Some new friends we made at church on Sunday.
Two ladies chatting after church. Love the head ties!
RIGHT9
Thursday, February 11, 2010
New Friends
Some new friends we made at church on Sunday.
Two ladies chatting after church. Love the head ties!
Changes and Challenges
The most striking thing about this year's visit to Liberia is CHANGE! Liberia really is moving forward and the road improvements are only one sign of a purposeful, determined path to recovery.
Our friends at Lott Carey are moving forward with great determination and they have been training ever since we left last year. The elementary teachers just completed training in phonics last week and in March a group from the U.S. will be coming to work with the Lott Carey faculty in areas related to student mental health. Teachers at CRM are enrolled in teacher training courses offered by a Liberia-based NGO and many of our colleagues attend University of Liberia.
Based on the appearance of their classrooms, training in techniques for creating a child-friendly setting are paying off. It was wonderful to see classrooms decorated with cheerful displays of student work, colorful bulletin boards and posters. The learning environment for students and teachers is improving and many of the suggestions and techniques we worked on last year are now being implemented.
The science lab at Lott Carey is being renovated and today (a national holiday) the science teachers are scheduled to be in the new labs preserving specimens they have collected on the beach. Their project involved spending a day and night on the beach collecting and sorting the specimens. Today they will be meticulously preserving those items for students to study next semester when the lab renovation is complete and students can move in for serious science study. Last year the lab was a bare, dusty room with unconnected pipes sticking up out of the floor. Now there are counter tops with sinks and connections appear to be ready for burners and plumbing installation.
The path forward is purposeful and impressive but challenges are huge. The economic recession in the U.S. has a direct effect on resources available to Liberia's redevelopment so money for improvements has tightened up here. The rural areas remain largely unserved and the migration into Monrovia has created major problems due to overcrowding and population density.
Jacob has introduced us to his work in the KoKoya District of rural Bong County where portions of the rural population live in villages that are miles from the nearest road - accessible by path through the dense forest! We are looking forward to seeing (via video) how the first teacher training and children's day camp works out next week. It will be the first such event in his village and there are reports of great anticipation in the area about such an exciting event.
Rural Liberia poses some major accessibility challenges. At Christmas time Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf made a journey to the Belleh District in Gbopolu County. She and her entourage came to the end of the road, had to abandon their vehicles and walk two hours on the forest path to reach villagers with her Christmas greetings! Some of our teacher trainers are colleagues from Gbopolu County where Lott Carey has an extension school. They have traveled far for their training!
Internet dial-up is also a challenge not only for us in posting pictures but also for those who are trying to conduct business in a fast-paced, international environment! Will try to keep up with pics.
Our friends at Lott Carey are moving forward with great determination and they have been training ever since we left last year. The elementary teachers just completed training in phonics last week and in March a group from the U.S. will be coming to work with the Lott Carey faculty in areas related to student mental health. Teachers at CRM are enrolled in teacher training courses offered by a Liberia-based NGO and many of our colleagues attend University of Liberia.
Based on the appearance of their classrooms, training in techniques for creating a child-friendly setting are paying off. It was wonderful to see classrooms decorated with cheerful displays of student work, colorful bulletin boards and posters. The learning environment for students and teachers is improving and many of the suggestions and techniques we worked on last year are now being implemented.
The science lab at Lott Carey is being renovated and today (a national holiday) the science teachers are scheduled to be in the new labs preserving specimens they have collected on the beach. Their project involved spending a day and night on the beach collecting and sorting the specimens. Today they will be meticulously preserving those items for students to study next semester when the lab renovation is complete and students can move in for serious science study. Last year the lab was a bare, dusty room with unconnected pipes sticking up out of the floor. Now there are counter tops with sinks and connections appear to be ready for burners and plumbing installation.
The path forward is purposeful and impressive but challenges are huge. The economic recession in the U.S. has a direct effect on resources available to Liberia's redevelopment so money for improvements has tightened up here. The rural areas remain largely unserved and the migration into Monrovia has created major problems due to overcrowding and population density.
Jacob has introduced us to his work in the KoKoya District of rural Bong County where portions of the rural population live in villages that are miles from the nearest road - accessible by path through the dense forest! We are looking forward to seeing (via video) how the first teacher training and children's day camp works out next week. It will be the first such event in his village and there are reports of great anticipation in the area about such an exciting event.
Rural Liberia poses some major accessibility challenges. At Christmas time Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf made a journey to the Belleh District in Gbopolu County. She and her entourage came to the end of the road, had to abandon their vehicles and walk two hours on the forest path to reach villagers with her Christmas greetings! Some of our teacher trainers are colleagues from Gbopolu County where Lott Carey has an extension school. They have traveled far for their training!
Internet dial-up is also a challenge not only for us in posting pictures but also for those who are trying to conduct business in a fast-paced, international environment! Will try to keep up with pics.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Hot and Sunny
Sorry to all of you dealing with all of the snow in the States... everything is hot and sunny and lovely here in Liberia. I'm sorry for the lack of pictures on the blog. The internet connection has been very tricky, and I'm having trouble every time I try to upload photos.
The first two days of training have gone quite well. The teachers are very receptive, and we are building on the concepts that were introduced last year and have been implemented since then. It has been wonderful to see our Liberian friends again, and the LOEP team is still completely enchanted with Liberia.
No training tomorrow due to Armed Forces Day, a national holiday. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow if I can get online.
The first two days of training have gone quite well. The teachers are very receptive, and we are building on the concepts that were introduced last year and have been implemented since then. It has been wonderful to see our Liberian friends again, and the LOEP team is still completely enchanted with Liberia.
No training tomorrow due to Armed Forces Day, a national holiday. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow if I can get online.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Keep Moving Forward!
We arrived Friday evening and even in twilight we were struck by changes and improvements since our visit to Liberia last year. The first striking change was the smooth, two-lane road all the way into Monrovia. No more pot holes!
New buildings, cleared areas where displaced persons formerly lived as squatters and small garden plots are just some signs of progress that we saw.
Saturday morning we had a wonderful reunion with our friends at Lott Carey Mission School. The teachers have made excellent progress in their classrooms and improvements at the school are so amazing that a report on those exciting improvements will have to wait for a separate blog entry.
Sunday morning (today) we visited Effort Baptist Church with Rev. Sam-Peal and enjoyed all of our old favorite hymns sung and played in African style. The pastor’s message seemed to speak directly to our first impressions these past two days…
Keep Moving Forward!
PS - The internet connection is too slow right now to post pictures. Will try again tomorrow!
New buildings, cleared areas where displaced persons formerly lived as squatters and small garden plots are just some signs of progress that we saw.
Saturday morning we had a wonderful reunion with our friends at Lott Carey Mission School. The teachers have made excellent progress in their classrooms and improvements at the school are so amazing that a report on those exciting improvements will have to wait for a separate blog entry.
Sunday morning (today) we visited Effort Baptist Church with Rev. Sam-Peal and enjoyed all of our old favorite hymns sung and played in African style. The pastor’s message seemed to speak directly to our first impressions these past two days…
Keep Moving Forward!
PS - The internet connection is too slow right now to post pictures. Will try again tomorrow!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Liberia Orphan Education Project
Liberia Orphan Education Project: "Contributors"
Hi All: Hope your trip was uneventful and you have arrived in good shape- Please tell Emile and Richmond hello for me and pet the dogs--Love and prayers-Phylis
Hi All: Hope your trip was uneventful and you have arrived in good shape- Please tell Emile and Richmond hello for me and pet the dogs--Love and prayers-Phylis
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Time to go already
Our flight leaves tomorrow from Dulles about 6 PM so we are down to counting hours now! Hope this snowy weather holds off until after our flight.
I didn't think it was possible to be more excited than we were last year but this year we have so many new ideas and plans to implement we can hardly wait to see how it all works!
LOEP is introducing some low tech equipment that could be useful teaching tools in environments where books are scarce, there are no computers or Internet access and power is so very limited. Solar power and some brand new state-of the-art technology is in our bag of tricks to try out for both teachers and students.
One of our most exciting innovations is a solar-powered LOEP Teacher Training Kit we developed since last year's trip. One aspect of LOEP training that we have really worked on is improving the training for "teacher peer trainers". LOEP-trained teachers need to pass on their knowledge to other teachers in their schools and develop solid professional development programs that they can conduct with minimal support from LOEP. We are looking to the solar-powered Teacher Training Kit as a tool in developing that capacity for self-training.
The new kit includes a LOEP Workshop Leader manual, a state-of-the-art projector that can show videos and pictures without a computer hook-up and a solar panel to power whole thing. USB mass storage devices (aka memory sticks)loaded with LOEP training manual materials, video clips of teachers teaching and trainers training and solid resource information downloaded from the Iternet can plug directly into the projector and show movie screen-sized pictures - all powered by the solar panel.
A single LOEP-trained Workshop Leader can train groups of colleagues using the Teacher Training Kit - we hope! Some LOEP teachers will receive training to use the new equipment with the expectation that they can conduct LOEP workshops and professional development sessions in their own schools on a regular basis. This is a prototype developed by LOEP and we will be testing and evaluating carefully on this trip to see how effective it can be in rural Liberia where there is no electricity and it is nearly impossible to provide teachers with individual manuals and training materials.
We are also excited about unpacking telescopes, basic science equipment, instructional video and viewing equipment we have shipped ahead for use in science classes in LOEP partner schools. Basics of science instruction for all grades will be touched on in the training this year and there are some new teaching tools waiting to be put to use!
Watch this space for more after we arrive Friday evening! We promise there will be pictures, pictures, pictures!
I didn't think it was possible to be more excited than we were last year but this year we have so many new ideas and plans to implement we can hardly wait to see how it all works!
LOEP is introducing some low tech equipment that could be useful teaching tools in environments where books are scarce, there are no computers or Internet access and power is so very limited. Solar power and some brand new state-of the-art technology is in our bag of tricks to try out for both teachers and students.
One of our most exciting innovations is a solar-powered LOEP Teacher Training Kit we developed since last year's trip. One aspect of LOEP training that we have really worked on is improving the training for "teacher peer trainers". LOEP-trained teachers need to pass on their knowledge to other teachers in their schools and develop solid professional development programs that they can conduct with minimal support from LOEP. We are looking to the solar-powered Teacher Training Kit as a tool in developing that capacity for self-training.
The new kit includes a LOEP Workshop Leader manual, a state-of-the-art projector that can show videos and pictures without a computer hook-up and a solar panel to power whole thing. USB mass storage devices (aka memory sticks)loaded with LOEP training manual materials, video clips of teachers teaching and trainers training and solid resource information downloaded from the Iternet can plug directly into the projector and show movie screen-sized pictures - all powered by the solar panel.
A single LOEP-trained Workshop Leader can train groups of colleagues using the Teacher Training Kit - we hope! Some LOEP teachers will receive training to use the new equipment with the expectation that they can conduct LOEP workshops and professional development sessions in their own schools on a regular basis. This is a prototype developed by LOEP and we will be testing and evaluating carefully on this trip to see how effective it can be in rural Liberia where there is no electricity and it is nearly impossible to provide teachers with individual manuals and training materials.
We are also excited about unpacking telescopes, basic science equipment, instructional video and viewing equipment we have shipped ahead for use in science classes in LOEP partner schools. Basics of science instruction for all grades will be touched on in the training this year and there are some new teaching tools waiting to be put to use!
Watch this space for more after we arrive Friday evening! We promise there will be pictures, pictures, pictures!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
