Teaching
Today I spoke to a grade 3 class about the orphans. The class plans to do some fundraising based on the theme of “Do They Know it’s Christmas.” I told the students about the daily life of their peers in Malawi. These middle-class Toronto students were shocked when they heard that the kids in Malawi have to walk for up to a kilometre to draw water for bathing each morning. They have seen pictures of people carrying water on their heads so that part didn’t surprise them. The students gasped when they were told that the kids in Malawi often only eat one meal a day. This meal is taken just before bed. As I write this I wonder why they never think to have the one meal at breakfast. It seems to me that they’d have more energy for the day.
The students asked some interesting questions. They wanted to know if the kids in Malawi needed clothes because of course they know that when they grow out of their clothes they are donated. They asked if the kids wanted any toys but were disappointed to learn that the kids in Malawi wouldn’t be over the moon if they received a Bionicle. One boy asked if the kids in Malawi drink hot chocolate. A girl asked where they go to the bathroom and of course when they heard it was in a hole in the ground they were not impressed. Well, neither was I!
It is fun and interesting to see how kids here react to my stories of life in Malawi. This will be a good project for all of us I hope. Cetainly it brings global education alive in a real and meaningful way.
The contribution I made was made on behalf of my parents Mona and Mel Bateman at their request for their Christmas gift. Nancy Dyck