Book Box Update!

These kids love textbooks. Surprised? I know I was! When I was little, textbooks were just something heavy I had to carry around. But here, they're the most popular things on the shelf. 

Last week, one 6th grade boy spent an hour reading about volcanoes, and as he left the classroom I heard him explaining magma to his friends in expressive detail. Everyday I see kids exclaim over a new fact or picture and immediately hold up the book to share their findings with a friend across the table!

My school has no computers, no internet access. These students love to learn, and I get to watch their eyes brighten as they flip through the few beautiful Science Explorer and Eyewitness books that we have. They want to learn more about the world... but we need more books.

Friends, family, absolutely anyone reading this: here is a link to the Amazon wish list I've created for our school. Please, if you decide to help my students in their quest for knowledge, please only buy the used versions of these books! Shipping things here is expensive enough, used books are more than fine.

http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/2SJO04EELYP4P

Thank you for reading this, and please don't hesitate to reach out to me or my parents if you'd like to help but can't afford to ship the book/s yourself, and we'll figure it out!

Every Cloud...

Today convinced me that every cloud really does have a silver lining. 

A few weeks ago, I was feeling pretty awful and went to the nearest town, Mbale, and got diagnosed with a stomach infection (H. Pylori). But the doctors administering the tests were so nice, and were very interested in the Peace Corps and the work we do here in Uganda! They offered to help in any way they could, so I asked them if they'd be willing to come give a health talk at my school. 

Today, these three doctors from the International Medical Centre in Mbale drove almost half an hour to our school! P6 and P7 are now well-versed in practicing good hygiene and both the prevention and recognizing the symptoms of malaria, cholera, and typhoid! 

The doctors also shared their own journeys into the medical profession. All three of them came from villages in Eastern Uganda, went to primary schools in their villages, and worked very hard to get into secondary school. One doctor said "I was even barefoot, like some of you. But you will all set goals and work hard. I am seeing here future presidents, ministers of government, doctors... You are laughing, but yes! I know you will be our good teachers, lawyers, engineers." 

Everyone walked away with a smile on their face, and I couldn't be more grateful to these wonderful doctors.