St. Ignatius University - Kabale recently celebrated its
first year of inception. In accordance with this the inauguration of the
University will be held on August 24, 2024 to install the Chancellor and
Vice-Chancellor and the guest speaker is the Vice President of Uganda.
A press conference was held and here is the newsbreak:
A follow-up blog will be sent of the event.
Good bye for now.
The one event missionaries enjoy is meeting and spending time with other expats. It provides some comfort especially if you are the only expat at your site. I am glad to share that this weekend. I was able to meet two returning short stay expats in another district, the Codas. The Jennings, who are long stay missionary family in another village within the same Diocese were also invited to this weekend getaway.
We first went to St. Francis Hospital in Mutolere to visit the Codas and met expats from Germany while there. During the overnight stay we enjoyed great home cooked food which reminded us of our homeland. The fellowship was pleasant during the time spent there. Here is a photo of us after celebrating Sunday mass.
It
was nice visiting different areas of the country and participate in sight seeing.
Our next journey, which was adventures, had a few bumps but all in all fun. We
traveled to Lake Mutanda. The lodge has tents and house tree rooms. Very
Unique! So technically my first time I slept overnight in a tent. We were able
to walk on trails and take a boat tour.
I
am glad that I was invited. It allowed me to learn more about the Uganda
culture. Here are a few pictures of the Jennings and myself at the lake.
Well, it has been a challenge the last few weeks. The deadline that I had set has
come and gone for the content writers to submit their sections of the Bachelor
of Arts and Science in Primary Education, as well as Diploma in Primary
Education to me. In addition, there was difficulty in recruiting two content
writers. However, we were finally able to recruit them and with some additional
incentives to the faculty has made progress this past month. The altered
deadline is to have the completed curricula by August 21st. The completed
curricula will be submitted with the academic program application to National
Council of Higher Education by the end of the month.
Once approved we will formally launch the Education Department and begin recruiting staff. The task for September is to begin working on the Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Secondary Education. Since the training and leading the staff in developing curriculum was the largest hurdle. Since English for some was not Advanced, there was a challenge to develop hands-on, project, and problem-based activities to foster critical thinking skills while improving their written English comprehension. All in all, progress has been made!
I am hopeful that accreditation will be granted on the initial application.
Keep St. Ignatius University-Kabale in your prayers.
One of the many benefits of missionary work is the meeting of people and good fellowship.
I had the opportunity to spend time with two missionaries from Lay Missions-Helpers’ sister organization, Mission Doctors. The Jennings are a lovely family of six who were commissioned within the same Diocese but in a town about two hours away.
I have enjoyed spending time with them during their stay in Uganda, thus far. We had a nice visit when they traveled to Lake Bunyonyi for a weekend. The view from their suite was beautiful.
Well
it's been quite cold at night and early morning in Uganda, surprisingly
so since it is supposed to be dry season. Dry season in Africa are the months
with the hottest temperatures during mid-day with the least amount of rain. The
only benefit for me is that there are less mosquito in the area.
At St. Ignatius University, it is more quiet as students are breaking from sessions. The certificate and diploma courses are still in session. This should be a good thing, but it has been a challenging month for me. The education department’s primary curricula are almost done. However, we are still in need of instructors of physical education, integrated productions skills to complete the documents. We still have drafts in the areas of music and mathematics that need content expert attention. Hopefully, we will find individuals in those areas so that the curricula may be submitted to the National Council of Higher Education by end of August for programme accreditation.
We
will continue moving forward towards sustainability of the University.
Till next time.
Well there is progress being made at St. Ignatius! There has been an increase of inquiry of programs being offered and a good demand for Education pathways. We are diligently working on the development of the curriculum and seeking potential instructors for the next academic year for this new department. In addition, the university acquired additional land that was donated by the Diocese to expand the agriculture and tourism programs. On the land is a small structure that will be renovated to hold agriculture labs and supplemental student housing.
Here are some pictures of the additional land which lies about 15-minute walk away from the main campus.
During this weekend, I visited Fr. Paulino Fokushaba home which lies in the Ruhija Forest, which is near the Impenetrable Forest of Uganda. You will see a couple of pictures of his home, pictures of monkeys as we drive through the Impenetrable Forest, and the villages during the drive.
During this weekend, I also visited Fr. Maximiano Ngabirano home in the village of Nyamasizi. His home contains a tea farm. I had the pleasure to touch his cows and sheep. Unfortunately, the goats were too afraid to let me near them. Maybe next time, I will learn to milk a cow.
Uganda is a garden of Eden. It is rich in natural resources and needs assistance in developing their nation to become producers to build and increase their exports in order to provide opportunities and employment for the young.
Wow! These
past two months have flown by and so much has occurred. I have faced adversity,
embraced the community experience, and learned much of the Ugandan way.
During these two months, we have made progress on the Primary Education curriculum for the Diploma and Bachelor's track programmes. The national policy is guiding the revamping of higher education institutional programs to embrace innovative measures and concepts in order to prepare current and aspiring teachers in K-12 education with improved professional practices to deliver high quality K-12 programmes. The current primary and secondary schools need to improve in order to inspire students to become more innovative thinkers and develop critical thinking skills for an improved country.
The progress that we are making on the completion of the curriculum will lead to the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) accreditation of these two programs at St. Ignatius University - Kabale. The desired submission date will be June 2024 with the hopes that accreditation will be received in order to accept applications in the Fall. Then we will begin working on completing the Secondary Education curriculum for Bachelor of Arts and Science to be submitted for accreditation in the Fall.
I look forward to the acceptance of students into these programs as the demand does exist for St. Ignatius University - Kabale to implement the School of Education.
I will keep you informed of the NCHE accreditation process.
