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Barry's Flying Visit to NI Schools

Barry

Thanks to Barry Ferguson for taking the time to visit four of our twinned schools during his busy time back in NI. This was Barry's second visit to the schools in 2019, went down a treat with pupils and teachers alike.  

Each of the schools Barry visited are paired with a school in Madagascar. The twinned schools keep in touch throughout the year with letters, photos and more. Barry’s visit was another bonus for the pupils, giving them a chance to ask Barry directly about their pen friends and life in Madagascar.

Barry’s trip included visits to St. Ita’s Primary School, Our Lady of Lourdes (Park Lodge), Our Lady’s Girls Primary School (Deanby Girls) and Ulidia Integrated College.

Park Lodge 2019.jpg

Barry’s engagements generated much interest as he talked about lemurs, access to clean water, school life in Madagascar and the difference in the lives of those growing up in Northern Ireland compared to life in Madagascar. Barry also gifted each pupil with unique hand-crafted wooden ring-tailed lemurs.  

Barry’s visits concluded with a presentation to the Year 8 Geography class in Ulidia School in Carrickfergus. This visit gave students an opportunity to learn about mica mining, the diversity of Madagascar’s natural landscape, the production of the island’s main exports and the importance of Fair-Trade laws to protect the rights of communities and their natural environment.  

Ulidia Visit oct 2019.jpg

We are very grateful to Barry for volunteering his time to visit all the schools. We wish him the very best as he continues his life-changing work in Madagascar, particularly around the protection of the rights of children involved in mica mining.

Thanks to the following schools and teachers for facilitating the twinning programme and for supporting Adsum; Mr. Murray (Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School), Mrs. Patterson (Ulidia College), Mr McMahon and Miss Duggan (Our Lady's Girl's Primary), Mrs McIlmail (Acorn Integrated Primary) and Mrs Gillespie (St. Ita's Primary School).

Barry was unable to visit Acorn on this occasion but kindly left treats for Mrs McIlmail's class. We hope they like their little ring-tailed lemurs!  

The school year in Madagascar starts again on 28th October 2019, which means the students will start another year of communications! We are so excited for this to progress and for the many students to be impacted by international connections. 

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