YOU CAN NOT TALK AND REALLY HEAR THE MUSIC.

Meet Akram Sebakijje. He is 10 years old

and lives with his mother, 2 brothers, and 4 sisters.

He wants to be a teacher when he grows up. 

Meet Alice Nabakabya. She is 8 years old
and lives with her father, 4 brothers, and sister.
She wants to be a pilot when she grows up. 

Dr. Alexander and I met today for my practicum project advising session.  What can I say about such a positive experience?  "Soft guidance," the feeling of a steamy rain (one of my favorite things, as you know), comes to mind.  I was worried that wanting to carry my Practicum into my experience in Uganda in March would be met with the kind of stern resistance that my family had displayed when the subject first came up.  However, I had forgotten that Dr. Alexander's first teaching post was on a Navajo Reservation.  She listened intently, leaning forward in her chair, receptive to every word, giving feedback, and offering suggestions for enhancing my ideas; however, she did not confine them.  

The only pointed advice for my interaction with other teachers while in Bugabo, Uganda (the village where I hope to train teachers in the future) that she gave was this, "Talk less.  Listen more."  It made more sense than anything anyone has told me thus far.  I hope that in doing so I can create the kind of symphony of friends and colleagues that will make lovely music, blending from the diverse and unimaginable sounds of Africa and the cacophony of American discography that breathes inside this skin.  "Talk less.  Listen more."  Then, you will hear the music.