Pay it forward

When you educate a child, you are paying for the education you received. You are paying it forward.

I pass on to my children what I have learnt and I hope that they pass it on through the future generations. This is how society evolves.

It is a chain of communication into the future – a way of building the kind of future that you want to see.

Recently, on another blog (Spiritcloth), I responded to a 'Pay it Forward' (PIF) initiative wherein the blogger offered to send a handmade object to three people.

“I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

So now I make this offer to you – I will send a hand made gift to the first three people who leave a comment here. You can get an idea of the things I make on my Flickr site.

In response, I ask you to pay it forward by making a similar offer either on a blog or in your own life.

Donors and sponsors to the School of St Jude are doing a great job of Paying it Forward. They are fighting poverty through education.



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Gift of greatness

Giving makes us great.
It makes us whole.
It cheers us and lifts our spirits.
As good for the giver as the receiver.

So those Rotary folks who spent three weeks in Tanzania and worked on teacher desks at the School of St Jude are great people!

RAWCS team working on desks.

A group of 30 Rotarians from different parts of Australia visited the School recently and worked on desks for the new school campus.

The desks look great!, don't they? And the Rotarians look great too. Nothing like some humble t-shirts to create a group. Do you recognise some faces here?


They deserve a drink!

Relaxing at the local hangout – the Waterhole

Check out the sponsorship packages at the school. You can donate towards all kinds of things – from mosquito nets to plumbing to teachers and kids.

Giving will make you great. And you'll transform the lives of bright kids from the poorest families.


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Wishlist

The School of St Jude in Arusha, Tanzania, relies on the support of enthusiastic Friends worldwide. Where ever possible, it tries to source local materials so that local businesses and livelihoods are supported. However, it publishes a wishlist of items that are either non-existent, poor quality or very expensive to buy locally.

Here's the latest wishlist. If you are travelling to Arusha, could you add some of these items to your suitcase?

• Headsets for computer classes
• Clear Contact for covering books - REALLY URGENT (10/07/07)
• Industrial pencil sharpeners - they must be really strong or they break quickly!
• Any good educational software to teach students Maths, World Geography, Science (our bandwith is so narrow we can't use the internet and need offline software)
• The latest Encarta and Encyclopedia Britannicus CDs
• Children’s Socks (age 7 -16 in navy, knee-length)

Do you like lists? Things seem to take on fresh meanings when they are lined up with neighbours. This odd assortment of items reflects the real efforts made at the School of St Jude as it tackles the goal of providing excellent education to bright children in a country that is starved of resources.

Even if you're not traveling to Tanzania, you might find a way to send the School one of these items.




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Blade Runner St Jude

There is something surreal about the School of St Jude. In some ways it seems entirely familiar – kindy classes wear lion masks and present little plays; older classes go on excursions to worthwhile places. But then, something odd shows up in the school newsletter, like the wrong answer to a question in Blade Runner and you realise that this school cannot be quite like the schools we are familiar with.

• How many schools do you know that have 15,000 kids lined up at the gates on Fridays in October, seeking to win a place in the school?
• How many schools in your area have a sewing lady who spends each day mending and repairing the clothes of the kids?
• What schools do you know that take only one child per family?
• And how many schools offer free lunches – OK, we know that British schools do cheap lunches, but that is the land of Monty Python and Harry Potter afterall. And Jamie Oliver has shown us how bad the ‘food’ is.

The School of St Jude is for the poorest of the poor. Children who come from homes with more than two rooms, or houses with floors or window glass are not eligible. This school is for people who are REALLY poor. Nevertheless, the school encourages the children to be generous and giving.

Each year the school celebrates the Feast Day of St Jude Thaddeus (28th October).

Father Julio presides over a great celebration where each class gives a presentation. Then there is communion for those who are Catholic and blessings for those of other faiths.

Communion and blessings

During the service while Fr Julio was giving communion to the confirmed Catholics and the staff choir sang, he asked a number of teachers from various religions, tribes and countries to bless all the other students. It is a wonderfully uniting part of the service and again we thank Fr Julio for bringing everyone together so superbly.

A key element of the day is that each child brings a gift to be given to those in need in nearby orphanages and hospitals.

Although the children in this school come from very poor families, sometimes having only one meal a day and sleeping three to a bed, I feel that they need to understand how important it is to give to others. At our St Jude’s Day celebration, every student is asked to bring a gift to say thanks for all that they have to be grateful - their families, their friends, their teachers, their sponsors, the school’s donors, the cooks and cleaners, the drivers, the administration staff, the groundsmen and the guards. Every person in every section is a vital cog in The School of St Jude machine. So it is on this day that the children get the chance to show their gratitude.

Gifts from grateful families

Here are some of masses of gifts given by students’ families – the baskets were over flowing with sugar, soap, eggs, vegetables, fruit, cloth, salt, flour, rice and even live chickens. After the school community celebration, students took the gifts to local orphanages and hospitals.

Children distribute gifts in local hospital

The School of St Jude aims to fight poverty through education. It does this in a material way by providing excellent education to the poorest children. It also teaches that a generous spirit does not require material wealth.

May your generous spirit move you to lend your support to the School of St Jude.

What to give?

Living entirely within our own culture, we live by its standards of 'have' and 'have not'. In Australia, poverty is defined in relative terms. The bottom 10% of Australians are poor in relation to the other 90%. In relation to Africans, they live a life of plenty.

I am not in that bottom 10% and my children are grown so my expenses have dropped dramatically. Yet, even so, I have to remind myself that my surplus can be given away, it does not have to be accummulated or stored in case of bad times.

The children at St Jude's love to get stickers.

Charities ask for our help at every corner. Every day there is an approach from someone seeking donations for a very worthy cause. Door knock appeals, ribbon days, bear days, jeans days – all the gimmicks of modern marketing are used to catch our attention and appeal for our donation.

So, there I was, wanting to adjust the balance between my 'have' and others' 'have not'. I was drawn in the direction of supporting a single project. When I heard about the School of St Jude on 'Australian Story', there was no reason to hold back.

Hal, my husband, raised with me the subject of tithing – giving one-tenth of one's income. We decided that we would tithe to the School of St Jude. So, we send a donation each month (income permitting). This is not an automatic transfer, we have to decide to do it each month. That keeps our sense of purpose fresh.

I have to say that our lifestyle is not suffering though our retirement fund won't be as big as it would otherwise have been.

As well as giving a lump of money, we see things for the school all around us and we sometimes buy little things to send in the post. Like the stickers you see at the top of this post.

The school website lists some things that supporters can send for the children at the school.

For boys and girls:

Pens, lead pencils, colour pencils, markers, erasers, rulers and sharpeners always go well. A pencil-case, a dictionary, e.g. Nicholas Awde: Swahili-English, English-Swahili Practical Dictionary (Hippocrene). A school backpack or a library bag. Clothing? Families can get second hand clothing cheaply in the markets in town, but spare dark blue socks or something new is always a treat. Maybe a hat or a cap, a comb, a doll or stuffed animal, action figures or lego. The children absolutely love receiving stickers! If you send something to several children, please make sure the gift is divisible so as to not have arguments about who takes the present home.

For girls:

A skipping rope, inexpensive jewellery (e.g. from a $2-shop) or nail polish. If you send skirts or dresses, be aware that in this culture mini-skirts are not appropriate.

For boys:

A football, a pump for the football, juggling balls, frisbee.

Do not send DVDs, computer games or things that require electricity or batteries. Even though batteries are available here, we do not want the children to then have to ask their parents for batteries.

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We encourage you to send a little of your surplus to the School of St Jude. Even an envelope of stickers in the mail will surprise and delight.