It is an adorable sight: a seven year old proudly clutching miniscule bits of chalk in her hands as she marches into school. Though her earnestness in protecting her bits of chalk might be charming, it reveals a problem for many of the kids at the Center everyday.
Each child in the lower levels at the Center has his or her own slate on which to learn letters, numbers, script, etc. The children were losing their chalk, however, or trying to enjoy recess while they kept it clutched in their hands. No wonder elementary school supply lists call for pencil cases!
PHC, therefore, decided to ask a big request – hundreds of pencil pouches from the States! A multitude of schools and churches raided Wal-Mart in order to fill this need! The pouches were shipped out with Go Teams. Many pouches included a picture of the child who gave the case so that the orphan who received it in Africa could pray for that child! We added chalk, pencils, and erases to each case.
Finally this month, we were able to begin handing them out to the orphans! We began with classes 2A and 2B. The fact that the pouches were bright and new even added to the overwhelming excitement as we (Ginger, Laura, and Karen) came into the classrooms with big black trunks overflowing with pencil pouches!
The kids cheered as each name on the class list was called out for that child to receive the pouch with his or her name written on it. We will continue handing out pencil cases as they arrive in Bangui.