This week’s “Club of the Week!” is Phatsimong Youth Centre in the capital of Botswana: Gabarone. The Club is led by Ashley Rice, Goabaone Banyaditse, and Kendall Carpenter. Their Partner Club is Promise Neighborhoods in Boston, Massachusetts, in the US.
Phatsimong has put together some really great Partner Exchanges. Their format is very simple—a Word document with photos inserted. But each tells a rich and fascinating story about kids’ experiences with DSG. You can tell the kids are learning a lot and having a blast!
Here are a couple of excerpts from their Partner Exchange for Session 4:
About “Defining the Need” for an Emergency Shelter:
“While defining the need, the kids came up with some interesting reasons that one would need a shelter. Some typical ones were brought up like rain and wind. However, they also mentioned sand (a very valid suggestion considering the sandstorm that blew through Gaborone the day before). Clearly not mentioned was anything to do with the cold like snow or ice (we are currently going through a heat wave with average daily temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for about a week).”
Kids discovered they had run out of an essential material while building their shelter. But that didn’t stop them—they redesigned it!
“Unfortunately, we ran out of trash bags and group 2 was unable to cover their whole [A-frame tent] structure in covering as they initially intended. But like the great inventors that they are, they quickly adjusted to a lean-to design whereby they only needed to cover one half of their structure in plastic bag.”
The kids also had lots of interesting questions for their US Partners—as you’ll see below, just asking kids questions from the other side of the globe becomes an interesting cultural exchange!
Session 2, Helping Hand:
Our questions for you Boston:
- What did you design for helping hands?
- What do you do to reserve water in your community?
- How do you celebrate Independence Day?
- What does the President do to support you?
- How do street kids live in the United States? How do you help orphans? Do they have shelter and clothes?
- How do you deal with drug dealers? Can you chase them?
Session 3 & 4: Prototype and Emergency Shelter
This week’s questions for our Partner Club:
- Who were the first few presidents of the U.S.?
- How did the country develop?
- How many farms are there in Massachusetts and what do they grow?
- What is the best thing about living in Boston?
- Do you have totems?
- Do you have cultural dances?
- Are there any African traditional believers in Boston?
Keep up the good work, DSG Phatsimong! We can’t wait to see what you design with the DSG Boston Club for your Partner Project!
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