STEM Education in Botswana: Girls Getting Geeky

Maxx Moses also known as Pose2 paid a visit to Stepping Stones International to inspire students, teaching them self-expression through art.Pose 2, based in San Diego is a professional and an innovator within the graffiti and street art industry. “The artwork of Mr. Maxx Moses promotes an environment of longevity, growth, wholeness, and spiritual well-being. The viewer is instilled with an overall feeling of peace and serenity as they derive the value of his paintings”.https://posetwo.com/ 

The day activity started with painting two walls at SSI with a message of hope and love. His main message to the children was that artistic expression has various mental health benefits, especially adolescents that are going through so much growing up. Maxx told students that they can channel their anger, stress or sadness and transform it to something else artistically.

Educators were also taught the importance of moving away from traditional teaching methods of ‘four walls of the classroom’, and encourage students to express themselves through art as it sparks creativity in young minds leading to many innovations. Stepping Stones international extended an invitation to four local schools to send some art students to join the session. He was joined by students and educators from surround schools and painted two murals. The children who painted learned how to free their minds and decompress while painting. 

The day culminated in the children at SSI sharing a song and their talents with Maxx Moses in honor of his birthday… and of course, the delicious cupcakes with American flags.

We hope Maxx Moses visits again to inspire us. In the meantime, the youth at SSI plan to use graffiti for sending out messages to cut down on gender based violence, especially against children.

Special thanks to the US Embassy in Botswana, in collaboration with Young Africa Botswana for organizing the ‘America on the Move’ project that brought Maxx Moses to Botswana.

The perma-garden methodology is an economic strengthening activity for caregivers and parents of the orphaned and vulnerable children. This allows for them to produce food throughout the year by teaching them the natural principles behind productive gardening and matching those principles to best practices. This allows them to feed their families independently and produce for the market to earn an income.

Designing the garden

These plots are made in way that water use is limited. The soil holds moisture for a long time since the mix of ingredients supports the soil to produce enough carbon. The caregivers first measure the garden to the size they want and turn over the dirt. They add manure, wood ashes, pounded egg shells, add fertilizer and cover up with the soil. The next stage is the building of ridges in the garden then more lightly sprinkled charcoal, pounded egg shells and fertilizer is added on top. After maintaining this for a few days the caregivers plant their seeds of choice. The carbon is important also for the growth of plants.

Benefits

A total of 189 (Female 99; Male 90) were reached with this evidence based food security design. This includes the caregivers and their children who have been impacted by the gardens. Our families sell these vegetables to benefit them economically. When marketing the produce they also use the sales point as a place to impart information on nutrition.

• Permagardening in Kgatleng (PDF)