Changes are Knock(ing)

02.02.2014

January has been an extremely busy month for help2kids in Malawi. With the New Year comes new goals and some exciting changes at our projects!

Despite all the rain and the busy time in the fields, we continued to have a great turnout each week at Outreach with the Lifuwu Health Clinic. It is always great to see the mothers and their little ones, but it is especially important during this time when the risks for malaria and other illnesses increase with all the wet weather.

At Tiyanjane Pre-School we welcomed our new help2kidsteacher Fyness. Fyness comes to us with four years of teaching experience having taught at a private nursery and primary school before joining us as a member of thehelp2kids family. She has brought a fun energy to the school and we are excited to see how she will enrich the program this year.

In addition to some new toys and materials to aid in learning, everyone at the Pre-School is excited to start our new schedule and curriculum in February. Each month the volunteers, the teachers and the students will focus on specific topics within our general areas of the focus. For example, we are focusing on learning the colors red and yellow in February. To complement the lessons the kids will have a song of the month and words of the month. Our volunteers will be busy coming up with fun activities to emphasize the lessons the children are learning during class time. With assessment at the end of each month, we are excited to see how our kids grow! Check our Facebook page regularly to see what our Pre-School students are up to!

Our top learners at Kazembe Primary School started the new term with new exercise books and pencils. The teachers also received a plethora of red pens to mark the numerous exercises of their students throughout the term. We know these new school supplies will give the kids the opportunity to make the most of the education available to them. We are proud of our students who are working hard and want to continue to motivate them to achieve their goals. If you would like to help by providing school supplies you can find more information here.

We are really excited about the increase in participation at our afternoon projects, Kids Corner and the Afternoon Club, in the month of January. Our volunteers are often surrounded by 40 kids all eager to participate in the planned activity! The kids particularly enjoy playing a card game called “Knock.” While the kids can play with a normal deck of cards, they especially love playing with the fun decks one of our past volunteers brought that have penguins, crocodiles, gorillas, rabbits, and rhinos on them. The game is great for our younger participants as it helps them learn colors, numbers, and animals (or shapes). Moreover, it is great for the older students as the special cards (change direction of the game, make someone miss a turn, make someone pick up extra cards) provide an opportunity for the kids to think about strategy so that they can get rid of their cards as quickly as possible. The students can play this game for hours and often get quite competitive! It is fun to see their excitement and enthusiasm.

Thank you to all of our volunteers, supporters, and staff for all of your work in 2013. We are excited to see what 2014 has in store for help2kids with your continued support!

Best Wishes for 2014,

Carliann

help2kids Malawi Assistant Project Manager