A personal note from me regarding the amazing work of physiotherapist, Jan Jeffrey who is doing an amazing job working with children with in Lesotho.
Jan first visited Lesotho as a participant in the International Learning Opportunities programme run by the Welsh Government’s Wales and Africa programme. She set about training care givers at Phelisanong in the Maluti mountain area in Pitseng and St Angela’s on the outskirts of Maseru.
She has returned many times and is currently based in Lesotho for a year, sharing much needed physio skills with teachers, family and friends of those who would benefit from movement. On this visit she has been busy making special chairs out of cardboard (Appropriate Paper-Based Technology-APT) enabling the children and young people with cerebral palsy to sit up, sometimes for the first time. (see Blog 43). You can see her Facebook photos and videos here.
Her dedication shines through- and her writing brings to life the world of being a disabled child or a care giver in Lesotho.
I urge you to read her blogs, they are inspirational!
St Joseph’s High School is linked with Coedcae School in Llanelli, South Wales. The have been part of the Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning Programme 2020/21 and have engaged in collaborative learning about the Sustainable Development Goals. Mme Makamohelo Ramashamole has been leading the project in her school and wants to share her story:
What have you been involved with this year?
We took part in celebrating World Children’s Day whereby our learners spoke about the children’s rights both by the junior grades and senior ones. Furthermore, we received fruit trees which we planted in our school. The use of cell phones for finding information and sending of videos and drawings to our Welsh partners. Learners’ potential in creativity was unleashed by drawings they made eg; Wales and Lesotho flags, leaves etc collaboration by learners was also noticed. Morale by learners is very high. The enthusiasm is also there. The English and Maths teachers had agreed that come 2022 they will use the web camera and laptop to hold activities like panel discussions, debate etc. In Maths the plan is to involve pupils by using those technological devices to teach.
How can you ensure your partnership is sustainable and benefits each school equally?
Communication on a regular basis is vital. Again, to agree on topics that could be informative and educative on the other hand.eg am certain knowing more about places of interest in Lesotho and Wales and the impact of tourism in these countries can benefit us both. Thirdly, how about global issues like Climate Change how its impacting us ie Lesotho and Wales. Then of course the SDGS team teach and hold panel discussions between the partner schools
I believe as teachers it’s not so much about the best teaching resources but us (teachers) to instil in the pupils the self-belief and the power of thoughts and words and how those play an important role in their successes or failures.
How was your involvement in the Tree Planting Celebration Zoom?
Yesterday’s experience is something that cannot be erased that easily on my learners’ minds. What an experience ! Zoom Meeting. To the team members who made it possible for our learners to experience this “re ea leboha”. The onus lies with us now to assist our learners to gain skills which would enable them to succeed despite the harsh realities of life they are faced with. I believe a little progress on a daily basis would add up to big results. Ultimately, we will get there especially with patience, hard work, commitment and passion of course.
See the wonderful work for World Children’s Day in Lesotho here:
Listen to Ntate Clement from Mokhotlong present to teachers in Nigeria this week, sharing his experience of partnering with Richmond Park Primary School in Wales.
During lockdown Dolen has helped facilitate online training for Basotho teachers in partnership with the British Council South Africa. We are now sharing our success stories further a field across Sub Saharan Africa.
‘We would like to express our sincere appreciation for recommending Clement to share his rich experiences of CCPP with Wales . He is a champion and a true ambassador of CCPP . We wish him every success personally and professionally. Thank you for the the inspirational leadership that you provide and the trust that accompanies it.’
Molly Ramlachan, British Council Partnership Support, Nigeria
Read more about the partnership with Richmond Park below and
find out how we have worked with the WCIA to support their online professional development courses in both Wales and Lesotho here:
‘Warming greetings from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho.
My name is Mr Clement Lekanyane, a professional teacher at Mokhotlong LECSA primary school in Lesotho. A grade five (5) teacher with one hundred and twenty (112) learners in one classroom.
Thank you organisers & facilitators especially Molly for granting me this honoured privilege to share with you all about my experiences on issues relating to Connecting Classrooms through Professional Partnerships.
Currently in our country schools are not yet opened due to covid-19. Therefore, the British Council has been pleased to organise virtual meetings to equip us teachers with necessary teaching skills on educational matters and to maintain our professional partnerships effectively.
My school is partnered with Richmond Park Primary School in Wales. As a way of motivating our learners to value their partnership, I & Nick managed to get few learners who use their parents mobile phones to share pictures and videos and even exchange pen pal letters.
Our link with Richmond Park is growing strongly because of effective communication between the two schools through their coordinators namely Clement & Nick. Our key role is to ensure that all what learners wished to share, we send them to each other for learners to enjoy reading, watching and even laughing.
We are focusing on teaching and learning of SDG11- Sustainable cities and communities. Our main shared project title is Planting the seed of thought which our learners will be working on as we open schools to ensure that their school environment remain green and child friendly.
Challenge with me in particular is the lack of devices and data to fully get learners connected in global learning using the following technologies apps: WhatsApp, telegram, Twitter zoom and Microsoft teams which we teachers and our BC management team use for meeting and sharing information as a way of developing and watering our relationships.
As a way of making learners appreciate other cultures, we allow them to perform traditional dances and wear traditional attire to celebrate special days in both countries. For instance, St. David’s day and Moshoeshoe’s day.
As a professional teacher, I always share information with my fellow teachers about valuing the partnership with Richmond Park. It is encouraging to see their positive response and how they value international relationships as it exposes our learners to global learning.
The training like this one we received has really made a big impact on our professional lives as teachers. We are just waiting for schools to open in order to demonstrate what this unique virtual training has done to us.
Recently, as a Moyeni cluster, we had a wonderful virtual meeting where we collaboratively shared our experiences in this partnerships. Therefore I highly recommend that for this International partnership to work effectively it needs to be cultivated well with self motivated professional teachers with good motives to ensure it remains sustainable.
Thank you for your time and I hope my brief story helps that you Nigerians teachers and colleagues to feel moved to do something after this fantastic session.’
Wales and Lesotho may be thousands of miles apart, but across both small countries there are wonderful shining stars. They are individuals whose energy and dedication burns bright, creating brighter futures for those around them.
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