Even though the last of the volunteers departed less than a week ago, it's already time to start looking forward to January 2010 in Malawi. It seems our understanding of Malawi and its people grows with every year we work here. This increased understanding, combined with the invaluable input from our volunteers, has yielded some great new ideas and initiatives that will greatly increase the effectiveness of our programing here in Malawi. Here are just a few things we've been working on:
1) The Four-day Curriculum -This is something we've been talking about for a few years, but it is finally time to make the move. Our curriculum has grown so much in the past few years that 3 days is just not enough. Feedback has been unanimous - from the teachers to the translators to the volunteers - that we need to move to 4 days. While we still need to do a fair amount of curriculum development before January, it is safe to say there will be longer empowerment sections and more information on alternative fuel sources. If you have any input we'd love to hear your suggestions. Let us know!!
2) Possible New Camp Schedule - One of the main reasons we're moving towards a four day curriculum is because we want a more sustained relationship with the children and teachers with whom we work. Another idea we had - which we're going to try out in January 2010 with one school - is to teach a four day curriculum spread out over 4 weeks. Basically we'll teach at one school every Friday for 4 weeks. The idea is to give the kids and teachers more time to digest what we're talking about in order to spur more thoughtful discussion that will lead to concrete solutions for the problems we're addressing. We're excited to see how this new format works and to see the effect it has on the learning experience for kids and teachers.
3) Reworking the City Kid Project - One of World Camp's most unique projects is the City Kid Project where we work with at-risk orphaned or vulnerable children (OVCs) living on the streets in Lilongwe. These kids come to the streets for different reasons but once there they are exposed to a harsh life that can lead to risky behavior, higher HIV/AIDS rates, and multiple other issues. Our work in the past has been rewarding for both the volunteers and the children, but we're hoping to make the program even better in January 2010. We're going to devote Saturdays throughout the January session to working with these children. The hope is to educate them about HIV/AIDS and encourage them to get off the streets and back to their families. We hope that a full month of working with these kids will allow us to better understand their situation and lend a helping hand where we can.
4) New Teacher Facilitator Role - The Teacher Facilitator role is one of the most important positions during our educational camps. Encouraging teachers to continue talking openly and honestly about the issues we work to address is key to the sustainability of our message. All this makes the Teacher Facilitator role one of the more challenging positions. Also, we know some people are more comfortable working with a group of 10-15 teachers rather than a class of 20-30 kids. Because of this we are hoping to recruit two volunteers to work primarily with teachers during our camps. If you're interested you can get more info on our website by clicking here.
It's been a busy and exciting few weeks. We're really excited about January 2010 and all the new ideas and programming that we have planned. Now all we need is volunteers! If you are interested in working with us in January or next summer apply online now! You can find an online application by clicking here. Keep posted to the blog for more updates and news from World Camp!
No comments:
Post a Comment