Using Games to Provide Child-Centered Learning for Ugandan Refugees Children

MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF Sept. 4, 2023

This Meeting at a Glance:

Program: Using Games to Provide Child-Centered Learning for Ugandan Refugees Children

Speaker: Joel Baraka

Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!

To properly attend this meeting, please:

  1. Read and watch the content below in its entirety.

  2. Complete the attendance survey.

Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.


Message from our President


Greetings Members and Friends of Rotary e-Club of Silicon Valley. As President of our Club, I want to welcome you all today.



WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS

We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!

Stamina

Son: I watched a guy do 50 push-ups in a row. Can you do that, Dad?

Dad: Of course, son. Heck, I could probably watch someone do 100 push ups.


INSPIRATION

Every week we share a short video highlighting innovation, education, entrepreneurship, or whatever we think might inspire you to see the world in new ways.

There's something beautiful about a group of butterflies, and fun about a "spy hummingbird" - in this inspirational video, you'll get both.


LEARN SOMETHING NEW

3-D Wall of Virtual Reality

Virtual reality and science come together to "see" what's in the data they collect.




Club News


Members

  • Remember to log in to our ClubRunner Members site at <Click here>. After logging in, please be sure to access the MyClubRunner tab, and select My Profile. Please update your personal information here, which automatically updates our club directory.


SERVICE REPORT

Tell us about service you’ve done recently in your community.

Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey


SERVICE PROJECT OPPORTUNITIES

For upcoming club projects in District 5170, check out the District 5170 website. Also, if you have some time available for projects, be sure to let your local area Rotary Club know that you are available to volunteer for their upcoming projects.


HAPPY DOLLARS: Do Good by Sharing Something Good

Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.

Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use.


PROGRAM: Using Games to Provide a Child-Centered Learning for Ugandan Refugees Children

SPEAKER: Joel Baraka

Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.

The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub or Rotary International.

If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!

Joel Baraka, who grew up and attended school in the Kyangwali Refugee Camp in Uganda is the founder of My Home Stars, a nonprofit with the mission of making education accessible to refugee children. He designed 5 STAZ, an educational board game that aims to get children excited about learning.

An engineer by profession, Joel was inspired by his father, who learned masonry craftsmanship despite no formal education. In college, Joel pursued a civil engineering degree and currently works as a project engineer with a general contractor in the U.S. Midwest.

Joel's hope is that he can combine his two passions in education and construction engineering to re-imagine what better living conditions could look like -- both in terms of better housing and better education for communities such as the Kyangwali refugee camp where he grew up.

Since 2018 his team at My Home Stars has been on a mission to make quality education accessible to every refugee child in Uganda in the most fun and engaging way. According to Joel, "We strongly believe that if education is to be impactful and meaningful to young refugee children, then it has to be fun and engaging. Working with teachers we break down the primary school curriculum content into interactive modularized packages that children and teachers can easily engage with while having fun and learning.

Members and guests, please welcome Joel Baraka!

To learn more, go to:

https://www.myhomestarsmhs.com/


Important Announcement - “Digital Rotarian” Full Meeting Podcasts

Announcing: Our main program speakers are now available as audio podcasts in addition to YouTube videos! Each week they are available on Spotify, Google, and Apple podcasts.

Or you can simply click below for this week’s speaker:

And our original podcast, featuring Some of the best of our previous speakers is still available on SpotifyApple Podcasts,  and Google Podcasts 


UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE

All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.

Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).

If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.


THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY

Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.

We have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.

Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.

Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.

For all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!

Important: Once you submit the Attendance Survey below, please make sure you see the confirmation message. If you get an error message instead, please try the 'submit' button again, and if that doesn't work, please refresh the page and fill out the form again. Thanks!

Previous
Previous

Sustainable and Biodegradable Polyurethane Products from Algae

Next
Next

From Biologist to Eco-technologist: a 21st Century Conservation Tale