Mid-Year Conference - Dakar, Senegal

I arrived in Senegal after a very long nearly twenty-four hours of flying. My flight pattern was Entebbe to Kigali (Uganda), Kigali to Addis Abba (Ethiopia), Addis Abba to Bamako (Mali), Bamako to Dakar (Senegal). And that was after driving 1.5 hours to get to the airport in Entebbe.

All of the flights were on time, thank God, but I felt like crap during most of the flights. The last flight was interesting because I had a woman who completely covered her face sitting next to me. She looks like this:

The first time I saw women in full burqas was in Dubai. It is quite a shocking scene if you have never been around this before. I hope this doesn't come out respectful, but they remind me of ninjas. They are so secretive and you can't see their face. This woman actually took the face veil off for the plane ride. The woman was not orginially sitting next to me. Originally there was a guy sitting next to me, but during the time we were taking on passengers in Mali, I went to the bathroom and came back to find a woman sitting beside me. Obviously, she could not be seated with a man. The lady did not speak English or Amharic, so it was difficult for her to communicate with the flight attendant or I. I also noticed she had a hard time communicating with the immigration official once we arrived in Senegal. The immigration in Senegal was stupid. The people were so slow and the visa took forever! I completed a visa online, so I thought it would be an easy process, but it was incredibly tedious. I was about to lose my mind waiting in line.

After immigration, I found my bag and my ride. It was very easy. Then, we headed to the Sunugal Village, where I was going to meet my friend Rebecca from Ethiopia. We decided to stay there a few days before the conference because it was cheaper. The first night, we ate dinner and I crashed. Rebecca got there a day earlier, so she was much more relaxed than I. I just needed to crash for about 12 hours. Once I recovered from my sleep deprivation, Rebecca and I headed to a bakery for some breakfast. This pics are from another bakery, but they illustrate what I had nearly every day!

After an awesome breakfast where I imagined I was in a French cafe with my latte and pastries, we headed for the ferry to go visit Goree island. Goree island is located about 2 miles off of the coast of Dakar. It is very tiny, only about 3,000 X 1,165 feet. It is easily accessible by ferry for about $12 round trip. Most people come to the island to learn more about slave trade, but we were interested in the natural beauty. Goree was on of the first place to be settled by the Europeans.

I knew I was visiting and island, but I really wasn't prepared with the shear beautiful of the island. Rebecca and I roamed around the island for nearly five hours exploring the mysterious bunkers and left over army equipment. I didn't realize how much sun I was getting, but by the end of the day I looked like a lobster's sister. There are many more pics of Goree on my facebook.

After exploring the island and enjoying a seafood lunch, we headed back to our hotel in preparation to transfer to the conference hotel the next morning. We transferred to Al Afifa around 8 a.m. the next day (Wednesday) to attend our Mid-Year Fellow Conference.








We took a taxi to the conference the next day and met all of our colleagues. From Wednesday through Friday I listened to the amazing things that my fellow ELFs are doing. I could not get over the difference we were making in so many lives across the continent. I felt humbled and honored to be a part of the group.

Regional English Language Officer Maria 

I love that Ella's picture was up on the screen as I was presenting. I can hardly wait to see her little blue eyes.

We also had a chance to meet the ambassador, which was a thrill for me. I have been to the embassy in Kampala and Dar es Salaam, but this was a thrill to be invited to a reception. The ambassador of Dakar, Lewis Lukens, was very gracious and humble. I enjoyed meeting other teachers at the reception as well as our respective embassy staff. The food was also AMAZING!

Ambassador Lewis Lukens

Allison (Mozambique), Valeria (Rwanda), Rebecca (Ethiopia), Ambassador Lewis Lukens, Eric (Mozambique)

Senegalese teachers 

I really enjoyed this vacation and meeting so many new people. I shared a room with my friend Rebecca and we had such a great time. As I reflect on trips, I am always amazed at how well we all travel together. So grateful for this amazing ride.

Arua Workshop

On Wednesday, April 9, at 6 a.m. Moses, Peter, Richard, Bernard, and I embarked on a journey to Arua to conduct a workshop. Arua is only about 502 KM (311 miles), but the journey took us nearly 12 hours.

The workshop was designed for lecturers and secondary teachers of English language. I wrote a grant to the U.S. Mission - Uganda with the help of our Head of Department in conjunction with UCU to conduct two workshops and a conference. UCU pays for our accommodations and provides a vehicle while the U.S. Mission pays for our materials and fuel. It is a win-win situation.

On the way to the workshop, we passed through Murchison Falls National Park, home to many animals and the Nile River. It cost $40 for me to get in, but everyone else was much cheaper. We saw lots of interesting animals including antelopes, waterbaks, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, etc. We had to wait a few hours to catch the ferry, so we found a nice resting place to read and relax while waiting to continue our journey. The place even had wifi!

These elephants were literally charging towards our car...scary! I cant' get over how big there are in real life. Once you see them in real life, you will never want to see them in a zoo.

hippos

Because the Arua campus is so far out of town, we decided to hold the workshop at Slumberland Hotel. Slumberland is a nice hotel with affordable rooms (Shs55,000 or $22). There is hot water and consistent electricity. The have beautiful, lush gardens for relaxing during your down time. Unfortunately, there wasn't much down time!

The workshop hall was nice and well equipped. The staff did a good job of keeping it clean and providing for our needs.

My absolute favorite thing about these workshops is the amazing teachers I meet. They are truly, truly amazing. Let me tell you some reasons why they are truly amazing.
1. They are paid Shs 180,000 ($74) a month.
2. They teach very, very large classes - sometimes over 100.
3. They work in hot, humid conditions.
4. They rarely have access to electricity, let alone internet.
5. Their only visual aide is a chalkboard.
6. Students often have to share a book among three students.
7. They work long hours, often unappreciated by demanding administration.
8. Teacher's performance is graded on ONE test.

It truly is remarkable. I have heard many stories here about becoming a teacher. Many parents don't want their children to become teachers because they know it is a life of poverty. It is hard, hard work. I have never seen such a harder working group of people. Before leaving for the workshop, I went to the embassy to pick up many materials for them. I tried to get as much as I could because they need everything. I tried to make it fun with games and such so that they could "earn" prizes, but I would have given them the resources anyway. How amazing!

Richard and Peter

This teacher was a Scouts leader!

Peter teaching

Peter teaching again

We had two days of sessions where teachers were able to collaborate together and learn about the latest curriculum reforms. The head of education and the director of the Arua campus also came out to assist us. It was truly a joint effort. At the close of the workshop, we gave a certificate of attendance to the participants for their hard work. Everyone loves a certificate!

It truly was inspiring to be with so many amazing educators, although the long journey was very tiresome. We left on Saturday and arrived back in Mukono in the afternoon. It only took us 9 hours on the way back because we took a more direct route. We will be repeating this workshop in Kabale in May and hosting a national conference in June.