The Greatest Lessons I Ever Learned...

The poem title that finishes the title of this blog is 'I learned in Kindergarten.' The poem promotes sharing, kindness, love and other childhood lessons that you learn. These life lessons are truly the foundation of character development. Its funny to think that some of the best and toughest lessons students learn have nothing to do with long division, the fuedal system, the parts of the human body or any other circulium based concepts. Instead the lessons are learned outside of the classroom whether they are from an afterschool activity, hobby or mentor.

When we were preparing for our summer destinations, our site supervisor answered one of our questons about materials we could bring over. He explained to us that sports equipment would be a wonderful asset. When we arrived he further explained that non-formal schools (schools that receive no government funding but are not well equipppd unlike private educaton) have no budget for student activities like sports. Through this Emma and Sam were able to put together a 'league' with the cooperation of Education for Life and six non-formal schools.

The program launched this week amid our rapidly and increasingly busy Youth Alive Clubs week. The launch was planned to the tee. In the morning, we had child games like egg races or potato sack races with actual potato sacks. It was great fun to watch the kids move at a rocket pace. The afternoon was dedicated to ball sports (football [soccer], rugby and volleyball). There was an intermission set with semi pro and pro Kenyan sports stars to give motivational speeches to the children. Not everything took place and some plans changed last minute; much like back home but a little more so because we are on African time. Notwithstanding, the lesson learned remained the same.

Kids learned they can't hog the ball; that passing will always be more beneficial than trying to act like the star of the show and that the point is not who wins the game but to have fun. Kids got to spend a worry free day running around the sports field where they could just be kids. It didn't matter what kind of home the kids grow up in or how much sleep they got the night before, it didn't matter what would be for supper or how they would get home safely. The sports day was about being a kid and running free.

It is vitally important for children to have organized and unstructured fun. It helps kids develop into well rounded adolescents and hopefully adults. Kids need time to let out aggression, to exercise and to prosper at what they love. Whatever the activity, whether athletics, drama, music, dance, or extreme sports - the result is just as important as a diploma that combines those academic skills.

We must invest into these programs now, not only so that a chld can run around and have fun ut also so that children can learn essential life lessons that they might never learn in the classroom. In this case, athletics taught leadership, sportsmanship, dedication and ability. It is a lot more beneficial when you can learn this skill set in a hands on approach. I know for me it was always funner and easily enforceable if it was hands on rather than sitting in class reading a textbook or looking up a definition in the dictionary.

The problem here is there is absolutely no budget for student activities. Goodwill donations are relied upon to give kids the opportunity to have fun and learn what it means to be a team player and show initiative. School and Education is of course valuable. This does without saying but kids also need to have fun and an opportunity to shape the world around them. Sports is one way for them to accomplish this one task. Adults try to live through the mantra of all work and no play but the same concept needs to happen for children for them to grow up to be well balaned individuals.

Kudos needs to go out to fellow Beyond Borders Student Emma who is with me in Kenya. Her tireless prusuit of resources allowed Education for Life and the six non-formal schools the opportunity to launch a sports program. It is obvious why Emma is a mover and shaker in our community. Hopefully her example can encourage schools and government alike to understand the benefits of healthy and active fun.

The Greatest Lessons I ever Learned were outside of the classroom. Where were your Greatest lessons learned?