November 14, 2008
For the past two years, our homeschool group has had an organised activity day with Ora International. There is a theme based on a certain country and the hardships placed on the children in that country. The day starts off with a DVD presentation of what life is like for those children; then we move on to an activity that lasts for a few hours, and which emulates some of the difficulties these children face, so that our children can better understand and empathise; lastly, we have some kind of craft activity where our children make something with a message to send to the children in that country.
So, this day's theme was the street children in Pakistan(?). The activity included the building of a shelter out of cardboard boxes that would fit all the children in the group (they were split into groups) and which had to pass inspection or be rebuilt; then 'money-earning' activities. This included finding all the clothing in the 'rubbish pile', then getting told to sort them and come back before being paid, others were told to fold them and bring them back, then told they didn't want certain colours, etc - just what the street children have to face every day. Some of the children even had to cut clothes up for rags. Jarrod is seen here cutting clothes into rags. Monique is sitting looking rather tired! Danielle's group were sorting sunflower seed from rice - a long tedious job that us adults had to help with! Some of the older children had to make electrical circuits on boards. Everything was taken to the 'inspector' who would 'pay' a certain amount in bottle tops for each job - the pay getting lower as the day went on! Again - emulating conditions for the street children. They had to earn enough to pay for their meal. It took a lot of earning! The third photo is of us waiting for payment for all our sorting! We decided to all go up, and there was quite a group of us, and she was paying based on how many went up - we learnt that the hard way! Oh yes, the meal was based on what the street children would eat, as well. We had white rice and dahl. It was very tasty after all our work in the hot sun! You may notice the children wearing saris and some wore the headgear, too. It all helps with the roleplaying. After the well-deserved meal, we had to do a massive tidy up, then inside to make little cards with a message to the street children. These would be sent over to them. Most of the messages were to do with staying away from glue-sniffing - which for these poor youngsters was a constant temptation.
Our children are always very tired after this day. But it is so well worth doing. Last year, we focussed on the children in Uganda that had to trek 12 kilometers a day, morning and night, to avoid being stolen by the rebels and drafted into their army. They would go to the cities, and hide there to sleep. Then home again to help with the chores the next day. We sent them jandal cards to 'keep on going' and 'don't lose hope' and a religious message as well.
