PRESS RELEASE-OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF #BABISHAIPOETRICKS

PRESS RELEASE-16 JUNE 2015, OFFICIAL BABISHAI POETRICKS LAUNCH ON THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD

Today, we are thrilled to officially launch #babishaipoetricks, the children’s adventure toolkit. Babishai Poetricks is the largest program under the Kampala based Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation. The Foundation runs the annual BN Poetry Award and publishes poetry.
Babishai Poetricks is a toolkit captured in eleven adventures, each of which increases a child’s ability to reach the highest creative and literary potential. By using very interactive exercises, a child engages in creative listening, speaking, describing and introspection. Each exercise enables a child to freely analyse their environments and relate them to their personalities, thus bringing a deeper understanding of themselves. Once they do this, their abilities to use poetry and prose to illustrate and observe are highly sharpened. Every child should experience Babishai Poetricks.

Currently, we are conducting Training of Trainers in Uganda and trainings within schools. These are charged at a reasonable fee, given the life-changing exercises. We will also train in Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa for the first three years. The Babishai Poetricks toolkit, produced by Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva, Ugandan writer, poet and Founder of the Babishai Niwe Poetricks Foundation is a program that is timeless, memorable and is the essential means for children to grow from where they are to where they can be.

Big Bear Kindergarten children sharing their #babishaipoetricks experience

Teacher Joyce, who underwent a Training of Trainers says,
 “This is so important because it helps teachers to learn various adaptations to use in classroom exercises. It is so much broader than what our teacher-centered system provides. It’s a true experience.”
Teachers, Parents and schools are particularly going to benefit from this model as they witness their children growing into articulate and confident wordsmiths, poets, speakers and individuals. Many thanks to Ayodele Olofintuade, a writer from Nigeria and Paul Kisakye, a writer from Uganda, for contributing their invaluable poetry to this toolkit. Many Thanks to Gilgal Media Arts for publishing and to the schools that have already embraced it.

The full story is here, http://www.bnpoetryaward.co.ug/download/newest-brochure.pdf
For more information, contact

Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva
Head Trainer and Director Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation
Email: bnpoetryaward@bnpoetryaward.co.ug
Tel: +256 751 703226

#babishaipoetricks Training of Trainers at Big Bear Kindergarten, Kampala

On 9th June, the first Training of Trainers of the #babishaipoetricks children’s adventure toolkit took place. Our hosts, Big Bear Kindergarten in Kampala, were absolutely thrilled at the opportunity. There were four trainees namely Teacher Joyce the proprietor, Teacher Rinju the Director, Teacher Nakiganda the Headmistress and Teacher Diana a teacher. The objectives of the training were to share skills from the toolkit on how to guide children into understanding and appreciating #babishaipoetricks. The Babishai Poetricks toolkit is an experience for children aged 4 to 11 years. In it are eleven adventures which aim to instill life-skills, sharpen observation skills, creatively engage a child to interact, listen, speak from the heart, use images to relate and become introspective. The training covered three of the eleven adventures.

In the first adventure, the trainees drew pictures of their faces, allowing others to describe what they saw. Through this, we are able to see ourselves in other people’s eyes and also analyse how we see ourselves. Children will most likely laugh at the funny shaped noses and mouths but the trainers should use that for children to appreciate their own looks. By doing that, the creative space opens up for them, along with their confidence. The pictures turned out hilarious but on a deeper level, reflected a lot about the personalities that day.

Next, we matched moods to colours. Interestingly, while black was considered sorrowful, it was also considered adventurous. You see, in this toolkit there is no wrong answer. Instead, children are encouraged to articulate, analyse and reflect. An adventure may either take 1 hour or 1 week, depending on the group dynamics. That is what #babishaioetricks is about. It’s an experience.

When it came to tackling the five senses, we had to end there because our 2 hours were up. There are many uses of the mouth and nose that many people are unaware of. It was a true life-changing training.

Testimonials

Teacher Rinju, Director of Big Bear Kindergarten:

“This training of training was extremely helpful, practical, very interactive and enables children to really think.”

Teacher Joyce, Proprietor of Big Bear Kindergarten:

“This is so important because it helps teachers to learn various adaptations to use in their classroom exercises. It is so much broader than what our teacher-centered system provides. It’s a true experience.

 

These are the first certified Babishai Poetricks trainers. We look forward to training more trainers.

Note:

Training of Trainers are currently taking place in Uganda, after which we will branch to Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. In order to train from this toolkit, you must be certified. The Trainer fee is 50 USD per individual and takes from 2 to 3 hours. There are packages for schools as well. Join us and become certified.