Introduction
During my 6-months stay in Malawi I was working on two projects.
Pre-school
project that is a part of DNS Chilangoma and DAPP Youth Club.
Pre-school
education provides an important foundation for learning and development. It is essential to educate teachers and
make sure that they have knowledge about child development, teaching methods
and materials etc. however the knowledge of pre-school teachers in Malawi is
usually quite poor.
While working
at the project we were organizing Teacher Training Days and meetings with the
committee members who are responsible for pre-schools at their communities. We
were introducing teaching methods like games, psychical education, songs and
were making posters together. We were talking about the importance of planning
the day, about sanitation and hygiene and natural medicine.
After the
Teacher Training Days we were going to pre-schools to make sure that the
teachers are using the educational methods we taught them before.
During the
meetings with the committee members we were talking about the positive
reinforcement and motivation of teachers as well as hygiene, sanitation and
natural medicine.
We were
placing hand-washing stations at the territory of pre-school and talking about
prevention of diseases connected with hygiene.
We created a
Data Base with all the essential information about the project to make our work
more sustainable.
We took part
is poster project made by fellow DI and made some entertaining activities with
children of pre-schools.
The project
requires a lot of work and ideas and is very interesting.
Youth clubs give young people a low-cost place to
go outside of school, offering them a sense of belonging. The activities and
support from club leaders and volunteers allow young people to learn new skills
and build confidence and resilience for the future, as well as have fun
(http://www.ambitionuk.org/quality/youth-clubs-today).
In total we
held approximately 60 meetings with boys and girls from the community.
We were
playing games, doing sports, having seminars and lectures, painting, sawing,
washing, cooking, making a movie and doing all type of other activities
together.
The main
topics of our meetings were global warming and problem of deforestation in
Malawi, natural resources, medical plants traditions and culture of Malawi,
hygiene and sanitation, diseases.
We held two
open days where people of the community were invited. We could share our
knowledge by using songs, poems, theater plays and games.
During two
open days clothes and sport equipment was distributed to the members of the
youth club.
It was extremely interesting to establish
this project as I could engage in the life of local people more. It was a
responsible work that required patience, confidence, some previous knowledge
and a lot of motivation.
Pre-school Project
I arrived to
Malawi on the 11 of March and the first project I joined was pre-school
project.
Pre-school
project is a part of DNS Chilangoma and is aimed on educating teachers of pre-schools
that are cooperating with DAPP Chilangoma.
Pre-school Education in
Malawi
Pre-school
education provides an important foundation for learning and development. The
government of Malawi recognizes the importance of pre-school education, and
encourages communities to set up their own pre-schools but does not support
pre-schools financially. With no funds to support pre-schools, most of them are
run on voluntary basis and are unregistered.
Pre-school
teachers in Malawi are mainly working on voluntary basis and are chosen by the
community because of their previous experience as teachers or their good
communication skills with children. Every pre-school must be supported by some
members of the committee who are responsible for maintaining the school and the
surrounding area; they need to make sure that the attendance of children is
systematic; that pre-school has enough food for children etc.
It is
essential to educate teachers and make sure that they have knowledge about
child development, teaching methods and materials etc. however the knowledge of
pre-school teachers in Malawi is usually quite poor. The work of pre-school is
highly important as every child in Malawi needs to attend this institution to
be able to enroll to primary school afterwards.
Pre-school Data Base
When I
arrived at the project there were four DIs working at the project under the
supervision of three local men. We were supposed to visit one of our 45 pre-schools
every morning. To go to pre-schools we were using bicycles. Every pre-school is
working from 8 until 11 o’clock in the morning.
The first aspect I was focusing on upon my
arrival was re-constructing the system of work of DIs and supervisors at the
project. DAPP Malawi has cooperation with 45 pre-schools. The list of pre-schools,
map and descriptions were made in cooperation with project leader and
supervisors. Pre-schools were divided in groups and equally distributed between
DIs and supervisors of the projects. The guidelines of work of all the people
involved at the projects were written. We gathered useful information including
the description of social system in Malawi, forms for pre-school reports,
materials about hygiene and sanitation etc.
Together with fellow DIs we established a
Data Base with information about the previous projects that took place at pre-schools
we were cooperating with, all materials that are described above as well as
some video and photo materials that are illustrating our work at the project.
The aim of the Data Base is to establish a
link between DIs who are presently working at the project and DIs that were
working before. It was necessary to establish this link to make the work of DIs
more efficient as they are able to have some background information about the
project as well as guidelines of their work. It is also essential for the project
to be sustainable and Data Base is a direct way how to do it. I felt that this
work was essential as upon my arrival there were no organized materials or
guidelines and it made my work in the beginning quite complicated.
Soap Bubble Action
In the beginning of my work usually two
DIs and one supervisor were going to one pre-school in the morning to talk to
teachers and ask them about their difficulties. There was no real interaction
between the children and DIs. Most of the children were getting anxious as soon
as they saw white people approaching, some of them were crying and the
teacher’s couldn’t calm them down. One
of the reasons of such reaction was the lack of communication between white people
and the children as it DIs were not able to visit all the pre-schools
constantly because of the big amount of pre-schools DAPP is working with as
well as weather conditions that made the work of DIs less efficient. During the
rainy season the condition of roads is quite poor and it is difficult to reach
some of the pre-schools by bicycle.
One more aspect that contributed to
forming a gap between DIs and children is a mentality of Malawian people. Some
parents are using White People as a threat when they want their children to
behave well. “Stop crying, otherwise azungu (white people) will come and take
you.” Such conditioning is explaining the anxiety of children.
After acknowledging this problem I decided
to make an activity with children to make them feel more used and safe with us.
We were making soap bubbles out of glycerine, water and dishwashing liquid.
After the common action children were more willing to engage in contact and
were less anxious
.
1 photo. Soap bubble action at Kacheye
pre-school.
Poster Project
Next
project we were working on was established by our fellow DI Jorge Cosme. He
fundraised money to make posters of body parts and place them in every pre-school
DAPP was cooperating with. The posters are intended principally to facilitate
the implementation of a study program that allows pre-schools to have a common
program. Their contents have didactic nature and are aimed to target themes
that are part of the pre-school curriculum, such as the environment, the month
of the year, days of week, colors, letters, numbers etc. Together with fellow
DIs we were distributing posters to pre-schools as well as explaining how to
use them efficiently.
2 photo. Poster distributing team.
Sanitation and Hygiene
Sanitation and
hygiene are important aspects that need to be improved in most of the pre-schools
we were working with. To improve this aspect we were making hand-washing
stations together with supervisors of the project, teachers and some representatives
of the community. Hand-washing station was made out of two pieces of wood with
one brunch in the middle that was used as a structure of the station. The
bottle for water with two holes was tightened to the brunch with the rope and
could be removed in the end of the working day. One more brunch of wood was
connected to the bottle so it could regulate the flow of water by stepping on
the brunch. Bar of soap with the rope was places to the bottle. The hole was
made under the bottle of water and the rocks were placed in it so the hole
doesn’t get bigger from the water.
3 photo. Building a
hand-washing station at Malaina pre-school.
It was vital
to place hand-washing stations together with representatives of the community
so they would be more motivated to use it after as well as inform them about
diseases that are connected with hygiene and the ways to avoid them by washing
hands.
We also made a
poster about hand-washing and created a story of how to do it suitable of
children so the teachers could use it at their work.
4 photo. Hand washing
poster “The way to church.”
Teacher Training Days
Every three
months we had training days at DAPP Chilangoma for all the teachers of pre-school
we were cooperating with. The purpose of the meetings is to educate teachers as
most of them don’t have any education and knowledge about children development
and other vital topics. We were presenting information about sanitation,
hygiene, making schedules and day planning, teaching different educational
activities like games and songs. After teacher training days we were visiting
pre-schools and helping teachers to apply this knowledge at their work. The
biggest challenge in this aspect was motivation of teachers as most of them are
quite passive.
5 photo. Teacher
Training Day. Explaining some educational activities for children.
6 photo. Practicing some games. 7 photo. Making posters.
Meeting with Pre-school
Committee Members
Every forth
months we had meetings members of the committee who are responsible for work of
pre-schools. Together with some students of DNS we were explaining the teachers
the importance of motivation and positive reinforcement, gave examples of different
ways how to motivate teachers of their community. It was illustrated by a
theater play by students of DNS that made the meeting more live and easier to
process. Motivation is an important aspect of work of teachers at pre-schools
as most of them are working on voluntary basis however the work itself is
fundamental in establishing healthy future for the next generation of
Malawians.
8 photo. Making
suggestion about the ways for motivating teachers.
Pre-school Storage
During my stay
in Malawi we found out that there is a storage that contains the materials used
by previous DIs at pre-school project so our goal was to organize the storage,
make an inventory list of things that were kept there as well as thinking of
the most efficient way to use those things at the project.
Conclusion about
Pre-school Project
Small projects
that are mentioned above were established and finished successfully however
during the whole period of six months there were many other ideas and
strategies that I was willing to implement however didn’t manage to do it. The
major difficulties at our work at the project were connected with different
perception of time of Malawians as well as lack of motivation. Sometimes things
that in Europe could be done in couple of hours, take weeks because people are
less engaged and less organized however in the end our goals were reached and
the project was successful. Also it takes time to understand how to approach
people correctly and what method to use for things to function efficiently. Not
speaking the local language is a big disadvantage in working at the project as
you need someone to help you with translation and sometimes the meaning of
every word is important and translation is changing the power of the message.
While working
at the project I learned how to take time and be more patient; how to motivate
people and find the solutions for different unexpected difficulties; how to
work as a team and take opinion of people into consideration; how to express my
opinion confidently and be persistent.
Youth Club Project
During school
holidays in spring 2015 our project leader suggested us to open a Youth Club at
the campus of DAPP Chilangoma. I became interested in the project and decided
to start it.
A Youth Club
is a low-cost place where young people can gather to socialize, share their
experience and emotions, meet new people, do sports, learn new skills and
knowledge, learn about the discipline and responsibilities etc.
Preparations for Starting
the Project
The first
essential thing for establishing the youth club was preparing the room there
the gathering could take place. There is a place at the campus of DAPP
Chilangoma that used to host youth clubs before however it wasn’t used for a
long time and served as a storage for the pre-school next to it. I had to
prepare the place by moving all the unnecessary things and clean the space.
9 photo. The meeting place for DAPP
Youth Club.
The next step
was to find a person who could permanently be engaged at the project and would
be helping me out with translations.
I had to
promote the youth club so the youth from the community could start attending
the meetings. Together with a local person we were inviting boys and girls from
the community. We set the age limit from 13 to 23.
Youth Club Program
After we
started our gatherings twice per week and later on four times per week.
Gatherings
took place at 15.30 as this time was suitable for most of the members of the
youth club.
In the
beginning there were around 6-7 people who were attending the meetings. And
later on the amount of people was growing.
We started our
meetings with sitting in the circle and sharing our thoughts and experience
since the last meeting as well as expectations about the future gatherings.
However after some time this system was changed as I noticed that the people
didn’t feel comfortable with sharing these things in front of others.
First meetings
started with establishing some rules of the youth club, making team building
activities, handicrafts and sports. However after we started educational
meetings on different topics. We were playing games, making activities, had
guest lectures about global warming, problem of deforestation in Malawi,
natural medicine, hygiene, sanitation, diseases, had sawing and washing
classes.
10-17. Different activities at the
youth club.
First Open Day
We held two
open days with the purpose of sharing our knowledge with other people from the
community. The topic of the first open day was environmental issues. We invited
children from Stephanos orphanage to participate in the event. There was a
theater pay, songs, lecture, games and poster making activity during the event.
In the end of the gathering we were distributing some sport cloth and equipment
for the guest as well as members of DAPP youth club. Football and netball
tournament also took place at the end of the open day.
17-23 photo. Activities at the First Open Day.
Second Open Day
The topic of
the second open day was hygiene. Two more youth clubs from the village nearby
were invited. There were several theater plays, games, posters, lectures, songs
and clothes distribution at the end.
24-27 photo. Activities at the second Open Day.
Youth Club Register
We also made a
register of people with description of their position and responsibility at the
youth club. It was necessary because at certain point there were too many
people who wanted to join the meetings and it was less efficient for the
participants.
Movie Created by Youth
Club
We also made a
movie about the traditions of Malawi. We were filming everyday life at the
house of one of the members of the youth club, at the church, market, barber
shop, football field and also made a traditional dance performance at the youth
club.
28-30 photo. Movie shooting.
Conclusion
In total
approximately 60 meetings were held at DAPP youth club.
The
difficulties I came across with were connected with passivity of girls and
being not able to express their opinion freely. Boys and girls were normally
working separately. Also according to my observation it is difficult for
Malawians to show leadership and sometimes it was making my work more
challenging. Perception of time was influencing our work as well because many
people were constantly late and it was interrupting the work of the rest of the
team.
I would like to
conclude that the youth club project was very successful and members of the club
got a lot of new knowledge in different fields, made many new contacts and
learned new skills.