Today we are celebrating International Day of the Girl Child. If she stays in school, remains healthy, and gains real world skills, she will marry later, have fewer but healthier children, and earn an income she will invest back into her family – breaking the cycle of poverty.
In Uganda, girls are grossly underrepresented in student populations. In contrast, about 50% of AAH students in our primary school and on AAH secondary school scholarships are girls. The quality education these young women receive is a building block to a brighter future for each of them. We are proud of these young women and the hope they bring to their community.
My love for Africa is, however, much more than my longing for my childhood and the lush countryside of Eastern Uganda where I grew up. I left Uganda more than 16 years ago, and while I feel the romantic pull every time I think of it, I also feel a certain sadness. It is OK to feel romantic about Africa and its people. It is OK to remember the warm embrace of my village when I return home. It is OK to feel that time has not changed for most of its people. But at the same time, it is important for Africa to know that the world has moved on, for its people to know that technology and progress has changed the world outside. Having fond memories of a past is not going to provide sufficient food for our people. Africa’s villages need more than a hoe and an ax to tackle the challenges of food scarcity. The hoe and the ax and machete, while a mainstay of our African past, has no place in agriculture today. Forty years ago, in our village, people had more than enough to eat. Today, with more than double the population it had then, our village produces less than the food than it did in 1975. Children today in my village are malnourished, and the land they till is tired and cannot produce enough food. Corn stalks are thin and the ears paltry, beans pods have only a few beans in them. Most bananas plants have been decimated by the banana weevil, and newspapers warn of a deadly new cassava mosaic disease that has rendered our cassava tubes no longer edible.
When I went to school, our classrooms had 60 students. Today, those same schools stand, with much decay, but their classrooms have 120 children or more. More kids stay home in the village than go to school. And those who finish school are lucky to have jobs. Uganda’s youth unemployment rate stands at 83%, far higher than any country in Africa, except Niger.
Africa’s problems are not unique. Nor are they unsolvable. The Agricultural Revolution came to Europe and Asia and America decades and centuries ago. Africa does not have to re-invent the wheel to have an agricultural revolution of its own. It has been estimated that two thirds of Africa’s land that is arable is dormant. And yet we go looking for food aid from other countries. It would not take much to grow enough food for Africa’s people, and even export to the rest of the world. And Africa has the manpower. Look at all those unemployed youth as a source of labor. Look to the world outside for capital and equipment. It cannot take much to have an agricultural revolution in Africa that can feed its people.
The same thing with education. We can do a lot better for Africa’s children. Africa has produced many professors and doctors who live overseas because the facilities in Africa are inadequate. If we can provide adequate incentives for Africa’s intelligentsia to return, and a decent program in education, we can help our children in Africa acquire a relevant education worth of its place in the world. Africa’s children are plenty capable. They can learn as well as children from other continents. They just need the facilities, the resources, the encouragement, and the attention of their leaders and those of us in the Diaspora. Those of us who have seen better must plan to return home to make a real positive contribution for our countries. Our children deserve it. Our countries deserve it. Our people deserve it. Africa is that important.
Each summer, teachers and school administrators in Marymount University’s Master of Education in Administration and Supervision program come to campus for two weeks of intensive classes. They arrive from across the country and abroad. The two-year program is mostly conducted online, with two summer, on-campus sessions.
This year, the first year and second-year cohorts include individuals from Mississippi, California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, in addition to local educators in the Diocese of Arlington and the Archdiocese of Washington, DC.
Primarily a program for Catholic school leaders, Marymount’s program also provides a strong foundation for those taking a leadership position at other private, faith-based schools. And, among the 2014 cohort is Thomas Kitandwe Kisolo, director of the Arlington Academy of Hope in Bumwalukani, Uganda, which is inclusive and non-denominational. It serves a remote, impoverished area of eastern Uganda.
Kitandwe Kisolo’s connection with Arlington and Marymount is not new. The Academy is supported by the Arlington Academy of Hope Foundation, which was established by Arlington residents John and Joyce Wanda, who wanted to bring an American model of education to their home village. What started as an elementary school in 2004 has evolved into a major community support system.
“It’s so much more than a school,” explains Kitandwe Kisolo. The Arlington Academy of Hope now includes the elementary school, which has 335 pupils in grades 1-7; sponsorship of about 270 students to continue their education at secondary schools; an outreach program that provides materials and workshops for teachers at 45 public schools in outlying villages; a women’s microfinance program, and two health clinics that give free care.
The Foundation, which receives donations from individuals across the United States, has also expanded partnerships to help support the expanding endeavors. Marymount’s Education Department is one such partner. Marymount professors of education and students have been traveling to Uganda to provide teacher-training workshops for the Arlington Academy of Hope teachers and teachers in the outlying public schools. Kitandwe Kisolo says, “Our teachers really enjoy learning about new, diverse methods of instruction, and they can’t wait for the next workshops.”
Dr. Alice Young, Marymount professor of Education and associate dean of the School of Education and Human Services, explains that “learning to teach with an interactive, hands-on approach requires experiences in those teaching methods. The teacher workshops in Uganda have focused on having the teachers participate in the same type of learning experiences that we want them to provide for their students.”
She adds, “Thomas Kitandwe Kisolo epitomizes what I see is the best of Uganda. He has a joy for life and learning that comes out as he works with the children and teachers at the Arlington Academy of Hope. The new skills, knowledge, and understandings that he will take back from the Administration and Supervision program will build on his natural talents, dedication, and enthusiasm to provide the best for his children and community in Uganda.”
Now director of the Arlington Academy of Hope, Kitandwe Kisolo was headmaster (principal) for seven years and previously taught elementary school for about 15 years. He was invited into Marymount’s M.Ed. program and says, “This is one of the biggest landmarks in my life, and I am so grateful to Marymount for the partnership with the Arlington Academy of Hope and for having me in this inspiring program.” In just this first week, I can realize how much I am learning about human resource management and leadership.” He also notes America’s emphasis on research and resource materials, explaining, “Research is lacking in Uganda and many African countries, but here it is center stage. For example, in my class we have been discussing case studies of cyber bullying. That is just becoming a problem in Uganda, so this gives me insight into ways to prevent it.”
Sister Patricia Earl, IHM, coordinator of the Marymount’s M.Ed. in Administration and Supervision program and interim dean of the School of Education and Human Services, points out that Tom Kitandwe Kisolo brings a fresh perspective to the cohort of educators. “We take so much for granted,” she explains. “The poverty and hardships faced by the children and families that the Arlington Academy of Hope serves are hard for us to imagine.” Yet many administrative school issues are common to both worlds, as is the desire to give students the tools to be successful.
John Wanda at the Arlington Academy of Hope Foundation says, “Our mission is to bring hope and opportunity to kids who have never seen a quality education, who have never seen a clean classroom. We want to give them hope for a better life through education.”
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