MugishaX Diary

  Dear diary It's been long since my last entry. Allow me reintroduce myself. My name is Fred Sunday, Mugisha. I teach Numeracy and English to Primary Two children at St Kalori Bugwe Primary School in Ivukula Sub-county, Bukono County, Namutumba District in Eastern Uganda. P.2 Learners writing an exam Did you know that the 167 learners we registered this year in 2023 all sit on the floor? Have you ever given it a thought how this, impact both the learners and the teachers? How it impacts the set classroom goals and vision like good handwriting, classroom management and discipline, collaboration in groups, differentiation according to individual learner's ability, among others? I have. And I witness this every day in my class. Absence of seats first and foremost, especially in a classroom with a large number such as mine impedes classroom management and disciplinary values. There is no physical space for me and my co-teacher to traverse. And since the teacher cannot move freely,...

Deep the night is, yet hollow... For in sorrow we do wallow To make our wanderings less painful than it really is I've burried myself twice in that valley The way that I know, I do follow How am I to find, what I never lost? Or to find that which I do not know I need? The scars I bear, are from victories won The ululations you hear, are from days that will never be My dreams, the brightness of the midday sun  To stay a little longer, is to drink wine in the gourds of the gods Our drunkenness, will be the wake of a new realm A realm devastatingly free of any known knowledge  Dynamism, is what we hold dearest To stay stray and aput, is to find the clearest of paths.

I once sat and listened to a wise man tell me the best and most important moment in life was discovering why one was born. If anyone had told me that it would take 26 years to understand what that meant, I would have sought for a shortcut. Unfortunately, this isn't the case in self-discovery. As a professional secondary school teacher, I never could imagine developing the passion and charisma for classroom teaching - explaining the same content I was taught during my school days to my students. I always had a strong feeling that I wanted to do something different, solving real life challenges but I had not the slightest clue what that was. The rare opportunity I got to work with Teach for Uganda as a teacher leader in January 2022 after my graduation in 2021 opened me to a new arena. The standard of living, the prevailing mindsets, and approach to life, among several others that I witnessed in my placement community altered me inside out. The fellowship experience thus far has been...