Training course for 29 daycare teachers at the Botswana Red Cross Rehab Centre in Gaborone, Botswana

On May 2-6 2005 Carole Ann Leith and Elli Kiravu held a training course for 29 daycare teachers at the Botswana Red Cross Rehab Centre in Gaborone, Botswana.

The purpose of the course was to provide Botswana Red Cross day care centre teachers from all over the country with greater knowledge on best practices and give them an opportunity to exchange ideas. The day care centres cater to pre-school children, some of whom are orphans.

The course was focussed on topics of theory such as healthy eating for children, hygiene, budget setting and what a good day care centre provides to the children and care givers; as well as practical advise on using inexpensive local materials to make toys and games, sand painting, introducing science through locally available means, introducing numbers, shapes and colours through the use of games, songs, stories and rhymes and social interactions through games and other activities.

All the participants in the training course were provided with take away materials for future use and reference.

One take away item was the manual entitled “Building Futures”. This manual was written by Judith A. Colbert PhD and Carole Ann Leith B.A., OCE Cert. and has been in use in Africa as a teaching tool for many years. Orfund Foundation paid for the printing of the manual for use in the May 2-6, 2005 Red Cross training course.

Orfund Foundation would like to thank Carole Ann and Elli for generously donating their time, knowledge and energy all of which was provided on an unpaid volunteer basis. Without their extraordinary efforts the course would not have taken place.