Ubuntu Network Hopehill in Uganda 2024

In 2024 I went to Uganda with the Ubuntu Network and spent my time in the classrooms of the Hope Hill learning centre, teaching the students mathematics and art.

Mathematics

The maths lessons stayed with the basics, because the point was not to get through a syllabus but to make sure the children in the room could do the thing by the end of the lesson. Alongside them we also covered basic English and hand-washing.

Art

Art lessons are the part of this I was most confident about and most wrong about. I had a plan. The plan lasted about four minutes. What actually worked was handing over the materials and getting out of the way: the children did not need a curriculum, they needed enough paper and somebody to be interested in what appeared on it.

I have taught nothing since that felt as useful, and I have never watched anyone concentrate that hard.

A year later I went back. That trip is written up in Ubuntu Network Hopehill in Uganda 2025, and the organisation behind both trips in Girls Be Strong.