I am a Language Arts and Theater teacher, and my passion project is a pen pal exchange my students have conducted with children in Uganda. When my students learned that their pen pals did not have doors on their toilet facilities, they were appalled. They felt that going to the bathroom with some privacy is a basic human right that every teenager deserves; particulary young women. So, they raised the money needed to build a latrine for their friends. This project spans across grades and throughout our community, as some of my students from previous years continue to exchange letters. This summer, I plan to travel to Uganda to see this latrine through to completion. My dream is to be able to provide funding for some student ambassadors to accompany me on this journey to the Bupala School in the Idunde province of Uganda. Having some of the students from our school actually meet their pen pals and assist in the final stages of the construction of this latrine is the ultimate act of empathy in action. I have no doubt that many lives will be transformed.
