The first GRS camp we ran was a one week, grant-funded program that ended up being extremely successful. We had a turnout of around 160 children who heard about the camp through word of mouth. The pre- and post-tests that the participants took displayed a significant increase in knowledge about malaria and interpersonal relationships, the two main topics we taught. We worked with community members of 5 different villages to reach children from all over the Fenerive region, and got approval from all of the children's parents to teach them about topics around sex education, which is a taboo topic is some households.
Inspired by this program, that happened at my friend's site, I helped get some members of my community trained to be GRS coaches as well!
We implemented a small-scale program with the local EPP in Menatany. The camp we are currently running teaching only about malaria, a big issue in the Analanjirofo region. Our GRS sessions have been extremely well-received by children in the community, many of whom joined the program because of their familiarity with me and the English and environmental safety classes I run weekly. Having members of the community run the program is much preferable though because I can be confident that the program will be continued even after I leave Madagascar.
These are pictures from our last session, after which we hosted a small party with food, drinks, and music to celebrate the completion of the Malaria SKILLZ program. Parents of the children attended and the kids gave them a small presentation of what they had learned over the past couple of months. We then presented each kid who showed up to all the sessions with certificates to show their involvement (names omitted for pictures).
As a nice surprise, the kids also performed a song and dance they had written and choreographed themselves to thank the coaches for their work. Overall, the program was a success, and the kids are already asking to do more camps like it.
