Getting hands-on in Uganda

ECE grad Katie Kump, pictured in Uganda with a group of high school students, says she'll never forget the people she met in Uganda and hopes to return.

Katie Kump says having an open mind was key to her learning during an Early Childhood Education (ECE) practicum in Uganda.

"Volunteer and aid-workers need to go in as learners just as much as they go in expecting to help," says Kump.

Kump spent 10 weeks in Uganda, along with ECE instructor Lynda Phillips. One of the highlights of her trip was working with Community Social Service Program student Tara Derby, who was also doing a practicum, and local teachers to set up a childcare centre at Masaka Referral Hospital's Uganda CARES clinic. The clinic cares for people with HIV and AIDS. A permanent space for the childcare centre is under construction, so it is currently located in a large tent.

It was at the childcare centre where Kump learned as much as she taught. She and Derby worked with local teachers to incorporate traditional Ugandan activities, such as making balls and dolls out of banana leaves. They also exercised their creativity, using available materials like bottle caps for children to make shapes and designs with.

Meanwhile, Kump introduced Canadian activities like molding playdough and using flannel boards and shapes as visual aids to story-telling.

"Spending 10 weeks working with children who have no English really helps you to understand that there are so many more ways than speaking to communicate with a child," says Kump.

In addition to the childcare centre, Kump worked in a school for children with disabilities, and visited children in their homes, a school for deaf and blind children, parent-support groups and meetings and sat in on physiotherapy sessions.

"Having the chance to work with children in another country, let alone a developing country, is an experience that no other practicum placement would be able to compare to," says Kump.

"Working with children who are extremely self-sufficient also helps you to grasp just how capable children are," she says.

Kump, who has completed the ECE Program, is taking her BA Child and Youth Care at Douglas starting in September. She will have two more practicums to complete and she hopes one will be in Uganda.

"I met people there that I will never forget and I hope to continue to support them in any way I can," says Kump.

Related Links

Early Childhood Education
BA Child and Youth Care
Douglas College Uganda Project
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