Ende

Goal 8: A Partnership of Global Development

First of all, I glad they chose to look at Somalia. I knew the area was in rough shape – the beginning of their presentation made the picture even worse:

* Unstable government - for a long time
* No internet access whatsoever until 1999
* Extreme poverty rates
* and so on . . .

I liked the explanations about what cell phones could do for the area:

* Farmers can get agricultural and market information
* Businesses get financial information
* Doctors get medical advice
* and so on . . .

And this, I think, is a brilliant idea:

There are some demonstrations of it on youtube that are interesting, but I’m sure you all knew that.

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

I could respond to the Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability presentation because I thought it was pretty good for the most part, I like “green� buildings and their offspring, and I like that they mentioned “green� doesn’t have to be more expensive. I liked the fantastic buildings they showed as proof.

Or I could respond to some negative things about a few groups – mostly presentation skills. But I don’t feel like ripping on anyone now (sometimes I do) and they did better than I would have up there.

I’ll say a few things about the Goal 4 group presentation:

* Nice choice: Sierra Leone
* The amputations by the Revolutionary United Front were brutal and depressing
* I thought 27% of children die by the age of 5 is an amazing stat
* I liked that they tried to show a movie and it didn’t work, it was funny and lightened the mood
* I liked the “what can we do� part, online games, banners on your blog – easy things and a nice way to include the audience

Posted by haysx067 at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This time I was in a classroom of all girl students, and this day was one of the most hectic. They were constantly at each other for one thing or another and constantly at our group leader (who handled it quite well and by the end of the day had them under control).

One student, however, was perfect all day. She finished her homework, found something else to do when she was done, talked when it was a fine conversation, and ignored when the conversations got disruptive. The other girls eventually ganged up on her (well most of them). They taunted her, called her names, and tried to cut her hair with scissors. We gathered all the scissors and three of the girls had to go for some kind of time out.

An interesting day, slightly more chaotic than usual, but could have been fun if I didn’t feel so bad for the best behaved girl.

Posted by haysx067 at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This time volunteering I started in with one group of kids but was asked to move to another room to help keep the kids quiet and well behaved during a presentation. Again I was surprised when I learned what the presentation would be on. Like last Wednesday the topic of the day was sustainability. The presentation was by District Energy of the Twin Cities – a non-profit corporation that provides heating and cooling in the city through renewable energy sources. I was more eager to see the presentation than the children it was made for.

The presentation went well. A few students were obviously paying attention and a couple even took notes. This was probably because the students were informed before the presentation that a game would follow. This was a great idea – the game got quite competitive. Then we all got pamphlets and green rubber bracelets (just in time for Earth Day the next day). So, it was a good day of volunteering.

Posted by haysx067 at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)