UNASSUMING primary school teacher Jody Unterrheiner works at St Mary’s Catholic school in Bowraville, runs a Little Free Library in Macksville, and is an unsung hero to thousands of children in Uganda, Africa.
Jody trained as a teacher in England before moving with her husband Daniel Unterrheiner to Gulu district in northern Uganda 13 years ago as a missionary, working as a volunteer teacher in a government school.
Gulu is an impoverished part of the country where children were forcibly made soldiers during 20 years of civil war up until 2006.
Jody told News Of The Area about some of the challenges she faced as a teacher there.
“The school I taught in had one teacher for 80 to 140 students in each class,” she said.
“It was really difficult because the kids couldn’t read English, even though it was the only language used from year four onwards in school.”
English is the national language in Uganda as there are many tribal languages across the country, making it difficult for people to converse with anyone outside their geographic boundary.
Jody began to teach students to read and created culturally appropriate resources she named The Fun of Phonics. She also started a small charity called READ for Life.
“I was training teachers how to teach using these resources,” she said.
“We went to recording studios and made up songs about phonics all about the local area, like goats and jerry cans and eating maize.
“During COVID schools were closed in Uganda for two full years so we began to teach on three different radio stations. We taught phonics and reading and had listeners phone in and answer questions.”
The team of trainers is still going strong in Uganda despite Jody returning to Australia three years ago. READ for Life now works with around 200 primary schools in Gulu district.
Jody has had a beautiful response to the Little Free Library she set up outside her house in Wallace Street, Macksville, where anyone walking past can just pick up a book to keep or return if they wish.
“Neighbours have left beautiful messages of encouragement, Christmas cards and flowers in appreciation,” Jody said.
“We have not had the Little Library vandalised, however one night we came back home and all the books were gone – which didn’t worry us as we could easily replace them – and we hope they read every single book,” she said.
By Sharon JANE
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