I hope everyone had an amazing time over Christmas, I know I certainly did by spending the afternoon of Christmas Day floating down the Zambezi River with other volunteers and getting my first sighting of hippos and elephants which was amazing.
I’ve been at holiday camp every morning (we got Christmas Day off) getting to know a wonderful group of girls and boys. The holiday club is held in Linda Community School and we can have up to 60 children turning up between grades 1 – 7. We always do some outside activities with them when we arrive at 08:00 hours involving skipping ropes, frisbees and footballs. It’s then lesson time for the grades 5 – 7 for 2 hours where we focus on Maths, English or Geography. We have a quick 15 minute break then it’s time for the grades 1 – 4 to have their lesson for an hour. When they are not in lessons the volunteers play netball, football or rounders with them so they are kept busy.
I ran my first Shona project workshop earlier this week with 10 girls from grade 6 (and two younger ones who wouldn’t leave my side!). It was fantastic to have the support of our Community Liaison Officer who helped give examples and reinforce key points in Nyanja, which is their local language out of the 72 spoken in Zambia. The girls were all so attentive throughout the workshop, we discussed their role models, they shared their dreams and we all read through the pledge aloud which was so lovely. We had set up a desk in the hall so they lined up and one by one signed their pledge (with my special silver glitter pen), got their bracelets put on and everyone clapped ~ it felt such a special event for them.
We took lots of pictures and a couple of videos so this one is just a taster. More details about the workshop and the impact I feel this had on the community will follow in my next update and I’ll also share with you what happened in the 2nd workshop I ran as it was just as special as the first, but for very different reasons.
This weekend I’m off to Botswana on safari so can’t wait to see what animals I’m going to see, then I’ve got another week at holiday camp before heading home. I’m also meeting with the project staff here to take them through more about The Shona project with a view to incorporating some of the materials into their Girl Impact programme which will brilliant.
By the time I next write it will be 2019 so I hope everyone has an amazing start to the new year and that continues for the remaining 364 days, big love and snowflakes, Shona xx
if you haven’t taken the Shona Pledge yet, join the girls and do it right here ..
