Plan
- What materials will you need for this adventure?
- Why is it important to discuss access to school?
- How will you make your groups for this activity?
Do
Everyone will map their journey to school, physically plotting the route to see the visual distance. Afterwards, examine a young girl that lives in Tanzania named Sylvia and her journey to school to compare your experiences to hers and see how experiences are different around the world.
- To begin, break into small groups and have each person find their own home, and their school, on the map. Plot a route to walk to school, measure the distances and estimate how long it would take you to walk.
- You could even make a map for your community while plotting. Include schools, houses, landmarks, etc. almost like a tour guide, or make it a 'coordinate' scavenger hunt with elements of the community/journey to school
As a group, read from the print outs, ‘Sylvia’s story.’ Describe what you read – you should think about the following:
- The ages of the young people.
- The distance and time they must travel to get to school.
- The dangers they face on the way.
Review
- Now that you’ve seen it on a map and compared it to our journeys, how do you feel about your own journey to school?
- Would you still want to go to school if your journey was long and dangerous too?
- Why do you think the children in the story make so much effort to go to school every day?
- How does Sylvia’s journey compare to yours?
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Remember to submit your activities on our Scouts for Sustainability Take Action Map
Materials
- Print out of Sylvia’s story
- Local maps (or computer)
- Writing utensils
- Paper/poster board
- Internet connection
Keep it Simple
- Work as a group to plot a few participants’ distance from home to school. If technology is available, show the trailer for the film, ‘On the Way to School’.
Take it Further
- Take is further by making a real change. Work together to create awareness of this issue by creating posters to bring to your schools.
- You can also check out https://sendmyfriend.org/about/ as a possible fundraising initiative. This organization helps get children all over the world in school.