Paulo from Malawi. Exploring the Lives of People in
Transcription
Paulo from Malawi. Exploring the Lives of People in
R9365 Preschools Resource 15/2/07 5:31 PM Page 1 PAULO from Pre-school Educators’ Resource MALAWI 2007 Inside: The story of Paulo Phiri from Malawi Activities for 3-5 year olds Trócaire Better World Award Poster Preschools Resource 14/2/07 9:16 AM Page 2 About this booklet This booklet has been produced for Pre-school educators who wish to incorporate a global perspective to their education programmes with young children. In this booklet, we include background information for Pre-school educators, information on Trócaire’s work in Malawi and activities for young children to help them to explore aspects of the lives of individual children in Malawi. Through the materials, it is hoped that children will see similarities and differences between the lives of these children and their own lives and begin to appreciate the diversity which exists in our world. We profile Paulo, whose mother Clemintina is a member of an organisation supported by Trócaire called Women’s Voice, which empowers women to become active members of their community and to break the cycle of domestic violence. To encourage Pre-schools to use the activities we are inviting Pre-school educators to submit the children’s work for the Pre-school Trócaire Better World Award. Every child who participates will receive a certificate and there are awards for groups whose entries are of special merit. Additional copies of this resource are available from Trócaire free of charge. ORDER FORM I would like ___________ extra copies of the Pre-school resource on Malawi. Name: ________________________________________________________ Pre-school Address: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ e-mail address: _______________________ tel no: ____________________ Please send to Trócaire, 9 Cook Street, Cork or to Trócaire, 50 King Street, Belfast BT1 6AD Trócaire Better World Award for Pre-schools REMEMBER! As you go through the stories and activities with the children, remember that you can enter their work for the Trócaire Better World Award. The Trócaire Better World Award for Pre-schools recognises the work undertaken by Preschool children on the theme of this booklet. Pre-schools are invited to submit entries by groups of children or whole classes. Here are some suggestions: Photos: Take photos of the children’s work or of the children working on activities, playing games, miming, etc. Artwork: Send in artwork, construction or posters the children have completed. * Video: record the children carrying out role-plays, doing art and craft work, talking about what they have learnt. *Please note: It is not necessary to send in displays or all of the artwork – some may be too large or too cumbersome to send by post. Simply photograph the work and send with your entry. Photographing and video recording children requires parental permission. The Awards: Each child will receive a Trócaire Better World Award certificate and a Trócaire Better World Award sticker. In addition, Pre-schools whose entries are of special merit will receive the following: A batik, depicting women at work, for the Pre-school A fair-trade hamper Watoto, Children from Around the World and Ilenia from Colombia – supplementary materials to Watoto Please send your entries together with a list of the children who undertook the work to Trócaire, 9 Cook Street, Cork or to Trócaire, 50 King Street, Belfast BT1 6AD by Friday April 27th 2007. 2 Trócaire 2007 Preschools Resource 14/2/07 9:16 AM Page 3 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON MALAWI M alawi is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is one of the poorest countries in Africa and has been devastated by poverty, famine and AIDS. 90% of the population are farmers who try to feed their families on tiny plots of land. In a normal year, millions struggle to get enough to eat. Climatic extremes of droughts and floods resulting in poor harvests have meant that many families are reduced to eating one meal a day, usually a plate of nsima – a starchy food made of maize flour and water. The country is in need of food aid every year. Most people are locked in a cycle of hunger that leads to other problems. After a poor harvest many leave the family to go find work elsewhere and women are often forced to turn to prostitution to survive. This movement of people increases the spread of AIDS. When harvest time comes around, people are so desperate they can’t afford to put any seeds aside to plant the following year and the cycle of hunger starts again. In 2005, Malawi experienced the worst harvest in a decade. 40% of the population were in need of emergency food aid. It will take years to recover. It is estimated that 14% of the population are infected with HIV/AIDS. Younger women are particularly affected. Four times as many women as men in the 15 to 29 years age group are affected by AIDS. This reflects cultural practices of older men marrying young girls and also the widespread abuse of young women in schools and elsewhere. The problems of AIDS, poverty and famine are interlinked. Many family providers are either too ill to work, or are taking care of family members. Half a million children have been orphaned. There is a shortage of medical staff due to migration, a lack of education and also because of AIDS. Malawi has just one doctor per 100, 000 people. A national programme to tackle the problem was launched in 2004 and there is evidence that this is having some positive effects, with the prevalence dropping slightly in urban areas. Many children, particularly girls, are withdrawn from school to look after sick relatives, to carry out household chores or to earn an income. Three times as many girls as boys have no formal education and only 30% of girls and 40% of boys go to primary school. The Millennium Development Goals as agreed by the world’s leaders in 2000, recognise both education and gender disparities as being key to addressing poverty in Malawi and at global level. (Sources: UNICEF and UNDP) BASIC FACTS M ALA WI Area:118,484 sq km (20% of surface covered by lakes) Population:12.6 million Capital: Lilongwe Currency:1 Malawi Kwacha = 100 Tambala Religion: Christianity: 75%, Islam: 15% Languages: English and Chichewa (both official languages) Life Expectancy at birth: 37.8 years (Ireland: 76.9 years) GDP per capita: US$580 (Ireland: US$36,360) Poverty ranking: Ranked 165th poorest of 177 countries School Enrolment: Primary 79%; in the final year of primary school only 25% of students are female. Literacy: 62% of the population 15 years and older can write. 76% of men and 49% of women are literate. BRIEF HISTORY OF MALAWI Malawi gained independence from Britain in 1964. For 30 years the country was ruled by a totalitarian president, Kamuzu Banda. The people suffered human rights abuses and repression under his rule. International and domestic pressure led to the first multi-party elections in 1994. Bakili Muluzi was elected president, and there were accusations of widespread corruption during his time in office. President Bingu Wa Mutharika took office in 2004, vowing to take a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. These difficulties seem to have been reduced and international support for Malawi has increased. WHAT TRÓCAIRE IS DOING The empowerment of women and the elimination of gender inequalities is a distinct focus of Trócaire’s work in the developing world, particularly in emergencies. Gender inequality is a major source of suffering and injustice. Often, a lot of the consequences of chronic poverty fall squarely on the shoulders of women and girls. In Malawi, 90% of the population is rural and most of the farmers are women. Rural households headed by women are the poorest in the country. Women have limited access to training and credit. Trócaire supports local Non Governmental Organisations in Malawi. Many of them are community groups where women are given skills training and education. This enables women to support each other and gain confidence in knowing their rights and entitlements. Trócaire also supports innovative agriculture programmes, which distribute seeds for more drought resistant crops. Farmers are trained in farming methods and can sell surplus crops for cash. Many families have benefited from Global Gifts of tools, seeds and goats. Malawi is a priority country for Irish Aid. Trócaire 2007 3 Preschools Resource 14/2/07 9:16 AM Page 4 Activities on the poster Photo of Paulo with his sister Judy: What do you see in the photo? What do you think the children are thinking about? Where might they come from? What is the little girl holding in her hand? What games do you think they like to play with the ball? Tell the children that the boy is called Paulo and he is with his sister Judy. He is five years old and comes from Malawi in Africa. Photo of Paulo’s family: Do you recognise anyone in this photo? Tell the children that this is Paulo’s family. How many brothers and sisters does he have? How many of them might be older/younger than him? What is making his baby sister laugh? What would you like to discover about Paulo’s life? Read Paulo’s story to the children. Paulo’s Story. Paulo (pronounced Pow-lo) is 5 years old. Paulo lives in Katamoyo Village in a country called Malawi in Africa. There are six children in his family. His older brother Richard is married to Felida and they have a new baby called Bernadette. His three older sisters are called Murine, Caroline and Judy and he has a little sister called Joanna. She is only eight months old and Paulo loves the way she giggles when he plays with her and dances when he sings to her. Paulo’s mother, Clemintina works very hard to care for her family and his father has moved away to find work. Paulo misses his father very much. Clemintina has made bricks to build a new house for her family. There is no roof on the place they live in at the moment but their new home will have a galvanised iron roof. Paulo’s three older sisters all go to school but always find the time to help their mum by collecting water and wood, sweeping and cooking for the family. Caroline’s favourite subject in school is maths and she loves making dolls from clay. Paulo goes to the local nursery school from 7.00 to 10.00 in the morning where he learns songs and poems, listens to stories, plays games and draws lots of pictures. His favourite part of the day is when he plays football with his sister Judy and their friends after school. Last year, many crops didn’t grow because the land was too dry after it failed to rain for a long time. It did eventually rain very, very heavily but that just flooded the lands and destroyed any crops that were left. The shortage of food means that Paulo’s family only eat one or two meals a day of nsima or bananas. Nsima is a porridge made from maize. Paulo doesn’t have a lot of energy on the days that there is little food in the house. There is a group in the village that helps out families like Paulo’s. They gave Paulo’s mum a loan so that she could buy a goat. She is hoping to buy more so that she can have milk and cheese for her family and sell the goat’s kids to other families. Paulo goes to bed at 7.00 every night and says his prayers. He thinks of his father and wonders what he is doing and prays that he is safe. He thanks God that he has his mum to take such good care of him and prays that they will always have enough food to eat. Talk About Daily life: How is Paulo’s day like yours? How is it different? What is his favourite part of the day? Why? What is your favourite part of the day? Why? Paulo thinks of his father and mother as he goes to sleep. Who/what do you think about when you go to bed at night? Family life: How many people are in Paulo’s family? Paulo’s mum and sisters are very busy? Do you remember all the different things they have to do everyday? How might Richard and Paulo help them? How would it feel to have to walk a long way to collect water for your home every day like Paulo’s sisters? School: Paulo does lots of fun things at nursery school? Do you do anything similar at Pre-school? Leisure activities: What does Paulo and his family like to do in their spare time? Do you think you would enjoy doing the things they do? Food: What type of food is eaten by Paulo’s family? Do you think you would be happy with only one or two meals every day? How would you feel? 4 Trócaire 2007 Document11 14/2/07 9:32 AM Page 5 ACTIVITIES FOR PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN Learning outcomes My Home Language Development Mathematics Creativity Personal and social development Emotional development Environmental education Motor skills development It is important to be sensitive to the home situation of the children you work with during this activity. You will need: pictures of different types of homes from around the world, lego, building blocks, lollipop sticks, clay, straw, márla, cardboard, polystyrene, tin foil, glue, paint, etc. To do: Invite the children to locate Ireland on the map/globe. Invite them to locate any other countries they have visited. Explain that they are going to learn about some children from Malawi. Locate Malawi on the map/globe and explain that it is in Africa.Talk about how people from Ireland would get to Malawi: boat, plane. Explain that by plane would be the quickest. Discuss the differences in shape and size between the two countries. Explore the fact that Malawi is surrounded by other countries while Ireland is surrounded by the sea only because it is an island. To do: In Paulo’s story we found out that he will soon have a new home. What will his new home be made of? In what way is it similar/different to your home? What are the sounds, smells, activities, objects and people that make somewhere a home? Invite the children to talk about the types of homes they live in.What materials were used to build their houses? Display pictures of homes from around the world, e.g. igloos, mud homes, houses on stilts, etc.Talk about the materials that were used to build each house and why they were chosen. Invite the children to draw or construct a model of their homes or of a different type of home from around the world using the materials listed above. Display their work in a ‘Homes Around the World’ exhibition for all to see. Chichewa language Water People in Malawi speak Chichewa and English.Teach the children the following phrases in Chichewa: You will need: two A3 charts, pictures of different activities that involve water and some that don’t, e.g. washing, cooking, reading, swimming, driving, etc. Locating Malawi You will need: a map or globe Hello – moni Goodbye – Ndapita How are you? – Muli bwanji? I am fine – Ndili bwino Please – Chonde Thank you (very much) – Zikomo (Kwambiri) What is your name? – Dzina lanu ndani? My name is ___________ - Dzina langa ndi ___________ Sorry – Pepani Friend - Abwenzi My Family It is important to be sensitive to the family situation of the children you work with during this activity. You will need: photo of Paulo and his family, a photocopy of the border contained on the back page for each child, sheets of coloured A4 copy card, crayons. To do: Display the photo of Paulo’s family to the children and ask them to recall the activities they do each day. Discuss the roles of each family member and the way in which each role is important and valuable. Invite the children to talk about their own families and the different roles that each person plays in their home. Encourage different children to act out different family activities/roles, e.g. cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, reading stories, going to school, going to work, etc.The other children in the class must guess what the activity is and what family member is doing it. In order to avoid gender stereotyping, elicit from the children which roles can be played by both male and female family members. To make ‘My Family’ picture frames, photocopy the back page of this resource for each child and cut out the centre so that only the ornate border remains. Paste the border onto a sheet of A4 copy card. Ask the children to talk about the different images on the border, which represent Paulo’s family. Invite the children to draw a picture of their own family in the centre of the card and to colour in the images on the border. Stick all the picture frames into a scrapbook to make a book about ‘Our Families’. Trócaire 2007 To do: In Paulo’s story we found out that his sisters have to go a long way every day to collect water for their home.What do you think they used the water for? What activities do you use water for at home/at Pre-school? Distribute various pictures of water and non-water activities to the children. Invite them to sort the pictures into their appropriate groups.The children can then paste the pictures onto the correct charts with the following headings: We need water to…….. We don’t need water to……. Ask the children to imagine how it would feel to go without water for a day. How can we make sure that we don’t waste our water? How can we keep our water clean for ourselves and the plants, animals and fish that need it also? Invite various children to mime the following activities for the other children who must guess the way in which the water is being wasted or polluted: Running a tap while washing your teeth Taking a long bath instead of a shower Leaving a tap dripping Filling up a large kettle for one cup of tea Throwing rubbish into the sea at the seaside, etc. Planting Seeds You will need: grass seeds, yoghurt cartons labelled with a child’s name on each, damp soil/potting compost, water, and old/plastic teaspoons. To do: Give each of the children a yoghurt pot with their name on it, some of the damp soil/potting compost, grass seed and a teaspoon. Invite the children to use the teaspoon to put some of the soil into the yoghurt carton. They then put some grass seed into their carton. Next get them to cover the seeds with a little soil/compost. Place these on the window ledge. Encourage the children to check the pots each day to see when the grass emerges. Remind them to keep the soil damp by pouring a little water into the soil/compost. Talk about what was needed to make the grass grow: light, water and soil. Explain that all plants need these things to grow. If one is missing the seeds/grass will dry out and die. Talk about animals that eat grass. Talk about things that we eat that grow. 5 Preschools Resource 14/2/07 9:21 AM Page 6 Recipe: Mbatata Biscuits from Malawi Involve the children in preparing the ingredients for cooking.They could also mix and knead the ingredients and enjoy the biscuits during snack time. You will need: $ cups of mashed mbatata (sweet potato), 4 cup of milk, 4 tbs of melted margarine, 14 cups of sifted flour, 2 tsp of baking powder, 2 tsp salt. To do: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix the sweet potatoes, milk, and melted margarine and beat well. Sift and stir in the remaining ingredients.Turn onto a floured board, knead lightly and roll out 2 an inch thick. Cut with a cookie or biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. As a follow-up to this activity, put on a display of the food eaten in Malawi, e.g., maize (cobs and maize flour), bananas, mangoes, potatoes, kidney beans and butter beans. People at Work You will need: poster showing the women from Malawi working on the land, costumes and props from the dress-up corner depicting different jobs, pictures of people at work, e.g., houseparent, teacher, carpenter, Garda, cleaner, farmer, etc. To do: Invite the children to talk about what they see in the poster. Who is in this picture? What are they doing? Why do you think the woman has her babies with her? How would you describe the land? Why do you think it is so dry? Have you ever seen land like this in Ireland or another country you visited? Do you think crops will grow on this land? Why/why not? Explain to the children that the photo shows girl and boy twins Matilda and Silvestre Fernando, 14 months with their mother Grace and grandmother Paulina. Grace and Paulina spend long days working very hard on the farm and because there is nobody to mind the twins for her, Grace has to keep them with her all day. It is very hot most of the time in Malawi while at other times it rains very heavily. Would you like to work in weather like this? Elicit from the children some of the jobs they see people doing in their community. Using the costumes in the dress-up corner or some props you or the children brought in from home, invite the children to take on the roles of different workers in the community. What sort of work do they do? What is a typical day like for them? Do they like their job? Why/why not? Is their job similar/different to those of Grace and Paulina or Paulo’s mother? Once the costumes have been removed, stick one of the pictures showing people at work on the back of each of the children so they cannot see it. Invite the children to sit around in a circle. One by one, the children come to the centre of the circle and ask the other children questions about the job they have been assigned, until they figure out what their job is. Encourage children of both sexes to take on various roles in order to avoid stereotyping. Games Children Play You will need: poster showing Johan (pronounced Yohan) playing with Lucia and her friends, paper bags and string. To do: Discuss what is happening in the photo with the children? What are the children doing? Where might they be? Do they look like they’re having fun? Explain to the children, that sometimes children in Malawi do not have a proper ball to play with so they make their own.Show the children how to make a ball using the paper bags and string as follows:Take a large paper bag or a few small bags and squeeze them into the shape of a ball.Wrap string around the “ball” several times and in several directions to hold it in place. Make a number of these and allow the children to play with them informally. Next tell the children Johan’s story . 6 Johan’s Story Johan is two years old and lives with his mother Rose and his cousin Lucia, who is six. While her Auntie Rose works in the field planting, weeding and collecting wood, Lucia minds Johan. She brings him out to play with her friends and their favourite adventures happen beside the river near their village. Lucia carries Johan there on her back by wrapping a blanket around him and tying it in front so that he won’t fall off. Johan loves playing at the river when the weather is really hot and dry.The heat dries the water up and so he gets to play in the sand with the other small children. Lucia and her friends play ‘piggy in the middle’ and chasing games while keeping an eye on Johan in the sand. 1. How is Johan’s life like yours? How is it different? 2. What games do Johan and Lucia like to play? Do you like to play any of those games? What other games do you like to play? Introduce Lucia’s version of ‘piggy in the middle’ to the children. In this game, the aim is to hit the person in the middle with a ball made from paper and then they are out. If the person in the middle catches the ball instead of being hit, they remain there. As a person is knocked out, another joins in. Explain that for safety reasons they are only allowed to hit the legs. Tell the children about some of the games you played as a child e.g. ball games such as “Donkey”,“Queen-I-O”. Take them outside and play a range of ball games with them using their new paper bag balls Animals from Malawi You will need: Activity Sheet – for very young children, cut the sheet into three sections so that there is just one animal in each.Then enlarge each drawing and introduce each animal one at a time. To do: Give each child a copy of the Activity Sheet. Invite them to talk about the animal(s). What is it called? Where does it live? What is the weather like where it lives? How many legs has it? What colour is it in real life? What does it eat? Use the information below to add to the children’s knowledge: African elephant: the largest living land animal. Elephants eat grass, leaves and small branches and are very intelligent animals. Lion: These are the only cats that live in groups, which are called prides. Female lions are the pride’s primary hunters and prey upon antelopes, zebras and other large animals. Zebra: No animal has a more distinctive coat than the zebra, with each zebra’s stripes as unique as fingerprints.They are social animals that like to spend time in herds, grazing together on grass mainly. Zebras must be constantly wary of preying lions and hyenas. Hippopotamus: the third largest living land animal after the elephant and the rhinoceros. Hippos spend the day in the water then go onto land at night to feed.They eat fruit, grass, leaves and vegetables. Antelope: This is the name of a large group of animals that have hoofs and hollow horns – they look like deer. Antelopes like to eat grass and other vegetation. Invite the children to join the dots and to colour in the animals. Ask them to draw a river or lake near or around the hippopotamus. Put some small branches in the elephant’s trunk. Draw some grass near the zebra. Encourage the children to add to the scene e.g. drawing the sky, the sun, trees etc. Go to www.nationalgeographic.com for more information. Trócaire 2007 14/2/07 9:21 AM Page 7 Trócaire 2007 Activity Sheet 7 Preschools Resource R9365 Preschools Resource 15/2/07 5:35 PM Page 8 The following resources are available from Trocaire Resource Centres Watoto, Children from Around the World Trocaire, 2001 Price €25.00/£20.00 A resource for Pre-school educators. The pack features children from the Philippines, Bolivia, Kenya and Honduras. Contains 16 A3 colour photos, 4 booklets with 4 A3 colour photos in each, activities, and music tape. Ilenia from Colombia Trocaire 2004 €6.00/£4.50 A resource for Pre-school Educators. These supplementary materials to Watoto can also be used as stand alone activities. They tell the story of Ilenia from Colombia and contain 8 A3 colour photos with activities. Watoto, Children from Around the World & Ilenia from Colombia combined Trocaire, 2001/4 €30.00/£20.00 As above Dansa from Ethiopia Trocaire 2005 Free Downloadable from Trocaire website A resource for Pre-school educators. It tells the story of Dansa, a 6-year-old girl from Ethiopia. Activities include a game, a recipe, constructing a mud home, drawing, planting seeds, and exploring how coffee is grown. Julio from Nicaragua Trócaire 2006 Free Downloadable from Trócaire website A resource for Pre-school educators which tells the story of Julio, a three-year-old boy from Nicaragua who works on a dump. It also tells the story of Katia who works in the market with her mother and Miguel who sells cashew nuts on the streets. Activities include: sorting and making things from waste; role plays on greetings in Spanish, selling in the market and on the street; a traditional recipe; animals and birds from Nicaragua and art and craft activities. Discovery Flaps Age 3-6 Oxfam, UK, 1995 Price €6.00 / £4.50 each, set of 4: €21.63/ £15.00 Series of 4 titles: Come Home with Us! / Come and Ride with Us, Come and Eat with Us! / Come and Play with Us! This lift the flap series is designed to help children to see the connections between their own lives and those of children in other countries Global Alphabets Age 4-7 Frances Lincoln, 1996-2000 Price: €9.00 / £6.50 each Series of 5 titles: A is for Africa/ B is for Brazil / C is for China / I is for India / W is for World. Features photographic images of life around the world. Around the World Series: Clothes, Festivals, Food, Games, Homes, Schools, Sport, Transport Heinemann Library 2002, €15.00/£12.00 each Each book in the series explores an aspect of life that young children will recognise. It explains how people around the world have needs and Useful website: activities in www.trocaire.org common and Trócaire Kids Website how these can con tains fact sheets, stories be similar in fro m around the world and different parts act ivities and ideas for of the world. exploring global theme s. Resource Centres MAYNOOTH Maynooth, Co. Kildare. Tel: (01) 629 3333 Fax: (01) 629 0661 e-mail: [email protected] DUBLIN 12 Cathedral St., Dublin 1. Tel/Fax: (01) 874 3876 e-mail: [email protected] CORK 9 Cook St., Cork. Tel: (021) 427 5622 Fax: (021) 4271874 e-mail: [email protected] « Written by Beth Hickey» « Artwork by Olga Tiernan» « Photography by Noel Gavin/AllPix» « Design and Print: Genprint » « Thanks to Karen Butler, Newbury House Pre-School, Cork who advised on the materials» BELFAST 50 King St., Belfast, BT1 6AD. Tel: (028) 9080 8030 Fax: (028) 9080 8031 e-mail: [email protected]
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