FIELD VISIT REPORT TO GULU FROM 3RD T0 7TH AUGUST 2009 Programme outline Date Activities rd 3 August 2009 • Traveled to Gulu • Met with Hope to discuss the next days activities th 4 August 2009 • Sensitization workshop to the parents committee about the community book. • Development of the book layout with the parents committee th 5 August 2009 • Development of the book content • Demonstrated to the committee the use of local materials for making the book. • Started with; applying undercoat and developing sketches for the murals at the Karin center. th 6 August 2009 • Painted the murals at the Karin center • Together with the children developed the content of the community book th 7 August 2009 • Met with the committee to look at the progress of the book so far. • Met with the staff of the CDO, the parents committee to work out the way forward on the community book project. • Traveled back to Kampala Field visit objectives • Create awareness among the committee members about the community book. • Develop the layout and content of the community book with the committee and pupils responsible. • Paint children education murals at the Karin center
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People met • Staff of the CDO • Parents committee members • Pupils of St. Martins and Bungatira primary schools • Management staff of St. Martins and Bungatira primary schools • Very many children at the Karin centre • Some parents at the Karin center who came to watch the painting of the mural. Achievements • Created more awareness about the community book project to all people that were met and this has raised a lot of excitement among all the stakeholders participating in this project. • The parents committee members raised ideas and benefits that can accrue from the community book project, but only hoped that they would be supported to develop those ideas • Involved the parents, teachers who participated, pupils and the staff of the CDO in hands on training of the process of generating the book content and use of the locally available materials. This was to ensure that they will be able to produce the next book by themselves. • Identified one student of Gulu High School who is a student offering fine art, involved him in the mural painting and he promised to become part of the team, since he wants to learn more about art. • Visited St. Martins and Bungatira primary schools, discussed with the management the plans for partnership on the community book project. These created a lot of excitement among the head teachers of the two schools who promised full participation in the project. • Painted two sets of learning murals at the Karin center (map of Uganda, alphabet with pictures and community book project logo). • The very many children who visit the Karin center started using the messages painted on the wall for learning especially the alphabet and the map of Uganda. Issues discussed in the field The following issues arose during the sensitization training of the committee members. The biggest issue of discussion was; how will the community book project benefit the parents and the following issues were proposed; • Lack of skills, the group has potential and interest in the following areas; preparation of traditional foods, music, dance, drama, making tie and dye products, pottery, making table clothes. Can AfA develop our skills in some of these areas so that we can make products that can enable us sustain the group?
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I think the question here is how to do we maintain the enthusiasm and energy of the Community book committee whilst the books are being made? And how do we relate this to the community book and its content? This could be read appears that the parents are just looking for an extra activity for them to do. If so do we then make a commitment to the committee who will run and manage the project for us and for Brookfield to do a skills workshop once every 6 months in which they learn a new skill. – Not dissimilar to the Batik workshop done in Gulu. • In the schools participating in the community project there will be need to select focal point persons, who will lead the activities of the project. Agreed. Who is making this selection and when will they be appointed. It would make sense to have them in place for the start of term in September. • There will also be need to notify the District education office about the project and partnership once the project is finally confirmed. Great • It was confirmed by the participants that the idea of the project is very good and if well implemented it will help the community appreciate and strengthen its culture. It will also help the children; improve on their knowledge, self analytical skills and issues around them improve on children’s writing and drawing skills. Great • The project can also facilitate competitions, provision of learning materials and exchange visits among the children. • Yes • The project calls for very serious commitment among all stakeholders. • Yes and we are waiting to get a commitment letter from Brookfield signed for their half of the project, This will then need to be signed by the Community book committee in Brookfield. • The book should also enable children to teach their parents about the new things they have learnt. • The book will also help children get familiar with other cultures, remove fear for whites among some children. • • The group is going to put together by-laws governing the group. • Great • It was proposed that the composition of the committee should be made up of the representatives from; AfA, CDO, the parents, the teachers and the pupils, for effective provision of ideas. • • The community book should lead us to developing a project. • What kind of project are you talking about here?
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• Can AfA facilitate an exchange visit; for our group to travel to Tororo and share with those groups especially Mbula, Kwapa PTC and Nyalakot PTC to share with them their experiences and also learn more ideas about HIV aids. • That is our hope for the future but it wont be for a while as we don’t have the funding for this at present and we need to wait and see what the results of the follow up trip to these communities is like. • In future can AfA help us open up a crafts shop in Kampala where we can showcase our products? • We can not promise this but it is a good idea and something to be considered. We could showcase some products on our website perhaps. I think it would be good to link the website created by Dana to ours to help with the sales of beads. • It was recommended that the committee should be very creative to come up with interesting ideas and products to share with the rest. Concerns about the project • After raising awareness and the committee appreciating the value of the project, the members of the parents committee raised their concern and fear that; in Gulu there are several NGO’s operating, and that some of those NGO’s go there waste peoples time, raise their hopes and they disappear. So the parents therefore hoped that the same would not happen to the community book project. So do we but we need to be team and work as a team and also manage the expectations of the parents so theat they understand our limitations and can be patient with AFA as we grow. We are a small organization and we will not achieve all our objectives at once. We need patience. • Now that the community book would be produced quarterly, what would the committee be doing in between when the book is not being produced? Is it possible for AfA to develop some of their skills for example in; drama, textile design, development of certain crafts, so that they can have something to do to keep the group busy and together. This is something for the AFA Uganda team to discuss on what they think iare the options for this. Please also see my comment to this question earlier on. Observations • There will be need in future to add more learning messages in the remaining walls at the center. • The timing of the training coincided with the time when the participating schools were doing their exams so their participation was affected. • We will need to take this in to account and plan properly with al stakeholders for the most suitable time to visit in the future. • Brian’s participation was quite limited in that he could not handle the artistic aspects so I ended up being overloaded with responsibilities.
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• You will have to decide who you need to accompany you on these visits n the future. You may need another artist with you. Community Book lay out The following layout of the book was developed and a greed upon by the participants; Page Cover page Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page20
Content Karin Center Community Book LOGO Where to find us Introduction; Topic for the edition About us; the Acholi tribe our background Current affairs Our seasons Months December - February March to June July to September October to November Our festivals Larakaraka Dance description Photographs showing Larakaraka dance Ajere dance description Photographs showing the dance Bwola dance description Photographs Dingidingi dance description Photographs Concluding page; questions
Way forward • The materials remaining would be able to facilitate the development of the next community book, but the members requested Hope that they wanted to use these materials to start developing some of their products, since they could not remain idle. I left Hope to handle this issue with Emily. • The community book should be sent to Justin by 17 th August 2009 for final approval and should be sent to UK by 22 nd August 2009 by Hope. Report Compiled by; Igala Justin AfA Uganda 9 th August 2009
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