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Level Up Week at Bana Ba Letsatsi School in Maun

Writer's picture: Stefanie SimonetStefanie Simonet

On paper, I was going to spend 5 days at Bana Ba Letsatsi School (BBL) with 44 children that were taking part in online classes and workshops taught by volunteers from various countries in Europe. This all sounded amazing and I was very excited to be the person on the ground, together with Goitse (Lerato co-worker). I could, however, not anticipate how I was going to be involved emotionally and how fulfilling and heartwarming this week was going to be.

 

All the children of BBL have a backstory that is absolutely heart-breaking to various levels. To understand where these children are coming from, it is important to know what Bana Ba Letsatsi stands for and helps with according to their mission statement:


The organisation endeavours to keep orphaned and vulnerable children off the streets and away from negative influences such as glue sniffing and petty crime. Bana Ba Letsatsi Trust is a rehabilitation centre where discipline, education, counselling, sports, hygiene, and meals are provided to a selected number of orphans vulnerable children and youth.

All activities designed and executed at Bana Ba Letsatsi Trust have the ultimate goal to support, encourage, rehabilitate, and empower all children and youth to remain in school or return to mainstream schools, establish a drug and crime free life, and become productive members of society. The Trust encourages positive action from the caregivers of all children and the establishment of community support for those children at risk in their society.

BBL attends to these critical cases; School dropouts ,Child/Early marriages , Sexual abuse and exploitation, Child neglect, Few cases of child labour, Violation of Children’s Rights, Juvenile delinquency, Alcohol and drug abuse, Teenage pregnancy


Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun
Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun

The Level Up week took months to plan and organise. The goal was to equip these kids with some of these basic skills and coping mechanism, which in turn would help them be better prepared for a variety of situations in the future. Different volunteers of various backgrounds agreed to take time off from their busy work schedules and dedicate some hours to teaching these kids. From dealing with emotions, how to journal, handling money and writing a CV to using AI to their advantage – the different workshops were bound to teach them lifechanging lessons.



Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun
Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun

 

The concept was simple – set up Teams meetings on different computers and have the volunteers talk to these kids online. Apart from the computers and the right programs, not much else was needed so this should all go swell … Goitse and myself arrived Monday morning early and the only person there was the gardener. Being Swiss at heart, I already checked my watch and saw the minutes ticking by. Slowly but surely the teachers, social workers and also the kids started arriving but it was clear from the get-go that no one was really prepared or had an idea of how this would go and it turned out to be a chaotic few hours. This despite meetings for preparation with the whole team 😉Just over half of the kids on the list made it to class and of those, many were late. The kids were energetic and intrigued by the many laptops and setting up the online meeting took seemingly forever and included bad interference and horrible background noises. The morning was mostly practical exercises though and gave us time to sort out the many issues we were dealing with. Within a few hours, the Small Village Botswana team in Switzerland came up with a plan to get more kids to school on time for the coming days and after an internal meeting with the teachers and social workers, a plan was hashed out to get these online courses ready in time and communications among all parties improved. That evening, we all passed out early from exhaustion but I could feel this enormous amount of hope and excitement for the next day.


Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun
Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun

Tuesday morning all the kids were at school before Goitse and myself even arrived. The teachers were already setting up the laptops and we were online before the workshop even started. The spirits were high and the boys and girls were ready to learn! All of them showed so much interest and excitement that we all were infected with it! A high-five here, a high-five there and a selfie with the youngest of the kids – we all bonded quickly. It was incredible to see how engaged they all were and we all felt sorry for them after lunch, when many were so tired and even passed out in their seats. I remember those afternoons all too well … Food coma!

 

While the kids learned many new skills, the adults involved in the planning and executing Level Up had the chance to recognise the challenges and issues that needed to be dealt with. By Thursday the classes were running smoothly with no hiccups whatsoever and the overall joy over such a wonderful project was palpable even across the screens. The involved teachers were so enthusiastic and engaging; they were no longer just translating but adding to the content and getting the children to participate even more and express their own feelings.

 


Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun
Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun

We couldn’t believe how quickly Friday was upon us and we came to the end of the Level Up workshop. Everyone was really tired but also so thankful and happy with the way the whole week ended up and how successful it all turned to be. To end it all on a high note, we organised Cooltime ice pops for all the kids and everyone, including the chef and gardener gathered at the benches to ‘party’ as Goitse promised the kids. ‘Dance and you get an ice pop’ was the motto and boy did the kids deliver! I haven’t smiled and laughed this much in months and I don’t remember when last my heart was so full. It was difficult to leave the place, knowing that the next week was back to ‘normal’. Apparently one of the boys already said that he did not want to go back to the usual classes.



Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun
Kids Workshop - Kids in Maun

 

To all the sponsors, volunteers and organisers of this wonderful week – know that you made a difference, Level Up made a difference and seeing the smiles, hearing the laughter and dealing with the naughtiness of these young children and young adults was so incredibly rewarding.








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