https://www.vsointernational.org/news/blog/the-volunteer-helping-rohingy...
“I’m Arifa and I volunteer for VSO as an Early Childhood Education Assistant in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Before joining the project, I gained my masters in degree in English and went on to teach kindergarten.
I’ve always wanted to challenge myself to work in different areas but as a woman in Bangladesh, it's not easy to move from one city to another. It took some time to convince my family to support my decision to move to volunteer with children in Cox’s Bazar. It wasn't easy, but now they are happy to see me happy and learning new things.
The ECCE project focuses on helping vulnerable children under the age of five who live in rural remote communities, access quality education. My role is to supervise early childhood education in the area. This includes developing the curriculum to benefit learners, monitoring learners' development, and providing training and materials to support teachers to provide the best possible education for the children.
Working with young children is an exciting yet challenging experience, but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to make a positive impact in their lives.
One of the needs we first identified was the need to provide children with a space to learn in a fun and engaging way. We teach them through play-based learning which gives them the opportunity to enjoy their education whilst also acquiring new skills.
Putting the needs of the community first
One of the cultural differences I've noticed working with the community is that people here tend to be more conservative than I’m used to, which has required me to adapt and learn new ways of interacting with them.
Fortunately, I've received positive feedback from the community and people have been friendly and willing to share their ideas. I believe their input should be our top priority, as they know better than anyone the needs of the community. Whenever I have the chance, I ask for their suggestions and try to implement them in our work. It's important to be open to feedback and to adapt our approach to meet their needs.
About our ECCE project in Bangladesh
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugee children are currently living in camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh and not receiving the education they need.
VSO collaborates with a network of community volunteers who offer early childhood care and education (ECCE) to children aged three to five in their homes, promoting emotional development and teaching them the basics of literacy and numeracy.
For older children, 12 learning centres have been established to provide them with a secure environment to continue their education and safeguard them from the dangers and monotony of camp life. So far VSO volunteers have reached over 6,600 children aged 3-14 and developed 108 home-based ECCE centres
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