Schools Programmes
Schools Immersion Programme
VLM offers students from schools affiliated to the Vincentian Family with the opportunity to take part in our Schools Immersion Programme. This is a true immersion experience where students live and work in community, learning about themselves and about the life and culture of people living in the Global South.
Over 200 students and teachers have travelled to Ethiopia and Kenya to teach and volunteer in schools and projects run by the Vincentian Fathers and Daughters of Charity. Local children benefit from lessons in English and maths, music and participate in sporting and fun activities. Great friendships are formed! The immersion programme is a chance for students to experience the lack of material possessions and access to services that we all to often take for granted. They return home with some very special memories and a greater understanding of the issues of poverty, solidarity and social justice. From this, the aim is that they will be affected to work for change on a local, national and global level on their return.
This two-week experience can be life-changing for both students and teachers. We ask that schools fundraise for the projects prior to their immersion experience so that they make a structural improvement to the lives of their host community. Previous groups have helped build a school for deaf children in Ethiopia and build houses for the local community and a kitchen/dining room for a school in Kenya.
For more information about taking part in this programme please do not hesitate to contact VLM at info@vlm.ie
Discover more about the Schools immersive experience
‘Walk in their Shoes’ Programme
The VLM ‘Walk in their Shoes’ Programme is a 6-week CSPE action project module. It is inspired by our work with schools run by the Vincentian Fathers and Daughters of Charity in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. VLM have designed this module as a way to bring global citizenship and a knowledge and understanding of the incredible work our Vincentian partners do overseas.
There are six lessons with the action project being that the class do a walk to replicate the journey children in our partner projects take to get to school every day. There is an introductory lesson in UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 for education. The module looks at the barriers to education in the Global South and at the benefits universal access to quality education can bring.
A representative from VLM would come into the school and deliver a lesson on the work of our Vincentian partners overseas with real-life case studies. There is then space for the organisation and implementation of the ‘Walk in their Shoes’. An additional action project aim is that as a class or year group they fundraise €200 to sponsor a school place for a year in one of our partner schools. The teaching pack and lesson powerpoints can be accessed below.
Walk in their Shoes Lesson Slides
CSPE Citizenship Action Project – Walk in their Shoes
Please do not hesitate to contact VLM for further details at info@vlm.ie. We would love for more young people to learn about education in the Global South.
