TA_ODW

Who we are at TA ODW

Thetford Academy (TA), is beginning its 10th year as a participating ODW member school. Thetford Academy is a small school drawing students from several different towns in the rural Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire. Our school has a long standing history of service learning and community involvement. Our ODW group includes students from grades 9-12, and one advisor. We meet every day during school for eighty minutes to study our country, teach our community and school about the program and country, and organize the day of work.

Operation Day's Work (ODW) is a student run organization that started in Sweden in 1961 and in Norway in 1964. In 1997, ODW was brought to the United States. This is ODW-USA's tenth year in operation as well as Thetford Academy's tenth year of involvement.

In September 2005, ODW at Thetford Academy was charged with coordinating a nationwide Help Desk as the sole director of ODW-USA, transferred from USAID. We were asked to do this as an original ODW startup school with a very good track record, both in improving our program and recruiting others. USAID and the International Youth Foundation were told to pass the ODW responsibility on to another nonprofit organization because the government cut their funding.

After accepting this task, we wrote a grant proposal for $30,000 to the International Youth Foundation to provide salary for the coordinator and funding for the program. The proposal was accepted, and our new goals and responsibilities began on September 1, 2005.

Our first year as coordinators was very successful. In March 2006, we had a fantastic Regional Meeting with all of the Upper Valley and Boston region ODW member schools. In April, we held a community Rwandan concert and African luncheon featuring Jean Paul Samputu. Food for the luncheon was provided by Tastes of Africa in Hanover, NH. In May, we had the most successful work day yet, earning $12,000 for one day of work in our community. As ODW-USA, all member schools donated over $26,000 to Children Affected by HIV/AIDS (CHABHA), who sponsors Project Independence in Rwanda. In December 2006, three students from The Sharon Academy and Thetford Academy accompanied Cindy Perry, the ODW-USA Coordinator, to Rwanda to visit Project Independence to witness and document CHABHA's progress. This was the first time we were able to visit an ODW-USA sponsored project and create personal connections and friendships. It was a very successful trip.

In keeping with its dedication to service learning, Thetford Academy has created an ODW one-semester course. In class, students research the ODW project country, teach what they learn to other students, and communicate with other schools, while also coordinating and organizing the work day. ODW is an increasingly successful program at Thetford Academy. This success is due to the unwavering support and interest of the students, administration, faculty and community at large.

In 2006, we supported Project Independence in Kigali, Rwanda. Working with CHABHA (Children Affected By HIV/AIDS), a Vermont NGO, 1650 head-of-household teenagers will get a chance to continue their schooling and get training in trades to allow them to gain employment. All these children are orphans from the 1994 genocide and AIDS victims.

In 2005, ODW helped children in Vietnam. Working with Heifer International, we raised money to educate 40 girls in the rural Vietnamese village of Phu An, about the basics of farming. They were also provided 2 cows for each girl that completed the program. At TA we raised 13,854.57 for this project, and nationally 38,441.69 was raised for Heifer International.

In 2004, 96% of TA's student body worked on the ODW work day to help raise a total of $10,669. ODW raised money to build three schools in Sierra Leone and provided them with needed supplies via the International Youth Foundation.

In 2003, 90% of TA's student body worked on the ODW work day to help raise over $9000. All nationwide ODW schools combined raised $24,877 to help support four secondary schools with 2,000 students in Bangladesh.

In 2002, 90% of TA students raised $9,837 towards the $30,000 that ODW raised nationally. The money went to Glimmer of Hope in Ethiopia to restore and rebuild classrooms in the Oliqa Dingil School, improving the learning conditions for 3,000 children.

In 2001, 82% of students at TA worked to raise $7,460 of the $40,000 that ODW sent to Educate the Children in Nepal. This project provided 351 scholarships for Nepal youth, repaired facilities in eight schools, and trained teachers. This project also focused on providing girls with scholarships, an opportunity that they would not have otherwise received.

In 2000, 70% of TA's student body worked to raise $7,300; on the national level, students raised $40,000 to contribute to Ciudad de Los Ninos, a project that works to feed, clothe, and educate children on the streets of San Salvador, El Salvador.

The Goat Project of Haiti was supported by ODW in its pilot year, 1998-1999. The $30,000 ODW raised nationally provided rural Haitian youth with female goats and training in animal husbandry. That year, 67% of TA's student body worked to raise $8,600 of the total.