Volunteer Teacher – Sadie St-Denis
We are once again blessed with help! Last summer, a group of 4 university students came to Ambatoharanana to teach our teachers and students how to use their new laptop computers, generously granted to them by “One Laptop per Child” organization.
This year, I am pleased to announce that a young teacher from Glengarry, Canada, Miss Sadie St-Denis, will come for an entire month to offer camps to children and English lessons to teachers. Sadie is hard at work, raising money from family, friends and her church community, so that she can pay the expensive airline ticket over here. She will travel here on July 28th – 30th, but way of Amsterdam, Paris and London.
We are very lucky to have her, as she is a trained teacher, well experienced in teaching English, having taught English as a second language in Korea. She is also not a stranger to travel, and seems keen and flexible, ready for anything. She will arrive just in time to christen the new house for volunteers that is being constructed as I write.
The children ages 7 – 10 of Tenaquip School will enjoy two weeks of camp beginning Aug 2nd. They will come from 8 am – 3 pm each day and have soccer, computers, lunch and then more soccer before returning home with their computers in hand.
The children of Lova Soa will receive one week of camp, and then may have Sadie here a couple more days to play causally with them on the soccer pitch or with the computers. She will be a very popular person for that last week. We didn’t schedule any more camps for her as we wanted her to have a little time to herself to be a tourist, if she wishes. It is a long way to travel to see nothing but children, soccer balls and computers!
We are absolutely thrilled that Sadie has agreed to come. What started as a casual conversation at lunch in the staff room of Maxville Public School about Sadie’s desire to help in an underdeveloped country is about to become a reality! I salute the young folks of today who, although they struggle to find that first job, and to have enough money to afford a car, etc, still think of others and live out their desire to help.
- Kathy