Middle
East, Mediterranean and Balkans
Regular yoga and meditation classes are held in Athens, Croatia, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Malta, and Israel.
In Lebanon, the Sectorial Conference was organised by Dada Shantashubhananda with the attendance of 100 people. Participants enjoyed kiirtan, meditation and intuitional games.
In Malta, the latest news from the Sunrise
Center is online here.
Between the end of the summer club and
the start of the new scholastic year, the Sunrise Center was still buzzing with activity although for the most
part the children were not the protagonists except for a couple
of activities at the beginning of the month.
On the air waves!
On the initiative of the Sajf Attiv co-ordinators, children from
summer clubs of Cottonera were invited for an interview on Radju
Kottoner. Centru Tbexbix was allocated a quarter of an hour wherein
Analise, Bernice, Samuel and Demaris enjoyed a new experience. All
of them confidently spoke about the activities and outings in our
two months of summer club and also elaborated on this year’s
chosen theme, Close to Nature. In the photo Dorian from the radio
station is explaining to the children some basic facts about radio
transmissions.
And again on stage!
For the first time this year, all Cottonera summer clubs got together
to present a talent show for parents and guests at the Santa Margerita
College. Our slot included a presentation by five of our little
ones as well as the video
which Christine put together for the summer club closure. The video
with the children’s happy faces told it all and many people
approached us afterwards to express appreciation.
Reflections
After the end of every programme Didi, Katherine and volunteer staff
sit together for a number of sessions to reflect and evaluate the
programme and repeatedly check whether the activities are measuring
up to the benchmarks required from a project to deserve to be called
a Neohumanistic Education project. In the case of this year’s
summer club, once again there was a lot of positive feedback from
all volunteers: "In our lessons we don't privilege just one
skill or intelligence but we work on all intelligences, physical,
creative, artistic, cognitive, interpersonal, emotional, social…",
wrote Chiara Guida. "The children are becoming really good
in problem-solving, sharing, working in teams. They learn that what
they do affects others, and start to think of others’ needs",
wrote Christine. "From watching my colleagues I learned a lot
- the perseverance in using recycled stuff in the artistic and beautiful
way of Chiara, the funny side of Katrine, the silent hard work of
Christine, the multitasking capacity of Lawrence…" were
Chiara Zecchin's comments. "I learned a lot from this experience.
Using new techniques and moments of silence helped me to manage
the children better", commented Katrine.
Of course there are things we need to improve, and we need to continue
going deeper into understanding better and better the individual
as well as the collective needs of the community that we are trying
to serve.
Volunteer training
Regular training is vital for staff development and revitalisation
of the project. During September ten days were spent in retraining
in preparation for the winter session starting in October. Again
the focus was on planning, implementation and evaluation of each
activity according to Neo humanistic Education guidelines. Special
skills like teaching English in the phonetic way, classroom management,
silent time and improving creativity were all topics addressed during
the training.
Vegetarian dinner
Those of you who have visited Centru Tbexbix know that our premises
can be quite versatile! One day we’re a school, the next day
our place is transformed to host a fundraising dinner for 75 seated
guests, as happened on the 5th of September. The Spanish Vegetarian
Night was another successful fundraiser. Thanks to all who came
and enjoyed the good food, and our appreciation to the culinary
experts.
And more transformation...
The break from classes was a good opportunity to focus on some
other needs of the project. Thankfully our friend from Argentina,
Guido, offered his free time to work on the construction of three
large cabinets for resources. Classrooms were transformed into workshops
and at the end of the month, voila’, George and Guido assembled
the prepared wood and all of us are happy with the new storage space.
New Programme
For a long time it has been felt that Centru Tbexbix can offer more
free services to the community and especially to women. With this
in mind Didi decided to start a series of short health-related and
self-help courses.
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