Last fall I travelled to Gambia, a small country in West Africa, where I took part in pedagogical work in a local kindergarten, which was founded by a Slovenian voluntary organization. Due to substantial differences between our two cultures I decided to research how their kindergarten operates and how Slovenian volunteers are involved in its activities.
In the theoretical part I presented some of the most important facts about Gambia. In order to better understand Gambian culture I touched upon two of the most significant historical events which transformed Gambian society and left a great mark on everyday life. I set out to define poverty, which impacts the life of a large part of Gambian citizens. I focused on the formation of the educational system and nursery schools in Gambia, particulary on those characteristics that are vastly different from ours. The last chapter of the theoretical part deals with the characteristics of volunteerism itself and volunteer work in foreign countries. Here I presented several different views of volunteerism and volunteer tourism and their elements.
In the empirical part I presented the results of my research, which was conducted using the ethnographic method with participant observation. The research was done in two parts – first I gathered information in my journal, and after that I extracted and categorized information that is relevant to my thesis. The information was presented used the descriptive method. By participating in the activities I focused on the following aspects: the nursery school premises, pedagogical methods, children's reactions, materials used, organization of work, the experience of the majority of the participants, activities connected to my personal involvement and children's reaction to it. In the final part I analyzed the categorized data, connecting my findings with the theoretical part and literature.
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