SKIP 2014
A new SKIP experience for PCC
Just like the past 3 years 12 medical students from England came this summer to PCC as volunteers.
Well, England that is to say, all of them study at the same UCL University of London, but their roots are from all over the world, e.g. Italy, India, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Wales.
A clear sign of our world becoming smaller and smaller.
In PCC we gradually got used to all extra excitement and sociability in July.
Just like the previous years every afternoon these students gave some lectures to our caregivers on simple medical subject having a clear connection with the care in our Community. This year subjects like TB, First Aid, General Hygiene and Intestinal Parasites were on the program and this guaranteed a lot of good and interactive lectures. Each lecture was given 3 times, each time to a different group of caregivers. But without doubt the highlight of this year was a lecture on Sexual Health. For this topic we separated the male (1x) and female caregivers (2x). In the past we noticed that there are many questions about this subject with the caregivers, also concerning our young adult residents. These lectures proved to be a big success. It seemed as there was no end on the number of questions, sometimes very open and at the end all were very happy, though the ladies were not prepared to inform the men about what was discussed and vice versa….. However, there was a lot of laughter and giggling, as so often when people are talking about this topic……
A clear sign of our world becoming smaller and smaller.
In PCC we gradually got used to all extra excitement and sociability in July.
Just like the previous years every afternoon these students gave some lectures to our caregivers on simple medical subject having a clear connection with the care in our Community. This year subjects like TB, First Aid, General Hygiene and Intestinal Parasites were on the program and this guaranteed a lot of good and interactive lectures. Each lecture was given 3 times, each time to a different group of caregivers. But without doubt the highlight of this year was a lecture on Sexual Health. For this topic we separated the male (1x) and female caregivers (2x). In the past we noticed that there are many questions about this subject with the caregivers, also concerning our young adult residents. These lectures proved to be a big success. It seemed as there was no end on the number of questions, sometimes very open and at the end all were very happy, though the ladies were not prepared to inform the men about what was discussed and vice versa….. However, there was a lot of laughter and giggling, as so often when people are talking about this topic……
SKIP also took the trouble to visit various schools and churches in Nkoranza to give a lecture about epilepsy and by doing so they tried to bring all taboos in the open.
Some SKIP volunteers proved to be real artisans, they made a wonderful mural on the wall of the new house for semi-independent living with some happily playing monkeys. So from now on this house is known as the House of the Monkeys!
This 2014 SKIP students were a pleasant, close and active group and they gave lots of love and energy during the feeding and the Special Attention Program. Also the afternoon activities were very nice, with a Dance group, a Sports group and a Walking group. The whole PCC compound was full of activities and our children loved every part of it!
Of course the Day of Sports and Games was a great success, like always. The children enjoyed all games like sack running, tug of war, running, etc. as well as their own football match. After that there was the traditional and official SKIP – PCC match, won gloriously by PCC, just like last year, this time 4-1 with even 2 goals of Elizabeth Gagla!
The send-off party put a very nice end to these 5 weeks. The children gave their utmost best with dancing, music, citing a poem and some group activities and the SKIP volunteers even tried to sing some special songs for all of us in PCC without singing too many false notes.
The next day we said goodbye to SKIP 2014 with lots of smiles but also some tears. Only 11 months to go and then SKIP 2015 will come and we are sure that it will be another wonderful experience, for them as well as for our kids!