24 Apr 2018

Step-Up International on April 20 conducted a camp under Science, Technology, English, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) programme where children were taught different activities from the five subjects during the school vacation.

Step-Up International is a Non-Governmental Organization based in Molepolole with the aim of providing experimental learning and educational enrichment programmes that promote social-emotional development of vulnerable children between 10-18 years in Botswana.

Step-Up programmes manager, Mr Mompati Mbakhwa said about 100 children who are in standard 5, 6, 7 and Form 1 participated in the programme which was in three approaches being experimental learning, learner centered and life-long learning.

He said when schools are closed, children idle on the streets and home without anything to do, therefore during the camp, they learn different things and socialise with other children their age.

He said through this, they also have the opportunity to learn from each other.

Mr Mbakhwa said they believed that learning should be continuous even when the schools are on break, adding that they have seen it vital to conduct different activities in order to close the gap of being home away from school.

He said this time they have chosen to do a science oriented project in which they did food preparation and kitchen sanitation.

The programme facilitator, Ms Caroline Ford said the main aim was to teach children basic kitchen rules.

She said children should be able to learn how to cook for themselves in the absence of their parents and how to keep the kitchen clean.

She said through the activity, they taught children that they have to handle food with clean hands and trimmed nails to avoid contaminating food with any dirt from their hands and nails. She said in their ages they have to know effective ways of handling food.

Ms Ford said teaching them how to cook inspired and empowered them to reach their full potential in the kitchen. She said all the food they used were donated by their parents from home and they were divided into groups to utilise the available resources and ingredients.

She said the cooking was into two aspects being preparing breakfast and lunch.

She said for breakfast, they cooked scrambled eggs and French toast whereas for lunch they prepared pasta stir fry where they used many different ingredients relevant for the dish.

She said during the food preparation, she realised that they were showing much interest and learning fast and it showed that a lot of them have been cooking at home but did not have the confidence to do it on their own, therefore it gave them morale to do it.

One of the participants, 10-year-old Nnete Keobatlile who is doing standard 6 said she learned a lot about food handling and how to keep the kitchen clean as well as the importance of eating a balanced meal. Ends