all the staff who had been working tirelessly to bring the pilot exchange to fruition, one thing was clear:  the teachers were thriving.

Lydia, a strong-willed, articulate Home Economics teacher from Uganda didn’t skip a beat when one of her American students challenged her.

“Why did you come to this school?” the student asked, sneering.  “This school is a bad school.”

“No, this school is a great school,” Lydia corrected.  “You make it bad.”

For Lydia and the other Ugandan teachers, this message of self-determination is one they know and preach.  They believe, as do many Ugandans from the country’s tumultuous northern areas, you are what you make yourself to be.  No school with electricity, ample books, clean windows, and a sound roof can ever be bad.  A school is always what its teachers and students choose it to be.

The six visiting teachers came from Uganda packing little more than warm clothes, journals, and visas.  What they leave behind for their American students as they head home next week, however, is more valuable than anything you can squeeze into a suitcase:  perspective.

*****

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for stories about the teachers’ time abroad.

Donning IC hats, Alex and Robert try ice skating for the first time