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Tag: education

One resource, double the impact

One resource, double the impact

Back in 2021, at the height of the Covid pandemic, a great partnership developed between one of our volunteers, Joanne, and Lisong, principal of Mary’s Little Lambs nursery and lower basic school in The Gambia.  Joanne owned and ran a nursery school in the UK and was involved in training nursery-school teachers, and the original plan was for her to go to The Gambia and work with Lisong to run training sessions for nursery teachers there.  However the pandemic intervened…

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‘Both professionally fulfilling and personally enriching’ – Shiobhan’s volunteer story

‘Both professionally fulfilling and personally enriching’ – Shiobhan’s volunteer story

This report was written by volunteer Siobhan about her placement in The Gambia. The first question I am always asked is why?  I wanted to share my skills and experience in a school and country where that type of support was genuinely needed, somewhere I could help in a small but meaningful way. I spent a long time looking for the most appropriate placement, as many opportunities focused on teaching English or doing crafts. There was lots of correspondence before…

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Meaningful ICT for children – any ideas?

Meaningful ICT for children – any ideas?

Here’s an interesting challenge for you.  We all know that the ability to use IT is becoming an essential skill in the modern world.  Children learn to use technology from an early age and in the UK and across Europe and North America it is seen as an essential tool for learning.  But how to teach IT to children where IT equipment is not readily available?  This is the problem facing Mary’s Little Lambs, the primary school in The Gambia…

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Thank you, Zoe, for our wonderful new library!

Thank you, Zoe, for our wonderful new library!

Zoe has volunteered at Mary’s Little Lambs (MLL) in The Gambia twice before, in December 2023 and May 2024, with a focus on helping improve literacy.  Recognising that it would be so much easier to encourage a love of reading if the school had a proper library, she proposed going back for a third placement with the aim of establishing a library and teaching children and teachers how to use if effectively.  The first thing was to arrange talks with…

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Blast from the Past – International Volunteer Teachers Wanted – Open to All???

Blast from the Past – International Volunteer Teachers Wanted – Open to All???

This is an article I wrote for our blog and newsletter in 2019 but I believe it is just as relevant today. As an ex-teacher, I of course hope lots of people will volunteer to improve the educational opportunities for children around the world. However it is important that this is done responsibly and thoughtfully to make sure these volunteers don’t do more harm than good. The article was designed to give some guidelines – it was included in discussions…

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Update from Morocco – temporary houses are open and e-volunteering resumes

Update from Morocco – temporary houses are open and e-volunteering resumes

It is only 3 months since the devastating earthquake struck the High Atlas region of Morocco, destroying homes, schools and the entire infrastructure of the area.  The town of Asni, location of 4 of the Education for All (EFA) boarding houses supported by our volunteers, was badly very damaged and the small town of Talaat n’Yakoub, location of the other 2 EFA houses, was completely destroyed. When we published our last newsletter in September the earthquake had only just happened…

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Finally – after a two year wait – volunteers making a real impact in The Gambia

Finally – after a two year wait – volunteers making a real impact in The Gambia

Joanne ‘As a previous volunteer for People and Places both in situ in The Gambia and e-volunteering, I was only too happy to continue my involvement by working closely with Dianne and Lisong on a new training program to be delivered to Nursery School Teachers, promoting the Gambian Early Childhood and Development curriculum. In 2020 myself, Dianne and Lisong held regular zoom meetings to develop the training program I have just delivered. Unfortunately the Covid pandemic did not allow for…

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We’re travelling again – back to The Gambia!

We’re travelling again – back to The Gambia!

March 18th – it was two years to the day since I was last at Gatwick Airport.  On this day in 2020 I returned from a volunteer trip to Morocco, cut short as the borders closed and the pandemic took hold, lucky to get a rescue flight home, and Gatwick was dark and deserted.  Now travel is starting to open up again and I was back at Gatwick, with Sallie this time, boarding a flight to The Gambia for our…

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One location – different ways to volunteer!

One location – different ways to volunteer!

Mary’s Little Lambs is a nursery and lower basic school in The Gambia.  The Principal, Lisong Bah, also works at national level in The Gambia to run training courses and provide training materials for parents and teachers of pre-school-age children.  people and places volunteers have worked with Lisong for many years – this is how our volunteers have supported Lisong and MLL in the last few months. To see how you could help on this project take a look here…

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Chatting is important…we didn’t realise how important…

Chatting is important…we didn’t realise how important…

The people and places volunteer programme grew out of a series of chats. At the start of the pandemic a handful of previous volunteers to the programme we work with in Morocco approached Dianne to ask if we could help them contact the house mothers they had worked with – just to say hello…just to have a chat….. A year later we have a structured programme working with House Mothers and the young female students they support….this programme is not…

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