Our Team

 They serve as mentors and role models for the in-service teachers we work with and are at the heart of our workshops and other programming. 

Rubangakene Patrick

Teacher Trainer

Rubangakene Patrick is a teacher trainer who received his training from Gulu Core Primary Teachers’ College. Before joining READ for Life, Patrick was a lower primary teacher for three years in a private school in Gulu. Patrick recalls that when beginning teaching, his learners could not even read three-letter words. Once he introduced RFL;s phonics program, The Fun of Phonics, into his classroom, he was amazed at how well his children began reading! Patrick later excitedly joined the READ for Life team as a teacher trainer. He loves the atmosphere at RFL because there is great mentoring, feedback and equal opportunities for all members to grow and learn together. In his spare time, Patrick enjoys football, community work, reading storybooks and teaching young children.

Okello Dick

Teacher Trainer

Okello Dick is a teacher trainer who received training from Gulu Core Primary Teachers’ College but is currently pursuing his teaching diploma. Before joining READ for Life, Dick taught for two years as a lower primary teacher in a local government school. Dick describes his experience: “Teaching was really difficult because as the teacher you would be doing everything for the learners. But when I was trained on phonics and started to implement it in my classroom, that’s when things changed completely. Learners were excited, they were able to master the sounds and later, they were able to read any word they come across simply because of phonics.” Now at RFL, Dick loves receiving feedback as part of the staff mentoring process, and appreciates that he and his colleagues share great teamwork! When Dick gets free time, he loves being adventurous, playing football, listening to music and reading.

Lajara Beatrice Oburu

Team Leader

Lajara Beatrice Oburu is the supervisor of the RFL team. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration and a Diploma in Secondary Education, Beatrice has had various teaching experiences in several private schools in Gulu. Beatrice admits to having no knowledge of phonics before joining RFL but loves learning it amongst the many other professional development sessions that help her deliver her best to her colleagues and also out in the field. Beatrice is most impressed with the passionate and self-driven members of the RFL team, who take and give correction with much love and respect. She is excited to be a leader at such a

Executive Director

Jody Unterrheiner

jody@readforlifeug.org

Jody Spencer (Unterrheiner) has two Bachelors in the field of education and is currently completing her Masters in International Education. She graduated from Roehampton University in London, UK, with a Bachelor in Primary Education (specialising in English) in 2007 and then more recently graduated from Charles Sturt University in Australia with a Bachelor of Teaching. Jody has taught infant classes in London, working as a primary school teacher; as well as teaching P1 to P7 in Gulu, Uganda; and teaching year 6 children in Sydney, Australia.

Jody taught at Layibi Techo Primary School from January 2013 to July 2014 where she learnt a lot about the local education system as well as the challenges teachers face in improving education standards. During her time teaching, she followed a systematic, phonetic approach to teaching reading and writing and witnessed an increase in children’s reading and writing levels, specifically when working in partnership with classroom teachers. Considerable improvements were noticed in P1 children’s reading and writing levels when pupils were taught phonics every day, and regular revision and follow up from classroom teachers was evident.

Jody’s heart is to see all primary schools in Uganda improve in their teaching of reading and writing; and also to see pupils’ reading and writing improve, lifting the standards of local primary education.

The demand for improved teaching was not limited to one school, it is across the country, so Jody decided to leave the classroom to begin working with teachers in January 2015. READ for Life was born out of this desire to see education improve and to invest in teacher training to see this happen.

Other Team Members