From Stafford Schools:
Ms. Kelley Kruzel and her fifth grade students at Kate Waller Barrett Elementary School are participating in a video pen pal project with students from across the globe. Her students visit weekly with students at the Green Valley Child Care Primary School in Uganda.
“We started meeting with Teacher Ronnie, Tugavune Ronnie Wilson, once-a-week for an hour on Fridays,” said Kruzel. “The first time they talked to us, it was the first time many had seen a computer open. They were completely shocked and wouldn’t talk to me or answer our kids at first.”
“The second time we met was over spring break, so it was just with me and not the class. We had a two hour Meet where they sat and asked me whatever they wanted to ask,” Kruzel continued. “They asked me if our trees lose leaves in the wintertime. It just happened to be winter at that time, so I took them outside and showed them our trees.”
The students have learned that classrooms and learning in Uganda is similar and different in many ways. Together, the students played a game called That’s Me, standing if the teacher read something they enjoyed doing such as playing sports or creating art.
“We learned things like they have to walk to get water, their classroom has no air conditioning and no floors, the whole classroom was very basic,” said Bronx Behrens, a student in Kruzel’s class. “We learned that they like sports and take end of year exams just like us.”
“When we found that they take end of year exams, we put together a box of treat bags and pencils and wrote letters and encouraging notes telling them how amazing they are,” said Zoey Borges Vazquez, also a student in Ms. Kruzel’s class. “We also sent them the game Uno.”
The small gesture made a lasting impact on the Ugandan students according to Kruzel.
“There wasn’t a lot of monetary value to the items we sent, but they made such a tremendous impact on the Ugandan students,” she said. “They took the letters home and read them to their families. It has become exciting for them to learn English. They are practicing with their parents so they can engage more with our students.”
Both classrooms are exchanging more than just tokens, they are learning more about culture and kindness. The classrooms exchanged dances; Kruzel’s class taught the Ugandan students the Macarena, and the Ugandan students danced a traditional Kiganda dance used to welcome visitors to their village.
The kindness extended into concrete and a roof. Kruzel’s class participated in a student run Penny Wars, collecting donations to send to Uganda. Together, the school raised nearly $600 to help repair the classroom.
“It makes me happy that they want to learn when they could be resting at home. I think we are also learning more about kindness,” said Borges Vazquez. “People donated $10 or $20 when they could spend it on toys or candy.”
“My class started the Ugandan connection, but my Academy team took on the Penny Wars fundraiser. At Barrett, each student, grades 3-5, is separated into one of four houses; red, green, blue, or orange,” Kruzel explained. “The idea was for your house to have the most points by the end of the year. If you bring in pennies, you receive points for your house. You also can sabotage other houses by bringing in larger coins because they would deduct points. This was mostly a student run fundraiser. They counted the money, they did everything for this project.”
Kruzel has seen a change in her students, one she hopes will impact them through adulthood. Initially, the classes connected to learn more about the world, but each has learned more than Kruzel ever expected.
“Ronnie reached out to me wanting to introduce his students to a bigger world, and I think we are doing that. I wanted my kids to see the world is different, that not every school is like Stafford. Because of this program, the desire to want to impact has grown,” she said. “We read a lot of stories about how one person can make a change and I see this reflected in our school. Things as simple as one of my students walked in on Tuesday and wanted to know how she could impact our community, so we picked up trash. I’m not sure if she would have had that thought if we weren’t already talking about making change in Uganda every day.”
