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Gathering youth from different communities around English teaching

This project is part of the SCI North South Programmes. Volunteers should be 20 years old, have previous volunteering experience and take part in the Preparation Workshops organised by their sending branch. More details from your sending branch.

Camp code:

LK-SCI 7.3

Country:

Sri Lanka

Start Date:

03 Oct 2024

End Date:

12 Oct 2024

Topic:

7: Children and youth

Work Types:

Teaching / Manual / Peace

Number of volunteers:

10

International age:

18 - 99

National age:

16 - 99

Extra fee to be paid in the hosting country:

150.00 Euro [2923 Mexican Peso]
Breakdown:

1. Accommodation and food: 80.00 Euro
2. Transportation: 20.00 Euro
3. Activities: 0.00 Euro
4. Hosting organisation support: 50 Euro

Spoken Language:

English, French

Description: Kinniya is a seaside semi-urban area located in the Eastern part of Sri Lanka, near Trincomalee. Its particularity is to be composed by a Muslim population, whereas the mainly practiced religion in Sri Lanka is by far Buddhism. Moreover, its inhabitants speak Tamil, which is one of the two official languages of the country but is actually much less spoken than Sinhalese. Therefore, Kinniya's population is quite isolated due to this cultural gap with the majority of Sri Lankan people and to the distance from other parts of the country. All this is accentuated by the fact that the area was highly affected by the past war. Host organisation: Inspire Village

Type of Work: The main aim of the camp is to make kids from different ethnic groups interact with each others. Volunteers will teach English to students from grade 1 to 11 in Nalanda school, one of the rare Sinhalese schools of the area. It will take place during a special English week organised by the school and will end with an awards ceremony. We also want to engage some manual work there in order to arrange an English classroom. In fact, a room is currently available in the school's premises but it still needs to be tidied up and decorated before being able to receive the kids in good learning conditions. Moreover, the camp will be an occasion to work with Kinniya's Muslim youth, by organising different activities around English and sharing moments all together.

Study Theme: The camp will be an opportunity to talk about peace building in countries full of diversity such as Sri Lanka. Indeed, the island is characterized by several ethnicities, religions and languages that tend to establish some distance between the different communities they create. Thus, more than ten years after the end of the civil war which for decades opposed Tamil and Sinhalese, consequences are still visible and Sri Lankan people still need to learn how to live all together.

Accommodation: Volunteers will be hosted in a community center located in Kinniya town. Living conditions are quite simple, with shared rooms and bathroom facilities.

Requirements: Volunteers must be interested in organising activities, teaching and working with youth, and not be afraid of physical work. They also must be able to live with a group, in very simple conditions.

Approximate Location: Kinniya is about 15 KM away from Trincomalee, the biggest city around.

Organization Description: SCI Sri Lanka has been organising workcamps and peace-building activities since 1960 as the Sri Lankan branch of SCI international network. Our members are from every part of the island representing different religions and ethnic groups.

EXTra FEE: 50 euros