The following was written by Mercy Southam, Invisible Children’s Uganda Programs Coordinator. While she primarily works out of our San Diego Headquarters, she is currently working in our Gulu, Uganda office while doing research and gathering information for our Teacher Exchange Program.
Since 2007, Invisible Children has hosted the Teacher Exchange Program (TEX) – a cross-cultural classroom collaboration for educators in northern Uganda and North America. Each summer, secondary teachers from North America travel to Gulu, Uganda to partner teach with Ugandan educators in our Gulu partner schools for six weeks. Then, each winter, Ugandan educators travel to North America to partner teach in classrooms stateside.
However, this year has been different. Instead of hosting a traditional exchange in 2013, the TEX program has been undergoing an in-depth evaluation to document the impact this program has had on both Ugandan and North American participants. Behind the scenes, we have been working with the North American student and teacher participants to complete surveys and interviews regarding their experience, and for the past three weeks, our international TEX team (from Gulu, San Diego and NYC) has traveled to Gulu to gather statistics and stories from Ugandan participants.
It has been a remarkable few weeks, visiting our participating partner schools and reuniting with some of our dearest friends and colleagues. And, as for program impact? Check out a few notable quotes from this years’ research below:
“I see the world differently. The world to me now is bigger than just one tribe or one country. I have learned to look beyond my boundaries.”
“Being in constant conversation about how things are done here vs. in Uganda has caused me to reexamine things that I consider to be routine, normal or mundane. It causes me to ask the question, why do we do things this way?”
“To have dialogue with other educators about inequities in education was extremely helpful in building a community with like-minds, brainstorming solutions to such issues, and continuing to be passionate and proactive in social change in education.”
“I learned that, even though two individuals live a significant distance from each other, they still have more in common than they really know.”
Think people should hear about this?