The IIE’s Varsity College student volunteer body VC Cares and its Bachelor of Education students have not been able to engage in their usual community outreach activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of these activities included regular visits to homes and shelters where the volunteers read to children and the elderly.
Not allowing the pandemic to get in the way of their commitment to making a difference, they have initiated a virtual story reading programme where a multitude of stories, read by the students, are now available on YouTube or Google Drive.
Says Fathima Naidu, national student services manager at The IIE’s Varsity College: “Our VC Cares and Bachelor of Education students have a long-standing relationship with the children and their caregivers at the local children’s homes. Our students assist with homework, reading sessions, interactive play and other activities at the homes on a regular basis. To maintain the existing connection with the children, our students have recorded themselves reading storybooks as they normally would in the presence of the children. The only difference is the fact that they are now watching the familiar student faces reading their favourite stories in the comfort and safety of their homes.”
“We wanted the children that we regularly visit to know that even though they don’t get to see us, we are always thinking about them,” concludes Naidu.
Watch one of the virtual stories, here.
