By Kimberly Beebe | Assistant Director / Project Leader
“Tailoring!” she shrieked.
Jessica smiled. Since the beginning of 2016, our students at Children of Bududa (CoB) have been looking forward to each term’s offerings. Since this is our first year offering practical skills as an alternative to our academic programming, each term is like a “Back to School” party for our students. An individual chooses which class she would like to attend in a biannual registration. Then, they wait and anticipate the teachers’ approvals.
As we held our first CoB program assessments, the management team selected our brightest art students for Tailoring and promoted others to Agriculture and Aesthetics (Art/jewelry making). Tailoring is now the most sought-after and privileged class, teaching the basics of pattern drafting and material sewing. By the end of October, each student will make a skirt or pair of trousers as a project submission!
The summer has been ripe with special guest instructors from Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children, Bududa Hospital, Joy Hospice, and TASO in life skills and art teachers in Aesthetics. Many of our basket weaving students are now also designing personal shoulder bags and purses in new patterns and making necklaces from local materials this month in Aesthetics. While all of our coursework is meant to teach realistic skills that can help supplement academics, it also provides a future for some children who will struggle to complete local secondary school in a few years. We require our students to study and pass their assessments to have real, tangible skills for now and for tomorrow.
Children of Bududa has finished an exciting summer as it ramped up special coursework with English-centric classes in journalism, drama, and story-telling. May, June and July were special months of the “Great Big Turnip”, storyboard writing, and the distribution of a local CoB Newspaper, The Bududa Monitor. Bududa Learning Center hosted International Development interns: Jessica, Kashif, and Anne-Sophie. All three prepared field work and taught these summer classes. We’ve had the privilege of working with these ambitious, intelligent Canadian and American students for three months. We are so happy to report that things are changing and for the better! Until next time…
Yours in gratitude - -
Kimberly Beebe, Assistant Director
Bududa Learning Center
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