Yesterday, we planted a new swingset at the Early Childhood Development Center in Nyabiheke Refugee Camp. But we noticed that the school could really use a few more items. Our Site Manager Victor told us that the ECD was set up several years ago with early childhood development learning materials. But those materials had never been renewed. Students were still working with the same items, and there was no money to replace the supplies that had been used up or broken.
It was easy to see how we could start helping – and hard to stop ourselves at our $500 daily budget!
ECD Centers often have different stations where kids can work on hands-on activities and developing particular skills. For the arts area, we had painter’s easels built and bought paints, markers and large rolls of paper to last awhile. For the blocks area, we brought both wooden and plastic blocks, and we purchased a few abacuses for the math and manipulatives area.
We brought Play-doh, animal and alphabet puzzles, educational posters and mats, and large world maps to hang up on the walls. And left some wall paint the teachers could use to further decorate their spaces.
The children gathered in the school’s courtyard and sang Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and our group of U.S. visitors led everyone in a few rounds of Head & Shoulder, Knees & Toes.
Our friend Betty, coordinator of the education programs in Nyabiheke, was thrilled. “Learning has never been so interesting as it will be now!”
