​December 27, 2016 to January 8,  2017 I was in Sierra Leone with SLFND. We started out in the city of Bo where I me the 10 people from Mondema village who were selected to be teachers of the Dovelema Early Childhood Center. Kim Kokett, another preschool teacher and I met with the teachers for a couple of days going over early childhood development and activities children can do at different age levels. We used preschool materials brought with us to demonstrate what children can do when. The teachers had never seen the materials before either (bristle blocks, potato heads, lacing shapes, a parachute, magnifying glasses, felt boards and story pieces) so had a great time trying them out. The parachute was especially fun, we asked them to think of ways to use it and we found out they know many of the nursery rhymes that American children know and we did movements with the parachute to the some familiar nursery rhyme songs.

Guest blog by Kim Kokett, early childhood teacher

I’ve been thinking of the teachers we worked with—new to the profession of education but now with eyes open a little more to the power of the early childhood years. I’ve been reflecting on the questions the teachers asked during the learning process:

When I think of Sierra Leone, I think of people with beautiful hearts who have a deep sense of community. And I was so very lucky to be a part of that community for a very brief time—it’s amazing how quickly a new place can feel like home.