I was informed by a family friend that the local elementary schools had done a fund raising effort earlier this year: "Pennies for Haiti." He invited our family to come to the school to accept the check on behalf of Global Ministries and our Haitian partners.
Pennies. Cute, I thought.
Imagine my surprise when, in a tiny Kansas town of less than 1000 residents, in schools struggling to keep enough kids in the desks to keep teachers employed, children from kindergarten to 6th grade collected heaps and mountains of pennies to arrive at the remarkable grand total of over $1,300.
That's a lot of pennies.
This week Patrick, Solomon, Valancia and I have visited several schools in the area: Thayer County Schools in Hebron, Nebraska and Belleville Elementary Schools in Belleville, Kansas. In remote rural American towns, children have held popcorn drives, bake sales and penny collections to help "kids like them" who struggle with problems like they've never seen in a far away island country. Hats off to such globally minded children. Hats off to the schools who nurture the curiosity and philanthropy of their students.
On our school tours, Patrick and I presented a little information about Haiti, our children acted as entertaining ambassadors for their country, and we fielded enthusiastic and curious questions. Some questions surprised us, especially coming from the smallest of students.
Was it scary to be in the earthquake? What did it feel like?
Did a lot of people die?
Are they still looking for people?
Did a lot of children loose their mommies?
What do people do for fun there?
Where do people live if all the houses fell down?
Will the government fix things? Will things get better?
Where do kids go to school?
(my personal favorite) How do you say "Beverly" in Creole?
We dared to be honest to even the smallest of inquirers. Many of the questions have answers yet to be seen. We were proud of the questions, pleased with the concern. We are honored that the children of our communities are looking outside of themselves with compassion and curiosity into the lives and struggles of others. Not only LOOKING, but springing into action. Such children give me hope for the world.
Hi Kim and Patrick,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful story you have shared through your blog. I especially liked seeing the photos. Our church, First Christian in Greeley, CO will be learning about Haiti and specifically our relationship with your family and our partner organizations there. The children in our VBS are age 3-11. We would love some answers to the questions posed above from the school children in Nebraska and Kansas and any other information you think would be interesting. I am also planning to include this on the Global Ministries site under VBS opportunities. Thanks so much for sharing the Haitian story with us.
Jodi Bobbitt (4Bobbitts@comcast.net)