DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 380 210 PS 023 039

AUTHOR Guttman, CynthiaTITLE On the Right Track: Servol's Early Childhood and

Adolescent Development Programmes in Trinidad andTobago. Education for All: Making It Work.Innovations Series, 5.

INSTITUTION United Nations Educational, Scientific, and CulturalOrganization, Paris (France).

REPORT NO ISSN-1020-0800PUB DATE 94NOTE 37p.; Photographs may not copy well. For other

documents in this series, see ED 369 535 and PS 023

036-308.AVAILABLE FROM Basic Education Division, UNESCO, 7 place de

Fortenoy, 75353 Paris 07, SP, France.

PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Adolescent Development; Childhood Needs; *Community

Involvement; Community Organizations; *DisadvantagedYouth; *Early Childhood Education; Early Parenthood;Foreign Countries; Literacy Education; Parent ChildRelationship; Program Descriptions; *VocationalEducation; Youth Problems

IDENTIFIERS Adolescent Attitudes; *Servol; *Trinidad andTobago

ABSTRACTBorn in the aftermath of social upheaval in 1970,

Servol (Service Volunteered for All) is a grassroots communitydevelopment organization working with preschoolers and adolescents inthe Caribbean nations of Trinidad and Tobago. This booklet describesthe efforts and successes of this program, founded through theintervention of a Catholic priest and science teacher. Theintroductory chapter provides an overview of Servol and its three

ograms. The second chapter describes the circumstances that led to

the creation of Servol; the third chapter discusses its relevance inthe current national context. The next chapters describe: (1) the

Life Centers, which put into action the idea of integrated education;(2) the Adolescent Development Program (ADP), which serves theemotional, psychological, educational, and vocational needs of

adolescents; (3) the training of ADP instructors; (4) Fund Aid, the

credit arm of Servol; (4) the Early Childhood Education Program(ECEP), which is parent-oriented and community-based; (5) the

preschool teacher-training course; (6) collaboration with the

government for funds; (7) funding from the private sector and the

work of the life centers; (8) the relationship between the board ofeducation and the community; and (9) replicating the Servolexperience in the formal education system. The concluding chapterstresses the need for a responsive society in which education issupported by the community. Three features of the booklet are adescription of how adolescent peer counseling works, the effects ofinappropriate parenting practices, and the importance of dramaticplay in early childhood programs. Milestones in the evolution of theServol program are also listed. Contains 21 references; (BAC)

S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educa ionai Resesoce and improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONEDUCATION CENTER IERICIF'()R. ALL .>,tl'h.s document has been reproduced as

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"Servol is an organisation of

steak, fail, ordinart; imperfect

vet hope-filled and committed

people reeking to help weak.

frail,orditiari; imperfect, hope-

drained people to become agents

of attitudinal and social change

in a journey which leads to total

human development 11 does so

through respectful intervention in

the lives of others and seeks to

empower individuals and com-

munities to develop as role

models joi the nationv

Servol's mission statement.

1.11111

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BY C; \THI TT\1

BEsr COPY AVN113111

Contents

Introduction 4

Servol's beginnings: a culture of ignorance 6

The national context 7

Serves hub: the life centres 9

A second chance at 17 10

Instructors: trained to listen 14

Fund Aid: encouraging entrepreneurs 15

First steps: a child-centred, community-based approach 16

Teachers: a three-year training course 19

Government collaboration: finding a modus vivendi 20

Funding: the road toward self-sufficiency 21

Power-sharing in the communities 22

Replicability: starting on home ground 23

Conclusion: a more responsive society 24

Features: 26

Facts and figures 27

The ADP: how peer counselling works 27

Violent parents, violent children 28

Drama in early childhood 30

Bibliography 32

Acknowledgements 33

2

6

ILIKAILAIL

BEI-COPY AVM tABLE

very year, the Poor Man's Christmas Dinnergathers the elite of Trinidad and Tobago in aprestigious hotel in Port of Spain. For USSI00,

guests are served a bowl of soup, a loaf of breadand a glass of water. But they are really there tohear speeches by young men and women from the

slums who have regained hope andpower over their lives through a unique cours . inpersonal development and skills training.

The event is just one of the ways Servolwhich stands for Service Volunteered for All

raises money for its programmes targeting childrenunder 5, and teenagers between 16 and 19 whohave done poorly at school. Since the organizationwas founded in 1970, the annual dinner hasbecome its trademark and a platform for disadvan-taged people to tell business leaders and politicianshow they have managed to turn their lives around.

By listening to the marginalized and disad-vantaged, Servol has defined its purpose, respond-ed to needs and shared with other Caribbeanislands its self-reliant approach to development.Programmes are community-based, stress parentalinvolvement and encourage personal growth as a

4

way of overcoming low self-eteem. Rough adoles-cents learn how to tune in to their emotions, teach-ers discover ways of nurturing children's creativityand parents are taught to be less authoritariantoward their offspring. The government recognizedServol's contribution in 1986 by asking it to extendits programmes throughout the country. Today,Servol reaches these groups through three pro-grammes it has perfected over the past twodecades:

*The Early C'hildhood Education Programme(F.CEP), to develop the creativity and spontaneityof 2 to 5 year olds. Communities set up pre-schools, Servol trains teachers and the govern-ment subsidizes their minimal salaries. Familiespay TTS20 (USS3,50). a monthly fee, except in

rural areas where the programme is free.

*The Adolescent Development Programme(ADP), a fourteen-week course to help teenagersbecome more self-aware, understand their emo-tions and develop positive attitudes. They also takeliteracy classes and an intensive course in parent-ing. This programme runs in centres set up by thecommunity and staffed by Servol-trained instruc-tors. Students pay TTS50 (USS9) a month. Servolhelps indigent trainees find weekend jobs to coverthe fee.

*The next step is the Adolescent Skills TrainingProgramme. After the ADP course, trainees learn atrade by working in one of Servol's regional train-ing centres for six to eight months.

Servol oversees 153 pre-schools for some5,000 2 to 5 year-old children and 40 adolescenttraining centres reaching 3,000 teenagers a year. Italso trains pre-school teachers from eleven

4

Caribbean islands. In 1992, Servol participated in anational task force on education. For the first time,community-based education and early childhoodprogrammes were recognized as part of the educa-tion system.

Because it has developed in response tograssroots demands, Set\ of cannot be cloned intoanother context. But its holistic approach to humangrowth and its highly-personalized methods inspirecommunity workers, teachers and policy-plannerstackling urban crime, drugs and violence. Lessonscan be drawn from power-sharing in communitiesand the juggling of personalities, interests and wills.It is increasingly relevant where scarce resourcesand the shortcomings of the formal system are lead-ing to new, albeit fragile, alliances between non-

5

governmental organizations, government and theprivate sector. Servol's programmes are both reme-

dial and preventive. Recognizing that the seeds ofviolence are sown early, Servol tries to equipteenagers with the tools of parenting and youngchildren from disadvantaged areas with as manyresources as possible to start off on the right trackin school. Servol can also contribute much to thecurrent International Year of the Family, because ofthe importance it gives to early childhood develop-ment and parenting, especially the involvement offathers.

Local realities and

demands are the

starting blocks for all

Servol a(liOnS.

8 E.STCOPY P-2111311

"How can we

help you? was the

first question Father

Gerard Pantin asked

when he ventured into

Laventille in 1970.

ti

crvol had no grandiose beginnings, just twopeople and a political crisis. The year was1970. In April, the government of Prime

Minister Eric Williams, in power since 1956,declared a state of emergency after violent

tinSTOY

eggIVNILE

ItsAk

demonstrations by the "black power" movementagainst foreign influences in the economy andhigh unemployment among Trinidadians ofAfrican descent, who form 41 per cent of thepopulation.

In the aftermath of the uprising and thesoul-searching among Trinidadians, GerardPantin, a Roman Catholic priest and scienceteacher at one of the island's best schools,resigned and went into the slums that had beenthe main stage of the demonstrations. One ofthem, Laventille, was described by the poetDerek Walcott as "huddled there/steel tinkling itsblue painted metal air, tempered in violence, likeRio's favelas, with snaking, perilousstreets...This is the height of poverty for the des-perate and black." After the uprising, the areahad become associated with armed rebels andsubversion.

Pantin and Wesley Hall, the West Indian

BaCOPI AVAILABLE

fast bowler who went with him, met suspicion,cynicism, distrust and sometimes outright hostili-ty by rival steelbands and gangs. But they con-tinued to "lime", as shooting the breeze on streetcorners is known locally. "How can we helpyou?" they would ask. Slowly, the pair wonrespect. They found jobs for 300 people. Theybrought life back to a dilapidated communitycentre by replacing a broken beam (donated by alumber yard) and finding chairs and benchesrequested for from the Community DevelopmentDivision three years earlier. They arrangedsewing, cooking and adult education, and playgroups for toddlers. Each project required afinancial contribution from the community."Suddenly things began to happen. Peoplewaved, or smiled at us as we went by. We werestopped by people who wanted to talk," Pantinrecalls. Servo' soon opened an office inLaventille and volunteers came to coach footballteams and teach various skills.

Servol quickly defined its principles.Anyone contacting the organization would betaught a "philosophy of ignorance", then "atten-tive listening" and finally "respectful interven-tion". This came from Pantin's belief that nearlyeveryone approached poverty with preconceivedideas and plaas, all of them showing a culturalarrogance leading them to think poor peoplewere too stupid to know or solve their own prob-lems if given an opportunity. "We tried in everyway possible to fashion Servol's work so that ourengagement with people was on their terms, inresponse to their expressed problems and needs,"

he said.

he problems confronting Servol in 1994compared with 1970 are different in degreerather than in kind," says Pantin. "The

deterioration in family life has worsened, jobless-ness and crime has increased, community spirithas been eroded by individualism and selfish-

" No.

44"

7 11144( CI, 4'1

- 0 or( I y

ness, and drugs have graduated from marijuanato cocaine."

If little of this is immediately evident tothose who visit Trinidad for its dazzling carnival,the country's poor roads, slums and lack ofsewage treatment soon make themselves felt.With a colonial plantation economy rich in oil,Trinidad and Tobago was spurred to rapid indus-trialization by the 1973 oil crisis. But this also

Ana 1 r-t.A.C;4-

I ,

Arf41

meant real estate speculation, lavish spending onprojects that often remained unfinished and awidening gap between rich and poor. The dra-matic fall in the world oil prices in 1983 broughtserious economic crisis. In 1991, the People'sNational Movement (PNM) was voted back intopower on a platform of education and employ-ment, defeating the incumbent National Alliancefor Reconstruction (NAR).

Unemployment is now at 24 per cent, withan estimated 47 per cent of the unemployedbetween 15-19 and 38 per cent between 20-24.Since the United States tightened up on directtrade routes from South America, the EasternCaribbean has become a transshipment area fordrugs from South to North Atnerica. Stories ofviolent crime by teenagers are in all the newspa-

16' OW-COPY MAHE

r,,!r:-.!.'7;

I ti

pers. The official literacy rate, once at 95 percent, has fallen to 80 per cent, although Pantinsays functional illiteracy among youth is as highas 40 per cent. The recent National Task Forceon Education was commissioned to scrutinize thesystem. Was it failing more and more children?Primary education begins at 5 and lasfs for sevenyears, and is attended by 88 per cent of theschool-age population. Of those who completethe cycle, 70 per cent get three years of sec-ondary education. To enter secondary school,students must pass a qualifying exam known asthe "eleven plus". Ten thousand more studentsthan there arc secondary school places take thisexam each year. About half will repeat the year.while the rest are put in school-leaving clan:..; or

gE:ICOPY AV4ILA3LE8

simply drop out. So about7,000 children between 12 and17 may not be in school duringthe critical period of adoles-cence. It is these who are likelyto turn towards Servol's adoles-cent and skills training pro-gramme, mainly in the hope offinding a job.To deal with these young peo-

ple, "we have developed ourown expertise, our own tech-nology," Pantin told an ADPgraduation ceremony several

years ago. "It is not a technology based on theflashing lights of computers and the rattle ofmicro-processors. It is a human technologywhich can be used to transform children and ado-lescents who have been battered psychologicallyand physically and give them a second chance in

11

ife centres are the huh of Servo! and put theidea of integrated education into action. Atthe Beetham Life Centre, built by Servo!

trainees in 1978, there are courses in carpentryand car mechanics, a health clinic, a nursery andpersonal development courses for adolescents.The Sunshine Hill centre teaches retarded andautistic children, but also has a pre-vocationalunit and Servol's printery. The Forres Park centrehas training workshops in ten trades, a dentalclinic and a complex of family farms. TheCaribbean Life Centre (CU') trains pre-schoolinstructors for Trinidad and Tobago, and theCaribbean in Servol's teaching methods and phi-losophy.

The life centre idea emerged gradually.Early on, responding to needs turned Serval intoa community organization that reached out to theelderly, the handicapped. teenagers and toddlers.In St Barb's, a district of Laventille. a communi-ty centre opened in 1971 with a welding school,a health clinic, and basketball and cricket facili-ties. Similar projects cropped up in other areas,helped by twelve members of the Defense Forcewho were seconded indefinitely to Servol. Whenthe National Housing Authority offered land onwhich to build a large centre, the first Servo! lifecentre at Beetham was conceived.

When the centre opened, 200 boys andgirls between IS and 19 joined. Like most ado-lescents who pass through Servol, "the vastmajority come from one-parent or no-parent fam-ilies. Many carried knives for protection andmarijuana cigarettes to help them in theirmoments of depression. They were rootless, dis-advantaged, brutalized by their life experiences,-writes Pantin in The Serval Village. "They cameto the Servol vocational centre because there wasno other place to go. We started woking with

9

them, training them in various skills and aboveall, listening to them. They told us everything: oftheir need for affection and acceptance, their hos-tility against the adult world, their suspicion ofpeople, their terribly low opinion of themselves."The centre became a place where adolescentsformed relationships: with instructors who oftenbecame parent substitutes; with babies andyounger children because the teenagers have tospend time every day helping in the nursery; andwith the sick and elderly, by visiting them. Allthis grew into the Adolescent DevelopmentProgramme, a fourteen week course precedingvocational skills training. Through it, adolescentsgain spiritual, physical, intellectual, cultural andemotional knowledge, summed up by theacronym SPICES.

Lifi, cent e%

a pia«e where

ado/cm cul. form

irlationship.s uml

learn vocational

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10

We shall not cease flow explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill he to an we where we started

And know the place tot the first time."(...tractimm 1 S I-hot Nein Little Gidding',

quoted at the beginning of the spirituality course).

very adolescent who wants to join Servol isinterviewed with a parent or guardian. Feware turned away, although some may have to

wait for three to six months for admission.Students are made to feel they are becoming partof a special community "You can imagine yourentry irto Servol like getting into a ship. Youwill learn things like carpentry, nursing, welding,child-care etc which will help you to get a job,"explains the preface of A Second Chance at 17introducing Servol's orientation programme."These are like the sails of the ship, they helpyou to move swiftly through the waters of life.This course is like the rudder which steers theship No matter how fast a ship goes, if it cannotsteer itself properly, it will crash into rock: e.g.: agood carpenter may have a bad temper."

During ADP. teenagers explore their inse-curities, complexes and prejudices in a warm,family-like atmosphere They are taught how tohandle anger, boredom and loneliness. They dis-cuss different kinds of love from love of familyand friendship to the meaning and responsibilityof sexual love Many emotional problems thatsurface are dealt with by group therapy and peercounselling (see box) "We try through this pro-gramme to help our young people to understandwho they are and to recognize and cope with themany feelings they expelience, especially in thiswhole area of dealing with anger and the cycle ofviolence," said Sister Ruth Montrichard, thenServol's deputy executive director, at a gradua-

13 BasTCOPY AMIABLE

44.r 7.;

tion ceremony. Adolescents journey back in timeto study a child's development from the womb toearly childhood. They learn how lack of properfood, emotional traumas and alcohol and drugabuse by the mother can cause serious physicaland psychological damage to the child.Relationships, values, violence and differentkinds of love are further discussed in a spirituali-ty course, in which stories from the Bible aremade relevant to adolescent lives. The courseincorporates basic elements from the spiritualityof Hinduism and Islam, Trinidad's two othermain religions.

In another part of ADP, adolescents focuson parenting, since most first pregnancies occurbetween 17 and 20. Young trainees spend at leastthree hours a week learning how to wash, feed,dress and play with babies under staff supervi-sion. They learn about the child developmentfrom conception to the age of 5. An illustratedbook shows helpful and harmful parentingbehaviour. Attention is given to the male imagein the home and the father's role in bringing up

children. "There is a terrible problem withfathers here," explains one Servol trainer. "Fewknow anything about good parenting and mosthad a tough childhood where violence and beat-ings were the only way of communicating andenforcing discipline. I believe we have a betterkind of male coming out of ADP, more sensitive,more open, less aggressive and more knowledge-able about what it means to have kids."

"ADP is like a treatment. They come herescarred and wounded, and they leave with muchmore discipline and self-awareness," said LornaBrown, co-ordinator of the El Socorro RegionalLife Centre located about 10 km outside Port ofSpain. A typical day in ADP begins at 7:30 a.m.,when students punch a time clock. The flag israised, the national anthem sung and a briefprayer said. Students organize this assemblywhich instils a sense of discipline and responsi-bility, essential for graduating to the world ofwork. "You really feel the emotion there and thecommitment of the staff," said Keith Oberg ofthe Inter-American Foundation, who recently satin on the first days of an ADP programme.

After this course, adolescents can join askills training programme, where they learn amarketable skill and follow literacy classes. Alladolescents are tested for literacy and offeredappropriate remedial classes from six to twelvehours a week. About a third of Servol's ADPtrainees follow the literacy programme which isbased on knowledge of the skill they will learnand facts about their country and the world. So,the first words learnt are those used in the corre-sponding skill. According to one life centrecoordinator, "the most difficult problem is to getthese kids to admit that they can't read and writeenough to get on in society."

Production is the key to the skills pro-

1 4

Students are prepared

lOr the competitive

work world.

IP1'4

41MINNI

gramme. 60 per cent of Servol's income comesfrom its own productive activity. Jobs are doneon contract for customeis, firms and institutionsThe catering department produces 1,300 meals aday, the carpenters make furniture, including forthe pre-school centres. With masons, plumbersand electricians, they build houses and do main-tenance jobs Servol's print shop trains appren-tices by producing the oiganiiation's in-housematerial (including a regular newsletter) and

12

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

winning outside contracts Nursing stu-dents are assigned to nurseries and clinics'There is a different kind of interaction dur-ing this part of the course trade instructorscall it "tough love" and take a no-nonsensealtitude to prepare trainees for the compet-itive work world

The money earned helps pay staffsalaries, maintain equipment and give cash

incentives to trainees who have worked hard onpaincular jobs Students help draw up orders andcost and stock sheets Once they can work unsu-pervised and show they can accept responsibilityand be punctual, they are apprenticed to firms foron-the-job training Employers and students, aswell as paients, sign contracts accepting the job-training arrangement All money earned bytrainees goes first to Scrvol Two-thirds is passedon to the tiamees, who come to the vocational

15

V,.11MINni

?e,

training centre every two weeks with evaluationsfrom their employers. A job-training officer vis-its the trainees at work and monitors their perfor-mance. Many trainees obtain a full-time jobbefore this period is over. At the end of the pro-gramme, they pass national exams leading to anational trade achievement certificate.

Of the 3,000 students who go through ADPand training every year, 10 per cent return to fin-ish secondary school, many through eveningclasses. Some 75 per cent find work, oftenthrough a job placement office situated at theBeetham centre. Pantin says job offers have fall-en off due to the recession, but Servol graduatesare twice as likely to get jobs as trainees fromother government or private training pro-grammes. Servol's drop-out rate is 5 per cent,compared with 40 per cent for the Youth TrainingEmployment Partnership Programme, launchedby the government in 1988. Evaluations confirmthat the Servol graduate is well looked upon byemployers. According to one, Servol's pro-gramme, besides providing vocational skills, has"furnished is students with attitudes towardwork, timekeeping, discipline and relationshipswhich hake them superior to the average workerin the country without such training."

Students report a great improvement inhow they feel about themselves. "The mostimportant thing you learn has to do with atti-tudes, to control anger," said Sheldon Sookhram,

421

fir

Ci

,

18, who is training as an automechanic at theMorvant Regional Centre. "When I finish, I wantto continue with evening courses in English andmaths because I didn't pass those exams inschool." Ron Weber, a consultant for the Inter-American Foundation, recalls that "these stu-dents, judged failures in the formal system, wereas bright as any kids i've ever met. Some of themwere writing poetry. They had all kinds of inter-ests and were quite wise about life." Evaluationsalso praise Servol graduates for their communityspirit. Many young people have joined forces tostart netball and football teams, and through com-munity action have raised funds to build playingfields and other facilities. They often inspireadults by getting involved in activities like homesfor senior citizens, pre-schools or child-care cen-tres. In several areas plagued by drugs, crime,broken homes and a lack of basic facilities, oneevaluation reports that "the young people are theones who have initiated not just a change, but thebeginning of a community spirit."

Some 60 per cent of

Servo! 's income

comes from its own

productive aoivity

Orr left). Young

women learn how

to manage the class-

/won giving children

the chance to express

their creativity.

I GBESTCOPY AVA!LABLE

Instructors know

how to help teenagers

express their feelings.

c are Servo', and we care," says a charterwritten by the staff of the Beetham cen-tre in 1981. It takes no special qualifica-

tion to become a Servol instructor, but a greatability to listen and care. Three times a yea', anin-house evaluation with the current group of

trainees tries to find outhow they feel abouttheir instructors. Theyoung people unani-mously say that whatdistinguishes Servolinstructors from mostteachers they havecome across is that"they really care forus".Servol's three-month

-.011 training programmestarts with attentive listening: "In Servol, teach-ers are trained to care by being put into contactwith the trainees from day one," says SisterMontrichard. For three weeks, trainees sit insilently on ADP classes, observing how theSPICES curriculum is used. They see howteenagers learn to express feelings, watch theiranger and pain surface, but are not allowed tointervene. Each session is followed by a teacher-training discussion. Next, trainees gain deeperunderstanding of development psychology, andthe needs and concerns of adolescents. Theydevelop communication, teaching and coun-selling skills. As well as learning how to managea life centre and making ADP a community-based programme, they are immersed in Servolphilosophies and how to guide teenagers throughthe SPICES curriculum. At the end, each instruc-tor takes the floor in a classroom, guided by anexperienced teacher. A Servol instructor earns

los

, t

TTS1,400 (USS241) a month. Recent budget cutsincluded a suspended Pension Plan and a sharplyreduced Medical Plan. "Working under the pallof these very real concerns, in the (1 mandingsphere of youth and community development,can take its toll on even the most dedicatedinstructor," said Gerard D'Abrcau, assistant ADPcoordinator. "A few have had to beaudicncedicounselled for what, on the surface,would appear to be less than enthusiastic job per-formance, but what, in reality, was really ineptcoping with stress."

Trade instructors are hired full time byServol and follow short training workshops intro-ducing than to the organization's philosophy.These include understanding adolescents, com-munication, motivation, discipline, and record-keeping. Several instructors are Servol graduateswho have returned to the organizatiol after expe-rience in the workplace. "After five years, I cameback to Servol because I recognized the need fortraining and getting involved with reople who areunderprivileged, and that I should be an example,or booster, so students can see they can make it tothe top," said one instructor. "It all depends ontheir ability to work." Field officers are chosenamong ADP instructors and are selected for theireffectiveness as instructors and their ability toassess their colleagues. They are expected to giveincisive weekly progress reports and meet everytwo weeks with centre co-ordinators. Field offi-cers attend sessions one day a moth often givenby guest lecturers. During the year, staff partici-pate in training seminars on a theme chosen byServol. Because of concern over rising iiolencein society, seminars in 1991-1992 dealt with par-enting. ADP instructors were challenged to helpadolescents develop attitudes and skills so as tobecome better parents.

17

trek Gilbert graduated after eighteenmonths from Servoi's Beetham centre wherehe specialized in woodwork. With a $2,000

(U.S.) loan from Fund Aid, he set up his ownwoodwork shop at his parer.ts' home. with onehelper. Today. he has not only repaid his loan ontime, but has five full-time workers and is aboutto train fifteen unemployed youths

Fund AA is Servol's credit arm, set up in1973 for communities and in lividuals who donot have enough to borrow from commercialbanks. Loans are granted for activities such astailoring. catering, hairdressing, auto-mechanicsand farming. "Our philosophy is based on thepromotion of self -help among the less privilegedsectors of the community by providing long termand/or low cost loans or by guaranteeing loans toapplicants from such sectors of the community,"explains Fund Aid's chief credit and field officer."The ideas and projects must originate from thepeople themselves and our job is to assist themmake a reality of these ideas and projects." InApril 1991, Fund Aid got a USS500,000 loan anda USSII5,000 technical co-operation grant fromthe Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)to expand operations.

The average loan is US$1,100, to be paidback over two years. The arrears rate or late pay-ment is 19.75 per cent, which loan officers aim toreduce to 10 per cent, partly through hiring morefield staff this year. Fund Aid has been able tomeet only 7 per cent of the demand for loans. Sofar, there have been 821 direct beneficiaries,,ffecting the lives of 4,100 people. A recent eval-uation showed 59 per cent of beneficiaries werefemale and from very low income groups.Beneficiaries are trained in small business man-agement, record keeping, financial monitoringand marketing. The IADB technical co-operation

',15

-111k r +

grant has enabled Fund Aid to expand this side ofits operation and install computer facilities.

Applying for a loan involves meetingswith field officers who put the potential client'scase before a subcommittee of Fund id's boardof trustees. The applicant must have at least fiveemployed individuals as guarantors, in effectgiving the community final approval of theenterprise.

1 4

"The ideas

and projects

must originatefrom the people

themselves and

our job is to

assist them

make a reality

of these ideas."

t the other end of the educational spectrumare children under 5. About 60 per cent areenrolled in pre-schools in Trinidad and

Tobago. Early on in its work in slums, Servol

s'`r.

found one way to overcome suspicion and hos-tility was to start a nursery school. Today, all thecountry's 153 public pre-schools are run by theServoliMinistry of Education programme. Theyare sometimes in churche.;, under someone'shouse or in a community centre. They are the;ruit of a community's choice. "In December1986, after the general election, thenewly-elected government asked Servo! to helpset up early childhood centres and centres fortraining adolescents all over the country" saidSister Montrichard. "We were happy to say 'yes'but on one condition and that was that each earlychildhood or adolescent centre would haveto be run by the communities in question.

16

Communities would have to ask for these pro-jects and maintain buildings for them, organizethemselves into boards of education to supervisethe projects, choose teachers for training, collect

school fees and volunteer time to helpwith the project." This has happened.When several people in a community areinterested in starting a pre-school. theyapproach Servol and then form an eight-person school board. This provides andmaintains the facilities, monitors teacherperformance, pays the part of their salariesnot covered by the small governmentsubsidy and collects fees. Servol providestraining to teachers from the fifty pre-schools that formerly came under theMinistry of Education.

Servol advocates an early childhoodeducation that is parent-oriented, highquality and community-based. This isbecause Servol's experience suggests that:

I) Nearly all a child's personality devel-opment takes place before the age of 3,

and by the time children reach the age of 5, theyare less receptive to change.

2) Parents and community members are likely tohave a far stronger influence on small childrenthan teachers or other secondary care-givers,making relationships with parents essential to thesuccess of early childcare programmes.

3) The world children have to face is tough andcompetitive. To survive, children must have awell-developed personality and healthy self-esteem.

As in the adolescent programme, the

19

S curriculum requires the teacher to helpn develop physically, intellectually, cre-

, emotionally and spiritually. Rather thanre young children into reading, writingunting at the earliest age, the syllabus) help toddlers develop a positive self-, to be resourceful and curious about1g, and to be responsible and carings the world around them.iach chapter in the SPICES teacher'sgesents targets such as: "The child is ablere experiences with others", and "The

able to express ideas/feelings through anation." Art, drama, music and dance areaged through making mobiles or puppets,ing sounds and acting out family roles.irriculum is geared to learning about thecan heritage: children make masks, cos-and pan instruments for carnival andflags on Independence Day. Reflecting

;ion' rich ethnic heritage, they celebratean, Hindu and Muslim feasts. Intellectualies involve concepts of time, space, lan-colours and pre-writing skills.

Ihe programme emphasizes self-expres-

i 17

1

sion, participation and creativity, and requiresteachers to become very involved with a class.According to one evaluation, "the pre-schoolsthemselves are a joy to be in. The pre-schoolteachers are all trained in classroom manage-ment so they are not averse to children movingabout and becoming involved in many activi-ties." Several evaluations praise the curriculum,noting that students entering primary schoolsfrom Servol tend to be more sociable, speak upin class and generally communicate more thantraditional pre-school children do. Traditionally,children mostly learn reading, writing and arith-metic, and are expected to sit at their desks ortables except during break periods. Althoughsonic primary school teachers have visitedServol pre-schools and adopted some of theirteaching methods, there is "a danger over thelong-term for children to forget what learning isabout," said Ron Weber, referring to the transi-tion into the formal system.

Since 1988, Servol's pre-school teachertraining programme has been able to issue cer-tificates recognized by Oxford University,which acts as Servol's external assessor.

20 &EST-COPY AVAILA3LE

Christine Parker, a member of the OxfordDelegacy of Local Examinations, has been vis-iting the early childhood programme for thepast five years. "I found the programmeextremely impressive. It is striking to see howstrong and confident the children are," she said.She has also been trying to make children'shooks more available and has encouragedteachers to write stories for their pupils.

Recognizing the role of parents as the pri-mary care-giver, each trainee is responsible for

ow COPY falit,3LE18

setting up a parent-education programme. "Rapsessions" are held at which teachers try to per-suade parents that excessive discipliix andneglect of small children crushes natural cre-ativity and potential. They speak to parentsabout hygiene, nutrition, environmental issuesand the child's emotional development. In mostpre-schools, teachers noted improved cleanli-ness, punctuality and attendance of childrenover the year, while parents seemed to expressmore love, praise and encouragement for theiroffspring. "Teenage parents, both fathers andmothers, are showing significant changes intheir role as parents," says one report. "They aremore responsible and they both take an activepart in caring and looking after their children."In some areas, the district health nurse wasinvited to speak to a parenting class. It was notin vain: in all but one of the 105 nursery schoolssurveyed in 1992, junk food, candy and softdrinks had disappeared from children's lunchboxes and been replaced by fruit, vegetablesand of a healthy foods. Parents often help withschool outings, sports days, field trips and con-certs. They supervise the pre-schools and evenstand in when teachers have Servol workshopsand seminars. In several cases, teachers report-ed that adults who never spoke to each otherwere friends through their involvement in pre7schools.

This parenting programme again high-lights the links between early childhood andadolescence: teenage parents are the most will-ing to attend parent education courses and thosewho get most out of them. According to a 1990evaluation, they seem more open than older par-ents to new ideas and ways of rearing childrenadvocated by trainee teachers.

Community involvement in schools oftentakes the form of clean-up around the school,spraying for mosquitoes, and helping in build-ing, repairing or maintaining the pre-schoolbuilding, as well as fund-raising and supportingschool celebrations through prize-giving, fooddonations and attendance.

21.

ince 1983, Servol has run a three-year pre-school teacher-training course, with one year'sfull-time study at the Servol Caribbean Teacher

Training Centre in Port of Spain and two yearsinternship. This centre helps the Eastern Caribbeanregion develop training programmes in early child-hood and adolescent development. Servol trainsabout sixty pre-school teachers a year from otherCaribbean countries and so far some 300 havegraduated from the course. In 1992, a three-daysymposium gathered co-ordinators of earlychildhood education programmes in the Caribbeanto exchange ideas, participate in workshops and dis-cuss achievements.

Each community chooses who it wantstrained as pre-school teachers and usually picksyoung women between 20 and 30. active in thechurch, mosque or temple, with at least three years'secondary education. "More important than a pieceof paper showing which exams you have taken ishow you arc as a person," explains Pantin.Candidates chosen for the Servol teacher-trainingschool will he supported by the district hoard ofeducation, which pays for the year-long course.

Personal development and self-awareness are

stressed during the course. An orientation periodwas added to the first month when an evaluation bythe early childhood programme teachers pointed out

that many trainees had a negative self-iinve and felthomesick. The programme now starts by helpingthem develop a sense of community and come toterms with themselves. "The students come fromsuch a formal education system that they find it hard

to adapt," said Parker.The programme includes learning how to

work with parents and the community. "This is theexcellent part of it," said Parker. Trainees have toreport on what they have done in this respect. Sonic

trainees for instance, arranged denial check-ups for

children. During the two-year internship, traineesattend monthly workshops which deal with class-room management, how to improve curriculummaterials and community awareness. Parents canalso attend and have said how they appreciated thechance to interact with teachers and the parents ofother students.

Salaries are small TTS500 (US-S87) amonth, about a quarter of what government teachersearn yet the teachers' dedication is striking."Working for Servo' is almost like being a volun-teer," said one teacher, "hut I get such satisfactionfrom this job that I want to hang on to it."

Field officers are the key to the programme'ssuccess. "I was very impressed by their know-ledge,- said Parker. Field officers visit interns in thefield, encouraging them and monitoring their perhir-mance.They also go to training sessions with themevery other week and organize workshops attendedby all the teachers in a zone. Subjects vary accord-ing to needs. All field officers have been pre-schoolteachers. They make monthly reports to theCaribbean life centre and can often play a crucialrole in dealing with community boards of education.Problems include internal dissension, inability toprovide a site for a pre-school or failure to raisefunds to top up the low teacher salaries.

For teachers from government pre-schools,Servol provides an in-service training with twice-weekly workshops and six-week vacation work-shops, followed by regular supervision. At the outset

of the ServoliMinistry of Education relationship, theobligation to do this provoked some reticence fromteachers, according to a member of the Bernard vanLeer Foundation, one of Servol's earliest hinders.Government school teachers are generally chosen by

the ministry of education on the basis of their acade-

mic achievements, and training for pre-school andsecondary school teachers is not compulsory.

22

"More importantthan a piece ofpaper showingwhich examsyou have takenis how you areas a person."

We no longer

have to lobby fora reasonable

budget".

0V011111.1111t c(0.11

n February 1992, the Trinidadian press ran arti-cles on the effects of the government's 40 percent cut in Servol's subsidy. Since the TTS1.7

million (USS293,000) subsidy helped pay teachers'salaries, the cut meant thirty-three pre-schoolswould he shut down within a month. A doctorwarned that "it is going to cost this country far morethan the 40 per cent the government is withholdingfrom Servol to support those young people who willnow !vial without hope.- Diana Mahahir, an inde-pendent senator, called the cut a "tragedy-, remind-ing readers that children at Servol schools were get-ting some of the best pre-school education in thecountry at next to Ito cost. Similarly, the cut in ADPwas likely to "seal the fine of hundreds of youngpeople who have nowhere else to go-. The protestsreflected the enormous credibility Servol hadgained.

The government subsidy was finally restoredby 20 per cent. At present, it stands at TTS2.I mil-lion (USS350,000), which pays for 153 early child-hood care and education centres. Pandit says theprogramme survives only because Servo! has con-tinued to train teachers at no cost to the government.

He put the real cost of the programme at TTS2.5million.

How successad has Servol's relationship with

the government been? "The government's attitude is

ambivalent,- said Diana Mahahir, but Servo! has"handled the partnership problem with quite a lot ofsophistication-. The relationship is helped by a shillin the government's approach to the grassroots: onthe recommendation of a top-level task force onsocial and economic development, it recently adopt-

ed a community-based development model inwhich the expertise of non-governmental organiza-tions (NGO) in "safety-net- programmes is recog-nized. Mahahir stresses that although NGOs havealways played a vital role in providing social ser-

20

17- 1 .'7?. "31 ,r-'may'''.

(I g

1..4

vices in 'Trinidad, it now seems "the government isready to support this rather than fight it, which mayhe due to Servol and the fact they have been so suc-

cessful'.I It tu b Schreurs of the Bernard van Leer foun-

dation, feels a balance has yet to be struck betweenthe two parties. "Bureaucrats tend to take over andforget about content and the ability you need in thefield-, he says. Servol's challenge in the years tocome is to reinforce community capacity and "beable to keep a firm grip on it-.

Since the Ministry of Education/Sem I ADPprogramme began five years ago, it has grown from

four life centres to forty throe, and from 12 employ-ees to 130. Teacher traininf has been perfected, but

the government has not taken responsibility for thein-service training model, Schreurs says. The com-bination of a flexible NGO style and a more rigid,bureaucratic one makes a fragile alliance, but that it

exists at all is thanks to Pantin's top education min-istry connections under the previous NAR govern-ment. Servo! survived a return to the PNM, howev-er. "They have made the transition to the oppositionparty because of a good political sense and thenational attraction of the programme," says KeithOberg of the Inter-American Foundation. Pantinexplains: "When Servol was approached by thegovernment to spread its programmes, we insistedthat while we were prepared to access funding fromoverseas foundations, the government had to com-

mit itself to counterpart funding and graduallyincrease its contribution as external financing wasphased out." Today, Pantin feels the "only frustra-tion we have is from middle-level civil servants, not

too happy Wit . the major role given to an NW-.But, he says, "this has practically disappeared andwe no longer have to lobby for a reasonablebudget '

23

ervol runs programmes employing 400 peo-ple with an annual budget of some TTS9million. Half of this sum comes from the

Ministry of Education for the salaries of thoseemployed in the early childhood and adolescentprogrammes; one quarter comes from overseasfoundations and the rest is provided by the pro-ductive work of the life centres (construction,training, maintenance and printing), pledgesfrom local business, donations and the annualChristmas dinner. The accounts of Servol Ltd.and those of the ministry of education/Servolprogrammes are separate.

As well as donations under deed ofcovenant, the private sector has put up TTS3.5million (DSS603,448) and has also started anendoWment fund to provide financial help afterthe withdrawal of funding by the van LeerFoundation at the end of 1993. Companies sup-porting Servol include the National PetroleumCo., the Natural Gas Co., Neal and Massy, lead-ing insurance companies, the three biggestbanks, Angostura Ltd and a number of othercompanies.

The Van Leer Foundation, the Inter-American Foundation, MISEREOR and IIEL-VETAS have been Servol's most loyal donors.While the Van Leer Foundation has workedclosely with Servol in developing the earlychildhood care programme, the Inter-AmericanFoundation has given Servol grants to theregional programme and to run Fund Aid. It hasmade a USS264,370 five-year grant to traininstructors in ECEP and ADP. A smaller three-year grant is for the Parent OutreachProgramme in which field officers go intohomes, help groups of parents set up smallincome-generating projects and show them howto stimulate their children's' development.

MISEREOR and IIELVETAS have given supportto the adolescent programme.

Servol has stayed locally-based:"People are more prepared to contribute finan-cially to their own area and to the welfare oftheir own children than to a centrally-managedproject," says Paulin in a Servol newsletter."Proper systems musthowever be put in placeto ensure accountabili-ty.- The executive direc-tor or chairman of theboard attends the fort-nightly meetings of co-ordinators and fieldofficers. "The informa-tion we receive is a cru-cial link to the commu-nity," said Pantin. "Oneof us also visits every centre at least once a yearto link up with the community and we invitehoards to come to our general headquarters to dis-cuss the progress of the centres-.

Pantin insists that going to scale has notcompromised Serves independent NGO status.-If all government funding were withdrawn", hesays, "the 153 pre-schools and about 30 of the 40life centres would have to go private. or closedown. Servol would continue training teachersand instructors from all over the Caribbean andwould administer about ten life centres (the largeregional ones ofThring vocational skills training)which could support themselves. In 1994, Servol'sbudget from the Ministry of Education wasUSS350,000 for 4,800 pre-school children; andUSS6I4,000 for 3,000 adolescents. The grantsreceived by Servol, which have now ended werefor renovating buildings, for buying furniture andvocational equipment, and for other capital items.

2i2 4 BEST COPY AVAILABLE

, .v7.7;4%71747=

Despite staff

dedication,

low salaries

contribute to

teacher

turnover.

Despite staff dedication, low salaries con-tribute to high teacher turnover. One field co-ordinator, asked if he planned to stay withServol, said: "I'm not sure. The salaries arc toolow, it's hard on my family." He earns ITS1,600(USS275) a month. compared with TTS4,800(USS827) earned by a supervisor in the formalsystem. Often however, poor wages seem "off-set by the obvious pride and satisfaction ofbeing part of something that works," saidOberg. Lorna Brown. co-ordinator of the ElSocorro life centre, was a teacher in the formalsystem before joining Servol. "I came herebecause Iwas frustrated with my job," she said."I wanted to do so much but there was nothing Icould change. When you see the results of thekids in formal school, it's sad, they're likemachines or like computers." Good promotionchances are also a Servol attraction. More thanSO per cent of the senior positions have beentilled from within Servol.

he sharing of power at community leveldoes not always happen smoothly: the deli-cate balance of power and continual educa-

tion of the hoards absorbs project co-ordinatorsand field officers. Sometimes hoards are toocomplacent and leave instnictors with the hulk ofresponsibility.

"Getting together with a truly representa-tive community hoard of education was not with-out a few anxious moments," explained twoinstructors from the Morvant-Laventifle life cen-tre. "These relations evolved amid skepticism,mainly due to intra-community and politicalovertones with two board Officials involved inthe last local government election campaign. Therelationship between the hoard of education andthe community, while not as co-operative anddynamic as one would wish, is still one ofhealthy respect and understanding."

New hoards of education have commonproblems but are gaining strength and arc fight-ing for their communities. "Boards were quick togather up all resources to support the nationalmanagement efforts to get the government toreverse its 40 per cent budget cut," said GerardD'Abreau, ADP's national co-ordinator. "Thissupport once again showed how boards, parentsand communities really felt about the centres.The centres were now truly their life centres andmust stay." He added: "Boards have continued torender a sensitive and supportive presence in thelives of their centres and are more and moredrawing their communities (business, profession-al and otherwise) into the life centre experience."

f there is anything replicable in the Servolexperience, it is the approach and themethodology. Listening, consulting with the

community, having patience to wait and proceedat the pace of the people, these are the skillsnecessary for community workers wherever inthe world they work," writes Pantin in TheSerrol Village.

Servol's expertise in early childcareand adolescence led to an arrangement withgovernment to go to scale. Servol metho(,., arespreading to other Eastern Caribbean islands. In1993, Servol seemed to have reached a newpeak prompting Pantin to call it an alumsmirabilis. The section of the National TaskForce on Early Childhood Care and Educationrecommended a focus "on the family, the childand ultimately the community". At the sec-ondary level, the report called for less imper-sonal schools and a curriculum that includestechnology studies and is closer to the needs oflearners "experiencing psychological conflicts".

The same year, after teenage crimes in aPort of Spain school, Servol and the guidanceunit of the ministry of education drafted a plan todeal with violence in schools. "4 was a historicevent, signalling the official entry of Servol intothe formal education system," says Pantin. TwoServol instructors were appointed to help stu-dents develop self-awareness, with emphasis onspirituality and parenting. Students soon openedup to Servol instructors, while teachers, at firstwary of the newcomers, began to sit in on somesessions. "The instructors confirmed that therewas absolutely nothing wrong with the pupils,who were in no way different from the 3,000adolescents with whom Servol deals each year,"says the report on the experiment. The problemlay in a cultural gap between street-smart pupils

23

from the grassroots and university-trained, mid-dle-class teachers. "Nothing in their training hadequipped them to understand, much less dealwith the problems of these youngsters. In addi-tion, very few of themcame from the area, andwere not particularlyinterested in the school aspart of the community.The result was that anatmosphere of fear en-veloped the entire educa-tional plan."

ADP has alsobeen introduced to a juve-nile detention centre,adapted to an orphanage,F.nd used to help recover-ing drug addicts. TheSPICES curriculum wasthe basis of the adaptedprogrammes. Servol worksclosely with government indrug prevention and hashelped the governmenttrain teachers for its youthtraining and employmentprogramme. Although theguidance unit of theMinistry of Education strongly advocates incor-poration of ADP into secondary schools,Senator Mahabir feels Servol will have no effecton altering the formal education system, andspecifically in the weeding out imposed by the"eleven-plus" exam.

26

Servo! 's programmes

have attracted interest

front schools coping

with violence

one 1, 1 111.

effecting his background as a scienceteacher, Gerry Pantin once described Servolas a mole cricket: "It is a graceless, awk-

ward-looking insect when it emerges from itssubterranean habitat, and is generally regarded asa pest. It spends most of its time below the soil,nibbling at the roots of savannah grass, neverdestroying it and never interfering with it drasti-cally but making its distinctive presence feltnevertheless."

The metaphor of something alive andinquisitive is appropriate. But Pantin's observa-tions during his first weeks in Laventille areworth recalling: struck by the lack of a stablefamily life, he said "the child grows up withoutthe ability to love. The consequence is a viciouscircle from which few children emerge able totake their place in the world as balanced, respon-sible adults." Servol works on all fronts torebuild families and give the disadvantaged self-esteem and hope for the future. It does sothrough its own blend of "tough love" that com-bines listening with caring, creating role modelsand building up community partnerships. "Servo!sees itself as a kind of village and it certainlyfunctions that way," said Ron Weber of theInter-American Foundation, pointing out that itbrings together people from communities allover Trinidad. In a region where patrohage isdeeply entrenched, Weber praises Servol'smethod of instilling a symbolic and materialdimension to community development: "If bene-ficiaries do not contribute something real, it isunlikely they will take credit for what happens.Development is not just a question of economicand material progress but also of the satisfactionof being empowered and in control in one's owncommunity."

Giving rough adolescents the responsibili-

, . 24

r

ty of caring for a toddler is likely to have a last-ing influence on them. Instilling a love of learn-ing at an early age and emphasizing the role ofparent!. gives disadvantaged children a betterchance of starting off right. A course challengingteenagers to understand their emotions and buildrelationships can start to heal their sense of fail-ure and low self-esteem.

Servol has a well-defined philosophy andtwo main target groups that have guided its poli-cies and staff over the last two decades. Some20,000 adolescents have gone through ADP, alarge number on an island of 1.2 million people.The early childhood care and education centreshave started to shape the attitudes of very many

27

a

""

young children. In going to scale, it has kept intouch with these groups by a decentralized sys-tem while maintaining high standards. The orga-nization's skill in dealing with young childrenand adolescents has been recognized by the gov-ernment, which asked it to extend its pro-grammes and, more recently, to head theNational Task Force's subcommittee on earlychildhood education. Pre-school teachers areassessed by an outside examiner from OxfordUniversity and teenagers must pass a nationalexam to get a certificate in their trade. Both ofthese enhance Servol's status and credibility.

More than 100 communities have takenresponsibility for the education of 2 to 5 yearolds. Trinidad is going through a difficult eco-nomic period, partly because of structural adjust-ment programmes and falling oil revenues,putting more pressure on communities to organ-ise and promote self-help. Not all communitiescan afford to build pre-schools and the most dis-advantaged arc not always being reached, soServol recently developed the Parent OutreachProgramme. In an attempt to keep the vocationalskills programme abreast of change, the organi-zation asked the Inter-American DevelopmentBank for funds for computer literacy and elec-tronic training programmes for 1,700 adolescentsa year.

Servol's experience also shows that grass-

25

roots people can be trained as fine instructors in ahuman development programme and that compe-tent childhood educators can often be peoplewith few academic credentials. Servol has devel-oped expertise mainly by listening to needs andhelping people gain power over their lives.

Then there is the inspiring figure ofServol's founder, Gerard Pantin. "Gerry Pantin isa man with a vision and great charisma. He hasthe ability to infect people with this vision,"according to Ruth Cohen of the van LeerFoundation. "It is amazing to see how inspiredthe staff are. Teachers feel very inspired to dosomething for children, their parents, their com-munity and country."

In the end, vision is perhaps the best word,a few months after Gerard Pantin retired and wasreplaced by Sister Montrichard, who has beenwith the organization since 1975. Servol continuesto travel towards a vision: of greater self-knowledge and reliance on the part of instructors, par-ents, teenagers and children, of a holistic educa-tion that challenges students in heart and mind. Itstrives for a more humane, responsive system, inwhich education starts at birth, ripens in thehome, and is supported by the community. As anAfrican saying cherished by Servol goes, "Ittakes a village to bring up a child."

"Is not just aquestion f.--1

economic andmaterial progressbut also of thesatisfaction ofbeing empoweredand in control inone's own com-munity.-

24 BEST COPY AVAILASLE

along ;twok TRINIDADTOBAGO

facts and figuresArea : 5,128 sa. km

Population : 1.265,000Annual growth : 1.3 °,'0Rural : 32.6 %

GDP annual growth : -1 %

Illiteracy : 3.9 %

Primary schoolenrollment : 97.0 cLoSource: Inter-Amencan Development Bank. 1992

9.

ADP: how peer counselling worksWe begin by having all trainees and instructors siton the floor in a circle and create a mood by singingsongs expressing deep feelings. Then we ask each

trainee to write on an unsigned slip of paper theirdeepest hurt and their deepest pain. The slips arethen put in a bag and drawn out one at a time.

The special case of MaryWe bend backwards to ensure the confidentiality ofeach statement, but the trainees seem to want themaired and discussed. When Mary's (not her realname) slip was opened, it read: "I have been sexual-ly abused by my stepfather since I was 12 and it's

still going on. Please help me."

The group immediately realized from her reaction

that it was Mary's slip and she ran over to theinstructors to be hugged. Then the group took overthe session and began to give her advice: "Say NOto the man. Tell your mother. Go to the police. Talk

about it to us".

Mary accepted all this. yet before the session, shewas withdrawn, aggressive and stubborn. She lis-tened closely to everything, looking deeply into theface of each speaker, her own eyes big and open.almost greedily lapping up the attention she wasreceiving while gentle tears flowed down hercheeks. She was not alone any more and possiblythere was a way out. At the end of the session, wejoined hands, sang more healing songs and hugged

and kissed each other.

27 30

'I"

"' Violent parents,violent childrenThis is an extract from a position paperdelivered at the Regional Seminar forAdolescent Programme Co-ordinators by FrGerard Pantin, 30 November 1993. It givesa clear outline of Servos philosophy.

The lonely adolescentOne of the best kept secrets in our Caribbeansociety is that by the time a young man makesthe crucial decision to pick up a gun or a knifeto do violence to another human being, anincredible amount of violence has been visitedon him by unenlightened or uncaring nurturing

practices. Everyone is very much con-cerned about the alarming upsurge inviolent crime perpetrated by adolescents onsociety but no one appears to be interested inthe root causes of such behaviour. So let methrow out a few provocative thoughts which,I hope, will stimulate discussion over the nextthree days. Over the last twenty years, I havetalked to hundreds of adolescents and olderpeople, and in most instances I hear the samestory:

go from

day to day,

hoping that

something

will happen

to make me

come alive I am lonely so empty I need another

ttly life is just the same thing over and overagain

There is no magic, no ecstasy in my life

I am constantly looking for another, someone to loveand someone to love me and I mean really love me inthe way I need to he loved but there is no one

I seem to end up looking for love in all the wrongplaces

No one pays attention to me, no one respects me, noone really considers me important

28

If were to die, no one would miAs me

I have thought o% drugs, even suicide but I have seenothers go that way and I do not feel that is the answer

When tvm have a gun in your hand people really respect

you but so many who have tried that end up dead

Sol go from day to fiat: hoping that something willhappen to make me come alive but I keep on askingmyself: Is this all there is to life? Aare is somethingwrong with me, with people. with the worY; there issomething missing in our life. not is it? I low did itstart?

The loneliness starts from our beginningI do not claim to know the whole answer: but I amabsolutely convinced that a great deal of the modemproblems of loneliness, alienation, restless searching,and addictiveness, all of which leads to self-inflictedor other inflicted violence, conies from the way wewere brought up and treated from the moment of ourconception and that it is centred around our bodies,how they were treated and how we were taught totreat them.

BirthStarting from this moment and during the next threeyears, the child gradually becomes aware of itself as aseparate self. For the baby, the mother's face acts as amirror and its development during those first threeyears is closely tied up with the way the child's mindperceives its own body and how comfortable it is withits body. "I am I" is another birth which takes threeyears instead of a few hours and which depends to avery real extent of how comfortable the child is with

its body.The infant is a curious, exploring person and

uses its touching, feeling, smelling and tasting sensesmuch more than its sight.

How do we treat such an infant who pulls downtablecloths, eats grass and dirt, plays with its genitals?We "correct" them, we slap them, we tell them "don'ttouch" and in so doing, we do an int...edible amountof damage to them, damage that will never berepaired. Full )f parental arrogance, we are convincedthat we know what is good for the child; as a result,we very often end up by confusing them, makingthem unsure of themselves and suspicious, and afraidof the world into which they have been catapulted.

For the last fifteen years, I have asked morethan 2,000 adolescents in my self-awareness classes:"At what age should you discpline a child?" Thevast majority answer: "From birth!" "A child has tolearn to wait, that it cannot expect to be fed justbecause it's hungry, it cannot expect to be cuddledjust because it cries." These are the replies whichhave been embedded in their minds by their ownexperience of life as well as by seeing how theiryoung brothers and sisters are parented. It is true thatby the time they have finished their AdolescentParenting Programme they have very different ideasbut I weep for the tens of thousands who will con-tinue the cycle of violence on their unsuspecting off-

spring.Because it is violence you know. Whenever we

ignore a baby crying in a crib that is violence; when-ever we stop children from exploring the world inwhich they live that is violence; whenever we gentlyprevent a child from touching that is violence.Because we are forcing them to suppress a Godgiven urge within them at an age when they cannotunderstand why they are being treated so violently.

The Ycquana Indians of Brazil make sure thattheir babies are in physical contact with the skin of

another human being twenty-four hours a day for thefirst two years! The result is that these children growup without the basic split or emptiness in us that is socommon to modern man. We moderns spend our livestrying to heal or cope with this emptiness; theYequanas haven't go it!

If we listened to the cries of the new born babewe would realize that the place for the normal,healthy newborn is with the mother. If we listened tothe need of primary school children to express them-selves with the guidance of teachers, we could beginto design our primary schools along the lines of theColumbian "Escuela Nueva" in which there is astrong bond between the community and the schoolwhich allows children to learn at their own pace. Ifonly we listened to adolescents. If there is one thingthat 90 per cent of adolescents complain about, it isthat "no one ever really listens to me; parents saythey are listening, teachers say they are listening butwe know from their body languages, from theway their eyes drift away from me, that theyare only going through the motions and wait-ing patiently for me to stop so that they cantell me about their solution to my problem."

I am strongly suggesting that every pro-gramme must be built on a foundation ofyears of listening and that this listening mustcontinue even when, or should I say especiallywhen, you seem to have come up with a "suc-cessful" project.

Today, from a very early age, children arebeing faced with very stressful situations andwith less and less support from family andsocietal structures. Because of this it is absolutelyessential that parents and educational authoritieswork together to ensure that the children whoemerge from school have a solid sense of their ownidentity and self-worth which makes them able tocope with a universe that is becoming less friendlyby the day. This cannot be achieved by crash pro-grammes in self-esteem for adolescents, pace theadvocates of quick fixes and band aid solutions butby an awareness of the importance of the early yearsin the development of personality in small children.Uwe fail to do this, we can expect a steady increasein the level of violent behaviour exhibited by adoles-cents. Maybe it is their final, despairing way ofpleading witht he adult world:

"Would you please listen to us?"

29

Today, from a

very early age,

children are

being faced

with very

stressful

situations

32

- -4, et .

tl.'.11511Z1115151t'%74e.3

In this article evtracted from the ECCECariblink" newsletter Caml Hislop Holder explains

the iinportance /-drama in early childhood programmes.

Drama, like all other areas of the Creative Arts Programme,

is an essential part of the Early Childhood Curriculum.

Drama encourages the child to develop language skills, see

sequence of events, build self-esteem, develop social skills

and understand the world.

Duping acting or spontaneous role-playing, children learn

social skills: how to get alongwith others, to share and wait

their turn to play their part.They learn to follow direc-tions, or to take initiativesand resolve conflict. Lots of

important learning can be

fostered through drama.

As children play the role

of parent or teacher,they see things fromanother perspective. They step into a role they

might eventually play as adults. Pretending to be

an adult helps children gain some control over

their world and work out fears and frustra-tions.

Dramatic play helps children come to terms

with uncomfortable feelings. They can pretend

going to the doctor, the dentist, a new school,

being lost, all of which will help them to cope

with these situations. They understand that

the doctor and dentist are there to helpthem; steps to take when they are lost and

how to adjust to new situations.

Children gradually discover the world

around them during dramatic play. As they

gain more information about unfamiliar peopie and situa-

tions they incorporate these into their imaginative play.

For instance, the child who goes to the market with, a

parent might later play the part of a vendor and begin

to understand this job more closely. This gives con-

creteness to abstract ideas.

ou

IZ sitt4

Drama encourages

children to develop creative

skills as imagination isrequired to make up roles,

think about ways to act them

out, set up situations andsolutions. The shy child who

takes on a role might start

to feel brave and develop

self-confidence. Childdevelopment specialists

agree that children should be encouraged to

fantasize. Young children spend a great deal of

time pretending, whether we encourage it or

not. This seems to be their way of makingsense of the people and the world aroundthem.

Drama Activities: Children can act out roles in

nursery rhymes read by the teacher. After this

the children can play the individual parts in a

story they know well. Later on, the children can

take on speaking roles. The story is narrated

and children will speak when their roles come up.

Youngsters and teachers can also dramatizestories using puppets made out of socks, paper bags,

toilet roils or cloth.

3033

ng it wort

Servos Milestones1970 In September, Gerard Pantin and Wes Hall go into Laventille. Two

months later, Serval was founded

1971 Twelve Defence Force personnel join Serval, a nursery school pro-

gramme begins and a welding institute and medical clinic open

1972 Opening of a school for handicapped children and the beginning of a

rural development programme

1973-74 Opening of plumbing institute and several agricultural projects

1975 Opening of several vocational skills institutes

1976 Opening of medical clinic, fishing co .operative and handicraft centre

1977 Graduation of Servol's first nursery school teachers, opening of

child-to-community rural project

1978 Official opening of Sunshine Hill Centre and vocational centre at

Beetham Estate

1979 Drug programme begins at Chaguanas, printing office opens at

Sunshine Hill Life Centre

1980 Ambulance service begins rn rural area, Beetham graduates form

their own construction company

1981 Beginning of courses at Teacher-Training Centre, Servol voted

"Individual of the Year" by Express Newspapers

1982 Automochanics established at St. Barb's Life Centre

1983 Official opening of Forres Park Life Centre and Caribbean Life

Centre

1984-85 Establishment of ADP programme and early childhood centres in

several Eastern Caribbean islands

1986 Govemmen: asks Servol to spread its programmes in Trinidad and

Tobago.

1987 Opening of eight adolescent development centres in Trinidad and

Tobago

1988 Opening of four further skill training centres and forty early childhood

centres

1989 Opening of two further Regional Life Centres. Oxford University cer-

tifies Seniors Early Childhood Teacher Training Programme

1990 Servol represented at World Conference on °Education for All" inJomtien, Thailand. ADP starts in Juvenille Prison in Trinidad and Tobago.

1991 Servo! Programme initiated in government secondary school

1992 Parent Outreach Programme started

1993 Servol represented on Trinidad and Tobago Task Force onEducation. Fr. G. Pantin resigns as Executive Director. He is replaced by

Sr. Ruth Montrichard

331 Elm-copy AMLABLE

I ,hit cil '1 .

t 'Ma

\ l'..S0) pi', ni111111e Rrqic 1. 1,'(;1'.,, ..rt: !'1'"

ele e e ':e

e lit« We el 1 Pr :e 1.': ('Ii

Previous issues

in the series:

No.1

.111 Childrenran I earn

Chile's 900 Schools Pmgramme

for the C'nderpnvtleged. 1993

(English. Spanish.

French. Arabic)

No.2

In our(mil Hands

rite slory 01 Saptavpam. a

11,,men'S %ellrehance movement

in Bangladesh. 1994

(English, French. Arabic)

No.3

Within ReachThe story of PROPEL. a

non-lormal education rowel for

rural children in India, 1994

(English. French)

No.4

Blazintz the frailThelillage Schools 01 Save the

Children.L.SA to .slags. 1994

(English. French)

(*gm ,'"N 7.t..1, L I .1

Brown. S. (ed). Caribbean Poetry Now. EdwardArnold, 1992.

Cohen. R. Shaping Tomorrow. The Servo! pro-grammes in Trinidad and Tobago. Bernard van LeerFoundation. 1990.

Inter-American Development Bank. Economic andSocial Progress in Latin America: 1993 Report.

Inter-American Development Bank:1992 Annual Report.

Mahabir, Diana. Servo! Pre-School and AdolescentTraining Programs, International Institute forEducational Planning, Paris. UNESCO. 1992.

Ministry of Education, Government of Trinidad andTobago. Report of the National Task force onEducation. 1993.

Personal Management Services Ltd. EvaluationReport on Servors Regional Training Programmefor Pre-School Teachers. Port of Spain. 1989.

Personal Management Services Ltd. Evaluation ofServo' Programme and Methodology for the Inter-American Foundation. 1990.

Personal Management Services Ltd. EvaluationReport on Servol's Development of Non-FormalProgramme of Early Childhood Education and Carein High-Risk Areas. Port of Spain, April 1990.

UNDP. Trinidad and Tobago: 1991 .4nnual Report.

Weber. R. Scaling Jacob's Ladder. Twenty Years ofServo!. Servol Printing Services. 1990.

Supervising editors:Ulrika Peppier Barry,Cilia Ungerth JolisEditors: Greg Chamberlain,Wenda McNevin

Art Direction and illustrations:Alfonso MuiiozPhotography: Norton Studios Ltd.

pl Bgitsvoli

1'

SERVOL PUBLICATIONS:

Panun. Gerard. ..I Mole Cricket Called Servo!.Bernard van Leer Foundation International Series onEducation, 1979.

Panun Gerard. The Serval !Wage. A CaribbeanExperience in Education and Community. Eernardan Leer Foundation International Series on

Education. 1984.

Panne. Gerard. A Second Chance at Seventeen.Servol Orientation Programme.

Pantin, G. and Montrichard.R. Footsteps. The Servo!Spirituality Course. 1990.

Servol. Parenting. Instructor's Handbook for use inServol:s. Adolescent Development Programme. 1987.

Servol. SPICES. .4 Currriculum Guide fin. EarlChildhood Education. 1990.

Servol. Annual Report on the Caribbean RegionalTraining and Resource Centre. 1991. 1992.

Servol. Annual Report on The Ministry ofEducation/Servol Nationwide AdolescentProgramme. September 1991 -August 1992.

Servol News. 1987-1993.

Servol. External Evaluation as an Element inOrganizational Development. Paper prepared byKatie Mungo, Training Officer & CaribbeanCoordinator. Servol ADP. Port of Spain. March 1993.

For more infOrmation. please contact:

Ulrika Peppier Barry

Basic Education Division

UNESCO

7 Place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP France.

Telephone: (33 -1) 45 68 10 00

The opinions exprencd so tho document sre those of the Awhile And nn rk-ce-tun Iv tnose OS NFSCO

Pnnted by Egoprun. Pans. France °UNESCO, 1994

4 ,.$114 j 44. '4 .4.'1 I 1

I

dr

"The seeds of violence are sown early ", saysFather Pantin, founder of Service Volunteered for All(Servol), a community organization in Trinidad and Tobago.Born in the aftermath of a social explosion in 1970. Servolhas defined its puipose by listening to the marginalized anddisadvantaged. By asking the simple question. 1-low canwe help you?" Father Pantin struck up a dialogue withyoung desperate men and women from the slums. The out-come was two successful programmes: early childhoodeducation for 2 to 5 vear-olds. and adolescent developmentand skills training centres for teenage drop-outs.

In the International Year of the Family 1994.UNESCO's programme Education ti». All. Making it Workhas selected Servo' as a showcase project because it workson all fronts to rebuild families and give the disadvantagedself-esteem and hope for the future. It does so through itsown blend of "tough love- that combines caring with disci-pline; creates role models and builds community partner-ships.

Servo! has convincingly demonstrated that thevicious circle of poverty, violence and despair can be bro-ken. The 153 pre-schools for some 5,000 two-to five-year-olds offer a creative curriculum that enables disadvantagedchildren to be more sociable and speak up in class whenstarting primary school. Out of the 3.001) teenagers thatgraduate from the forty adolescent centres every year, 85per cent succeed in finding a job or finishing secondaryschool.

Building on local resources. Servol has shown thatcommunity members with few formal credentials canbecome fine educators and trainers. Servol recognizes par-ents as the primary care-givers and sees education as thewhole community's responsibility. Addressing crucialissues, On the Right Track is relevant for a broad range ofreaders: early childhood educators, community develop-ment specialists. vocational trainers, and all those workingwith adolescent drop-outs, both in developing and in indus-trialized societies

The editors 04 it IvaUNESCOUnited Nations Educational Sciennlic and Cultural Orgiunzation

7. place de Fontenoy. 75152 Pans 07 SP FRANCE.

Telephone 133-1145 68 10 (X) Fax t 13-1144) 65 94 06

ISSN 1020-08(X)

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