253
Delicious Fish Dinners
48 Service Programs
27,488 HOURS of EDUCATION donated by VOLUNTEERS
TWO COUNTRY MANAGERS
Dozens of murals across the city
-CHEMIDA-WARREN-
372
Nights of Rain
F I V E COMMUNITY PARTNERS Two Piton Mountains watching over the island
Grades 3-6 Tutored In: English, Math, & Science
100s
SEVEN YEARS IN-COUNTRY
Anse La Raye
of STUDENTS READY to LEARN One Paradise Hotel
ST. LUCIA
2018 1
ST. LUCIA Our History In 2012, Father Athanase Joseph, a native St. Lucian, invited Global Volunteers to the island on behalf of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church. While Global Volunteers is a non-denominational organization, the Catholic Church has a major presence in St. Lucia with some 75-80% of islanders considering themselves to be Catholic. It plays a large role in providing services and support to individuals throughout the island, and especially in our host community of Anse La Raye— a small fishing village with approiximately 3,000 residents. There, we work with five community partners to provide childcare and education to the children of the village. These partners include: Kids’ Step Early Childhood Center, Adalyn Leonce Early Childhood Developmental Center, Anse La Raye Infant School, Anse La Raye Primary School, and the Centre for Adolescent Renewal and Education (CARE). Over the past seven years, Global Volunteers has completed 48 service programs in St. Lucia with more than 635 volunteers, and, in this year alone, these volunteers donated approximately 2,440 hours of Childcare, Education, and more to the children and families of the island.
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SERVICE Our Work Projects and their Impact Global Volunteers delivers the 12 Essential Services and supports the Sustainable Development Goals in three categories: Health, Hunger, and Cognitive Development. In St. Lucia, volunteers work with community partners and focus on Cognitive Development in two primary ways.
Childcare In 2018, volunteers donated 4,960 hours of instruction time during 6 projects focused on Childcare. These were conducted at the Kids’ Step Early Childhood Center and Adalyn Leonce Early Childhood Development Center. Volunteers lead the “Twinnies” (3 yrs olds) through creative and fun-filled activities to promote independence, socialization, and fine motor skills. Songs, chants and poems play an important role in this language-rich educational program. All is designed to help the children to have a head start in facing future growth and development.
Education Volunteers taught approximately 255 students in varying subjects at the Anse La Rey Infant School, Anse La Raye Primary School, and CARE Centre this year. During 100 learning sessions, volunteers contributed 3,477 hours of instruction— building skills such as reading comprehension, algebraic problem-solving, library care and use, story-telling, and even, swimming! Peppered throughout this learning are opportunities for cultural exchange. For example, this year, the Primary School won the National Primary Schools’ Calypso contest, and the dancers were very pleased to perform their routine for the entire school and the volunteers in celebration of the accomplishment.
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IMPACT SPOTLIGHT Learning to swim on the island of St. Lucia is a right of passage. For older generations, most learned through exploration and hard lessons taught by siblings. Chem, our Country Manager in St. Lucia, explained, “When I was learning to swim, my older siblings would just take us out to the jetties and push us into the water!” She said that this was not as common anymore. Children spend less time playing outdoors on the island because of safety fears and the draw of indoor technology and games. As a result, island youth have had less opportunities to learn to swim, making the surrounding environment a danger. Recognizing the increased threat of children drowning, the local Primary School invited volunteers from the July service program to teach its students how to swim. The volunteers, Tumi Tyndall, Ann Goldstein, and Tiwanna Bazemore were happy to help, especially because it meant escaping the peak-Summer heat prevalent on the island at that time. Together, the three volunteers taught 24 students in swimming basics during afternoon sessions. Although it was a challenge to break some of the students’ swimming “bad habits,” the volunteers were excited to see progress over their two week period. One student in particular, Alissa, showed exceptional improvement. When she began, she had very little skill, making her participation in any water activity dangerous. Luckily, one of the volunteers, Tumi, is an experienced lifeguard, and another, Ann, has taught many swim lessons before. Both were able to create a safe learning environment for all students with the help of Tiwanna to reinforce teachings and promote skill retention. By the end of the two weeks, the volunteers noted this activity was a highlight of their day and were pleased that they had been able to give the students the gift of play.
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Tumi Tyndall & a local student
Tumi & Ann Goldstein teaching students the basics of swimming
All of the students were eager to learn! 5
GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS ABOUT US Global Volunteers is an international development organization mobilizing teams of short-term volunteers on long-term development projects to help children reach their full potential abroad and in the U.S. We work with, and under, the direction of local leaders in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, North America, South America, and the South Pacific to provide the essential services to families as prescribed by the United Nations. Founded in 1984, we are in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and cooperate with other U.N. agencies such as UNICEF. Global Volunteers maintains a philosophy of comprehensive, sustainable development to ensure lasting benefits to children and families. Deep, long-term relationships are central to Global Volunteers’ worldwide success.
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Š Global Volunteers, 2019