After three months, our time here in Uganda is coming to an end. With one day left before we return to the land of ice cream and cheese, we have been reminiscing over our experiences and memories of our internship. We have had a wonderful time and made so many friendships and memories we will cherish forever.

We spent every morning during the school week this summer teaching at St. Anthony’s Nursery School and St. Anthony’s Nursery Teachers College. Our nursery classes consisted of 28 students who loved to run, dance and yell. On a daily basis, we sang the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and the kids went wild. We will never forget how fast they tried to dance to the song and the giggles that lasted for minutes after the song was over. Looking back, we are able to see how much progress our students made. In the beginning, the only English our kids knew were the names of the letters and numbers, and the answer to “How are you?” (I am fine!). However, on our last day we made a scavenger hunt and the children were able to name many of the objects in English! One of the girls in Top Class, Namuli Esther, also loved to come up to us and say, “Teacher, teacher, how are you?” Little things like these are so rewarding, and they show us that our time in St. Anthony’s this summer truly made a difference for our students!

Scavenger hunt for flowers, sticks, rocks and a high-five from a nun!

Our class of year one nursery school teachers in training also ended in success. At the beginning of the term, we struggled to understand each other and the girls were very reluctant to speak out in class. However, by our last week the girls would volunteer answers in English, offer suggestions, and talk about their plans for the future. This was a huge step forward for us, and we are very excited for them to continue their education and future careers. Although we were the teachers, we have learned so much about culture, language, patience, and even problem solving! We have grown to love each and every one of our students at St. Anthony’s and Stella Maris, and it will be incredibly difficult to leave them.

Nursery school teachers in training

Our time here in Nkokonjeru would not have been the same without our amazing students, co-workers and friends! We cannot say thank you enough to everyone here who made our last three months such a success. The Sisters of St. Anthony’s, Sister Lucy and Sister Kyomukama, have done so much to ensure that we were always happy, healthy and having an amazing experience. The teachers and staff at Stella Maris have been so welcoming and helpful; we do not know what we would have done without them. Thank you to the other countless individuals who made our time in Uganda the most rewarding experience we could have asked for!

Sister Lucy and Sister Kyomukama

How can we say goodbye to such an amazing group of people? We can’t truly say goodbye, so for now we will say “Thank you for everything and we hope to see everyone again soon!”