Giving back to children in need

TWO years ago, Ciaran Black, a retired school principal from Cork, made a life-changing decision.

After spotting an advert calling for teachers to volunteer and help educate children in The Gambia, he immediately signed up and has never looked back.

“It is tremendously satisfying,’’ he says. “I fly out every September and stay until July. I have one aim: If I can teach one girl to read then I consider the journey a success. She will hopefully pass that skill on to her own children too, in later life.’’

Black, 64, who worked at St Joseph’s NS, the Mardyke, is one of the 3,577 teachers who have retired since 2011. He now teaches English to 20 girls aged between 17 and 21 at St Peter’s Skill Centre in Lamin, The Gambia.

“It is a life-changing experience, I am definitely getting as much out of it as I am putting in. The happiness of the people is infectious. They may be poor but they are very happy. They cope with what they are given and strive for more, and the atmosphere is always happy,’’ he says.

The advert that inspired Black was created by Joe Griffin, another retired school principal from Dublin, who felt that he, too, had more to give and wanted to use his educational experience and skills to help others.

So he created Gambia Ireland Volunteers in Education (GIVE) and the first group of nine retired teachers, including Black, flew out to the African country in Jan 2011.

“One of the biggest shocks for them was, and remains the same today, how keen the children are to work. There are no discipline problems at all. And they all found it a joyous experience to be teaching such children and to be mentoring the class teacher,’’ recalls Griffin.

In The Gambia only about 40% of the teachers are fully trained, they earn €50 a month, and many leave, preferring to join the police or the army, where they are respected and better paid.

“Teachers are not held in high regard there, so it is our job to help train them up. The class sizes are huge, there can be around 60 children of mixed ages and ability,’’ Griffin says.

“It is hugely challenging, but it is extremely rewarding and the Gambian government is very positive about us.’’

GIVE runs three projects in the country — offering courses in nursery education for local teachers, teaching and mentoring local teachers and working at skill centres for older girls, who may have dropped out of the education system but are now keen to learn again.

Volunteers usually spend six weeks teaching anytime from January to March and stay at a local hotel on the Atlantic coast. “The sun shines constantly and the living conditions are very good,’’ says Black. “When we first arrived here, the original ten of us, we did not know what to expect, we were arriving into the unknown.

“Last year 50 retired teachers flew out to help and now that the structures are in place, the future is great. Many of the teachers regularly return to volunteer which is surely the best advert for the scheme — I never thought retirement could be so good. It is an amazing, life changing experience and I can’t wait to go back in the next couple of weeks.’’

* www.giveireland.ie. There will be a meeting at the Teacher’s Club in Parnell Square tomorrow to discuss the next trip in January. Contact Joe Griffin on 087- 2255040 for further details.