10 Month Update

Another month flies by without realising! Winter is drawing in here in Mdumbi, but unlike the British winter at least we still enjoy warm dry days most of the time. It can get surprisingly cold without heating though! I still am amused by the fact that children and teachers alike do not go to school when it rains... imagine if that was the way in England! Anyway, apart from a few minor weather setbacks the preschool and afterschool centre are both running well. In the preschool I have been busy creating teaching resources for the alphabet, as well as new art and crafts ideas. The children have been making woolly sheep, 3D butterflies and rain drop paintings. 

 

I have also been getting my hands dirty in the gardens. The preschool has a small garden that was built by a previous group of volunteers to provide food for the children’s lunches. Unfortunately with the teachers being very busy, it hasn’t been worked on for quite some time. This week we have been preparing soil and planting new seedlings with the children, a very valuable lesson for them. Hopefully the garden will be fully stocked with beautiful fresh healthy vegetables for the children soon! 

 In the afterschool mathematics lessons are going well. The young people are such fast learners and have been progressing very well with their work on fractions. One lesson we used co-ordinates to create an outline of a T-Rex on squared paper. 

The school term ends on Friday, with winter holidays lasting three weeks. I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to set up my own workshop so that the children have something fun, interesting and useful to do during the holidays. I have been busy planning an art and craft workshop that will run for the full three weeks involving various activities for children of all ages. I want to primarily use recycled and natural materials with the idea that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Hopefully this will change their attitude towards rubbish and encourage reuse and recycling of these materials. Amongst other activities, the older children will be learning about how to make purses from old milk and juice cartons, dream catchers from driftwood and shells from the beach and beadwork which they can sell to guests at the backpackers to earn money for themselves and their families. I am really enjoying this opportunity to formulate my own programme, and hopefully it will be something the children will remember and use for a long time. I will also be closely documenting the programme so that Transcape can apply for government funding to continue such workshops in future school holidays. Very exciting stuff!