Reaching Out and Helping Others: The Story of a Student's Efforts in Uganda - Special Presentation

Laura Block ('03) Will Give Presentation

On Monday, Dec. 6, on her Teaching

Experiences in Uganda

On Monday, December 6, 2003 graduate Laura Block will return to LCDS to talk to students about her teaching experiences in Uganda. While there, she initiated a program to procure computers for the village school, as well as a technology training program for students. During the program, which begins at 8:30 a.m., she will give a slideshow, talk with students, and answer their questions. In January, she plans to visit the school for two weeks.

During her junior year at Gettysburg College, Laura Block (LCDS Class of 2003) spent 6 months in South Africa working with an NGO through a reciprocal program with the Rhodes University there. She lived in a dorm during that time and spent her time in a community center helping students in a program called "One Laptop per Child". She worked with orphans and started an after-school arts and sports program. From noon until 2:00, she sometimes would have 300 students enrolled in this program.

Her interest in helping others began at Loudoun Country Day School doing community service both in the classroom and in the Friday clubs, which met once a week in the afternoon and always included a community service group.

According to Laura, "Students who graduate from Loudoun Country Day School are used to multi-tasking and helping others, both of which help them out in the community. I know so many of us who graduated are out there helping others. It comes naturally to us."

Early on in her college career, Laura began helping students with their homework in an after-school program for the children of Mexican immigrants. She was so inspired by this volunteer work that she chose to go abroad to help children in Africa.

With Laura, who is now in her senior year at Gettysburg College, this spirit of helping in the greater community led her back to Africa this summer on a 3-month scholarship. The terms of the grant let her choose either Nicaragua or Uganda, and she chose Uganda. Three weeks ago she returned from the rural village of Kitenga, outside of Masaka, the 3rd largest city in Uganda. While living with a host family, she taught 7th grade social studies and 5th grade English in a school that lacks funding for basic repairs and struggles to provide an education to a population of children, 85% who are orphaned due to Aids/HIV.

In addition to teaching, Laura has become involved in several projects aimed at helping the children and families in Kitenga beyond her stay there. Realizing that 95% of her 7th grade students will be unable to afford to continue their educations, Laura has begun fundraising and developing, along with other teachers at the village school, a program to teach students computer skills, something that will help connect them with the global community and help them obtain jobs when they leave the school. Donations help pay for computers and teachers for the class, and she wishes to start sponsorship programs for the top students unable to afford further education. The children are bright and eager to learn.

Beyond the computer classes, Laura also helped raise money and hire contractors to build a home for an elderly woman in the village, since hers was falling apart. Another project that she helped develop is a program to educate villagers about dental hygiene and the proper way to brush teeth. Loudoun County dentists, including Dr. John Parker, helped by donating over 700 toothbrushes for this project. Dentists came in to talk to both children and families in Kitenga, as well as to distribute toothbrushes. These seminars will continue every 6 months, as long as there is funding.

In talking to Laura about her projects and teaching in Uganda, her enthusiasm and smiles make it evident  that she has learned a great deal from her efforts abroad and that her experiences have been very rewarding. She wants to continue to help students in the village she recently left, and she has already purchased an airline ticket to return in January to see how the projects are progressing. During this time she is also networking possible jobs for NGOs in the southern Uganda area where she wishes to work for a few years after graduation. After acquiring further experience in development and community work, she hopes to return to the US for her master's degree and work for the State Department.

One of the ways LCDS has already contributed to her projects is by sending soccer balls to the school where Laura teaches. The students' skills improved markedly by having real balls instead of those improvised by burlap and plastic wrapped with twine; in fact, the girls won the district competition in netball and the boys won their soccer regional games.

Laura has named her computer program "Computers for Change". If you would like to help Laura further her programs, please email her at blocla01@gettysburg.edu. Even $5 can help a student continue his education.

Laura Block will be talking to students at Loudoun Country Day School at a school-wide assembly on Monday, December 6 at 8:30, including a slideshow of her volunteer activities. To learn more, please call 703/777-3841.