Carly Green’s dreams, it seems, are coming true, and she just might be answering a few prayers in the process as well.
The 24-year-old Chatham-Kent woman is currently in Zimbabwe on a teaching placement. The second year teachers’ college student at Western said teaching is in her blood.
“I have wanted to work with children for as long as I can remember,” she said. “My dad, two of my siblings, uncle and cousin are all former or current teachers and they have definitely had an impact on my decision to become a teacher. “
The opportunity to travel to Africa, something Green admitted she has always wanted to do, came up through her time at Western.
“I am in the first cohort of teacher candidates to experience the new two-year program. In our second year we have to complete two alternate field placements, which could take place anywhere – a school, a hospital, a day-care centre. I chose to complete mine in Zimbabwe as I thought it was a great opportunity to gain experience of teaching in a different part of the world,” she said.
She headed to Africa in late November, armed with three suitcases full of supplies that were donated by Chatham-Kent citizens.
“I received so much community support and I am already seeing the impact it has had on the community leaders I am working with as well as the children!”
She brought various school supplies – including pencils, crayons and paper – as well as basic medical supplies, clothes and toys with her. Funds donated went to purchase such items as vitamins and fly traps, luxuries that most people in Zimbabwe don’t have access to, Green said.
Green is working with volunteers around the globe, and the group is helping several organizations and schools. She said she’s working with a boys’ orphanage as well as a community drop-in centre, plus a special needs classroom.
“We work together to coordinate a conservation education program, which involves teaching the kids about the importance of conservation in their country,” she explained.
The volunteer effort is taking place in two different areas, one rural, one urban. In rural Mkoba, Green and the others work with special education classes. In Gweru, the group works in other schools and the drop-in centre. The orphanage is located on the outskirts of Gweru.
That orphanage has just one house, she said, and houses 36 boys. There are hopes for expansion to erect another five buildings to accommodate more children – many of whom are the street kids she has worked with in the drop-in centre in Gweru.
Despite difficult living conditions, Green said the children’s attitudes remain upbeat.
“One thing I have noticed is how grateful, and cheerful the children are. They are always excited when they see us arriving and they are always willing to learn from us, which makes it fun to teach them,” she said. “Even when we are working at the drop in centre, I had a couple of the street kids come up and ask if I was good at math and if I would teach and quiz them. They are very smart kids and it’s unfortunate the circumstances they are living in, but it’s amazing to see that they are still willing and able to learn.”
And their curiosity goes beyond typical classroom learning.
“The kids here are very friendly, and are always asking questions and wanting to learn. They love to ask questions about what kind of animals live in Canada,” she said. “Even though these children live about 15 minutes from the bush where they can find African animals, many of them have never seen the animals in person.”
That will change when they graduate, Green said, as the volunteer group she’s working with runs a conservation education program where at the end of the program the students will spend their graduation at an antelope park. They’ll go on a safari and will have that opportunity to see the animals up close.
Graduation for the kids is rapidly approaching, as they will do so at the end of the year. Green said even the simplest of graduation presents lights up many a face.
“We used some of the supplies I brought over to give to the children as graduation presents. Some of the children don’t even have a pencil to bring to school, so when they received even one pencil along with a note book or crayons, they were so excited,” she said.
While all the children have school uniforms to eliminate social class structure, many of the kids don’t have shoes, she said, which doesn’t stop them from playing soccer or jumping rope during recess.
The classroom at one of the schools she is at is nothing but an old barn, one with no roof or windows and no floor. Two things it does have, Green said, are rats and snakes.
The volunteer group is trying to erect another classroom at the school. Green said it costs about $15,000 to build a one-room building to accommodate upwards of 50 students. But the schools and organizations in Zimbabwe prefer material donations to money, she said. Rather than donate cash from various fundraisers her volunteer group is doing at the nearby antelope park where she also volunteers and stays, the group instead purchases the material necessary to make bricks.
At the orphanage, the attitude is similar, Green said.
“Instead of giving money, a few of us pitched in to buy them a goat, which provided them with meals for two days for 36 boys,” she said. “They make it clear that if we wish to donate, buying them groceries, or supplies ensures that the money goes directly to helping the children in need.”
She said teaching the children in Zimbabwe is an eye opener. At university, she’s learning how to incorporate technology in the classroom; in Zimbabwe, she said there might be two books to a class of 50 kids.
“This is something that I think will help me in my future with teaching – learning to adapt and working with what is available to you is something that I have definitely had to learn quickly here in Zimbabwe,” she said.
