IHY/SCINDA 2009 Livingstone Zambia

The second IHY/SCINDA workshop was held in Livingstone Zambia on June 7^th to 12^th. There were many space scientists, undergraduate and graduate students in the workshop, most of whom were Africans. During the IHY opening, the guest of honour was the Minister for Science and Technology Hon. Gabriel Namulambe, other guests included the Vice Chancellor University of Zambia Prof. Stephen simukanga and the dean of University of Zambia, sponsors and other representative organizations.

I was requested to give an oral presentation and this was an opportunity for me to recruit more African countries to the Hands-on Universe and Universe Awareness programs. Other than my presentation I decided to do a little demonstration on one of the astronomy software we use in the classrooms with students.  Of course so many students and professors showed interest in developing the same activities in their countries. I managed to give some of the students the software, which they immediately installed on their laptops. I also had an opportunity to meet Prospery Simpemba, the NPoC for SGAC Zambia

I also set some time aside for training some of the interested students on the readily available software. This team building allowed us to share our thoughts and ideas as African educators interested in promoting Astronomy in schools. We also shared our experiences and decided to create a network where we can always communicate and share different resources and also network our students across Africa.

I was invited by Mr. Mokhtar Mohsen, a physics teachers at Hillcrest Technical high school to give a talk to his students. This was an opportunity for me to visit the school with the trained students and so I decided to visit the school with some of the undergraduate physics students from University of Zambia. Hillcrest Technical High school is a boarding mixed school less than 1 km from the conference venue (Fairmount Hotel Livingstone).  The teacher was eager to have us at the school and he even came to pick us in his saloon car. Since we were a large group some of us decided to take the longer route and walk to the school.  We were a team of 10 students and young professionals, comprising 8 Zambian undergraduate students, 1 Congolese student and myself.

We found the students patiently waiting at the hall. After the introduction, we introduced the basic science concepts and then presented the stellarium software to the students. Emphasis on the need to protect our plant was one of the key topics and there were many ideas that the students came up with on how we could change our home for a better place.  The highlight of the lesson was after a demonstration of stellarium when the students had lots of questions about the blackhole and how stars are formed and how they die. Melody and Nawa undergraduate students at University of Zambia attempted to answer some of the questions. I installed all the software on the teacher’s machine, we hope that the students will have access to the software and we will be able to do more activities with the students. The school has Internet connection so I hope we will be able to keep in touch and share more resources. 

After the session, some of the students followed us to ask questions about careers in space science. We each spent some time with small groups of students encouraging them to form an astronomy club and keep in touch with us. The Zambian team were excited that the students looked up to them as role models. One of them remarked that he was not ready to leave the school as he felt he still wanted to discuss more with the students, unfortunately we had to live as it was time for their lunch and they had to return to their afternoon session.

Unfortunately we did not get an opportunity to visit a primary school but on our way to Hillcrest Technical High school we managed to teach some young boys and girls some astronomy on their way home from school. 

It was not always work but there was a good time for relaxation and team building by visiting some of the great spots in Zambia. Victoria falls (on of the seven wonders) visit at the night and during the day was an inexpressible experience.  We also went for the cruise in the Zambezi river with lots of local alcohol. I have never seen a group of excited people. Some of the evenings were spent in the nightclub dancing to our best African and western tunes. Lastly the young and elderly spent a good time

UNAWE Kenya at Uhuru Gardens Primary school

I have been invited to my former primary school to work with some of the students and teach astronomy. I do not know what to expect, as I approach the school flash backs of my primary years go through my head. I remember the parades and the CATS (continuous assessment exams) and my teachers. Are some of them still here? Are they going to remember me? I approach the administration block, which is a new building that did not exist when I was there. I go to the secretary’s desk and inform them that I had been scheduled to work with some students. The secretary requests me to wait for her as she confirms with the head teacher. She takes my information and points at a chair that I can sit. 

I am tt the school with Jonah, who is also a former student of the same school. He is also very excited as he points to me where the school canteen is and some of his classrooms. As we wait for further instructions, a lady walks towards us with a beautiful smile. She greets us and walks to the head teacher’s office. Later we realize that the lady is the contact teacher we are supposed to work with. She informs us that she can let us work with all the students from class six to eight but we are only two and cannot handle 300 students in 2 hours. I request for a smaller number of students and we settle for class six students. 

The teacher organizes the students in the school hall and we are escorted to the hall. As we walk there we meet one of my former teachers, mathematics teacher to be precise. She is so excited to meet us, she volunteers to introduce us to the students. She hugs us and finds out about how we have been fairing on with our lives. When we get to the hall, Mrs. Loyelo, my former mathematics teacher introduces us to the students. She keeps telling us that she is happy and proud of both Jonah and I. 

Jonah starts by introducing the team and Hands-on Universe and why we are there. He asks the students if they like science and think that it is fun and some of them say they find it boring and full of some many diagrams. We promise to have fun with them and they all become excited. 

After Jonah introduces the group, I take them through the Earth and how we need to take good care of it, I also teach them about our solar system and introduce the laws of gravity. The students have fun and are excited to participate in all the activities when we request them. They also ask many question. The most interesting part of our session was when I introduced them to Stellarium and Celestia. They were all amazed by the beauty of most of the planets that they knew by name. I explained to them why Pluto was demoted as a planet and that it is a dwarf planet. 

We distribute the students into 10 groups and give them different materials to mould planets, paint planets and draw planets. The students chose planets of their choice and begun working on different projects. After the session we gave the groups a chance to present their work to the rest of the class. Some students wrote beautiful poems and shared them with the classroom, others wrote beautiful stories and others molded planets and other celestial bodies. 

Two volunteers with 100 students, Jonah most of the time had to assume the role of the photographer and I the filmmaker. We were exhausted after almost three hours at the school and left the school tired, hungry but fulfilled. We hope to return again and work with more students. It was also fulfilling returning to a place I call home. My school many years back. Seeing some of my teachers and visiting some places made me realize that I have a huge role to play as an African female astronomer and i hope I will visit many otehr such schools. 

This trip was sponsored by FourTell eAfrica Ltd