Partner Teacher Visits, Summer Term 2010
Although ash cloud from Iceland forced the postponement of two WorldWise partner teacher visits from Kenya until September 2010, three other schools - Douglas Community School and the Ursuline Secondary School in Cork, and Presentation College Carlow - hosted WorldWise visits from their partner schools in Uganda, Kenya and Zambia respectively.
Teachers Joseph Matovu and Ann Grace Nakuya from Cardinal Nsubuga SS, Uganda, displayed incredible resilience during their week-long delay whilst en-route to Douglas Community School, Cork, in April when they were stuck in transit in Amsterdam's Schipol Airport. The sense of relief and celebration when they finally made it to their partner school was palpable, and the whole school community in Cork - particularly WorldWise project team Roseanne O'Callaghan, Cian O'Mahony and Neil Bronks - went to huge lengths to ensure that Joseph and Ann Grace stayed positive and eventually arrived.
Kenyan teachers Anna Gakuhi and Sr. Clare Tobin from the Mutune Social Centre in Kitui, Kenya, managed to avoid ash-cloud disruption and arrived in the Ursuline Secondary School, Blackrock, Cork for a busy week-long visit in which they visited all of the classes, took part in different lessons, gave presentations on various aspects of Kenyan society, engaged in discussions on the future of the project with Irish colleagues and planned how the next year of the partnership would develop. The reaction of students and teachers hosting them in Cork was extremely positive, and there was great excitement in the school about the upcoming visit of 6 of the Ursuline students to the Mutune Centre this June.
Finally, Presentation College Carlow hosted two members of staff from Kaoma Community School in Zambia, Jonathan Numwa and Patricia Musiwa, in May. This was the second WorldWise partner teacher visit that Presentation Carlow had hosted, and it enabled further developments in the partnership between the two schools and planning for the coming year to take place. The arrival of 4 Kaoma students in Carlow only increased interest in and enthusiasm for the project, creating a great buzz in the school while the 4 visiting students spent almost 2 weeks in school with their Irish counterparts.
More details and pictures from all of these visits coming soon!
