Welcome to blog number 3!
THE CHRISTINE NURSERY, Kashitu
Last week we spent 5 days in Kapiri Mposhi working with children and staff from The Christine Nursery. After a late night packing and 4 hours sleep we were up at 5am on Sunday to catch the 6.30am bus to Kapiri. The plan was to stay in the nearby village of Kashitu where the nursery is based. However when we arrived we were told that due to an outbreak of cholera in the neighbouring village it wasn’t safe for us to go, or for large groups of people to gather there. So instead staff had come up with an alternative plan to run the workshops and stay in the nearby town of Kapiri Mposhi. The workshops were focused on introducing and developing creative ways of working in the classroom, something that is often lacking in schools in Zambia due to a lack of resources and training.
Teacher Training Day
We spent the first day working with the teachers and nursery volunteers, looking at using creative methods as a tool for learning. Activities included;
- Co-operative group games with and without a parachute (using names numbers, colours, animals, face paints, balls)
- Why creativity is important
- Using your imagination and being confident to be creative
- Creating a positive environment for children to share their ideas
- Sharing stories and songs (‘Ish’ Storybook By Peter Reynolds)
- Using recycled/found materials to be creative
- Making an alphabet banner/picture dictionary for display in the classroom
- Making parachute creatures
During the warm up games the parachute accidentally flew away and over into the neighbour’s garden. So, with our faces covered in face paints we went to ask for it back and the neighbour was not impressed and said “it frightened my chickens”, who had probably never seen anything like it before! The staff really enjoyed the games and came up with some good ideas for improvising.
We had some interesting discussions about understanding (or not) children’s art work, being positive, encouraging them to be creative, and how this enables them to be confident in themselves and in other situations in life. An example of this was given by one of the staff, suggesting that if children aren’t confident in their own ideas, they grow up to be shy, and for example in a village meeting won’t contribute, so solutions aren’t found to problems in the village. We also discussed the issue of parents not always understanding the value of the children's work, or even the value in sending their children to school and how this can sometimes be a problem for staff here.
After a lovely day with lots of laughing, the staff felt inspired to be creative and decided they wanted to make a banner to put on the front of the bus to welcome the children the next day, so we spent the evening working on it together. Thanks to Bornface, Joseph, Belina, Nelson, Regina, Sylvester, Pricilla and Margaret for a making us so welcome!
Baby Class
Day two was spent with the baby class (3 – 5 years) who arrived on the bus all timid and shy. We were told that some of the children will have seen very few muzungus (white people) before, and especially not have been taught by any. The theme of the workshop was numbers. We painted the children’s faces and practiced the games we had played the day before with the teachers. It took a while for the children to relax, but after a few games running underneath the parachute they were all smiling, giggling and shouting!
After a few renditions of ‘5 little monkeys’ and ‘Once I Caught a Fish Alive’ the children went outside exploring and had to collect 5 natural objects from the surrounding area. Then after looking at what they’d collected (leaves, fruits, grass etc), they used paint to print their found objects on paper, numbering them 1 - 5. After lunch (nshima of course!) and sharing more songs (we learnt some new ones to) the children used their handprints to print numeracy banners to decorate their classroom. After another lovely day the children left on the bus singing, with their faces painted and big smiles (the same as us!).
Older Class
Day three was spent with the older class (5 – 7 years), working on the theme of shapes and colours. After warm-up games all the children made a parachute using plastic bags (cut into squares), string and a stone they had collected. After lunch and some songs, we got into groups according to what colour and shape our face paint was and made a tabard to match (blue circle, yellow triangle or green square). We noticed how much the children’s cutting skills had improved since the morning activity. Most of them found it very hard to cut and some didn’t know how to hold a pair of scissors at first, so practicing cutting shapes was a good challenge! After painting the shapes we played more co-operative games using the colours and shapes as a starting point.
In the afternoon we also made some bubble mixture (water, washing up liquid and sugar) and blew bubbles using different shapes and found objects like plastic bottles. At the end of another lovely day……the children once again went home with painted faces, and a lot less shy than when they arrived! We were told that as the bus arrived back in the village their parents and peers were waiting for them, dancing and singing!
We left the nursery with some materials and a Creative Resource Pack we had compiled (including ideas, creative activities and resource alternatives) so that they can continue to be creative in the classroom! We had some lovely feedback from staff, and would love to go back and go the nursery itself and do some follow up work next time we’re in Zambia!
FESTIVAL WORKSHOPS
Our workshops with Barefeet Theatre at the children’s centres have continued, and we have started making some of the large costumes including:
- A huge canoe for 3 people at Mapode Boys (water). Using their initiative and making use of locally available resources, they used sticks from the maize which had already been harvested.
- A blue bus for 6 people to carry (air pollution). We had a great day with the children at Chisomo Centre last Saturday making the huge bus, and having some interesting discussions about religion! Again they used maize sticks available across the road from the centre.
- A crinoline skirt covered in banana leaves from the grounds of the centre, and flowers at Home of Joy (nature).
- An Animafwafwa made from a fish eagle and caterpillar at Lazarus!
- The children at Zambia Shanty have made some amazing costumes from rubbish!
Meanwhile at Ngombe Open Community School the children had great fun practicing their cutting skills, making Animafwafwa’s out of cardboard boxes and practicing parading around the classroom ready for the carnival procession.
The person sized world or ‘chalo’ as you say in Njanya is looking good, thanks to the help of our housemates……Tommy, Izzy and Olivia who are sadly leaving Zambia at the end of the week:(
With only 4 weeks to go until the climate change festival begins, there’s a busy few weeks ahead!
We are still gathering cardboard and plastic bottles from supermarkets and cafes around Lusaka. We spent yesterday afternoon walking around Shoprite in Manda Hill with 2 trollies asking everyone stacking shelves if we could have their empty boxes. By the time we left the shop assistants were finding us and dumping boxes in our already overflowing trollies! Mia was practicing for her dream appearance on Supermarket Sweep! We did get some very strange looks, especially when we were putting the brushes from brooms on our heads in fits of hysterics to see if they would work as caterpillar costumes!
KENYA
Although we’re not looking forward to leaving Zambia, we have booked our flights to Kenya on 4th May and are making plans to work with 2 organisations there. After which we’ll be returning to the U.K on 23rd May. Time seems to be going very fast fast here!
Thanks to Tommy (our housemate) for some of the photos above!:)
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