My Teaching Experience in Uganda

My Teaching Experience In Uganda

By: Florencia Spirito

I came to Uganda after traveling for three months throughout East Africa, and Kikaaya was my final, and most memorable stop.

I am a PhD. candidate in sustainable agriculture, and my experience in Uganda truly gave me an opportunity to turn ideas into action. Throughout my studies I have thoroughly examined the food systems and sustainable agricultural initiatives of East Africa. Across the region, there is limited access to nutritious, affordable, and high-quality food. In addition, there are a plethora of unsustainable practices of agriculture which harm the environment. As a society, I believe, we all should have equal access to high quality food, in principle, should be a human right. With these ideas on my mind, I came to Uganda to teach agroecology and food sovereignty. The central idea of agroecology is to develop agroecosystems with minimal dependence on external inputs (e.g. fertilizers), emphasizing complex agricultural systems in which ecological interactions and synergisms between biological components provide the mechanisms for the systems to sponsor their own soil fertility, productivity, and crop protection.

I am a biologist by trade. My professional experience has always been intertwined with academia, so teaching at a high school level was a big challenge for me. My first week of teaching was really stressful, none of the students ever examined concepts surrounding agroecology or sustainability. Many of the students didn't even know where Argentina (my home country) was on the map! But at the same time, all of the students were open to learning new concepts and ideas about protecting the environment. At the end of my lessons, after two months, the students were able to learn how to perceive, analyze, and modify nature, and how they can do so in a sustainable way through understanding the ecological processes behind agriculture. The lessons had also a practical workshop component, where we sowed seeds of different produce and trees the I had bought from Tanzania. These practical lessons wouldn't be possible without Luva's help, the agricultural teacher at Kikaaya College. We both interacted non-stop with profitable discussion of ideas; I taught him agroecology concepts and he taught me the way farmers cultivate the land in Uganda! I truly learned a lot about alternative ways of farming and Ugandan crops. At the end of the course, different students asked me for seeds, they wanted them to sow at their own homes! I got the chance to visit the land of different students with high agricultural skills (I consider them little farmers!) and we discussed all together how to improve their land in a sustainable way. I believe I learned more from them then they learned from me.

Also, after a month of classes, the students at college had their exams, therefore I had the opportunity of teach at Kikaaya Vocational School for the Nursery Teaching course. We talked about family planning and nutrition during pregnancy. Any of these topics were on my field, but doesn’t matter! The biology teacher, Master Gabriel, borrow an old book for me related with medicine concepts and prepare the lesson. This was the perfect excuse for me to talk with students in other part of Kikaaya school, and know more about Ugandan people.

In summary, in a climate change context, a new path of agricultural development is needed and that the role of rural societies must be redefined using new criteria which view agriculture as not only having an economic and food-producing role, but that also emphasizes its environmental, cultural and social roles, key for the long-term sustainability of both rural and urban systems. I strongly believe on Lilla Watson thoughts, “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting our time. If you have come her because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let work together”.