The Bookbus is back on the road in Livingstone, Zambia for
the 2013 season!
The first two weeks of project this year have been during
the school holidays so we have been running holiday clubs which, as always,
attract so many children, the number increasing steadily over the week.
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| The Bookbus is here! |
The two weeks have been very different but with the same
fun, enthusiasm and cries of “bookbussy” following wherever we have been.
Week one, we spent at Zweilopili community school in the
Dambwa area of Livingstone. This is one of the more densely populated areas of
town and many families will be living in one room, maybe the parents are
selling at market to raise some money leaving the older children to take care
of the younger ones. We were expecting maybe 50 or so on our first day but
there were over 100 and by the Friday is was almost 300!! A lot of flexibility
and preparation each night from the volunteers ensured that the week went
smoothly and no child was left out, despite the huge numbers!
With the younger children we read Brown Bear, Brown Bear and
made Bear headbands after being on a “Bear Hunt”. We made 280 sets of lions’
paws after reading “Cats cats and more cats.” Elephant heads and colourful
birds appeared after the “Rumble in the Jungle.” The bigger kids read about
bears, lions and snakes and attempted quizzes, anagrams and word searches, some
even making up their own.
Every day we left accompanied by smiles, waves and shouts of
see you tomorrow, but the week sped by and soon it was Friday and time to say
bye for the last time during these holidays.
During the second week we were based out in the village of
Sinde, only about 15km from town but a world away from town life. On the way to
school we have to drive through the national park and we saw giraffe, zebra and
wildebeest, not bad for the morning commute! In the village the families live mostly in mud
and thatched homes and there is no running water or electricity. In charge there
is a headman, who the volunteers were lucky enough to meet during a village
tour, which one of the preschool teachers took them on, so they could see firsthand
how people life in these Zambian villages.
Every day we were greeted by kids
all along the way, waving and smiling and then running along behind the Book
Bus, eager for the activities to start. We parked up outside the village pre-school
and soon more children emerged from the bush, we started with about 30and ended
on Friday with 150! Word spreads fast when the Book Bus is around. We taught
the children under the big trees, dividing the big and small ones and
encouraging reading, creative skills and imagination!
On Friday we continued our “Book in Every Hand” program and gave each child their very own book to take home, we had to have some strategic lining up, organised by the big kids, to ensure the children got the right level of book and that chaos didn’t erupt. The children were very excited and it was great to see them all walking off into the elephant grass with their colourful crowns, proudly holding their new book. This is literacy in motion at it’s best!
Kelly - May 2013
On Friday we continued our “Book in Every Hand” program and gave each child their very own book to take home, we had to have some strategic lining up, organised by the big kids, to ensure the children got the right level of book and that chaos didn’t erupt. The children were very excited and it was great to see them all walking off into the elephant grass with their colourful crowns, proudly holding their new book. This is literacy in motion at it’s best!
Kelly - May 2013
