Spring Updates

Hello family and friends,

    

We are nearing the end of Term 1 here at The Amazima School - Primary (one more week of lessons, then one week of exams). I am so ready for a down time and a little extra sleep, but grateful for so much over the past few months.

Sports Day

The big event of Term 1 was Sports Day. At the beginning of the year, all students were divided into four houses (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). I was chosen to head up House Luke along with Joseph Nsubuga. We had 83 students and 8 teachers in our house. Every Friday, Joseph and I would meet out on the field for 1 1/2 hrs with our Lower Primary students and 2 hrs with our Upper Primary students. We would practice cheers, lead our students in training for different events, and try to find ways to entertain those who were not participating. 

On April 5th we took all the Primary students to Amazima's Secondary campus and spent the whole day cheering and competing. It was a very long day (over 12 hrs!), but filled with so much fun and opportunities to connect with our students. 

One of the greatest successes of the day was seeing our students' sportsmanship. We've been very intentional over the term talking about what it looks like to win well and lose well. I think many students (and even teachers) felt like you either had to choose to try to win or to have good sportsmanship - you couldn't do both. We've been trying to teach what healthy competition looks like and Sports Day was the perfect day to practice. 

    

Unfortunately, fighting is so common in sports here. I have been locked in a grocery store before because there was a brawl on the soccer pitch a block away that police had to break up by throwing tear gas. All of our Ugandan teachers have stories about being at different sporting events when mob fights have broken out. We were told by one of our Ugandan teacher friends that he had never been at a Sports Day where he hadn't seen several fights go down. 

    

All that to say, our kids were amazing - especially House Luke. We cheered throughout the entire event. Win or lose, students congratulated teammates for giving their best effort. They were gracious in victory and defeat. I am so proud of our students and hopeful that we're preparing them to make a difference in their communities. 

Godwin 

I think I've mentioned before that I had the most amazing TA last year - Godwin. He asked me to take walk with him in February so he could secretly share that he's getting married! (I think they'll officially announce their engagement in August) I'm so excited!!!! Judith, his fiancée, grew up in the Amazima program and is now a TA in our P3 class. They both love Jesus and others so well and I couldn't think of two better people finding each other. Judith has asked me to be one of her maids in her wedding, so I get to wear a traditional gomesi dress and have a very Ugandan experience!

Resource Teacher

I have really been enjoying my role as a resource teacher. It's not without its challenges, but I feel as though I have been able to support and help our English (and even sometimes Reading and Science) teachers at Amazima. I love when the teachers get excited to try new activities in their classrooms. For the most part, they have been so willing put in extra effort to create resources and try new ideas. I'm praying that this relationship continues in Term 2 and I am able to effectively continue to support the English team.

I do miss being in the classroom all the time (my life sometimes feels like nonstop meetings and typing), but I've tried to find opportunities to co-teach with each teacher multiple times. 

Bible in P3

Teaching Bible to P3 is without a doubt my favorite part of my job. As a school, we are going through the Gospel Project together. We've started in Genesis, and it should take us about three years to finish the entire Bible. We've been so intentional as a Bible team to look at how the Old Testament points to Jesus (or as the Bible Project says' "the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus") and I love seeing the kids' understanding of God's character grow as we study Genesis. 

Fortunately, we have a lot of freedom as Bible teachers as we don't have to follow the Ugandan curriculum for CRE (Christian Religious Education). The CRE curriculum has students categorize people in the Bible as either "good" or "bad" (while we know that people are much more complicated than that). As a Bible team, however, we started at creation and had the chance to talk about how we all share the same problem - sin - and how it separates us from a holy God, no one can be categorized as "good". We also talked about God's plan (right from Genesis 3:15) to restore our relationship with Him. We've looked at several of the "good" people in Genesis, how they sinned, but that didn't mean God was done with them - He still had a plan for them. I'm praying that my students come to understand how God does not require people to be perfect before he can love them. He truly knows us - our mistakes, our failures, our sins - and still loves us and can use our lives for His glory. 

 Thank you so much for all the prayers, emails, encouragement, and support that allow me to serve these students and teachers I love so dearly. I'm so grateful for each one of you!

💜 Jaci

* My friend and I were tasked with filming the finish line in our cross country event (so no fights would break out about who was first). 1) Notice the lack of shoes on the runners' feet (running 5k on dirt and rocks) and 2) I love the excitement and cheering from everyone. At the end of the video, I'm cheering for one of my girls who trained really hard for this event.