Class: Good morning Teacher Kemi!
Kemi: *cringes*
Maybe facilitator Kemi? Yes, I think facilitator Kemi has a better ring to it, don’t you? I did not like that they called me teacher Kemi. I wasn’t there to teach. I was there to facilitate.
Kemi: “Good morning P4, but please sit down.”
I did not like that every time they addressed me they would stand up.
Figure 1:A selfie with some of the students during a workshop.
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning for six weeks this summer as part of my research project I facilitated workshops at St. Pauls Primary School Nsambya, primary four(grade 3 equivalent) class. The primary four class was made up of 80 students and the workshops focused on safe water practices, and aimed to progressively encourage the students to lead and facilitate their own conversations on water health and sanitation amongst their friends and family in hopes that it would increase their willingness to practice progressive collection methods by involving them in the process at a young age.
Primary four is an awkward stage in your academic career; you’re still trying to figure out whether or not you are too cool for school. Do you participate and engage with the teacher? Do you sit in the back of the classroom and laugh with the cool kids? Going into the project I was anxious and had anticipated that the students would not respond in a positive way to the workshops. They did not have a good classroom relationship with their teachers because they get hit, so earning their trust was hard work- eventually, I did.
Figure 2: Some of the Primary 4 students competing in a soccer tournament.
I am of Ugandan origin and was raised in Kampala- approximately a 30-minute drive from where my research project took place. I believe that it is not only a privilege, but my responsibility too, to serve my community- this is one of the main reasons I decided to conduct my project in Uganda. Growing up I was fortunate enough to have my parents as role models, my mother is a strong black woman with two Ivy League degrees, and as such she has been a constant reminder that anything in this world is within my reach. However, I am aware that I am the exception for many Ugandan children, outside of my mother most of my role models especially within my major do not have the same skin color as me and are rarely female. I wanted to use the workshops to show the students that there are kids that look and sound like them making a change in the world, and hopefully inspire them to be a part of making that change.
The workshops were my favorite part of the project. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know and form friendships with the students. Seeing how happy, smart and full of life they were regardless was a sad reminder of the great injustices of this world but also a reminder of how often we take for granted how “lucky” we really are.
Kemi: *cringes*
Maybe facilitator Kemi? Yes, I think facilitator Kemi has a better ring to it, don’t you? I did not like that they called me teacher Kemi. I wasn’t there to teach. I was there to facilitate.
Kemi: “Good morning P4, but please sit down.”
I did not like that every time they addressed me they would stand up.
Figure 1:A selfie with some of the students during a workshop.
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning for six weeks this summer as part of my research project I facilitated workshops at St. Pauls Primary School Nsambya, primary four(grade 3 equivalent) class. The primary four class was made up of 80 students and the workshops focused on safe water practices, and aimed to progressively encourage the students to lead and facilitate their own conversations on water health and sanitation amongst their friends and family in hopes that it would increase their willingness to practice progressive collection methods by involving them in the process at a young age.
Primary four is an awkward stage in your academic career; you’re still trying to figure out whether or not you are too cool for school. Do you participate and engage with the teacher? Do you sit in the back of the classroom and laugh with the cool kids? Going into the project I was anxious and had anticipated that the students would not respond in a positive way to the workshops. They did not have a good classroom relationship with their teachers because they get hit, so earning their trust was hard work- eventually, I did.
Figure 2: Some of the Primary 4 students competing in a soccer tournament.
I am of Ugandan origin and was raised in Kampala- approximately a 30-minute drive from where my research project took place. I believe that it is not only a privilege, but my responsibility too, to serve my community- this is one of the main reasons I decided to conduct my project in Uganda. Growing up I was fortunate enough to have my parents as role models, my mother is a strong black woman with two Ivy League degrees, and as such she has been a constant reminder that anything in this world is within my reach. However, I am aware that I am the exception for many Ugandan children, outside of my mother most of my role models especially within my major do not have the same skin color as me and are rarely female. I wanted to use the workshops to show the students that there are kids that look and sound like them making a change in the world, and hopefully inspire them to be a part of making that change.
The workshops were my favorite part of the project. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know and form friendships with the students. Seeing how happy, smart and full of life they were regardless was a sad reminder of the great injustices of this world but also a reminder of how often we take for granted how “lucky” we really are.
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