Lessons Learned

YAY....Environment, Protect the Reserve!!! That was the theme of our 4 day environment camp that took place a few weeks ago. Despite a few bumps in the road, like my counter part moving to Egypt, it went very well thanks to my 3 Senegalese colleagues.  They surpassed even my wildest dreams in their ability to engage the students. I also had 5 PCVs that were great with the kids and even better with dealing with a stressed out me.  Don't worry, I didn't have any major freakouts, in fact I was told that it was impressive how calm I was “most” of the time.

Double digging in clay....not fun. 

So camp...it was a 4 day event. The first 3 days were themed; plants, conservation and waste management. For each day we staggered discussion based lessons and corresponding activities.  Following this format, for plant day, we taught about the needs of plants, their importance to the environment and their importance to the us. Then came the fun. Everyone got nice and dirty while  planting beds and recycled containers.
As expected the kid always loved the activities more than the lessons. However, lessons are a necessary evil and through them we were able to give a base knowledge that was later reinforced by the more fun activities. This format was very important since the Senegalese ed system is memorization based and kids have little opportunity to partake in educational activities.
As usual Iwas so impressed by how quickly the kids learned new concepts, or remember facts we had stated. As we got to the last few days of camp, you could see the kids incorporating their new knowledge into other activities. While, camp was stressful, especially for me, it was such a rewarding experience. Everyone commented on how much the kids had learned. In particular, there was one very shy girl, who said nothing in the beginning, but by the end when she finally spoke up her ideas were amazing. You saw this in a lot of the students. Whether they were scared of us, nervous around the others, or just generally timid, so many came out of their shells by the end and it just blew our minds. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I'm always so impressed with the children here. If they are given just a little bit of encouragement or responsibility, they really shine.

Steve teaching how to plant moringa

Habitat game

OK, getting back on topic... camp. I could rave about the kids all day, but I think you all get the point. Anyways, we had plant day, then conservation/the reserve day...this was a favorite of the kids because we hiked the reserve. Badji, my brother and Eco-guide, gave a very impressive presentation on the history, the terrain, flora and fauna. Then we explained the concept of a habitat, which was surprisingly difficult. This was followed up with a fun game that demonstrates how habitats are linked to each other, and if one thing goes missing they all suffer. The game was lots of fun, but it was hard to tell if they understood the lesson. I'm definitely learning a lot as I work here. I've always known teaching is hard, but didn't realize just how difficult it can be if you don't really know the knowledge level of your group. This is something I need to keep in mind as I plan more activities. To end the night we did drawings of reserve animals' habitats.

Explaining their animal's habitats

The last full day was trash day...YAY Trash!!! Yup that was their sediment, but it ended up being the most successful in terms of what was learned. We started the morning of with a discussion on types of trash..ie biodegardable, recyclable etc... This is where Sara and I discovered they were not familiar with recycling. Reusing, yes, senegalese are way better than us at that, but recycling no. The kids were amazed to learn you could turn a bunch of water bottles into a plastic chair. After this fun discovery, and us volunteers really feeling like we taught something valuable, we went over to the garbage dump. Yup...not excited at all, but they were sports about it and it was a really good teaching tool. In their groups we made them count all the different types of trash. Back at the reserve, we figured out how long it would take for the trash to be gone, ie completely decompose. Not glamorous stuff I know, but very important and exciting because some of the stats blow your mind.

Kids making recycled beads

The last day was getting everyone's stuff arranged and then the ending ceremony. The ceremony was a big source of stress, bc it is “important” to the senegalese that they go a certain way. However, since I was in charge no one wanted to be tell me what I should do at the ending ceremony. Oh but they had more than enough grippes and suggestions while we were in the middle of it. Despite my aggravation, it ended up being great, in most part because the kids did some awesome skits that showed how much they had learned. It was not only impressive but made me proud to see how much they had learned.

The PCVs

All in all we had a smart group of kids, 3 great senegalese and 6 dedicated PCVs that pulled of a pretty great camp. I'm excited to see what is to come. My host brother did a great job and is starting to realize how good he is at working with kids. The reserve was also very excited by the camp and hopefully that excitement will carry into more environmental activities. I have to give a special shout out to all of those who donated to my PCPP fund. Needless to say we wouldn't have been able to put the camp on without you all. I wish all of you could have actually seen their faces and met the kids, however we took lots of pictures and hopefully a video to come. Really we couldn't have done it without everyone back home.