quotes
Juliet Niabayaza (Buwende Village, Uganda)
“For me I have learnt from the play centre to play with young children. I have learnt how to count from one up to ten in English. It has helped me to remember what I had forgotten from my primary school. So I remain saying that Lively Minds must remain because I have learnt more things better than my primary one”
Benjamin Mulindwa (Buwagi Village, Uganda)
“Locally in this village we have not been considering infant education. The course was interesting and easy to work out hence triggering every volunteers determination to teach the children eagerly. It has brought a sense of concern to us as parents as to why children must be taught through playing. It has also confirmed the sense of community. We deliver our sincere appreciation to the soft handling of our trainers and the knowledge passed to us. The trainers showed maximum dedication to the work they did which claimed maximum dedication from we the volunteers”
Abukari Abdul Fatawu (Vittin village, Ghana)
“I enjoy the work because it enables me to practice some of my future career, such as teaching. Speaking in public is not an easy thing to do but so far as we are teaching the children we learnt how to do it. Also we learnt a lot about the games.
It made changes to my life because i gained respect from the children as well as the community itself. It also helps me to keep myself neat. It made differences to the children because we observed that that learnt how to name things in English and also learn to count things in English unlike the children who are not attending it. More to the point it enables them to keep themselves neat by bathing well and dressing well to the play centre.”
Moses Edoku (Naminya Village, Uganda)
“The centre is of a great value to the community, children, volunteers and the church. Volunteers are now learnt and the children. Volunteers now know how to handle young children and value them. Children are now learned and are now creative and lively. Teachers in schools around have realised a change and ease in teaching those children.”
Report from Kotingli Village (Ghana)
“Now everybody knows what a volunteer is and how he/she works. As a volunteer you have to work without expecting to receive any money or reward. As we are hearing in Dagbani that a child with the clean hands eats with an old man. What I mean is that person who is a volunteer is respected and is a person everybody likes. We the volunteers did well because as I am telling you the children from Kotingli now know how to write and read well.”
Joe Hall, former Save the Children employee
“I was lucky enough to go see a Lively Minds project in Uganda at the end of November when I was there for a Save the Children trip and a holiday. I’ve seen a lot of development projects in the last four years, some brilliant, some less so. I’m really happy to say the one I saw was definitely the former — very good.
First off, it was well organised: Sarah, the country manager (who was a real catch — she took a 75% pay cut to join Lively Minds, and is an inspiring and well connected woman in Uganda) had a really comprehensive manual and monitoring systems that Ali had created. You could see there was a methodology to the work with children and mechanisms to monitor the quality (not to be taken for granted — some bigger NGOs probably don’t do as good a job). The toys were also made from local materials too, for practically nothing ($50 for a set of toys for one group — that’s less than the cost of a pair of trainers in the UK!).
Second, it had spirit. The women were all totally behind it. They loved it! Everyone was really happy to be there. We did speeches at the end of my visit, and a couple of the women, who clearly had had precious little education or opportunities themselves, were getting so much out of it. They were genuinely empowered, running the project day-to-day — the first time most of them had had any responsibility in their lives. And it was leading to other things… the women were starting a little soap-making cooperative business.
Third, and most important, the children were clearly getting a lot out of it. Having a white guy with a camera around usually distracts the hell out of any group of African kids — but five minutes after the beginning of the session I saw, the kids were absolutely engrossed. It’s easy to forget that we all had these really simple toys when we were kids — blocks of shapes, things you have to slot together, those basic toys — which for them are a revelation. It was also apparently changing the way families interacted — the play-with-your-kids-it’s-good idea of Lively Minds was seeping into families’ homes.”
Zabaga Imoro (Changshegu village, Ghana)
“I enjoy it because the skill level of the children is improving. Volunteering has made some changes in my life because I have learned a lot of lessons. It has made some difference to the children because they can now compare things in different sizes and colours.”
Maryam Abatuuka (Buwagi village, Uganda)
“I enjoyed the training course and it has helped me to gain skills in teaching young children. The teaching will develop the community”
Annet Mwamula (Buzika village, Uganda)
“I thank your organisation for considering our community and for such wonderful programmes. I thank our trainer and request for more chances.”
Robina Babirye (Namiyagi village, Uganda)
“I enjoyed the play centre and this project has done great work to us. In fact we volunteers enjoyed it”