GX Week 9

I've added photos to previous posts. How exciting that must be for you all!

Monday 18th May

Went on a trip out with Di from Catch 22 to some gardening at a home catch 22 have in Southend. It is run as a place of assisted living for children leaving care. I was saddened to learn that the project will probably be closing down soon as the council withdraw their funding. The young people will be put in hostels, yet again abandoned by the state. One young person living there had very poor english and the staff have been working constantly with him to improve it. Where will he get that kind of essential support living in a hostel? Our few hours in the garden were pretty productive, removing a massive pile of weeds. After we had finished in the garden we headed to the Southend sea front to show Olga the sea for the first time. She seemed reasonably impressed with Southend's poor offering. We then had a Rossi's icecream before retreating out of the wind back into the car. Back in Harlow we conducted our first meeting of the Russian-English club within Wetherspoons.

Gardening in Southend

Me and Olga by the sea. Love how there's a hooded youth in the background. Very appropriate for our placement!

Tuesday 19th May

After work I took the bus to the Rhodes Centre in Bishops Stortford to surprise Sarah on her birthday along with the rest of the team. After our somewhat failed attempt at surprise we went to the pub for a drink where I was yet again confronted by the pervy, alcoholic local. For dinner I ate traditional Kazak beshbarmak for dinner prepared by Gulnara.

Wednesday 20th May

I must be pretty unlucky. Another of my lessons was interpruted. This time by the arrival of two rather upset man whose windscreen had been smashed followed shortly by the police. I think that at least a little information about HIV and AIDS may have gone in though.

Thursday 21st May

God knows why I volunteered to be on the debrief committee. Like I need more things to do!

Friday 22nd May

Beth and Dinara's GCD on education. They were the first pair to actually create aims for their GCD, which were, 1) to think about and appricate the meaning and value of education. 2) To learn about the UN millennium development goal 2 and what action can be taken to achieve it. We began as has become the norm with thinking about some defintions.

Schooling: Government provided, compulsory basic, structured, basic knowledge, affected by wealth.

Defintion: The act of teaching at school. The process of being formally educated at school.

Learning: Intake and retention of information, self learning, unstructured, can take place in any environment, subconscious, for self development as opposed to gaining basic skills or qualifications, free, the foundation of being human.

Defintion: The cognitive process of acquiring skill or knowledge.

Literacy: Reading and Writing, affected by standard of living

Definition: The ability to read and write

Education: A right, societies system - education varies by type of society and time period (what it is thought that people need to know varies), science, analytical skills (as opposed to just memorising facts), life skills, qualifications, a system of control/indoctrination (has been used as such e.g. Nazi Germany), religious.

Definitions: The act or process of educating or being educated. The knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process. Focus is on what is obtained.

After this we each drew pictures showing the influences onour education and attempted to put them in order of importance. Most people found this ordering difficult or impossible to do, me included. Nina said that people had had the greatest impact on her education. I think that everyone drew some people whether it be family, friends or specific teachers. For Aigera primary school was the most important as it was essential to moving on to the next stages of her education. Everything was built on that. Next we discussed whether we believe that we have had a good education or not. Ben questioned if he had been taught the 'right' or useful things. he complained that he was not given the opportunity to question his education. For example you are told not to colour outside the line, but why? He argued that school can be restraining, making everyone uniform (literally). In his picture Ben drew a face and coloured outside the lines. I wondered whether Gulnara is happy with her education, though she didn't say anything, as she complains about the difficulties of studying part time at university and of corruption in the education system. We discussed the difference between knowledge and skills, saying that lots of people leave school with knowledge (though some don't even leave with that) but not practical life skills. The topic also came us, as I find it often does when you talk about the UK education system of people being taught only to pass exams. The team also looked at whether people around the world have a different experience of education and whether the contributors are different. We agreed that not all people will receive a formal education. In some places it is a luxury. Most people however will learn basic life skills for survival from their family. Although being outside of the classroom, where new ideas can be disseminated, they may miss out on useful knowledge such as, sexual health and malaira prevention. Rory brought up the cultural differences citing countries where witch doctors still thrive and there is a fear of academia and of the sciences. Religion also plays a part, for example, some schools around the world do not teach the theory of evoluntion prefering christian creationism. The example of China's intensive exam and results driven system was also given as an example. I came joint 1st in the test we took next on global educational statistics. It was interesting to see how some of us (me included) regressed to naughty childlike behaviour when the desks were arranged in rows and we were given a test.

72 million children worldwide are unable to go to primary school. 66% of which are female.

Each one of these pictures represents one million children who will not go to school today

771 million adults worldwide are illiterate. 64% of which are female.

Youth literacy rate (under 16s)

Kazakhstan - 99.9%, Peru - 97.8%, Nepal - 78%, Niger - 38.1%

15 million new teachers are needed to achieve basic primary education for all by 2015.

$12.1 billion, 14% of total aid, was committed to education in 2007 (less than 2006). Of which $4.3 billion was for basic primary education.

Of all the children who attended primary school in mali in 2006 67% were male and 33% female.

Percentage of total government expenditure devoted to investment in education

USA - 13.7, Peru - 15.4%, Bangladesh - 14.2%, Niger - 17.6%

Percentage of GDP devoted to investment in education

USA - 5.3%, Peru - 2.5%, Bangladesh - 2.7%, Niger - 3.4%

In groups we looked at some cases studies. Ours was of Raheem in India who left school at 6 years old to so to work. he is noe part of a local project that allows children to work in the mornings and attend school in the afternoon. We talked about why Raheem didn't go to school. Because he had to work to support his family, and was proud of the money that he could bring home, legislation or lack of enforcement allows children to work, lack of welfare for poor families, inflexible education system that does not accommodate working children. The consequences of which were that Raheem missed out on education, friends, social contact with peers, playing sports and childhood. Lack of education also harms a childs future job prospects leading to a vicious circle in ehich they must in the future send their children work to work to boost their low wage. Globally nearly 250 million children have to work to help their families. Another of the case studies was of a child fleeing a conflict zone and therfore unable to attend school. The study ended with the quote that 'education breeds a more prosperous and peaceful society' which we debated. I argued that education breeding peace depends on its content again citing the example of Nazi Germany, in which the education system was exploited to spread Fascist values. In the same way that out educational system promotes democracy. Rory argued that with widepread education there can be no monopoly on enlightment or knowledge, reducing the control educated groups previously exercised along side discrimination and power imbalance. Though this assumes that the education delievered allows independent thought and dicussion. As said before education can be used as another system of control.

A right to education is Article 26 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Stating that education should be free and compulsory in elementary and fundamental stages.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goal 2 is that all children should receive a primary education by 2015.

After the GCD we hurried back to Harlow to prepare for a weekend at home in Norfolk. Mum came to Ilma's house to collect us for our weekend at home around 6 after getting lost in Harlow. We went straight out for dinner at a local pub where I wolfed down chips having missed them more than I realised. Back at home I made a beeline for my laptop and discovered to my joy that my MP3 player was still working after I'd managed to delete all my music.

Saturday 23rd May

Got up very early to go and get my hair cut. I had forgotten that people in my home town aren't used to people dressing remotely differently and wore the multi-coloured polka dot 1950s dress I made (see it here) with the result that on the way to the hairdressers a group of guys around my age asked 'are you going to a party?' which I ignored but later wished I had pointed out to them that at 8:15 in the morning I was far more likely to be coming back from a party. On the way out a young guy pushing a pram leered at me 'you alright love?' to which I smiled politely. Back at home I had to knock on the bedroom window to get mum to let me in having left without my keys and then waited around while mum and Gulnara got ready for the seaside. We took Gulnara to Holme to see the sea. Taking the scenic route as mum was convinced that she saw a queue to Hunstanton from Kings Lynn. At Holme we walked what seemed to be miles to the sea, which was at low tide, so we could paddle for about 5 minutes and take some pictures. Gulnara went off the idea of swimming when she realised how cold it was. Then picked our way barefooted back up the stone riddled beach. After losing our barings in the sand dunes and interupting a group of happy campers we made it back to the car park and had a bite to eat from the kiosk. We then drove over to Hunstanton to show Gulnara the cliffs and have an ice cream. Back at home I feel asleep for 3 hours until our BBQ dinner was ready. Gulnara and I spent what was left of the evening at a computer each guled to the internet. I was updating my blog!

Sunday 24th May

After a late start we went to the field so Gulnara could ride Tikit, my mums horse. Unfortunately she couldn't stay on for long as Tikit got restless. This may have been my fault as I was cantering her around before Gulnara got on. After Gulnara dismounted I had another go. Cantering around and dashing over a few jumps. Which I throughly enjoyed. Back at home Gulnara and I again retreated to the computers then I searched through my wardrobe for clothes and shoes suitable for the Kazakh summer. I left the majority of the winter clothes I brought to Harlow at home. Hoping England won't be too cold for the next 2 weeks and a bit!

Charity Shop Finds Part Four

I'm afriad I might have started with the better finds. The pictures here and in parts two and three just don't seem to cut it compared to the first post. Well I guess it goes to show the perils of charity shopping, as I like to call it. You win some, you lose some, but at least you won't spend a fortune playing.

Blue and white wrap around skirt. I bought this for a mere £1 thinking it would be great for the but have since found it creases like a b***h and it's slightly see through. I have never worn it.

One of the winners. I spotted this necklace in the window display of a charity shop I was walking past. There was no price and I had to ask. I don't remember how much it was, but it can;t have been much £2 or £3?

Another winner. I've never worn this jacket very much as the dark navy almost black colour and long cut made it difficult pair with anything in my wardrobe but since pairing it with these black skinny jeans I hope to be wearing it more often. Only problem is that the white piping is coming unsitched on one of the seems. I shall have to find a way to fix it. Again I can't remember how much this jacket cost. It was probably £6 or £7.

I know this jacket is a bad fit and I knew it when I bought it, but at the time I was less discerning and thought that getting a topshop jacket which had probably cost around £40 for a mere £6.50 was too good a bargin to turn down. Despite the bad fit I actually wear this jacket quite alot just because I like the colour.

In other news I finally wore the 1950's dress I made. I wore it out around our local town, which I had no reason to go to other than to get petrol, but decided to use the opportunity to browse the charity shops (where I got an amazing jacket. Pictures later, the only pictures I have on my camera at the moment are of the mould we found behind my chest of drawers!) and buy some materials for the next couple of sewing projects. The dress seemed to be a hit, getting compliments from a couple of strangers and a member of the Lions club dressed as santa who decided to shout at me 'I'm seeing spots' which I'm not sure was meant as a compliment or not...

Finally Some Sewing

Now I'm feeling happier I'm going to post the pictures of the sewing I did on Tuesday.

Finally, finally finished the 1950's dress. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, though the bright fabric makes it kinda awkward. There's a bit too much fabric for wearing on a night out, it's a bit too bright to wear casually, and I don't see it fitting in down the pub or for a meal out.

The back, I think I should have tried to match the spots up on the back of the skirt.

A quick and easy skirt with elasticated waist, since I last posted a picture of this I have finished it by hemming the bottom and adding golden buttons to the elasticated waist band.

Hemming, Done.

Finally finally managed to hem the 1950's dress. I had wanted to get more of it done today, but what with having a lie in, running various errands in town and washing a large amount of mud off my car, hemming it is all I managed. At least I won't be stabbed in the leg by needles every time I try it on now.

Soo Much Sewing So Little Time

Another day off. Wasted most of it by hanging around in my hometown while my car was in the garage. Did give me a chance to have a good rummage through my local charity shops though, where I got a brown leather bag, a bargain at £4 and a pair of braces which I think I might wear to make some kind of kooky fashion statement but probably never will. I’m thinking about posting a catalogue of my charity shop finds sometime soon. Anyway point is I didn’t get any time to do any sewing. The 1950s dress is still hanging on my wardrobe door filled with pins and I have a pile of fabric and items of clothing that need altering building up on the floor. Current sewing to do list looks something like this –

• Make old jeans into a skirt. Spray with bleach for an interesting effect as seen on femme rationale’s blog.
• Hem elasticated skirt
• Make another elasticated skirt with a circus/carnival theme. I already have the fabric for this. A black cotton lining and a shiny multi coloured harlequin slightly see through material.
• Reduce the length of a patterned button up dress I found in a charity shop.
• See if there is anything I can do with the fabric from a jersey dress that is too small, if not donate to charity shop.
• Reduce the length of a jumper dress to make it a long jumper and eliminate the unflattering clinging around my thighs.
• Fix a couple of holes in the sleeve of a black cardigan.
• Make a black and green party dress from this pattern
• Do something interesting with a large grey mans t-shirt I’ve been using to sleep in. I might shred it or cut it up as seen on childhood flames.
• Make something out of our old flowery curtains. I was thinking of making the 1950’s dress again but there is not enough fabric.
• Make a short skirt from the fabric left over from the current 1950s dress.

And that is ignoring my ever growing list of ideas, which includes two simple black dresses, one for going out, one for everyday to wear with my large collection of coloured and patterned tights; a skirt with lace, a plain black puffy skirt, attempts to copy several Topshop and Karen Millen designs; a dress with pleats around the neck and hem; a dress with several fabric flowers at the shoulder; a garment with my little pony motifs around the hem; a garment with my school name tags sewn all over it; a dress with flowing see through sleeves; Garments made from fabric decorated with apple prints using fabric paint, the images of flowers using spray fabric paint and doodles with fabric pens; a skirt with little chain people around the bottom; a dress with a big silk bow at the neck; a dress with a pocket shaped like a cup cake; a dress with a bleeding heart drawn on; a tunic; a dress with ribbons of different colours sewn from the shoulder….

Me vs Dress

Took on the 1950's dress again yesterday. I think it ended in a draw. I took up the shoulders which solved most of the problems. It's still a little baggy around the bust but I decided any of my attempts to solve this would be more likely to make it worse. Here's a picture of progress so far.

I still need to finish the hem (it's only pinned up at the moment, waiting for the delievery of the new iron), add the rest of the bias binding (I've only done the neckline) and add all the buttons and snaps. So close yet so far, my next free day isn't until Friday.

Went out with some of the girls from work last night. Had a good laugh despite myself being the only one without a husband/long term boyfriend and/or children.

Finally though I welcomed this summer holidays bleaching effect on my hair I am not loving the fact I now look like I've got roots.