At Sacred Heart school, students are learning creative ways to care for the environment in their home economics class.

Meagan Roberge normally teaches at Argyle Secondary school in North Vancouver, Canada, but this summer she is teaching under Invisible Children’s Teacher Exchange (TEX) Program at Sacred Heart school in Gulu, Uganda. She had the chance to share moments of creativity as she taught students a process where water bottles are recycled for planting.

The students made container gardens by cutting old water bottles in half and filling them with fertile soil, sand, some stones, two worms and finally the seeds. The process was not fully complete until they all watered their container plants. To avoid withering, Meagan advised them to frequently check on their plants and water them daily.

“Students are ready to learn new things,” Meagan says. In addition to planters, the students have also learned how to bake cookies, make paper out of old newspapers and dig a compost pit.

Every summer, teachers from the US and Canada come to Uganda to teach alongside Ugandan educators in order to exchange ideas and build teaching capacity. In December, Ugandan teachers will travel to the US and Canada for the Reciprocal Teacher Exchange. The goal is for the sharing of ideas across cultures to inspire teachers and enrich the learning experience for students.