This week the whole team has been hard at work making progress on the running track, and we’re nearly finished. We’ve been weeding the ground and shoveling tonnes of gravel around the track. The patients have also been getting involved in helping; we wouldn’t have been able to get all this work done without them. It’s been great working together with the patients, it’s given us a good opportunity to get to know them. With their help it won’t be long until the running track is finished.
We have been preparing for the workshops that we’ll be doing in the schools. The first workshop will focus on good study habits. We feel that good study habits are quintessential for young students to have to be successful in their school life. The earlier good habits are learned, the better and stronger they will be in adulthood. We have been brainstorming together to find fun and engaging ways to teach these habits to the students. We’ve written and have been rehearsing a short light-hearted play to show what good habits are and how they can be implemented into everyday life. We are looking forward to our first visit to the schools and to present our play.
Last week the UK volunteers and the national volunteers had a friendly game of rounders, the national volunteers had never played rounders before. We thought it’d be a great way of sharing some of the British culture. It was raining during the game, which truly gave it an authentic British feel. We went on a trip to Don Oscar’s farm (our driver). It was a nice change of pace from all the work we’d been doing on the track under the heat of the sun. It was a really fun day, we milked cows in the morning, rode horses in the afternoon, made friends with the local monkeys and went for a dip in the nearby river to cool off.
Next week we will continue preparing for the workshops. We are all very much looking forward to start our work in the local schools.
Written by ICS volunteer Pritesh Pankhania
