The Grade 4/5 class at Uplands Park School has begun to help orphans in Africa. Their involvement started when they chose to sing two African songs during their Christmas Concert and then decided they would like to raise money to help children over there.

When they heard what the Rotary Interact high school students have been doing to help AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe, they decided they would like to get involved. First they invited me to do a PowerPoint presentation on the orphans at Sihlengeni High School in Zimbabwe so they would be more familiar with the cause. Then, with help from their teacher, Mrs. de Jung, they promoted their project in the school newsletter and set up a collection table at the door as people walked into the Christmas Concert. Behind the table was a bulletin board covered in posters, photos and African Masks that they had created. The display caught people’s attention and they raised $100 that evening and money is continuing to flow in.

Soon after the Christmas Concert, I heard from Doug Ante, a Canadian Rotary friend of mine, who now lives in Zimbabwe. He told me about an isolated school he had just visited called Pelandaba Primary School which is 120 kilometres North West of Tshlotoso at the end of the road and close to Wanke National Game Reserve. This is a subsistence farming area.Fifty of the students, 26 girls and 24 boys, will not be going to school in January, he told me because they can’t afford the $20 it costs for school fees. Thirty nine of these students have lost one parent to AIDS and 11 have lost both.

When the Grade 4/5 class learned that they will be able to send five students to school for a year, to say they were excited would be an understatement.

“They are really nice children,” Kirsten Verhoeven, their music teacher told me. “They are normal, average children with a deep sense of caring. They care about each other and they care about people outside their community too.”

Taylor Basset a student spokesperson, told me that she felt really happy when she was singing the African songs because she was thinking of the orphans they will be sending to school.

“It’s just like, wow! Five kids will get to go to school to get a good education,” she enthused.

“I think it’s really amazing,” Jeremy Strom agreed. We all really can make a difference in the world.”

So kids in Zimbabwe are going to get a huge benefit from this effort but is there any payoff for the students here?

“The sense of empowerment they get from a project like this is invaluable,” Ms. Verhoeven, told me. “They learn that caring for their fellow humans is important and worthwhile and that their effort pays off when it’s paired with a good plan of action. With adults acting as facilitators, students can increase their level of social responsibility, and they can experience the empowering feelings that come when they choose to make a positive difference.”

So this definitely sounds like a win/win project. If you would like to help these kids help others, you can send a cheque made payable to Uplands Park Pelandaba Project, 3821 Stronach St, Nanaimo, BC V9T 3X4

If you would like to see the kids and hear them sing, check out the Daily on Shaw Cable 4 on December 29th starting at 6 pm. The Daily, including the feature on these kids, will repeat ever hour until December 30th at 6 pm.

Of the hundreds of Hidden Heroes features I have told, none has made my heart swell more than this one. These kids are wonderful.