Grannies a Gogo

If you've been following this blog, you will see a new addition in the Links section. I've added the website for Grannies a Gogo. My sister Sue is the founding member and chairperson of this group of "grannies" from Vernon, BC who have connected with gogos (the word for grandmother in Zulu) in Sabie, a village in rural South Africa.

From 2001 to 2005, Sue and her husband Ken lived in Sabie but have now moved back to Vernon. They continue to make regular trips back to see the friends and offer encouragement with projects they were involved in during their time there.

The gogos in Sabie have many things on the go, not the least of which is raising their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren. The Grannies website notes that there are an estimated 2.5 million AIDS-orphaned children in South Africa alone.

I have really been enjoying Sue's blog within the site and I would encourage you to check it out as well. Her posts are quick snippets of what's happening with the group, now that she's over there for a visit. I am inspired by her posts and by her writing as well. As usual, the little sister could learn a thing or two. Don't be so wordy . . . keep it short and snappy.

One Smile at a Time

One goal I have for myself in our year away is to take part in an Operation Smile medical mission. Operation Smile is a private, not-for-profit medical services organization that travels to developing countries to repair cleft lips, cleft palates, and other childhood facial deformities. I first heard of this organization years ago as a speech pathology student in Toronto. It always seemed like it would be an exciting and rewarding volunteer experience. Next year, if everything lines up as I'm hoping, this dream could become a reality.

Operation Smile was founded by Dr. Bill Magee, a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathy, a nurse and clinical social worker. In 1982, the Magees traveled to the Philippines with a group of medical volunteers to assess and surgically repair children's cleft lips and cleft palates. They encountered far more children suffering from facial deformities than were equipped to deal with on that trip. They were forced to turn many children away but rather than succomb to discouragement, they took stock of the enormity of the need and founded Operation Smile.

Cleft lip or cleft palates occur in approximately one out of every 700 live births. In the western world, corrective surgery would occur within months of that infant's life. But in developing countries, these children can live for years - sometimes even into adulthood - with unrepaired clefts. The consequences to their ability to eat and to speak are obviously very signficant. In some cultures, these kids will be hidden away by their families because of rejection by their villages due to a lack of understanding of the condition.

Since 1982, more than 120,000 children have been treated by thousands of volunteers in Central and South America, Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia and thousands of healthcare professionals have been trained globally. According to their website, Operation Smile now have a presence in 51 countries. Operation Smile builds in sustainability and capacity-building by coming alongside professionals in these developing countries and offering education and training. Mission-based education ranges from full-scale medical conferences to informal workshops on a specific skill or technique.

Each medical mission is compised of a team that includes a plastic surgeon, anesthesiologist, pediatrician, pediatric intensivist, biomedical technician, speech pathologist, child life specialist, dentist and nursing staff. Each medical volunteer has to be credentialed by Operation Smile. I began this process last year and am happy to report that I have now been approved and am offically in their database as a credentialed SLP. . . aka future volunteer. The process involved a lengthy application listing courses and training in cleft palate/craniofacial anomalies, letters of reference, copies of degrees, proof of certification and licensure, and an up-to-date CV. A couple of months later I got the good news!

And so now I keep checking back to their mission schedule, waiting to see which countries are being scheduled in our timeframe of August 2009 to August 2010. Of the countries we have in our own itinerary, there are several that overlap with previous Operation Smile missions. They include in Africa the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa (and more recently Lesotho) and in South-East Asia the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Keep your fingers crossed that a mission will be scheduled in one of these countries that matches up with our flight path.

An international mission is usually a few weeks in length. About 300-500 children receive full medical evaluations and 100-150 children are surgically treated. Each year Operation Smile organizes about 25 international missions. I don't really know if Ted and the boys would be allowed to be on-site during that time. I hope so and I'm sure, at a minimum, it could be helpful to have extra hands available particularly during the intial screening period when hundreds of families are waiting in line to be seen. Also, the Child Life Specialist typically needs volunteers to play with the children who are waiting for their surgery and so this might be another opportunity for the boys, under Ted's supervision.

I would invite you to check out their website - the videos and mission reports are especially moving. For example, view the one below. I get goosebumps - so anxious for this time to come.

Homeschooling

One thing we have not blogged much about yet is the prospect of homeschooling. Even though I work in a school board and am surrounded by teachers all the time, I still feel a bit intimidated by the whole issue. Having said that, though, we are trying to go with our gut, trust our instincts and remember that no-one knows our kids better than us. During our trip, Mitchell will be in Gr. 7 and Jackson in Gr. 3. The Gr. 3 curriculum seems pretty straightforward. Gr. 7, a little more daunting. We are also trying to remind ourselves that they will learn a great deal simply by virtue of travelling to so many different countries, experiencing firsthand so many different cultures, and having the time and freedom to pursue their own special interests.

I have obtained, from the Board where I work, some handy software by a group called the Nectar Foundation. The software (Math Trek, Language Trek and Science Trek) parallels the Ontario curriculum and I have the specific programs for Gr. 3 and Gr. 7 already loaded on our laptop. The boys and I spent some time this summer doing some of the activities and the programs are well done and allow for tracking their progress.

My own gut tells me not to get bogged down in the minutae of every strand in the curriculum and stress oursleves in trying to cover everything. I think if we have the kids focus on reading, writing (including posts on this website), and keeping up with math, and having lots of discussions about what we're seeing and doing, then we should be okay. In fact, it might just be their best "school" year ever. They will have to let us know in about, oh, 18 months from now.

For reading, it would be great to read together some of the classics for children. Kids don't seem to get that opportunity much in school these days, but I don't see why we couldn't tackle one great novel per month. I'm hoping that's realistic. At home, we've read books like Treasure Island, Pilgrim's Progress, Tom Sawyer, and the Narnia series but there are so many to choose from. Dear readers, what classics would you recommend for boys age 7 and 11? I found this list on the Internet and it looks like an excellent starting point, but I would love some more ideas.

For writing, some type of journaling seems like a good idea. This website is like our virtual scrapbook of our year away and, although the boys have not been posting much at all yet, they know this will be a requirement during our year away. I like that the writing they will do for this blog will have a genuine purpose and an actual audience and at the same time, the topic can be of their choosing.

For math, there will be the need to continually calculate exchange rates, distances, shopping prices, etc. Real-world math but obviously we will have to go beyond just basic calculations to meet Gr. 7 expectations.

The geography, culture, history and second language learning should take care of itself. What we don't want is a stressful year with homework-related tears and frustration. What we want more than anything is for both of the boys to enjoy the year, enjoy the homeschooling experience, and come to the realization that learning is not just something confined to a brick building or a desk between 9:00am and 3:30pm Mondays to Fridays.

We have been talking with the staff at the school they attend, to help prepare, and I take great reassurance in what one teacher shared with me. She quoted Mark Twain in reminding us that "you wouldn't want school to get in the way of a great education". Thanks Tracey, for that little nugget!