Fields of Gold

Being a refugee support volunteer is difficult, in dark moments I think it’s impossible.

But there are those wonderful days when we walk in fields of purest gold.

Thursday was one of them,  when we presented certificates for the Refugee Online Education course.

Learners and tutors and organisers all gathered in AIT to celebrate a remarkable achievement.

We had done our baseline studies in English, Mathematics and Information Technology. Then we had started MOOCS in specialist study areas. Worldwide the completion rate for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) is 5%. We achieved 80%!

There are no words of thanks possible that would describe the contribution made by Theresa and Chris and Pat and Mairead and Geraldine and Stephen and Majella and so many, many more.

But the real thanks must go to the people who participated in the course. They had the courage to start something strange and new; the persistence to keep going in difficult circumstances; the compassion to help each other.

Once, someone climbed a gate to get to class!  What better feedback could you possible get than this?

It has been an honour and a pleasure to work with you all and I look forward to continuing to do so.

It’s been a marvelous beginning but it’s just a beginning. Now we will show the world what we can do!

Gerry