Early in March, we had the opportunity to present our Lenten Project to the students in our school. We were able to create a presentation and gather our students in the gym and share our message. We showed them our website and explained what we have learned. We told them what we know about Emmanuel, South Sudan and shared our goals for the project. It was an amazing experience to stand up and use our voice - we created awareness of an issue that is now close to our hearts. We gave each classroom within our school a piggy-bank school house and they are busy collecting funds. Here is a small clip of our presentation. We managed to get everyone up and out of their seats, dancing to Emmanuel's song!! The students are currently blogging about our Lenten Project and a few blogs are being published on the GUA Africa website. What an amazing opportunity for the student's to have work published. One student, Brianna, described a typical day at Christ the King and outlined her reasons for being involved in the project. Gabby, a student in Nairobi, read Brianna's blog and replied back to her, sharing his story. Click on our blog page to read the blogs written by Brianna and Gabby or read them both on the GUA Africa blog site.
Our wonderful principal, Mrs. Callaghan, offered her artistic abilities to help us design a We Want Peace collaborative painting. We asked every member of our school and school community to add their fingerprint onto the canvas. This is just another way we have brought awareness to our project, South Sudan, Emmanuel Jal, and GUA Africa. This painting will be auctioned off at an arts night we are having in May. Our teacher Mrs. Mellow will be bidding alllllllllllll night for the painting!!
We have been emailing back and forth with Kate Gumm, the coordinator of GUA Africa in England. She recently sent us pictures about the work they do in Kenya and South Sudan. Take a look - it is truly incredible and inspiring. Their efforts are appreciated and make us even more determined to continue with this project!
Our school houses are a symbol. They are more than just the wood they're made of. They are more than just the paint that's on them. They symbolize a pathway to peace. Filling these school houses with your donations means GUA Africa has our support in promoting education in Sudan. Filling these school houses mean Sudanese children will receive an education, will receive supplies, will receive an opportunity they otherwise wouldn't get. We had a blast painting them and beginning our journey on this project. Please display the schoolhouse in an area in your school and join us in wanting PEACE! When you receive our schoolhouse, send us a picture of it displayed in your school and we will post it here! Thank you Mrs. Waddick!Mrs. Waddick, our boards chaplain, came to visit our classroom and get involved with the project. She helped us deliver the school houses to each school and talked to us about the importance of living our faith. She has linked our website to the Living Faith page on our board's website and she invited us to present our project during her Ash Wednesday service at the board office. We thank her for her involvement in our project! |