5 days, 5 photos- A week in the life of our CEO, Colleen

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Elaine Miller

Welcome to a very special edition of 5 days, 5 photos! Here, our CEO Colleen takes us through her week, working with our team in Uganda…

“Following our volunteer Jade’s footsteps, I have also decided to put together a day in the week of African Revival during my time in Gulu. This week has been a very interesting and productive week; apart from catching up with our programme co-ordinators, I also visited a couple of the Jumpstart! nurseries and some of our school demonstration gardens in Amuru, attended the International Day of the African Child ceremony and met with World Vision and Save the Children International in Gulu.”

Monday:

After saying hello to all our staff, I spent the day catching up with Richard Ayella (Education Project Co-ordinator) and Scovia Ekit Opuch (M&E Co-ordinator) on our Jumpstart! programme. We discussed its current progress, as well as the information we need to compile for our 6 month report to DfID, due at the end of July.

Tuesday:

Today, I attended a tree-planting ceremony at Wilacic ECD and I was taken by surprise by the number of committed parents who showed up for this event. I then attended a ceremony celebrating the International Day of the African Child where we were awarded a ‘Certificate of Recognition’ by the Local Government for our distinguished service to the children of Nwoya District!

Wednesday:

I spent the morning catching up with Francis Nyeko (Livelihoods Project Co-ordinator), and in the afternoon I visited Juba Road Primary School with Vincent Komakech (Construction Project Co-Ordinator) and the Amuru building officer to inspect the construction work of the teachers’ house we are building. The best part of the visit for me was when the Head Teacher informed us that with our encouragement they have now set up a Contract Committee who will be responsible for the maintenance and management of all the facilities at the school site.

Thursday:

This morning, we met with Kenneth Happy from World Vision in Gulu, to explore potential partnership opportunities. In the afternoon, Dickens Ojamuge from Save the Children dropped by our office to catch up on how we can work together to implement their Gender Roles, Equality and Transformation (GREAT) methodology in the schools we are supporting. I was also hugely inspired by some of the beautifully decorated ECDs and early primary classrooms (pictured) we visited at Anaka Primary School, what a difference a few months have made to the learning environments!

Friday:

I spent the day in the Amuru district, starting off at our field office. We visited Layima, Labala and Pawel Langeta Primary Schools. I learnt about tomato planting, how to transplant onions from their nursery beds into the production gardens, different micro gardening techniques and how much our school demonstration garden programme is valued by every community I have met so far.