Friday, January 10, 2014

The Power of Donating Items


On this trip, we brought over the largest number of donations yet. We weighed down our bags with thirteen laptops, 100 books donated by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, four soccer balls, three volleyballs, dozens of tennis balls, new and used clothing, and plenty of art and medical supplies. Giving out these items today highlighted how important donations of all types are. I have believed in the power of reusing items ever since middle school when I began to collect hundreds of used sneakers for Global Camps in South Africa. While I knew all the sneakers would be crucially used to allow the children to participate in sports activities, I never got to witness their expressions.
I am fortunate that at Wema I get to see the smiling faces of students when they receive the physical donations. Before we came to Wema, the library consisted of very old and torn books. It was awesome to see the reaction of students and teachers when they received new books from Life of Pi to Curious George. Also, most of the students only have one uniform, which is commonly ripped. This time I packed a lot of my old t-shirts and seeing the joyous expressions on student who received them reveals how every donation we bring over is important and can have a new life.
Today, we were able to visit the sugar factory Stephen works as a chemist. It was great seeing once again how the factory operates. It didn’t hurt that we got to try the sugar in various stages…
Today, people from Living Water International, the company that put in the well, dedicated the well to Wema. It was so special sharing this event with Stephen and Teresa along with some of the students.

No comments:

Post a Comment