Careers Day at Olives

The theme today was “What would you like to be when you grow up?” This immediately sparked some excited whispers and we started by discussing jobs they had heard of. We were all a little nervous that the children would struggle with naming different careers but to our great surprise they had plenty of suggestions. They took it in turn to come up and write them on the board including doctor, engineer and pilot. It was lovely to hear their aspirations.

We asked them to write a short composition on what their future aspirations were and what classes they would need to work especially hard in to achieve this. The children then drew what they imagined they would look like in these professions. The compositions were wonderful and we put them all up on the wall to show the children how impressed we were.

After break we had three visitors – Mr Jonathon, a teacher from St. Jude’s school in Voi and Tom and Abdulla from Asaray Tours.

Jonathon spoke to Standards 1-4 first. Once the children knew there were visitors in to speak to them they all sat beautifully and listened intently. Jonathon teaches science and computer skills at his school so the children were very interested to hear all about this. By the end of his talk, a lot of the children said they would like to be teachers in the future. Jonathon really emphasized the importance of respect to all and hard work in order to achieve your goals. The children really took this on board. To finish his talk Jonathon taught the children a new Kiswahili song and dance to go with it. They absolutely loved this and as always, sang their hearts out.

The children found it very amusing when Mr Jonathon asked teachers and volunteers to take part in the dancing

Next the children heard from Mr Tom and Mr Abdulla. They immediately got the children’s attention by explaining that their backgrounds were very similar to their own. This really helped them to relate to the visitors as they worked very hard to be where they are. They also really stressed to the children that anything is achievable if they work hard and put the effort in. The children went away feeling inspired and very positive.

Big thank you to Mr Jonathon, Mr Tom and Mr Abdulla for taking the time to speak to the children at Olives and for planting such a positive seed in the children’s heads about the possibilities for the future.

By Volunteer, Emily Bruce

Careers Day at Olives