We are very excited to announce that the United World Schools team have now identified the village where the funds we have raised will be used to build a school and train teachers. The village is called Wan Kaung and it is in the hills in the Eastern part of Shan State equidistant from the borders of Laos, Thailand and China.
Here is a link to the satellite image of the village and if you zoom out you can get a feel for the location.
The village ethnicity is Lar-hu and is made up of around 77 families with around 100 children of relevant school age. Below are photos of the some of the children and two of the families. Construction of the school hasn’t started yet but is in planning we understand and the aim is still to open the school in June of this year. The money we have raised is paying for the construction of the school and the training of local teachers.
In preparation for our work with our UWS school community, eight ISY faculty (including Mr. Todd Davis, our new Service Learning Coordinator) attended ‘Integrating Service Learning into the Curriculum,’ a three day workshop in Bangkok facilitated by world-renowned Service Learning expert, Cathryn (Cathy) Berger Kaye. Here is a link to Cathy’s website.
In August before school starts, Cathy will be coming to ISY to work with all teachers. Her focus will be identifying Service Learning opportunities and student outcomes in all courses, specifically with our UWS school community in mind.
Regardless of the subject area, students will be challenged to apply their knowledge and skills in the service of our UWS school community. Students might combine their mathematical understanding of ratios and scientific understanding of matter to help make bricks for buildings. Others might use their engineering skills to prevent surface flooding. Partnerships might be created between classes to encourage writing and to develop a shared understanding of global issues. Students may use their understanding of economics to help set up small businesses selling goods that could be marketed and sold by ISY students in Yangon. Our Bokashi composting initiative could be replicated by students in our UWS school community.
The learning opportunities for ISY students in this partnership will be many and varied. We look forward to working and learning alongside our partner UWS school community and together we will be a force for positive change in the world.