From childcare to mental health, students share reflections on learning during a pandemic.
From the outset of the pandemic, we’ve been thinking about ways to share the powerful experiences of our students as they pursue their education from refugee camps or dense urban centers during a global public health crisis.
As we learned early on, cell phones, Zoom calls, and voice memos were one of the best ways our students could safely share their experiences in real time. To meet the moment, we launched a special six-part Global Education Movement COVID-19 podcast series to learn how people around the world are coping with quarantine and doing their part in the battle against the pandemic.
In the series, hosts Jon Mercer and Faith Simon focus on topics that span GEM’s mission – from remote work and studying to mental health and childcare – through interviews with students, staff, and subject experts.
While we hope you’ll listen and enjoy the entire series, here are three episode you can’t miss:
- Family and Childcare (Episode 6): COVID-19 has hit families especially hard, limiting critical education and childcare resources. In this episode, we meet GEM students in Lebanon, Rwanda, and South Africa who are balancing full-time studies with full-time parenting — and are finding a way to make it work.
- Mental Health Response (Episode 2): In episode two, students from Malawi, Lebanon, and Rwanda share mental health advice and best practices. Also, special guest Jemma Hogwood from Solidminds, a nonprofit providing therapy and counseling services in Rwanda, provides an update on how mental health practitioners are supporting GEM students.
- Digital Internships (Episode 5): As many companies determine the future of remote work, we explore how this shift may provide opportunity for refugees and other marginalized groups. Special guest Shipra Kayan, Executive Director of SiriForce, shares how his new digital work agency connects refugees to digital jobs.
For more on GEM’s special COVID-19 podcast series, read our 2020 Annual Impact Report. You can also listen to the entire series and subscribe on Spotify.
