Pamela Maclean is A Ray of Hope’s liaison for Nigeria
Pam Macclean is an exceptionally gifted individual who is driven by the need to succeed, accomplish and impart ideas. Her great desire is to share her knowledge with others and in particular with those who may not have the educational opportunities as those experienced by pupils and teachers in the United Kingdom. It is a wonderful asset for A Ray of Hope to have harnessed the interest of Pam in Nigeria and we are assured that much more will develop.
Pamela has just recently returned from an extremely successful time in Nigeria and thanks must be given to British Airways as without their support none of this would have been possible.
I must also pay tribute to all those who believed in the ideas of Pam and A Ray of hope and on learning of the proposed agenda turned acorns into saplings. The giant oaks will come later. It is however always refreshing to become involved with communities that truly value education. It is the desire and knowledge of the value of education that sets the developing world above the countries that have all and appreciate little.
My own biased view is that good teachers are worth more than gold – and in Nigeria this premise stands proved. The response to Pam’s visit demonstrated how community development activists and teachers lead and students excel and I must personally thank all who made the achievements possible.
Our art competition which attracted nearly 400 entries of the highest quality was made more special as the resources available to the teachers and children were limited. Future events will allow us to provide materials and equipment to assist those who become involved.
Pam’s involvement with Nigerian development projects has always depended on communication links enabled by ICT. Pam needed also to employ other agencies to assist with the learning strategies that she had intended.
20 teachers from rural schools participated in a programme of study which had the theme "Act local, think global" possibly reaching its zenith when representatives of a community development project in Nigeria were enabled to interact with Ethiopia through a research project with London University Institute of Education.
An important part of the programme was how to develop a computer mindedness amongst the teachers who did not have either computers or electricity in the schools they would be returning to. Pam hopes that we will be able to support this aim by distance assistance and follow up visits.
As global learning should be a two way system the networks are now available to tap into rural experience and knowledge. There are global players who want to take informed action to deal with rural educational poverty.
Both Pam’s and A Ray of Hope’s vision is that we will have network founded on friendship and trust and the desire to learn made easier by global communication. People will come together and use ICT to rub minds and find practical solutions to real problems.
Further networking is being planned through ICT, sporting and cultural events. It is hoped that a relationship can shortly be developed between the Nigerian National Commission and the UK National Commission not only to share ideas but to progress this project further.
A full gallery of artwork and event photographs through Culture of Peace Nigeria link on front page of www.unesco.co.uk
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