Some highlights of being a volunteer in Zim

It’s been a few months since I have been writing on my blog. To be honest: time is flying in here! I started my job as a volunteer at the end of April and it just feels like I landed yesterday. After four and a half months being in Zimbabwe, lots of things have happened so I’ll share some of the highlights of my stay at VVOB with you.
 

Let me first start by telling how we operate in VVOB Zimbabwe. Generally we work within task teams which can be joined by any team member. A task team can be about any theme so the type of work varies from subject to subject. In a task team you can work around ECD (early childhood development) or M&E (monitoring and evaluation), but also around the new students who come on attachment or team time. Team time is a weekly activity that is organised with the team. It can be about teambuilding, a team member sharing a certain experience, learning by doing an activity, … in other words: there is time for the team.

Recently I joined the task team on TP (teaching practice) and mentorship. In this task team, we prepared for a national workshop on TP and mentoring with all 14 Teachers’ Colleges involved in the VVOB programme. The preparation is a whole exciting process: looking at the needs of colleges, preparing the workshop, developing a scenario, preparing the facilitators, etc. And finally the moment is there! A two-day workshop that provides a platform for colleges to share and reflect on their experiences. Although the workshop came to an end, it doesn’t mean the end of a task team. It’s actually the start of a new process!



Nyadire art classroom

Nyadire Teachers' College will do their own ‘college-based TP mentorship workshop’ this week. About 200 participants (student teachers, teachers and heads of schools) are expected on their workshop to improve the quality of teaching by student teachers on teaching practice. A group of college lecturers started preparations a few months ago. VVOB supports such workshops by funding and giving technical support, e.g. in the preparation of the workshop.

 



Nyadire vegetable garden

Colleges are usually closed because of  holidays during the bigger part of August. This year they were suddenly closed earlier than expected because lecturers had to be trained to conduct a national census. This also affected the VVOB activities. The purpose of the ten-day census was to collect information about the country’s population.

 

During the short holiday in August –it was Heroes weekend- I discovered one of the beauties of Zimbabwe: the Victoria Falls. It is the largest waterfall of the world and is shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia. This natural world wonder is definitely worth visiting when you are in the neighbourhood!
 

A few weeks later I picked up Mieke from the airport. Mieke is a Belgian student coming from Arteveldehogeschool. As soon as schools open again and the third term starts, she will work as a speech and language therapist at King George VI (KGVI). KGVI is a school for children with special needs located in Bulawayo, also named the City of Kings and Queens. If you would like to know more Mieke’s experiences, you can follow her by reading her blog http://mie-in-bulawayo.waarbenjij.nu/. Enjoy reading!