The mid-term seminars are a compulsory part of the weltwärts voluntary service. They serve as quality assurance and support for the volunteers. This year, two seminars led by Nicola Scholl, founder and director of PlayHandball, took place in Botswana and Kenya. Here are some insights into the seminars from our volunteers Sophia (Kenya) and Lasse (Botswana):
Kenya:
With a one-day delay due to the nationwide protests against the government, the mid-term seminar for our five weltwärts volunteers in Kenya finally started. After a joint breakfast at the Ikeeke Aare Primary School in Suswa and a short reunion, we immediately went to the seminar room. There, Nicola welcomed everyone and got us in the mood for the coming days. In the following hours, there was a lively exchange about the past months, questions were answered and expectations before the volunteer service, during the orientation week and after the arrival in the host families were discussed and their development was evaluated. In addition, the volunteers dealt with the positive and negative sides of their voluntary service. At the end of this first day, due to the heavy rain, they had an outdoor shower, which was great fun for everyone.
The second day of the seminar started with the continuation of the discussion about the challenges of the volunteering service. Some good solutions came up, which will surely be implemented in the following time. After that, it was finally time to go outside and play some games that are supposed to target environmental awareness as well as sports skills. On the third day of the seminar, the newly learned games and training methods were directly applied in practice with 50 children. Despite some difficulties, everything worked great and both the volunteers and the children learned something new. In the evening, there was a short outlook on the coming 5 months and each volunteer dealt with their goals for this time.
Friday, the last day of the seminar, was used for relaxation and exchange. Everyone went hiking to Mount Longonot. After the strenuous, but great hike with a beautiful view, we went to the final dinner together.
On Saturday morning, everyone went home with newly gained knowledge and a lot of anticipation for the next months. We thank everyone for this informative seminar and especially those responsible for the successful organization!
Botswana:
In the end of February our volunteers in Botswana attanded their mid-term seminar in Rasesa, Botswana. Together with other volunteers from Mebala Youth Studios, Women against Rape, and Stepping Stone International, they reflected on the past months, did group activities and planned the remaining time within the projects. A special highlight was an afternoon at ‘The Dow-Academy’ in Mochudi where the volunteers used Environmental Games to raise more awareness on sustainablitiy issues among the 48 pupils attending. On Saturday the group did a daytrip to the capital Gaborone. After a small sightseeing tour the day was wrapped up with a nice dinner at Main Mall. In retrospect, everyone had some successfull, informative, and good few days, which will see our volunteers go well prepared into the next few months.
“The Seminar was a great opportunity to get in touch with other volunteers and to hear from their experiences and challenges. To get feedback from others and reflect the own activities of the last couple months is a good basis to improve our work for the second half of our service. I left this seminar very enthuasiastic and with many new ideas” so Lasse.
