Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Bronxville Volunteers Build Fences and Friendships

From the minute the high school volunteers from Bronxville, New York arrived on campus, the tone of their time at JBFC was set. Before the students even got out of the cars, the JBFC residential girls were screaming and running after them. Each student was greeted with plenty of sweet hugs! Nick, one of the student volunteers, said “The welcome I received from the girls blew me away.”

Bronxville’s two weeks at JBFC was spent completing a variety of activities around campus. According to Mac, another student volunteer, one of the most memorable activities was working with the community. “I enjoyed nearly every moment of my volunteer experience. One of my favorite activities was the community service project.”

The Bronxville volunteers and Form 3 (10th grade) students worked together on a community service
project. During Form 3, Joseph and Mary students spend time learning about and practicing permaculture around campus and the surrounding village. After developing a permaculture farm at a church in the village, the Form 3 students began to notice some problems - animals kept getting into the plants in the farm.

Together, the students and volunteers brainstormed how to combat this issue in order to improve the permaculture system at the church. To keep the plants safe, the group decided to build a fence around part of a church’s farm in the village. First, they planted 32 trees along one of the already established tree rows on the farm, then they used hoes to dig holes for the fence posts. Finally, they buried the fence posts and nailed barb wire on.
Their determination and teamwork paid off because the volunteers and students finished the project much faster than anyone anticipated! They had extra time to celebrate over a good meal of rice, beans, cabbage, fruit, and soda. The group also played games and shared memories of the community service project.

On top of spending time with the school students, the Bronxville volunteers also spent a lot of time with the JBFC residential girls. Student volunteer, Georgia, stated “The best part by far was getting to connect with the girls and hang out with them. I will never forget the friendships I made with the girls and their incredible personalities!” The volunteers and the JBFC residential girls played soccer and basketball together, learned new board games, made friendship bracelets, had dance parties, shared meals, and simply spent time together. For some of the volunteers, this time was really special because they reconnected with girls from a previous visit. Jackie, a returning visitor to campus, said “I loved meeting/seeing the girls again after last year’s quick trip with my family and strengthening the relationships I already made.”

Many of the Bronxville students, including Gabriel, are already planning to return to campus again. “My experience at JBFC was life changing and some of the best two weeks of my life. I hope to return many more times.” Until then, they already have ideas about how to stay connected with JBFC. For example, they hope to have fundraisers and donation drives at school, tell people about the organization, become JBFC ambassadors, start a JBFC club at school, stay in contact with the residential girls by writing letters or sending videos and emails, and sponsoring students. Stay tuned to see how Bronxville continues supporting JBFC!
Guest Bloggers, Abi and Kristen, are serving as our Volunteer Coordinator and Social Media interns this summer.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Turning Players Into Coaches

Some of the JBFC girls have recently formed a competitive basketball team. A coach comes to JBFC’s basketball court several times a week to help the girls learn more about the sport. The team recently traveled to Mwanza to play against another local team. We were so excited when two of JBFC’s players, Vale and Nyamisi, were chosen to attend a basketball camp in Arusha.

Accompanied by Miss Atamba, a teacher at Joseph and Mary School, Vale and Nyamisi boarded a bus to Arusha. The girls spent most of the 14 hour drive sleeping. Eventually, they reached the school where they would be staying for the next week and settled into the dorms.
Pelu (far left), a 2015 residential graduate now studying in Arusha, was able to spend time with Ms. Atamba, Vale, and Nyamisi during their visit.

From 8 in the morning until 6 at night, Vale, Nyamisi, and the other girls from Tanzania attending the camp gathered for basketball practice. During the day, the coach taught the girls drills about how to dribble, shoot, play defense, and help each other score. They also did yoga and a lot of running to stay in shape. In the evenings, the girls formed teams and played games against each other. With all of this physical activity, it’s a good thing the girls received filling meals of rice, meat, pilau, bread, eggs, soda, and tea.


After reflecting on her time in Arusha, Vale explained, “my favorite part was when the coach was teaching us drills. I also liked the other girls. They were charming. I liked the games. I was playing as #5.”


Nyamisi recounted, “my favorite part was watching different basketball games on the TV!”

Upon returning home from Arusha, Vale and Nyamisi have taught the other JBFC girls what they learned at basketball camp. Their new skills and knowledge about the sport make them especially excited for their next basketball game.

Guest Blogger, Kristen, is JBFC's Social Media intern for the summer. 

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Building Tomorrow's Leaders

JBFC offers many opportunities for the girls to develop and practice their leadership skills. For example, girls are annually elected to serve on Girls’ Government. Additionally, some girls put on various programs at the girls’ home such as spelling bees and debates. 

Recently, Zai, Rachel, Laurencia, and Teddy attended a week-long Leadership Camp in Arusha to learn even more about leadership. The girls traveled with Mama Paulina, one of JBFC’s matrons, by bus to Arusha. The drive took 14 hours! They stayed in a house on The Girls Foundation of Tanzania’s (TGFT) campus.

From 9 in the morning until 5 in the evening, the JBFC and TGFT girls attended leadership classes taught by Rwandan teachers. The classes taught the girls how to identify their strengths, seek opportunities, appoint a leader, and respect their values. When they returned home, the girls presented this information to the other JBFC girls. Zai, Rachel, Laurencia, and Teddy also hope to use these new leadership skills in the Girls’ Government and at school.


Zai, Rachel, Laurencia, and Teddy were so thankful for this opportunity and enjoyed their experience in Arusha. Laurencia, Teddy, and Rachel all liked meeting and getting to know the TGFT girls most of all. Teddy noticed they were “confident and charming”. Specifically, Zai revealed that her favorite part of the leadership camp was “getting to know people from Rwanda.” Zai learned that there are more women in Rwanda’s parliament than Tanzania’s.

We can’t wait to see how Zai, Rachel, Laurencia, and Teddy serve as leaders to make a difference in their community!

Guest Blogger Kristen, is JBFC's Social Media intern for the summer.

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Lawrenceville Students Host 2nd Olympics

During their visit to campus, the students and chaperones from The Lawrenceville School organized an Olympic Games for the JBFC girls and students from Compassion, a nearby school. This is the second year that Lawrenceville volunteers have helped put on these games! The JBFC girls and Compassion students joined together to form six teams. Each team was led by two Lawrenceville students and was assigned a country and an animal mascot. Some team names included the “Australian Snakes” and the “Japanese Cows”. 
The Olympic Games began with the opening ceremony where a torch led each team to the stage to perform their chant.

Then, the competition started with different games throughout the afternoon such as potato sack races, potato-and-spoon races, crab walk relays, three-legged races, and leap-frog races. The games were clearly very popular with the students and girls!

"My favorite part was running with the potato sack," said Rehema, one of JBFC's residential girls.

"I was on the cow team with Kevin (Lawrenceville volunteer)," said Yonga, another JBFC residential girl. "The crab walk was my favorite game!"

The score keeper tallied points after each race. The closing ceremonies included awards, prizes, and a huge dance party! 

Lawrenceville did a phenomenal job organizing this fun afternoon for the JBFC girls and Compassion students. The Lawrenceville students were such great coaches and cheerleaders for the competitors. The Lawrenceville chaperones kept the games running smoothly and made sure everyone was having fun and staying hydrated. 
Kris, one of the Lawrenceville chaperones, said "It was a great day. The JBFC girls and the students from Compassion got along beautifully, enthusiastically cheered each other on, and had fun together. It was also great to see the young and old students mixing together!"

We can’t wait for them to come back for another year of Olympic Games at JBFC!