ChatGPT in Uganda

On our final day at Grand Maria School my technology session included:

• A digital StickTogether poster of some Canadian wildlife – a moose
• A digital Kahoot review game about PowerPoint. This group is very competitive so they liked to see who was on the leader board. I chose to go ahead with the Kahoot even though their own students don’t have internet access because it shows technology tools that are possible in education…some day!
• A ChatGPT showcase. (For those who haven’t heard of this, ChatGPT is an AI- artificial intelligence- tool that is able to respond instantly to generate thoughtful accurate, well-written response to queries.

Many of these Ugandan teachers had heard of ChatGPT but none had experimented with it. Folks were astounded as we worked through some example queries. It even worked very well on some very specific Ugandan themed questions.

Here were some of the prompts that we asked it:

• Please create a menu for a traditional Ugandan celebration meal for 50 people. Include a shopping list.
• You are the principal of Grand Maria School, a primary school of 750 students in Uganda. Write a letter of recommendation for student who has just completed primary 7. This student, David, has excellent marks, is well-disciplined, is God-fearing, and is good at badminton and swimming.
• Write a newsletter to parents of Grand Maria School indicating that the report cards will be sent on line and parents will not need to come to school to pick them up.
• Write a poem in rhyming couplets from the point of view of a frustrated Ugandan boda-boda driver.
• Write a 5 paragraph essay on the topic “Is it safe to travel in Uganda?”
• Summarize this essay into 3 sentences.
• Write a lesson plan for teaching place value to one millions to 12 year old students.
• Thank you. Now please provide 10 sample questions to use with the students.
• Write a multiple choice quiz about the basics of using Microsoft Powerpoint

Unlike in Canada where our teachers see this tool and wonder about students cheating, the access to technology is so limited in Uganda that the idea students could use it to write essays, etc hadn’t even occurred to them. Instead, they saw its potential for saving teachers time.

This ChatCPT show case was a great way to end out time together. Unlike working with Microsoft tools like Word and PowerPoint where everyone has such a varied skill level, this was new and exciting to all.

GMS Kahoot champion – the technology teacher.

About Grand Maria School

Grand Maria School is a primary school in Kampala, Uganda. They have students from 2 years of age to approximately 12 years. Our friends Pauline and Cyrus bought the school in 2013 and have been improving it ever since.

In 2013, the grounds were dirt, the buildings were shabbily painted and the pit latrine imploded shortly after they purchased the school. Student uniforms were poorly fitted for most students. One of the first things Cyrus and Pauline did was improve the grounds to give staff and students a sense of hope. By our first visit in 2017, they had painted the buildings in cheery colours, they landscaped with plants and bushes and over time, and replaced the dirt grounds with cement. Students are proud to wear their uniforms and as a group, look very “smart”.

Like most schools in Kampala, the entrance and grounds are behind a gated wall. When we arrived this time, we couldn’t believe the changes that had taken place! What an oasis this school has become.

As the school grows in size and reputation, they attract more students whose families can pay school fees. This helps to offset the many neighbourhood children who attend, even though their parents (or in many cases a single mom) can’t afford to pay.

We were greeted with 2 new buildings. One is a beautiful 4-story building that houses students in Primary 4 to Primary 7, a computer lab (a rarity in Uganda primary schools) and Principal Pauline’s office. The office area has beautiful murals with inspiring educational quotes from Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousefsai. This space is designed to welcome and impress parents and it does just that.

New 4 story building for classes

The other new addition is a swimming pool. The pool was built for much less than we might imagine in North America, and was chosen as it serves as an income generator. It is just one example of moves that Pauline and Cyrus are making to move the school toward self- sustainability.

A swimming pool sets GMS apart and is a source of revenue. We couldn’t believe this newest addition!

This is the kitchen which cooks daily meals for all 750 students. Each of 3 cauldrons has a wood-burning fire at the base. Like most Ugandan kitchens, there are no refrigeration facilities, although they have recently bought a small freezer to help them be able to store meat. The black tank is their cooking water. The other pictures make up the cooking/prep surfaces.

School principal Pauline has helped her teachers create classrooms with decor that would be at home in many Canadian classrooms. This is in stark contrast to many other African primary schools where the rooms have only benches or desks and the walls are bare expect for perhaps a chalkboard.

The classroom below is the one where we are doing our teacher training. It is the only one with a TV screen.

GMS will be one of the few primary schools to have a computer lab. The lab below still includes the 10 repurposed laptops that we first brought in 2017 when we visited. The school does not have internet because the cost is prohibitive. If teachers need to connect to the internet they hotspot their computers to their personal phones. (Personal data is much more reasonable.) Read more about the computer lab here.

The toilet facilities for the older kids are “squatters”. As the school grew, the health inspector demanded more washroom facilities so they built this one geared toward their little children.

Tiny toilets.

Tiny sinks.

750 students currently attend, but they are looking to continue to grow and expand.

Day 3: Teacher Training starts

On day 2 we had a great opportunity to tour Grand Maria School where we would be presenting to teachers for the following 4 days. It was great to get to see the students in session in their beautifully decorated and designed classrooms and to see the teachers in action.

School principal Pauline has helped her teachers create classrooms with decor that would be at home in many Canadian classrooms. This is in stark contrast to many other African primary schools where the rooms and walls are bare. Check out some of the photos below.

Principal Pauline has taught her teachers to create engaging learning spaces, inspired in part by visits to Canadian schools.

Today, day 3, was the start of our 4-day teacher training at Grand Maria School. This was the second day of Jesse’s training with Fire and Rescue staff, and Brian’s first day of a 2-day referee clinic that was across town at the National Sport Center.

Our 4-day teacher training is divided into several different topics:

• Our team leader, Harold (this is his 20th journey to Africa and 3rd time at this school), is delivering sessions on personal and organizational excellence and vision.
• I’m delivering sessions in technology. GMS is one of few schools in Uganda that has a large computer lab for students in primary (up to approximately our grade 7.) The school does not have internet so we will be training on Microsoft and PowerPoint basics as approximately half the staff would be new to using these tools.
• Teacher Helen and Teacher Rainbow are delivering sessions on team-building. Part of their goal is to show how games can be used for valuable learning. Currently, teaching methods are very traditional so while they are having fun playing the games, it is a stretch for them to imagine these methods with their students.
• Teacher Ron is delivering a series based on the “Plan to Protect” model that is used at many Canadian churches and non-profits that interact with children and other vulnerable populations.

So after the expected technical hiccups, especially when doing technology training where you are relying on an iPhone hotspot to access the internet, all sessions settled into a valuable first day of learning.

There were two other highlights.

1. Sylvia from StickTogether donated a StickTogether sticker poster for us to do as a group. Every break time, teachers were crowded around enjoying the relaxing “sticker by number” process. By the time we return tomorrow, I imagine the full image will be completed. And thanks to the generosity of the StickTogether owners, I was able to bring 3 additional stick together posters for the school to enjoy. As an interesting reference point, the cost in USD of an activity like a StickerPoster would be the equivalent of two weeks salary for the average teacher at this school.

2. We collected so many phones from supporters in Canada that we were able to provide a “new” cell phone to every teacher who needed an upgrade. For most teachers, our collections of Androids and iPhones 6-8 will provide a much-needed phone upgrade, and for many of them, their first Smartphone. School director, Cyrus, couldn’t wait to surprise his staff and wanted to get the phones in their hands so they could use them for more of the technology training.

Their reaction in this video tells the rest of the story!

Day 2: Rush hour traffic

Fire trucks are 40+ years old. There are fewer than 5 for the capital city. Most have previously been used in China or Japan.

Day 2. Today we started at the Ugandan Fire Rescue headquarters in the heart of downtown. Jesse, one of our team members, is a retired Lethbridge, Alberta fire chief and he is doing training for a third time with Ugandan firefighters. Our whole team travelled to the fire station today to drop him off and meet the firefighters. Click here to read about the conditions of the fire hall and fire department.

One of the most fascinating times travelling in Africa is experiencing morning and evening rush hour.
I’ll hopefully have posted several pictures to try and capture the experience.
The most amazing part is the boda-bodas – the motorcycles that are literally everywhere. They are a common form of transportation or taxi for locals. It is not unusual to see 2, 3, or even 4 people on a boda-boda. Almost no one wears a helmet, although I’ve noticed that now the drivers of the boda-boda taxi companies wear helmets.

The prevalence of motorcycles makes sense when you consider that gas (or petrol) costs the equivalent of about $1.50/ litre. That may not seem significant as it is very close to what we pay. However, when you consider that an average Ugandan would make about 5%, or 1/20 of what a Canadian earns in a day, one can tell why motorcycles are so popular as a form of transportation.

There don’t appear to be many rules for the boda-bodas; they seem to drive anywhere, even in between the lanes of traffic. Even “lanes” of regular traffic seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule. There is a constant hum of horn-honking, not as a form of “anger or frustration” as we might use our horns in Canada, but as a form of communication to other drivers. Eg. “Here I am, let me in.”
The morning roadsides are lined with people walking to work or school, or waiting along the roadside to take a taxi-bus. The taxi buses are packed with people and goods (and no air conditioning). The vans are mostly old Toyotas that are past life in China or Japan. Many vehicles have a grill guard in the front to protect against damage from boda-bodas.

I’ll be adding more photos here when I have a better internet connection; here are some to get started.

Boda-boda drivers waiting to get hired.

Boda-bodas drive anywhere and everywhere!

Boda- Boda taxi

Taxi- bus ,,, jam-packed

Lots of alternative transportation options.

Waiting for taxi-bus; notice housing in the background

Day 2 also included

• a visit to meet the basketball coach that Brian has been working with to plan the Basketball referee clinic
• a visit to Grand Maria School for a tour while school was in session (more on this in another post)
• a trip to the supermarket
• finalizing plans and preparations for our 4-day teacher training which begins tomorrow

Day 1: Arrival

We’ve arrived. After almost 35 hours of on-schedule, mostly uneventful travel, we arrived in Entebbe, Uganda, which is just outside of the capital city of Kampala. I had forgotten how long 13 hours feels when one is confined to an airplane seat!

Shuttling from the boarding gate to tarmac boarding at Addis Ababa airport in Ethiopia

The very, very crowded domestic departures level in Addis Ababa.

The very, very crowded domestic departures level in Addis Ababa. Waiting at gate 8.

The very, very crowded domestic departures level in Addis Ababa

As we travelled, we were feeling quite fortunate when we each were able to bring a dozen cell phones through security in our carry-on baggage without raising questions at each security check. And the potential Uganda Visa issue I wrote about recently… the director of the school we are visiting for arranged a military official to greet us and to take us to the front of the Visa line where we paid in person for our Visas, just as we have on past trips. Whew!

Our luck did run out once we arrived in Uganda and went through customs.

On a trip like this, most of our baggage is filled with items to support our training and/or to give away to the organizations we’ve been helping with. For example, in 2017 we brought 10 HP re-purposed laptop computers to Grand Maria School. This was the beginning of their “computer lab”. Those 10 laptops are still in use and with additional financial support over the years, they have been able to grow their computer lab to approximately 50 computers. They are one of the few schools in Uganda to have such a computer facility. This is the difference that bringing materials makes to a place that has so few resources.

Back to the phones…in total, our team brought close to 50 used mobile phones into Uganda. These were phones that were donated from friends, family and church congregation members in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Toronto. They are an assortment of Android and Apple. They range from iPhone 5s to iPhone 8s. Read more about the phones here.

Originally, Uganda customs wanted us to pay about 10 000 000 Ugandan shillings to release the phones and other products we brought to distribute. This would be the equivalent of $2800 USD.

Mobile phone collection being u packed from 7 different bags at Uganda customs.

We had to unpack all of the phones, other electronic devices such as USB flash drives and even sports uniforms. We had to count the items for the officials. Harold, our fearless leader, did his best to explain that these items were gifts and that some were destined for other countries. Harold and Cyrus seem to have convinced the officials that the customs duty should be less, so we are hoping that it will be under $1000 USD (instead of $2800) to have the items released. Despite this, the officials had to do further deliberation with higher-up officials … we left the airport without our collected phones.

Day 2 update: At the end of day 2, Cyrus, the director at Grand Maria School was able to return to the airport and collect the phones. The duty he was charged was the equivalent of $600 USD. As Canadians, we were quite crushed by this news, however, Cyrus feels that we got off very lucky and, even with the amount of duty we had to pay, the value of the phones to his staff members who will receive them is enormous. We will post more about the phones when they get dispersed. In the meantime, you may have missed this post about why mobile phones are so important and needed in African countries.