While our (RED) colleagues were in Swaziland to see how (RED) money works on the ground, (RED) staffer Suzy and I visited a first grade classroom at Carlthorp School in Santa Monica last week to bring a little bit of Africa to the kids.With the help of teachers Mrs. Falk and Ms. Annino, Suzy and I explained how (RED) works to the students. The children were excited to learn that when they choose (PRODUCT) RED, a portion of the profits goes to help people in Africa. Raising their hands, they breathlessly shared stories about their own contributions to charitable efforts. One boy told us that half of his allowance goes to charity, a quarter to the bank, and he keeps a quarter of it. Their enthusiasm was uplifting and incredibly sweet.
To connect the students to another student their age, we told them about Denyse, the 8-year-old girl from Kigali, Rwanda, whose story we shared last year on (BLOG) RED. We passed around photos of Denyse so that the students could see how healthy she is now that she is on ARV treatment and able to go to school.
The Carlthorp students were so happy to hear that Denyse is doing well that they wrote letters for us to deliver to her the next time we’re in Rwanda. Here are a few of them, along with photos of the class!
--bn
(RED) on Facebook
(RED) on Twitter
Posts
4 comments:
What a GREAT post, bn!! I really loved this one.
As a former early education teacher, I was not surprised at the depth of these children's concern for the children of Africa.
I often found that it was the children that I taught who would then tell their parents why it was important to care about others less fortunate in our world.
These children are our future. The world belongs in their hands. The more that we can do to give them opportunities to care about others, the more that we can ensure a better future for us all.
The letters that you provided were completely delightful and I'm sure that Denyse and the other children who might see them will love them.~
I don't know what ERB's are but I doubt that they mean "Eat Raw Bananas". :)
Take very good and gentle care of each other, bn and Suzy.
Blessings will always be around.
ALWAYS (RED) AT HEART, debbie :)
"eat raw bananas" i love little kids, they take life and life's tests in stride! thanx for sharing this. these kids will remember this day with you and will remember denyse, and hopefully somehow she can communicate back. you all have a way of connecting our hearts to their's . . . . thanx!
(red) is simple enough to relay to a six-year old . . . i love that thot. i just spent the last three nights with Sam Daley-Harris, the founder of RESULTS, and he shared the sweetest thing that his six-year-old daughter recently penned . . . it went something like: "looking out my window, i can see the whole world. and if something is blocking the view, i find another window!" isn't that sweet? isn't that the truth!
we love these kids . . . . whether in santa monica or kigali . . . santa monica has more windows maybe . . . and may (red) continue to create more windows in kigali and elsewhere to remove that which blocks the views of the future.
stay close,
sammi =)
That's sooooo cute. I am happy to see how (RED) is reaching the children too...that's very important in a world where the kids grow thinking that the only thing that matters is have lots of money, material stuff and be skinny and become a celebrity.
oh how absolutely sweet
i am so happy to know that atleast kids are being taught caring and concideration
Post a Comment