Composing underway at AISM

AISM has a composting system that was built before Covid by an ex AISM teacher, Colleen. The system has been inactive for a while and not really kept up since. Last year some students tried to get it going again but unfortunately it needed constant monitoring, so after a while it once again became abandoned. 

Since this system takes a lot of commitment and requires attention over the holidays too, we can't have students or teachers solely responsible for it. For this reason, the committee found gardeners that were interested in being trained on how to use the system. This would be an opportunity for learning, leadership and empowerment of local staff. An opportunity to equip them with the necessary knowledge to keep the composting system ongoing and sustainable and most important of all, hold the continuous knowledge to share with our learners and teachers. 

The gardeners spent a day in training with Colleen and her husband Warwick and learnt all about the composting system. Narciso, Zacarias and Ismael are now our Composting team leaders.

This week our new Composting team leaders are going to get the system ready and initiate the process. During this first experimental trial phase, they will only use food remains from the cafeteria and Cafe Sol. Once the system is up and running our Composting team leaders will be able give the AISM learners and staff workshops on how the system works and on how to use it.

The compost will be available for our gardens at school, for the PS Gardening club and for any other learner that may need it for their projects.

We are very excited about this and the benefits it will bring to our community and environment! 

Thank you to Colleen, Warwick and our new Composting team leaders!

To find out more about the composting system please do not hesitate to contact us at sustainability-committee@aism-moz.com.

2nd Agents of Change meeting!

On Wednesday we had our second Agents of Change meeting.

This time round we had grade 5 students join us! Miss Sam lead the meeting and we began by playing a very interactive and fun improv game where Agents took turns shouting out an environmentally friendly action and two others would act it out. The Agents gave many environmentally friendly actions that we can do and the improving was brilliant!

Next the Agents discussed "What do we notice about the recycling bins?" at AISM and "What do we need to have a successful Recycling program?" In order to answer these questions, the Agents went around school looking at and in the recycling and non-recycling bins...

Notes taken during the "bin tour";

After observing our bins and what is being put in them, the Agents proceeded to answer the questions "What do we notice about the recycling bins?" at AISM and "What do we need to have a successful Recycling program?" 

Next the Agents of Change gave amazing ideas on what actions they could take as the PS Agents of Change;

Once all ideas were recorded, the Agents chose the two most impactful ideas to move forward with. The group decided who would be in which group.

At the next meeting the Agents of Change will begin making informational posters about recycling and begin brainstorming on the recycling video.

Once these are ready we will definitely be sharing them!

Stay tuned!

 

The First meeting with our new Agents of Change!

On Wednesday we had our first meeting with our Agents of Change. We had a very excited group of 10 boys and girls from Grade 4. 

Lead by Miss Sam V, we did a fun and creative activity where one a sheet of paper divided into 3 we brainstormed challenges we see at AISM and in our communities relating to 1- Animals, 2- People and 3- Environment.

Once we had written some challenges down, we brainstormed ideas and solutions for the challenges.

Some challenges included litter and pollution, global warming, the shortage of trees on school grounds.

Some solutions included planting more trees, hosting fundraising events to fund our solutions, cleanups, more animal resources, amongst others.

Thank you to each one of the students that joined Agents of Change! We are so proud of this group already! Next year promises to be a great year where we aim at seeking and implementing ideas from the students themselves!

 

World Cleanup day was a success!

Last Saturday the 17th we saw the AISM and US Embassy community join the rest of the Maputo community in various cleanup efforts all over town and the marginal. We had great turnout in our group; students, parents, teachers, staff, children and even grandparents joined us at 9 am at the Miramar beach. Our group did an awesome job as we did our part in being stewards in our environment and demonstrating the values that we pride ourselves in. 

At the end of the cleanup some of us had some lovely coconut juice as a reward!

The municipality came around quite quickly so we barely got to take photos of all the bags we gathered, but here are some images from the day.