We’re sending two of our After School volunteers, Lazarus and Colly, to get trained in the Face the Nation program in Gaborone, Botswana.
Run by the Open Baptist Church, Face the Nation aims to prevent HIV and AIDS by teaching senior secondary school students about abstinence through Christian principles, using peer mentoring.
Each year Face the Nation trains university students and then places them in schools for five weeks where they teach the program under the Guidance and Counselling Department. Apart from life skills and HIV-AIDS, the training covers leadership, basic counselling, an overview of the Bible, personal evangelism, discipleship, spirituality and ethics.
The volunteers go to schools all over Botswana in teams of three. They’re available for group and one-on-one peer counselling with the students, help with sports and other extracurricular activities, work closely with other supportive groups such as Scripture Union, build relationships with students and, most importantly, peer mentor on the school campuses.
For more information you can go to www.facethenation.org .
This is one of the programs we were introduced to on our networking trip to Flying Mission Botswana last year. It seems like an excellent way to reach young people and prepare them for life after school. We’re excited that we can take part, even if it is with only two volunteers. This is the first time Namibians are included in the training and they will join students from Botswana and Zambia. We are interested to see if the program can be used in Namibian schools and are looking forward to hearing all Lazarus’ and Colly’s experiences.
They leave for Gaborone on 7 May, the training starts on 10 May and their last day of teaching will be 16 July.
It’s a terrific opportunity, but quite an intensive time so please pray for Lazarus and Colly as they go to learn and minister in a different country and culture.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Reading...Afternoons
As posted last month, we received a donation of some great reading books. Problem is, the daily program is already so full…solution: special Reading Afternoons! Currently only one Friday per month (we don’t normally have After School Program on Fridays), the children come and just enjoy reading for a couple of hours. The first one was held in March and about 25 children came. As soon as we told them that time was up they wanted to know if they could come back next Friday and why weren’t we having Reading Afternoons every week?
Today, although the ASP officially closed for the term yesterday, we squeezed in a second Reading Afternoon. The next one will only be in June, once school resumes.
Mercia, one of our volunteers, uses the literacy method for reading to the younger ones (Grades 1 – 3) and the older ones read by themselves with volunteers on hand to help them with words they don’t know. After they finish, they answer a few questions to check that they’ve understood what the book is about. They are then able to record the book on their Reading Sheet. Once a child has read 10 books, s/he will be able to choose one to take home as a prize.
Reading is an area in which many Namibian school children struggle (through the first Reading Afternoon we were able to identify a Grade 5 student who cannot read at all). We hope that through this initiative, the children’s literacy will improve, which will lead to an overall improvement in their learning and marks.
Today, although the ASP officially closed for the term yesterday, we squeezed in a second Reading Afternoon. The next one will only be in June, once school resumes.
Mercia, one of our volunteers, uses the literacy method for reading to the younger ones (Grades 1 – 3) and the older ones read by themselves with volunteers on hand to help them with words they don’t know. After they finish, they answer a few questions to check that they’ve understood what the book is about. They are then able to record the book on their Reading Sheet. Once a child has read 10 books, s/he will be able to choose one to take home as a prize.
Reading is an area in which many Namibian school children struggle (through the first Reading Afternoon we were able to identify a Grade 5 student who cannot read at all). We hope that through this initiative, the children’s literacy will improve, which will lead to an overall improvement in their learning and marks.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
ASP update
115!!!
115 what, you might be asking?
Children, of course! That is the highest daily attendance during March and for the After School Program to date. During March, the daily attendance rarely fell below 100 and has varied between 104 and 115.
Although the growth is good, inevitably such numbers place strain on the volunteers. We’re thankful for the 7 full-time and 6 part-time volunteers who made themselves available this term. New volunteers are Daniel and Colly (full-time) and Paul and Nambee (part-time).
115 what, you might be asking?
Children, of course! That is the highest daily attendance during March and for the After School Program to date. During March, the daily attendance rarely fell below 100 and has varied between 104 and 115.
Although the growth is good, inevitably such numbers place strain on the volunteers. We’re thankful for the 7 full-time and 6 part-time volunteers who made themselves available this term. New volunteers are Daniel and Colly (full-time) and Paul and Nambee (part-time).
School holidays are from 24 April to 25 May, so the ASP closes for Term 1 on 15 April and reopens on 31 May.
Happy Easter to everyone!
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