An educator’s perspective
An interview with Ezenge Robincrusoe Angeli, ISTP Cameroon
May 2022
What’s your background and current role in the Water Learning Partnership?
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I am a Health, Safety and Environmental Engineer and an Environmental Educator and Multiplicator, working with ISTP in Cameroon. Before joining the Water Learning Partnership project, I had the opportunity to travel to Germany for the Weltwaerts Volunteer Program with support from Bread for the World, to do work with an environmental protection and nature conservation NGO. I was involved in several different projects and activities related to environment and sustainability issues which widened my knowledge and experience not only on quality education for sustainability but also on global citizenship and living together. Now I think all kinds of development should consider both local and global perspectives.
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I am currently working in the University of Oxford-ISTP Water Learning Partnership project, accompanying the different schools and supporting the students and teachers with the water learning and teaching process. I have always liked working with children and young people as it is a joy for me seeing them acquiring new knowledge, skills and competences. Facilitating water learning sessions with students from the five ISTP schools in Cameroon using the Water Module and Educator Guide has been an amazing learning experience for me, including setting up technical equipment and making necessary arrangement for an international online conference linking the Oxford team and the different schools located in different towns in Cameroon.
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What else have you learned from working with the Water Learning Partnership?
When working through the geology section of the module, the students did activities in groups and then each group shared with the whole class, in plenary. I learned what a good exercise this was for children who overcame their hesitance to express themselves in front of others. It was valuable experience in public speaking for them, and in developing self-confidence to express their views.
During the preparation and conducting of experiments in the module (evapotranspiration, infiltration/saturation, measuring precipitation, sedimentation and investigating how turbidity is measured), I enhanced my competencies around how to assemble materials for experiments from local resources, within a short period of time. I also learned new ways of collecting data and sharing it. I am happy to say that my photography and reporting skills have also improved through this project.
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What aspects of the Water Learning Partnership resources did you find most interesting?
The contents on water quality and water management were particularly interesting to me. In particular, the sanitary aspects of water provision and collection points - the need to fence off or otherwise protect water sources from contamination. Ways of sustainably managing water in agriculture and recycling greywater were also topics that I hadn’t paid much attention to before.
Recently I was in a rural village on another project and really noticed that they needed to improve sanitation around their water collection site - there were animal faeces, lots of mud and so on, and they were not addressing it at all. Greywater in this community wasn’t recycled at all although it was sometimes disposed of near their gardens. Before working with the water module, I might not have noticed this.
Being part of the Water Learning Partnership has greatly improved my understanding of water quality and water management. It’s a great privilege to continue learning and sharing with young people on this very important aspect of human life: water.
