I taught the students about resume writing during this week’s G.R.O. Leadership Club Meeting (after a fun icebreaker: party style musical chairs – e.g., musical chairs with dancing – which the kids really enjoyed!)

None of the students had heard of resumes until this lesson.  After the students listened to an interview from a Basotho career mentor (a successful accountant) about the importance of a good resume when applying for jobs, I thought it would be good for them to get familiar with the structure of a resume and how to write one.  (I cringe at the memory of my own first resume which was 5 pages long!)  I definitely did not want the G.R.O. scholars to make the same sort of mistake – it’s better for them to get trained on the right way to write a resume earlier than later.

The students hand-wrote a draft of their resumes after receiving a resume writing 101 presentation and looking at a few examples.  It especially helped them to look at past resumes which were written by students at Masianokeng High School during a career guidance camp held by Rice University students this past summer.  They followed along with the format and got a good idea of what constitutes a good resume – as well as solid experience drafting one.  They will hopefully by able to type them out in the Molapo High School computer lab soon (the computers have been nonfunctional for the past few weeks).

Sophie Kim

G.R.O. Volunteer

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

At last week’s G.R.O. Leadership Club Meeting, I gave a presentation to the students on different tertiary institutions. Many of the students were surprised to find out some of the stringent requirement for entering university. It made them realize the hard work it would take to be accepted into one! The students all have dreams of becoming professionally successful – e.g., becoming an engineer, doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc. But they did not necessarily know the high scores they needed to enter the institutions that would allow them to fulfill their dreams. They were very attentive during the meeting and I think that they will now put greater effort into their school work after the presentation and the stern talk I gave them about improving their grades. I think it will help them to be more future-focused than before and I really hope that this is demonstrated in their grades this term!

Sophie Kim

G.R.O. Volunteer

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

On August 28, 2009 Leribe district challenged HIV and AIDS stigma and discrimination.   The festival, the first of its kind, was brought together by local and international NGOs and the government of Lesotho.  G.R.O. Foundation hosted the “Kids Corner” with a jumping castle, face painting and frisbee games. The G.R.O. Scholars, all high school students affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, demonstrated their support by volunteering all day at the event.  The G.R.O. Artisans, a collective of HIV positive mothers, challenged stigma in their own way by teaching kids how to make bracelets.   The Olympic Youth Ambassador Program and Kick 4 Life joined us in offering HIV prevention and Life Skills games to the over 1,000 people who attended the event.  We would like to thank our community partners and friends who helped make this powerful and important event possiblem and we stood up and said ‘no’ to stigma and discrimination.

Posted under Letters from Lesotho

As the evening descended over the Toronto skyline the wind picked up off of Lake Ontario. One of the most beautiful patios in the city had undergone a transformation from its typical serene gardens into a vibrating buzz of excited conversation, soft floating light, and a great soundtrack provided by DJ Dave Ng. The 27th of September saw the patio filled with 75 GRO Canada supporters as they came together to celebrate the work of The GRO Foundation Lesotho, assist in pledging their support for our Basotho project partners, and mingle among other socially-conscious Torontonians.

As party-goers flowed through the doors they were treated to a projection-based slideshow of photos from the past year of project partners and beneficiaries from Lesotho. The evening was capped off with a short talk on ongoing and future initiatives by Megan Landes, who has just recently returned from a short working trip to Lesotho with OHAfrica and GRO. Inundated with the dark of evening and complimented by the shimmering city in the background the Red Party was ,in every respect, a glowing success. The evening was able to raise approximately $2000 for current programs and 100% of the donations have been given to the projects in Lesotho.

I want to share a personal thank you on behalf of GRO Canada and The GRO Foundation Lesotho to all of that came out to join us as well as the GRO Canada Team: Toby Whitfield and Megan Landes for hosting the event; Genevieve Scott and Hanna Faghfoury for all of your assistance with the wonderful spread of appetizers, decorations, as well as the beverages; Terry Alderbert for all of her setup assistance and bartending skills; and Jayne Wilkins for hand delivering all of the jewellery from The GRO Artisans Collective upon her return from visiting our projects in Lesotho. This will be the first of many GRO Canada Fundraising events so please contact us if you’re interested in hosting a future event.

Again, a deep thank you from all involved.

Jason Clark,

Operations Coordinator

jclark@grofoundation.org

Posted under The Movement