Positive Planet Leads Trip of U.S. Teachers and Students to Uganda

After a year of planning and preparation, Positive Planet sponsored its first trip, visiting our sister schools in rural Uganda. Representing three of our U.S. sister schools 25 teachers, students and parents embarked on an exciting three-week journey throughout the physically beautiful and culturally rich nation of Uganda. Beginning with a ten-day eco-tour of the entire country, our hearty band of travelers withstood 12 hour drives over mountainous dirt roads to see Uganda’s breathtaking landscape while learning about the everyday lives of the people of Uganda. Visiting Uganda’s national parks we trekked the endangered mountain gorilla (over half the world’s population of 700 live in Uganda) and observed the rich diversity of African wildlife.

After completing a circuit of over 1000km we returned to the district capital of Masaka where we began the work, which was the focal point of our trip. In partnership with Ugandan educators from our sister schools, a three-day Teacher Skills Workshop was held attended by 26 Ugandan and 10 American teachers. Exchanging ideas and experiences, all of the participants discovered that there was much to learn from each other and left with a renewed dedication to deepen and expand our partnership to improve the quality of education for all of our children.

Teachers, students and their parents visited each of our sister schools where we shared our games, songs and dances with one another. As we ended our trip all who participated expressed that the trip was life changing. Life changing in that each of us was moved by the desperate conditions endured by our sister schools as well as the inspiration we received of our Ugandan friends to continue to build bridges between our sister school communities to impact the lives of all of our children.