We Nurture Wonderful Human Beings

Two years ago, I moved out of Kampala to support a team building an alternative model for educating children in Uganda. Like me, the members of this team, and their leader, believed that our public and private education systems weren’t doing enough to prepare children to function effectively in a fast-changing world. Some are teachers by training. Others are spiritual or intellectual nomads who love teaching.

I first visited Sadhguru School as a guest poet invited to inspire a love for poetry in the children. The school was in its fourth year at the time. They had been using Activity Based Learning and Montessori to deliver an international standard of education to rural children at Ndali, a village 25km away from Fort Portal City. I was instantly enthralled.

Sprawling along a valley enclosed by regenerated forest, tall hills with an imposing humanesque presence, and a crater lake that appears on Uganda’s 20,000shs note, it felt like the school sat in the palm of an ancient, wise deity.

The atmosphere was tranquil and calming the moment you stepped onto the premises. The buildings felt like they were engrossed in a mute conversation on intelligent co-existence with nature. The lawn was clean and well-kempt. The teachers and ground staff were warm and friendly, albeit busy. And the children seemed like they were actually happy to be in school — a sentiment I never felt in my school-going years. I wanted to be part of whatever was going on here.

A year later, while taking a break from city life to rejuvenate my creative juices, I found myself volunteering at the school. The school was starting its secondary section and I was asked to help develop the curriculum — a task that gave me the opportunity to experience the school from within.

Sadhguru School caters to a demographic of children getting the short stick in life and education. They live in a part of Uganda where the economy is so bad that many households barely earn more than 100,000shs a month, so access to meaningful education is non-existent.

As you know, the public education system has been plunged into comatose with its ill-thought and under-funded UPE and USE programs. If private schools in Kampala have reduced children to exam-passing memorization robots to feed their ever-increasing avarice for first grades — because first grades mean more parents, more money, and more profit — you can imagine what the neglect of rural schools has reduced the public education system to.

Sadhguru School is one of a few initiatives rising to the occasion to solve this problem. But what I find most outstanding about their approach is their commitment to providing an international level of education. Never in my life did I imagine that I’d ever find a school giving an IGCSE to children in a rural pocket of western Uganda. Yet here they were.

We all know the merits of the IGCSE system. It’s a dynamic and ever-evolving model of pedagogy. But Sadhguru School goes beyond that. The children also receive yoga classes, psychosocial support from teachers, knowledge of modern gardening, exposure to all sorts of professionals who visit to expand their worldview, language training in Rutooro (the language of the region where the school is found), education in performing and literary arts, a comprehensive program for their physical development, and a diet that balances some of the nutritional shortfalls that have become endemic to rural settlements in Uganda.

In the time since I joined, the school has embarked on a journey to evolve its Activity Based Learning model into a Project-Based Learning model that makes me wish I could be young again so I could go to school in a place like this.

With Project-Based Learning, students learn a mixture of curriculum and extra-curricula material through simulations of real-life situations. For instance, a project to turn a 4x5m garden into a 3-acre farm requires students to apply knowledge of maths (ratio, fraction, scale, etc), soil composition (soil) and agriculture to complete the project.

As the students work, teachers will require them to keep records and write essays (and sometimes poems) at certain points, thereby enriching their language development. For them, learning is an integrated experience that breaks the tedium of taking subjects that will never be useful to your life.

To get the most out of Project-Based Learning in a rural environment where there’s no access to modern books and technology, Sadhguru School is moving to set up smart classrooms to maximize their model’s transformative potential.

Smart classrooms are currently the best way to connect students to the galaxy of knowledge available in the digital space. They also prepare them to function effectively in an increasingly digital world.

But for all the wonderful work the school is doing, it struggles to sustain the right mix of resources and staff needed to maintain an international quality of education. As with most initiatives solving a major social problem, funding is a constant battle.

From what little I’ve experienced observing these students at close quarters for a year now, I’m convinced beyond reasonable doubt that enabling this model is probably the most important thing to make happen; not just in Uganda’s education sphere, but all Africa’s.

This model goes beyond making learning interesting and practical. It prepares students to integrate diverse fields of knowledge in solving real-world problems.

That is how we prepare our children to become problem-solvers.

Every child has a right to quality education. Not just because the SDGs say so. But because children are the true wealth of any nation and when we cultivate their potential we unlock limitless possibilities for our most pressing problems.

Sadhguru School’s model is doing just that. That is what makes it so important. The moment this model is perfected and shipped to every school in Uganda and Africa, the promise of cultural and economic renaissance that has eluded us since independence will cease to be a hope. It will become a tangible reality.

You, too, can be part of the solution. You can volunteer to spend a year or three teaching at the school.

You can contribute a portion of your monthly income to the school.

You can make a one-off donation, a quarterly donation, or an annual donation.

No amount is too big or too small.

#IsazaUnderworld

On 25th June, the students of Sadhguru School presented a play at Kampala National Theatre — Isaza & the King of the Underworld; a musical production based on a popular legend of how the mightiest empire in the region’s history came to an end.

The play re-enacts the events of Isaza’s clash with Nyamiyonga with a potpourri of dialogue, rap, song, and dance. The songs and dances are taken from Tooro and Bunyoro, twin kingdoms ruled by a lineage that claims to be the last legitimate heir of the Tembuzi dynasty. The raps are written by the students. And the dialogue is the joint effort of teachers Daniel and Carol.

Before Uganda was ever Uganda, there were four kingdoms locked in a never-ending dance for ascendence. Buganda in the central region, Bunyoro in the northwest, Tooro in the midwest, and Ankore in the southwest.

But before any of these kingdoms ever existed, they were once provinces of a larger and much more revered polity — the empire called Kitara.

Legend has it that Kitara’s borders went all the way to Kakamega in western Kenya, perhaps even Nakuru; to northern Tanzania, all the way to Tabora; to eastern DRC, all the way to Beni; ensconcing the lakes now erroneously known as Victoria, Albert, George, and Edward within its territory.

Kitara is fabled to have been founded by the first Bantu settlers during the early period of the Great Bantu Migration (1000 BCE), who came into the great lakes region with knowledge of iron smelting, crafts, crop and animal husbandry, city building, centralized government, and the clan system of organizing society.

To the original settlers of the region, whose economy mostly consisted of living off the forest, the newcomers seemed like magical beings.

This production is a good demonstration of how the school’s unique pedagogy brings mundane subjects to life.

The idea to do the play, incidentally, came from a teachers’ meeting. Year 3 students had been learning about Tooro culture and folklore in class and one of their favourite topics was the Legend of Isaza & Nyamiyonga.

A volunteer from Kenya who happened to be there when the legend was taught thought the story was rich material for a musical. One comment in a staff meeting became a project. And before anyone could say #IsazaUnderworld, the entire school was rolling up sleeves and getting to work.

From Reception to Year 6, the entire school came together to build, stage manage, and organize a production that was nothing short of mesmerizing. Early Years and Key Stage 1 students helped their music teacher build the dance and songs.

Key Stage 2 students worked with their art and tailoring instructors to design costumes, props, and items for the set. And under the stewardship of arts teachers Natasha, Massa, and Gideon, a work of magic came to life.

In the Days of the Batembuzi

We closed the Christmas term with a musical, Isaza and the King of the Underworld. Based on local legend in the period of the Batembuzi, the script was written by a volunteer and the whole school from reception to year 6 was involved. Students produced the props and were responsible for stage management, make-up and dressing; our teachers wrote the songs, devised the music and choreography.

You can catch a glimpse of the unearthly performance :0) in the video link (after the photos), and in the images above and below. We used elephant grass reeds, spear grass, gourds, bark cloth (cloth made from the bark of the fig tree indiginous to Uganda), goat skin, wild flowers, grasses and leaves to set the atmosphere. The play was translated from English to Rutooro, our local language, in celebration of our local culture and community.

It was so much of a roaring success with our audience that the children were invited to perform it again at Toonda, our local cultural centre; but the biggest honour is that they will be performing it a third time on 28th May to a large city audience at Uganda's main theatre, The National Theatre in Kampala. What a coup and experience this is going to be for the children. At the same time we hope to use it as a fundraiser to complete our IT lab which was partially funded last year, and as a general awareness raising campaign within Uganda about Sadhguru School.

Vocational Studies

We've started vocational classes for Year 6 in carpentry, integrated organic farming, crafts (currently pottery) and tailoring. They have a 1.30hr class in each of the disciplines every week. The classes have become intensely popular; for carpentry and farming some of the kids come back in to school on Saturdays and holidays so strong is their desire to continue with their projects of making a mortice and tenon stool, and designing and planting their own integrated organic vegetable, herb, flower and tree garden.

Tell us of the Days of the Batembuzi

To finish, we thought you'd enjoy this evocative poem, written by a volunteer, sung as the opener to our Isaza musical:

Tell us of the days of the Batembuzi

Tell us of those days of old

Tell us of the days of the Batembuzi

When Isaza was king of the world …

Let us tell you of the days of the Batembuzi

Let us tell you of those days of old

Let us tell you of the days of the Batembuzi

When Isaza was king of the world…

In the days of the Batembuzi, the world was still young

The people were peaceful and sang happy songs

The food was plenty, and no one lacked milk

The people were healthy and no one fell sick …

In the days of the Batembuzi, the sun was always warm

The rain fell without hail and it would never get cold

The trees dripped with honey, the bees didn’t even sting

The rivers were full of fish, the hunters never missed

In the days of the Batembuzi, people loved to get along

The cattle keeper and his kids - kept their cows from the farmer’s fields

The wives would visit each other in the evenings…

The houses had no doors, all because there were no thieves

In the days of the Batembuzi, blacksmiths had the most power

They cut down the forests for firewood and made the best iron

Where they had cleared people came and put gardens and farms

People came together and built roads and towns

In the days of the Batembuzi – the kings were wise,

The kings didn’t start wars they didn’t like to fight

They sold salt and iron to the furthest places to make the land rich

They organized their people and knew how to keep peace

In the days of the Batembuzi there was a young king Isaza

In the days of the Batembuzi there was another king Nyamiyonga

Isaza was the king of Kitara they called him King in the World of the Sun

Nyamiyonga was King in the world of darkness, they called him the King of Ghosts

The King in the World of the Sun, had a quarrel with the King of the Ghosts

That was where the problems began,

And this is how the story goes …

Let us tell you a story from the days of the Batembuzi

Let us tell you a story from those days of old

Let us tell you the story of Isaza Nyakiooto

And the way in which he lost his throne….

Links:

• Sadhguru School performs Isaza & the King of the Underworld
• Warming up for Mahashivaratri darkest night celebration

A Performance fit for a King: 

On 13^th September, the King of Tooro held the annual celebrations to honour his coronation anniversary. Sadhguru School was one of the schools invited. 

We quickly put together a drum routine for the occasion, whose performance impressed everyone present, including the King himself. Our performance was the only encore of the day and we all left appropriately humbled by his attention. We had put on a performance fit for a king. 

As Ignatius, a year 6 student put it, "I felt amazed that the king was happy with Sadhguru School. We heard that he enjoyed watching us play because of our talent.” The whole team was eager to redo the re-enact the experience to the rest of the school when they next got a chance. 

The kingdom of Tooro is a Bantu kingdom located within the borders of Uganda. The current Omukama (King) of Toro is King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV. He assumed the throne after the death of his father King Kaboyo in 1995. He was only three years old.

Coach Denis turns into an actor: 

On the final day of last term we held a ‘Special Family Workshop’ designed for our parents with teen and pre-teen children. The event marked the launch of an ongoing partnership with parents to work hand-in-hand with our teachers in co-creating a community programme to help our children transition smoothly through the turbulent years of adolescence. Emphasis was on protecting the girl child from dropping out of school due to early pregnancy. Our very own Coach Denis shares his experience: 

‘The drama sketch stood out for me because I was a part of the cast, and it was an honour to act in front of the parents. I was happy that they were entertained and that at the same time the message was passed on clearly. Parents opened up and shared their experiences, learning also from our experiences about their children, especially that girls come across different challenges within their communities and the need for intervention. Girls in the Ndali crater area frequently drop out of school due to teen pregnancies and early marriage. I played the rogue of the day - the herdsman that causes chaos and disturbs girls on their way home from school. Afterwards, playing dodge-ball, locally known as Kwepena, was the cherry on the cake. It was nice to see teachers having fun with the parents as we played in a big circle, right in the middle of the school. 

Save Soil: The global Save Soil campaign has been running for a while now and Sadhguru School too, has endeavoured to participate. At the end of the last term, the children were invited to the conscious planet event by Isha Uganda in Kampala where they stunned the audience with great performance but most importantly their commitment to the save soil movement. Students and staff also came together at the school to create a beautiful mural. A time-lapse was also created and published on YouTube. Be sure to check it out. (See the link to the video at the bottom of the blog) 

Save Soil at the Rwenzori Marathon: 

At the Rwenzori Marathon in Kasese, we had the opportunity to raise awareness of the Save Soil initiative. Natasha, a volunteer from Nairobi, Kenya describes her experience: 

‘The chilly mist welcomed us as we made our way towards the Rwenzori Marathon. It was my first time in the region, and every turn and bend left me in awe. The sheer vastness of the Rwenzori Mountains, straddling the equator, felt like something out of a movie. Upon arrival, I had only one task: to get as many people as possible to be aware of the current global soil predicament. Not the easiest task, especially since everyone was fully drenched in the marathon unfolding. But as the day progressed, we captured people’s attention. When the save soil videos were played on the big screens (at the end-point of the marathon), it felt surreal. The curiosity that built on people's faces and the way they approached us with the intent to find out more was wonderful. Every person made aware of the soil problem, is a step towards a solution.’

Killing Time:

I am Massa, a volunteer at school teaching English to years 5 and 6. I travelled the 300km from campus to Kampala with my students at the start of half term to see their very first play, "Killing Time," which took the children’s ideas on storytelling to the next level. During the performance, they were on the edge of their seats the entire time, and from among the audience it was they who gave the biggest reactions as the story unfolded. Their chuckles and comments added to the act on stage. I think it excited them the more that the play was directed by one of the school’s volunteers, Amooti Kangere, and as a result they got to meet the playwright and actors at the end. Once back at their accommodation, they spent the next three exhilarating hours re-enacting virtually every scene from memory. Daphine, a year 6 student, exclaimed how amazing it is that theatre performers use their talent and skill to tell a compelling story. For Onesmus, how just two actors could portray multiple characters on stage and make it work was shocking! “I remember them telling us how time waits for no man and is no man’s friend,” she added. The story revolves around the perceptions of rural-urban migration from a rural man’s perspective – the hope of finding a better society without corruption and struggle, only to find worse in the city of Kampala.

Full Moon festival: 

The largest and brightest full moon of the year was on 13th July, when the 'supermoon' was at its closest point to the earth. This first full moon after the summer solstice is not only annually celebrated as 'Guru Pournima' - one of the most significant dates in the yogic calendar - but is also an important moon in the ancient tradition of our region in Africa, relating to family welfare. 

To celebrate all this we started with 'darshan' and a short meditation from Sadhguru via live stream, followed by fireside dance, drumming, singing, poetry, storytelling and maize roasting; all the while basking in the rays of the moonlight and the dancing flames of the fire. We rounded the evening off with roast pumpkin, coconut curry, and cardamon date energy balls, mmm...

Links:

• Sadhguru School Save Soil time-lapse. Search for us on YouTube

This season, we would like to share with you a snippet of our yoga curriculum here at Sadhguru School. A huge thank you to our team, especially Chris; our in-house classical hatha yoga teacher, for his tremendous support in keeping the children alive, alert and well alligned throughout all school activities. 

Background:

In recent years Yoga and the ethos surrounding the ancient tradition, has emerged as an invaluable solution to many of the modern physical and mental health ailments that we as human beings face. In 2014, the UN created a resolution to form an International Day of Yoga recognizing that health and well being is an objective that requires close international cooperation. As an educational institution, we have the opportunity to address the issue of global health from the formative years of a Child’s early education. Sadhguru school aims to create an infrastructure that supports these objectives and moves our students one step further toward the realization of overall improved global wellbeing.

Why?

Sadhguru School has formed a curriculum including tools of classical yoga in order to equip the students to achieve this goal. We aim not only to prepare them to be successful in the workplace, but to find success in their personal lives as conscious, happy and healthy individuals. 

The practice referred to as Classical Yoga has been passed through countless generations and its efficacy proven many times over in various different research institutions. We have sourced the yoga curriculum from the most prominent and high quality institution available today (see attached subject plan introduction)  and the students practice a varied set of methods that address a variety of issues related to mental, emotional and physical health.

Stages:

Beginning in Reception class (ages 4-5), we implement the simple practice of sitting in stillness and Thoppukarnam, also referred to as super brain yoga. This is to start introducing the children into the two minute practice of yoga. This practice is beneficial for their mental alertness and ability to simply be still and quiet without external input. 

In year one (ages 5-6), we begin with a 15 minute module referred to as Upa yoga or sub-yoga. This practice is to teach the children to move their bodies in more sophisticated ways and to lubricate and strengthen their joints. 

In Year 2 (ages 6-7), we introduce the first of the advanced yogic practices called Surya Shakti. This builds flexibility and strength as well as strengthens the tendons and ligaments. Along with Surya Shakti the children begin to practice Nadi Shuddhi or a breathing practice. This helps to balance the mental process and generates a deeper sense of relaxation in the body.

Finally, from year 3 and above (ages 7 and above), we teach the children the final practice in the advanced children’s modules, referred to as Anga Mardana. This enhances their liveliness and tenacity, as well as builds a significant level of agility and coordination. Anga Mardana revitalizes the body on every level from the neurological system to the muscular and skeletal system. Beyond this there are various levels of Anga Mardana from beginner to advanced level, where we increase the number of cycles and introduce advanced postures into the practice.

Until the children reach the age of 14, this is the yoga that is suitable for a child’s system and more advanced practices can be introduced later in secondary school.

Links:

• A day of yoga at Sadhguru School
• https://www.sadhguruschool.org/

• All about our Yoga Curriculum (PDF)
  

Schools have finally been given a green light to open after two years of lockdown due to the pandemic. We are excited and cannot wait to see the smiling faces of our children back at school this term. We are working tirelessly to ensure that our children continue to love and enjoy learning through a variety of artistic, fun, and creative activities. A very warm thank you to all of our staff who have made this possible!

We have highlighted a few events below; that happened during this period. Enjoy!

Parents open day

We were blessed with a successful open day where prospective parents had a chance to experience our school environment and learning methods. Throughout the day, our children showcased many of the wonderful activities that make up a day at Sadhguru School. This materialised as a day of carpentry, dance, yoga, sport, cooking, science experiments, and more. Parents and children enjoyed a picnic and most of the visiting children wished that Sadhguru school was their school.

Meanwhile, some of our children confidently undertook the role of waiters and waitresses in our newly formed school café. With pen and paper in hand, students took orders, served snacks and drinks, and collected payments whilst our lovely inhouse chef offered guidance. This was a brilliant opportunity for our children to practise their hospitality and costing skills in a real-life context, whilst enjoying our banana and chocolate smoothies, gooey date energy balls, hibiscus honey tea, and home baked cake varieties. Just to share here that all the herbs for the teas and ingredients came from our own organic school garden.

Future projects: A delicious café

Taking inspiration from the success of the open day, we are excited to announce our latest project: ‘The Moon Café’. Thought up by our imaginative Art specialist, the café will serve as a medium for our children to acquire vocational experience in a hospitality setting. 

We are fortunate to be getting everything for the café from our Sadhguru School fruit and vegetable organic garden. As well as baking, serving, and costing, the children will also get stuck in with planting and picking to collect the perfect ingredients for our delicious recipes. Yum! 

Digital Skills Campaign 

We are thrilled to have begun computer lessons for some of our children at Sadhguru School during the two years of lock down. Thanks to the generous donations of four laptops, our inhouse IT teachers have been driving forward one-to-one computer lessons for classes Y4 and Y5. These lessons have explored platforms such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, as well as emailing. We were even able to contact our Education Coordinator - while she took her leave - all the way in England. 

In order to grow our online access and digital learning space, we have launched our GlobalGiving microproject ‘Support Ugandan children to learn digital skills’ in time for #GivingTuesday. It is our aim that this Digital Skills Campaign will support us in providing computer access, IT infrastructure, and training to provide IT skills to all of our students.

As part of our fundraising drive, we have offered the first issue of our magazine ‘The Unschooled’ to anyone who donates over $40 to our campaign. We hope that children, parents, and grandparents around the world will find The Unschooled an adventurous platform to learn and explore our corner of Africa, all while supporting our children’s access to digital learning. As a long-term goal, we hope that the digital skills that the children acquire will enhance their contributions to future magazine issues.