HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

In December 2006 we received some help from two very special ladies from one very special company!

Even though we had employed our staff for the Education Centre we were in a bit of a pickle in early December...how could we carry out an amazing induction and some initial training that would have everyone not only excited about the prospect of working at the Centre but also ready to provide innovative, creative, fun and interesting learning sessions?!

Luckily a forunately-timed email from us landed in the Inbox of "Happy", a training company based in the UK (www.happy.co.uk). We had read about their style of training on the internet and it looked just the ticket - they provide not only learner focused, creative IT training in-house but they also go around and teach other people how to provide such training! We initially asked if they would share some ideas and resources with us...but they went one better than that and sent us two of their workers instead!


In December we welcomed Nicole and Nicky to Uganda and together began planning how they could help us! On December 11th our 10 members of staff arrived for their first day at work and over the next two weeks Nicole and Nicky took us through the most amazing training that showed us exactly how we could turn our lil ole Education Centre into a vibrant, exciting, innovative and learner-focused environment! Everyone learnt so much during this training from Happy - whilst also having loads of fun and doing lots of stupid things like pretending to be witch doctors, playing confusing hand-twisting games and even getting into a bit of a tangle together.....

At the end of the two weeks we had not only discovered what a marvellous, fun-loving and committed bunch we had employed but they had all learnt an incredible amount from Happy and are desperate to get back to work in January and start making things happen in the Centre!

We would not and could not have done anything even remotely as effective as the training that Nicole, Nicky and Happy provided for us. It really made us come together as a team and discover what we want to achieve in the Education Centre.

So...an ENORMOUS thank you to Nicole, Nicky and to their boss, Henry, and all at 'Happy', UK.

And, if anyone can help us persuade them to come back next year and do some follow up work with us we would be overjoyed!

Welcome Amagezi Centre team!

Here they all are....finally! The wonderful Amagezi Education Centre team!

Following a lengthy and difficult national recruitment campaign (during which we received over 300 applications for jobs and held over 50 interviews) we are very pleased to introduce you to our new team!


At the back, from l - r we have.....Dave - Project manager, Ernest - Science department intern, Fred - Handyman and agricultural support, Charles K - Community development intern, Chris - Pottery and art tutor, Silas - ICT intern and tutor cover, Robert - Theatre tutor, Herbert - Agriculture tutor, Venus - Administrator, Amos - Science consultant
At the front, l - r, Nic - Project manager, Charles M - ICT tutor, Hannah - Soft Power founder

This photo was taken on everyone's first day on the job! Since then we have experienced 2 amazing weeks of training and induction during which the team really bonded and took on the vision of the Amagezi Education Centre. We truly believe we have a remarkable team capable of taking this Centre and making a huge success of it; providing primary school pupils, local people and local communities with access to a whole variety of exciting and creative educational opportunites which will enable them to improve their lives both now and in the future.

We can't wait to start working again on 8th January and really see this team develop!

A huge round of applause and a big WELCOME to everyone!

Mr "Dot Com".....

This is Alex, or "Dot Com" as he is known - he is our resident painter/decorator extraordinaire!

He is called "Dot Com" by most of the people in the sub-county because he paints all of the 'www.softpowereducation.com' signs that we have around the place on billboards, buildings and vehicles.

Alex and his team of painters and decorators are currently working morning, noon and night (including New Years Day - by choice!) to get our building ready as quickly as possible. Hopefully in early January so we can start some work!

Check out the first completed room (except for the floor, which will be the last thing to be painted throughout).

This is our ICT Suite and it looks GREAT! The bespoke desk for the computers is being fitted next week (w/c 8th Jan!). Then we can haul our computers up from their hiding place in town and get them set up!

Check out the blog in the future for more photos of the painting progress!

Pathways....

Here we see the guys starting on the pathways around the site a few weeks ago...


...and we now have almost-completed pathways leading from the car park to every aspect of the site...so no more trudging through red, wet, ankle deep mud to get into the building! As you can see from the photo, they're not quite finished (gravel/murram needs to be laid inside them) but they have made a huge difference to the site already and once we get some flowers planted and some grass grown, it's going to look great!

Thank you to the International Women of Kampala....

The International Women's Organisation (IWO) in Kampala generously agreed to fund the equipment we needed for our Science Laboratory.

Just before Christmas I went to meet with Susan Brownings, treasurer of the IWO, at a school supplies shop in Kampala where I collected everything we needed...and the IWO took care of the bill!

I left with 3 microscopes, 2 bunsen burners, measuring cylinders, anatomical models of human brains/digestive systems/ears/eyes/hearts, a rain gauge, weather vane, hydrometer, thermometers...and a life size human skeleton!


As you can see, Susan and I got along famously with the skeleton! We have decided that the very first group of school pupils who use the Science Lab are going to be charged with the task of naming him/her! We'll keep you posted on the chosen name....

We can't thank the IWO enough for their generosity and we hope to see some of the International Women at the Centre sometime in 2007 so they can see their equipment in action!