September

I had my first girls' club meeting at my college last week. About 20 girls showed up and our MTC tutor, Namusisi. This club is the first and only club for girls at my college. The administration has been incredibly supportive and encouraging of me wanting to start this club, which is amazing! At first we talked about how I wanted the girls to have ownership of the club and I would just help facilitate. They came up with their own goals and in a few weeks they're going to nominate and vote for their own president, VP, etc. Our first activity was to talk about an important female role model in our lives. I wanted to girls to tell me what made that person a good role model as well as a few things they have learned from their role models. I went first, saying that my mother was my role model because of everything she has taught me. I told them that I respect her for following her dreams and that her strength continues to inspire me. The first girl from the group to share said "Madame Kirabo is my role model because she is ever smart and confident." I seriously wanted to cry, it was such an awesome feeling to hear that my girls look up to me so much.

On Friday another PCV come down to teach the girls how to make reusable menstrual pads out of local materials (school uniform material, towels, thread, button, etc.) About 40 of my girls came to the workshop and Naumsisi as well as our librarian. The presentation was informative and taught the girls such a valuable skill. They kept thanking our presenter for teaching them something they can actually use.

I've been going out to the field to watch my second years do their school practice, kind of like student teaching. The primary schools I go to for observing are sometimes deep in the village, where the students have never seen white people before. Needless to say, I sometimes feel like a big distraction. Actually going out to visit these schools has been eye opening to say the least. The vast majority of students don't have shoes and walk to school for who knows how many km barefoot. There's no electricity at the schools and a lot of times many of the students go without eating lunch because they are too poor to bring anything with them. It's hard to see but it definitely makes me appreciate our American school system much more, as flawed as it sometimes seems to be.

I've been having issues with my post office the past few months, mainly because it hasn't been open. The post worker went away to University and no one replaced her, so my post office has been closed the past 2 months. You can imagine my frustration trying to get this problem solved when most Ugandans don't even know where our post office is! I would bring the issue to my principal's attention many MANY times, almost every time I saw him! I took until a few weeks ago for someone from the Masaka post branch to come to our post office for the day. The only good thing about your post office being closed for 2 months is that when it finally opens, if only for a day, you get 6 PACKAGES! Thank you so much Dad, Jill, Uncle Mike, Sharon, Deb, and Barbara. You guys are awesome and your packages are very much appreciated.

Hope everyone is doing well. I love and miss you all so much!

Ashley