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Educators remote parts of Pentecost have been singing the praises of Van2017’s Champions Program as a teaching tool.
“For some school children, it’s worth walking 10 km to meet Nasi, the Sagoa and hear about Pacific Mini Games,” said Nicholas Tadou, the Zone Curriculum Advisor at Melsisi village in the central part of Pentecost Island.
Nasi Team’s journey progressed from the South to Central parts of the island to raise awareness about the Games, making several stops at various schools in villages such as Baie Barrier, Point Cross, Londar, Ranwadi, Ranmawat and Melsisi.
According to Mr Tadou, more than 500 pupils gathered with many questions in mind, such as: who is Nasi; what does he look like; what is the Sagoa, and what are they going to do?
He said pupils started to hear about the 2017 Pacific Mini Games when they began to go through all the lessons of the Champions Program in the classroom.
“They hadn’t heard about the Games at all; for them, it is all new to them, including villagers and chiefs,” he said.
“It is also the first time to have such a visit about an event that is going to happen in the country. We are so happy because visits of that sort do complement learning materials that they are going through, and by watching it through a drama or show, it has been presented in such a way that suits their level of understanding.
“I will say the few villagers who knew about the Games are the ones who have access to radios, or when the local vessels pass by,” said Mr Tadou.
“Because of being left out in getting updates of information like people in Port Vila, our children were very anxious before Nasi appeared in front of them for the show. They didn’t expect to see a beautiful big bird coming out and walking around - some of the pupils fell off their stools when they saw him. But I would say, Nasi show has rocked our schools!”
He said as the show progressed, the pupils became more relaxed and had fun with Nasi, who brought them laughter and smiles.
“I congratulate Van2017 in partnership with the Ministry of Education, for taking this initiative to introduce this Champions Program to allow us in remote areas to have access to this useful information.”
For Gwendoline Tabi, ZCA for Bwatnapni area, Nasi and Sagoa’s visit last week to Pentecost will always be emblazoned on the children’s memories for ever.
“Some of our children had to walk long distances to come and meet Nasi and the Team. There were very excited and so happy to meet and greet him, because they heard about him in the classroom, but having him in person in front of them, it is just awesome.
“To me it’s worth it, really worth it to walk that distance to watch the show because the messages learnt in class are displayed through drama.”
Nasi’s and the Sagoa’s visit to the island has been memorable for all children who were given the opportunity to meet the Van2017 Team, and for some teachers, villagers, parents and children, the awareness has already set a ‘must go’ to Port Vila to see the Games.
Photo supplied