Background Information on the Education Resource Centre
The idea of an Environmental Education Resource Centre was developed after Live & Learn saw a need for a centre to be established in order to cater for the needs of the teachers, students and wider community in Vanuatu in relation to environmental and health related education. As a direct result, Live & Learn decided to initiate the Environmental Education Resource Centre so that teachers, students, community members and other departments could have access to free resources that would aid in promoting a greater understanding of environmental and health related issues such as food security, water quality, hygiene and waste. The Education Centre has grown to include education and resource distribution as part of its objectives in order to provide maximum opportunities for the students and communities of Vanuatu to learn. So the process began....
DLG glazing from Albury donated a shipping container and retrofitted it with windows, doors and power. After months of campaigning the Albury community managed to fill the shipping container with over 20,000 books, stationary, school supplies, computer, a photocopier, medical equipment and sporting goods, to be donated to the Educational Resource Centre and the schools of Vanuatu. The shipping container arrived in Vanuatu in October. Live & Learn spent the next two months distributing the donated books and equipment to over 32 schools across Vanuatu with a particular focus on the more rural remote schools. Resources were also given to the hospital, mamas markets, isolated communities, and kindergartens.
Remaining resources have been housed in the Educational Resource Centre so that we can continue to distribute resources when requests come in. Books, pens, paper, crayons, sharpeners, erasers, sporting equipment etc. are distributed free of charge to the more rural remote schools that have limited access to basic school supplies that in developed countries are often taken for granted.
In addition to distributing resources around Vanuatu Live & Learn has turned the adapted shipping container into a library. One section is designed to house environmental literature, posters, games, teaching resources, science books, and reports, and includes two desks for the Vanuatu community to use. Visitors have access to all the resources and also to the Information Technology we have at Live & Learn as well as the expertise of the staff at Live & Learn. For some, this may be the only opportunity they may have to access literature and a computer, and to staff willing to help with their learning.
Public awareness campaigns and donations are required in order to keep these resources stocked so that Live&Learn can continue to provide these school and students with the basic necessities needed to learn.
