Holiday Camp Visits

When we started work with AEE the children had already started their school holidays, during July they get two weeks off school. In the second week we led two different holiday camps; one in the Gahanga sector and one in the Kikicuro sector.

Some of the children making animals shapes during a drama session - can you guess what they are?

In these holiday camps we planned many different topics such as: HIV prevention, hygiene and sanitation, music, drama, dreams and ambitions, and obviously lots of games! In the Gahanga sector there were around 160 children that attended whilst 96 children attended the Kikicuro Holiday Camp. In the Kikicuro Holiday Camp the caregivers were present instead of the teachers to work along side us in conducting these sessions.

The children were split into three groups depending on their age; one class for Secondary and P6, one class for P4-5 and one class for P2-3.

Children playing the trust game during one of the drama sessions.

The group for secondary and P6 was HIV prevention. The topics discussed were transmission and prevention of HIV, focussing on sexual intercourse and the importance of abstinence in order to avoid HIV. The students were split into 5 groups and were each given a different ‘impact’ topic that HIV can have on a person or their family such as: poverty, strifes in relationships, isolation etc. They were given time to discuss as a group how they would portray this impact and act it out to the rest of the group.

The Children really enjoyed the drama session and requested that they would love to do more drama in the future with their teachers. Drama has a very positive impact on children’s self-confidence and their ability to speak in public places in front of their peers, as every member in a team had to have a speaking part.

Children miming out their chosen profession to highlight their dreams and aspirations - these ones want to be footballers!

The group for P4-P5 focused on music, drama and dreams. The sessions focused on getting the children to express their dreams, and the importance of staying in school to get good grades. We started by playing a game to get them to use their faces to show various emotions. This was helpful for them to practice using their facial expressions and emotions while acting to give a good and captivating performance. They then split up into groups and had a different word that they had to portray in a mime (so they were not allowed to talk!). The children enjoyed trying to guess the words and some of the groups had very impressive ideas on how to act. Lastly the children split up into different groups depending on what career they wanted in the future and acted out different scenarios they might come across in that profession. The children were excited and happy to participate in these sessions and enjoyed learning a new song in English ‘Our God is a great big God’ which included actions to the lyrics of the song.

David and Rachel leading a session on personal hygiene - hand washing, clothes washing, hair washing!

The group for P2- P3 focused on hygiene. The children were taught the importance of personal hygiene and how good hygiene can prevent illnesses, such as worms or typhoid. We explained that by preventing illnesses it can enable the children to remain in school and to achieve a high attendance. The children enjoyed learning a step-by step process of how to effectively wash their hands.

All age groups participated in games together such as: Duck, Duck, Goose, Bulldog, making animal statues in teams, throw and catch with tennis balls and a national game Sticks, which is a girl v boy game where it doesn’t end until one team has caught up with the opposition team and touched them with their stick.

One of the children demonstrating their new knowledge!

As the holiday camps were a one off it is difficult to predict the outcomes of these visits, however we believe that as we worked alongside the teachers and caregivers our methodology will be passed onto them and can continue to use it to plan their sessions.