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We had a wonderful note from Oshborne Philips, who is in New Taipei City, Taiwan. He's there pursuing a Masters degree in Health Administration and Management, made possible through the ICDF scholarship program. We've supported him in taking a series of exams toward entering a medical residency program—this is the next step on his journey, allowing him to pursue postgraduate studies and a residency—which he'll write this coming January.
He writes:
I have been doing well. I am settling in, trying to acclimatize to the culture and people of Taiwan. School started about 3 months ago for me, I have shifted slightly and have found an area of interest in biomedical informatics.
I have discovered a passion for biomedical informatics and have been taking courses and doing as much research as possible to help develop core competencies. It has ignited a new path for me career wise, developing and evolving my interest in clinical medicine.
Oshborne is well on his way, and we'll share his progress as he goes.
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The calm after the storm
How UNICEF’s Child Friendly Schools Program and the Learning Center are shaping lives through education and care
by Glen Herbert
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In the aftermath of the hurricane, teachers sponsored by the UNICEF Child Friendly Schools (CFS) program have been working with students at the Learning Center. They are there three days a week. Says Tylisha Miller, who runs the center, “they do games, they do projects, have talks. They do crafts and table time.”
The work is perhaps more than it seems at first glance. Buildings and trees show the scars of the hurricane, though, with children, the effects of the storm are lasting but less obvious.
That’s what motivates those who work through the CFS programs to deliver care, training, and supplies. “After countries are hit by major hurricanes, they try to give kids a sense of fun,” says Tylisha. “They train teachers to have talks with the students, to help them express their feelings.”
These kids have been through a lot and, working together with the teachers and volunteers, they are given a unique opportunity to recognize, express, and process it.
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The work of the CFS meshes well with everything that happens, all year, at the Learning Center. It helps kids get back to all the things that kids are meant to be doing: sharing the experience of learning, developing their potential, and enriching their lives. Tylisha recently mounted a reading program, one that she runs twice a year. It's a program of incentives to encourage students to read and, in doing so, grow a love of reading, learning, and sharing what they've learned. As you may have seen in our social feeds, the prizes were all donated by local businesses: W&W Minimart, Bank of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, De Chillspot, Beauty from the Ashes, Mac's Pizzeria, and Dockside Marine. They helped by offering toys and games as incentives. “We try to reward everybody who reads.” Tylisha had prizes on hand, though donated them to the shelters after the storm. She then asked around for people to help replenish the stock and was moved by the response.
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The students report back on the reading they do first through oral reports then, as they're able, through written reports. It's a way to share their learning, hone writing skills, and celebrate their progress. The report here is on the Robert Munsch classic, More Pies.
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While only one of the activities of the Learning Center, the reading program is representative of everything they do. “It’s like seeing the full scope of it," Tylisha says. "Seeing them improve. I had a child, when she started, she could hardly read. And now she’s in fifth grade and I was listening to her read the other day, and it was mind blowing, how far she’s gotten. I can see how the reading program encouraged her. She came over the summer and said, 'Miss, is it ok if I take home a whole bag full of books, and bring them back.' She really got into reading, and that affected so many things in her life.”
The Learning Center is a co-curricular program—it's not school, and it's not intended to be. There aren't marks, rather the goals are to support academics and personal growth. Tylisha and the other teachers are mentors in the truest sense: they model the joys and benefits of learning.
When I ask what she loves best of what she does at the LC, Tylisha says “seeing how much the kids have improved and how we’ve played a part in helping them get better, and to do better, in all aspects, not just in academics. In the life lessons, just to be good humans.”
Indeed. Through sunny days, cloudy days, and hurricanes, too.
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For more on the Learning Centre, or any of our programs, don't hesitate to reach out to me at the contacts below.
Sincerely,
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