Special Post for the Grade 4 class at St. Bernard Catholic School

I had a very nice surprise today. I came home to an envelope stuffed with letters written by the children of Mrs. Berardini’s Grade 4 class at St. Bernard Catholic School.

A few months ago, Kira Neves heard of the orphanage and decided to draw some pictures for the kids in Uganda. I posted a blog about it. Kira printed off that blog and brought it to school to show her classmates during a “Current Events” session. Mrs. Berardini and the other children loved the idea of sending letters and pictures to the orphanage, so they decided to make it a class activity.

Most of the letters are addressed to “Dear Children of Africa.” (I love that!)

In the letters, Mrs. Berardini asked them to include some questions for the kids.

Here are some of the questions:
“What is the temperature outside?” “What is it like in an orphanage?” “Who is taking care of you?” “Do you like to play basketball?” “Are you happy in Africa?” “Does it rain a lot in Africa?” “What part of Africa do you live in?” “What do you like to play?” “What food do you eat?” “Is it hot in Africa?” “Do you go to school?”

All really great questions!

I visited the orphanage in January, so I can tell you a bit about them. The children range in ages from newborn babies all the way up to teenagers. Many of them are the same age as Mrs. Berardini’s Grade 4 class. The children do go to school. Their classes are large – sometimes there are up to 90 children per teacher. The children don’t play basketball, but every night after their chores are done they play soccer in the fields.

The orphanage is in a country called Uganda, and it is hot in Uganda, but not too hot. There are four houses at the orphanage – two for girls and two for boys. In each house there is a woman called a House Mother who looks after the children. Most importantly, the children are indeed very happy!

Thank you to Kira, Nathan, Tonya, Teresa, Alexander, Tevron, Michelle, Aaron, Freddy, Zachary, Elvis, Tiago, Moises and Kassandra for your beautiful drawings and letters. We will be sending them to the orphanage later this month! I know they will enjoy reading your letters and appreciate that they are being thought of.

And a special thank you to Mrs. Berardini for taking the initiative and teaching children to think globally.

http://africanwalkabout.blogspot.com