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Professors Expose Students, Faculty to Uganda
Diane Ross and Adele Weiss
Title: Professors of Education
Department: Education
Otterbein offers an abundance of educational opportunities for students to travel abroad. These courses and programs give students opportunities of a lifetime – view another country, learn another culture, experience things one could not experience in the United States. But it’s not just students who get excited about these trips. Just ask Education Professors Diane Ross and Adele Weiss, who are planning their fifth trip to Uganda to continue improving educational facilities in villages.

"Traveling to Uganda and working with Ugandans to improve education means that I can be part of something bigger than myself," Weiss said. "It means that I have the opportunity to bring back experiences that I can share with my classes and my family, so that they can learn too."

In the summers of 2011 and 2012, two teams of Otterbein student and faculty volunteers worked at the Naguru Parents’ School in Kambala, Uganda to build a first-aid clinic and playground, putting in a garden, starting a library and technology lab, painting the facility and modeling lessons for teachers. In 2012, the group also donated 30 suitcases worth of books, school supplies, medical supplies and shoes, all collected as part of a community service project prior to the trip.

“This summer, we hope to continue our initiative by focusing on health and wellness, nutrition, literacy and cooperative play,” Ross said. “A new group of volunteers (including seven Otterbein students) will work to increase health and risk awareness through education in addition to providing basic health screenings, establishing relationships with local internists, optometrists and dentists, and providing medical supplies to neighborhood families.”

The Naguru Parents’ School is primarily concerned with the education of vulnerable groups of children, including street children, orphans and children from poor income-earning families. According to Ross, the school has approximately 500 students from ages 3 to 15, 14 teachers and more than 200 children still waiting to come who cannot afford the $100 fee necessary for uniforms, lunch and school supplies.

"We don't just go to Naguru Parents' School, we are an integral part of the school. We are recognized in the neighborhood as friends and colleagues," Weiss said. "I've traveled all over the world as a tourist. When I go to Uganda, I am no longer a tourist. My life in Uganda has become such an important part of who I am."

Ross said a group of donors will be supporting a new e-reader initiative – a $12,000 project, in conjunction with Worldreader, will provide 50 e-readers with 100 texts per reader to help promote literacy at Naguru Parents’ School and in two no projects at Pole Pole and Mukono.

“In the village of Mukono, Uganda, we are starting a school with the headmistress of Naguru, Sylvia Kyomugisha and our partner Jordan Seramuga,” she said. “This summer we will build a baseball field and volleyball court and will start to form teams of village students to learn team competition.”

In May 2012, Otterbein sponsored a trip for Kyomugisha to visit the University to observe Otterbein students in the classroom and learn more about American educational structures and culture.

“It almost changed my perspective of our lifestyle more to see her come here,” said Ross. “When we’re there, we know they have no running water in the school, limited electricity and 60 to 80 kids in a classroom. But to view the States through their eyes is a whole different experience.”

It’s that kind of experience that drive Ross and Weiss to keep working with this program. They have even been working with Makerere University, the largest school in Eastern Africa, to develop a faculty exchange program.

While the annual trip is not offered as part of a course, Ross and Weiss hope that one will soon be developed so that they can take more students for longer trips. The two believe the trip offers students both educational and personal growth.

“It brings students out of their comfort zones,” Ross said. “The best part for me is watching the students learn how far they are willing to push themselves.”

"The students we bring are open to new experiences. They learn and grow in amazing ways," Weiss said. "So many of them have told us that their lives and ways of thinking have been changed forever."

The people of Uganda are very grateful for everything the “Muzungus” or “whites” do for them. In a newsletter with stories written by the children, there is nothing but words of thanks and kindness for the work Ross and her team have done. Read the newsletter here.