Organization Name- Kituo cha Watoto wa Rau (Rau Kids Centre)
Alumni references: Lindsay Cates: cates.18@osu.edu
Jennifer Ellen-Batson: Jennifer-ellen@hotmail.co.uk
Founder
The place was found in mid June 2007. The place was founded by past CCS Volunteer (Marcy Berlin) who was at CCS Rau program for 5 weeks (December to January) and was working with Women Group called KIWODEA. She had a project to accomplish and so she came back to Tanzania but the project didn’t work out well. As she was staying in the village during school vacation most of the kids were just hanging and playing around. She then come up with the idea of bringing the kids together so that they play safe while learning and building strong relationships with each other. She started at Deo glocery with 8 kids but the next day 15 kids showed up, the other day 25 kids and the number has been growing each day and now there are almost 60 kids. Due to increase in number of kids and the nature of the place where the kids used to meet, one of the villagers decided to provide her garden so the kids can play more safely.
The place has no source of income and so completely no resources.
The place is located in Rau Village 5 Minutes walking from CCS Rau Home base.
Currently the centre is operating in two sessions morning session which starts at 9am to 11.30 am and evening session which starts at 4.30pm and ends 6.30 pm. The morning session is for kids of 3-6 years who can not afford to go to daycare centres and/or nursery schools and the evening session which is for the kids of ages 7-15years where most of them go to public schools in the morning. In every session most of the kids who come to the centre are boys (3:1, boys: girls).
Mission of the placement
- helping the kids to discover their skills
- give the kids the freedom to express themselves due to the fact that most of the schools are so strict and they undergo corporal punishment so the kids are not free to express themselves
- to help the mothers do other home activities because due to cultural values of Tanzania it’s the woman who do all the activities at home so having the kids away from home for 2 to 3 hours will help them a lot
- To provide the kids the place where they can play safely while learning
- helping the kids of lower ages 3-5 who can not afford to go to daycare centres because most of the parents are poor
- helping the kids to know each other and build strong relationships/ friendship with each other
- Offer the kids the place where they can learn simple English (writing, reading, conversation etc.), General studies (environment, sanitation, health) etc.
Volunteers Activities
Organize projects and activities for the kids
Play games with the kids
Teach the kids simple English, numbers, mathematics and games
Doing art with the kids
Spend time with kids, make them feel comfortable and empower them
(Activities should base on the age)
Useful Supplies
As the centre has completely no supply so any school supply will do like crayons
Paper/work sheets, pens, reading books, simple English to Swahili dictionaries. Also the supplies to play games with will also help like soccer balls, balloons, ropes etc.
Contact Person:
Marcy Berlin - msb10025@rcn.com
Sara Mponzi- sarahmponzi@yahoo.com
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1 comment:
I had the pleasure of working at Watoto wa Rau for 3 weeks from 21 Jan 08 to 8 Feb 08 with the local volunteer, Kileo, and a fellow Australian volunteer, Fiona. It's a very special place to be. Around 40 kids (aged 3 to 5 years old, most are 3 or 4) come for 2 hours from 9am to 11am Mon to Fri. The set up is a classroom (belonging to the Mosque next door) and a play field in front of the classroom. The classroom is basic with a large blackboard and thanks to a recent donation, 14 large desks (we were living with 8 desks and 5-6 kids squashed onto each desk until this week!). Because the kids are so young it is difficult to do any heavy learning so we focused on things such as the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colours, animals, body parts etc. The teaching is in swahili and english. It is broken up by a play time session midway through the morning. After play time we generally did craft activities, and if possible with a learning angle. Although i would suggest going in with a teaching plan for the day/week, the kids attention span is not huge so you need to be flexible and see how they are coping on the day. There are no supplies, although some of us have left supplies at CCS Home Base such as crayons, pens, flash cards, stencils etc. I would suggest bringing things like paper, pencils, reading books, craft items, play time equipment like balls and skipping ropes and if possible be equiped with as many games and songs as possible. The kids absolutely love songs, both english and swahili, and every morning is started with a variety of swahili and english songs. The local volunteer, Kileo, is amazing and runs the show, but feel free to make as many suggestions as possible and give him as much assistance as you can, he is totally open to volunteer's input. The kids are absolutely divine so you will not be able to help falling in love with them, i certainly did! I decided to do home visits on a couple of days after class, we took home groups of kids to meet their families and see where they lived. I highly recommend doing this, it is really eye opening and it is great to get out into the community, the families also really appreciated it. I was involved in a couple of development projects for Watoto Rau, the outstanding one being the building of new toilets/bathroom for the kids (the current toilets are not hygenic so they go outside). We had several meetings with the Chairman of the Mosque and a quote was obtained for the building works (4 toilets/ bathroom). The works will commence as soon as funds have been raised. It has been agreed that the Mosque will pay half and Watoto Rau will contribute half. Please talk to Kileo and Abbas from Bushmen Expeditions with respect to co-ordinating funds from Watoto Rau. I will continue to be involved so please feel free to contact me at michelle_landy@hotmail.com in relation to this project or anything else concerning Watoto Rau, am happy to assist where i can. It has so much potential and continues to develop. Hopefully in the future more classrooms will also be built on the Mosque site and the kids can continue on at Watoto Rau. Enjoy your experience, it is truly a wonderful place.
All the best
Michelle Landy (Australia/UK)
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