By Kate Robey | The GVI Trust, Operations Manager
Dear Supporters,
It has been a little over a year since Fiji, and Silana village where we are based, was destroyed by Cyclone Winston. It has been a year filled with a lot of uncertainty but also a lot of hope, hard work and perseverance. The school year was disrupted and many of the classrooms were badly damaged and the majority of educational resources were lost.
We are pleased to report that things have returned to a good routine and that we are once again completely focused on building on our educational projects for 2017.
Building Relationships
Over the past couple of weeks, we have been proud to host social evenings with the teachers from Navunisea District School and Dawasamu District School (NDS and DDS) at Babale Base. It was a joint effort as staff, volunteers and community members worked together to chop, prepare and cook tasty, Fijian food for everyone to share! After the meal GVI staff presented information to the teachers about the education programme that we offer at both schools. This is to encourage an environment of reflective discussion about teaching practices between the teachers, GVI staff and volunteers.The evening culminated in a kava session ... of course!
Reading Record Tests
At the beginning of the year at DDS, volunteers have been busy working with individual students, facilitating Reading Record testing. The information from these sessions allows GVI to group each student into a literacy group at their appropriate reading level, enabling effective lessons that are catered to student ability. This information is shared with teachers at DDS so that all students benefit from a more effective and tailored education.
Supporting Students
We've been working 1:1 with students from NDS for the past few weeks using ideas and activities planned by a volunteer with previous experience of working with children with additional needs. In daily sessions, we have been focusing on improving fine and gross motor skills, recognising and forming letters as well as counting in English and Fijian. GVI always tries to support students and teachers in any way we can, which sometimes means asking volunteers with specific expertise to take on projects in addition to their literacy and PEMAC teaching. We will keep you posted on the progress of these lessons! (picture of volunteer Lydia and student during a 1:1 session)
Book Drive Fundraiser
We are busy with a book drive! We are supporting NDS and DDS with their goal to replenish their libraries with children's books, the majority of which were lost during the cyclone. You can find more information on our website, link below!
Thank you for your continued support! We can't wait to see what 2017 will bring!
With Gratitude,
GVI Fiji
Links:
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