Lancaster Mennonite School students participated in acts of service during “World Changer Week” March 11-15, connecting with the local community and fellow students in Chad by way of Mennonite Central Committee.
Students in first, second, third and fifth grades assembled more than 450 school kits and prayed together for the children who would receive them. Seventh and ninth graders went off campus to the MCC East Coast Material Resources Center in Ephrata, where they packed school and dignity kits, broke down books for recycling and learned about MCC’s work.
As students were packing kits, teacher Sheri Wenger received a message from her friend Rebecca Burkholder, who was in Chad at the time as MCC U.S. director of international programs.
“I visited three schools in the North Kanem area, which is in the Sahel region, near the Sahara Desert,” Burkholder said. “The children walk to school. Some may come by donkey or even camel.
“The children were very engaged in their education. When we visited one school, they ran to the blackboard to show us some of the things they were learning. They were having an English lesson, so they were reciting a poem, and they were reading off the blackboard. Overall, the adults we talked to were so thankful for a visit because they live remotely enough that they say, ‘When you come, we know people have not forgotten us.’ They like the connection with people from other places in Chad and around the world.”
Educational supplies are hard to find in Chad and are very expensive. The school room Burkholder visited had a blackboard and chalk but lacked basic supplies.
While she was in Chad, Burkholder heard that MCC’s shipment of 1,000 dignity kits and 1,320 school kits was on its way.
“When students, like the ones at Lancaster Mennonite, volunteer to pack kits, it’s a connection to other children in the world,” Burkholder said. “They are supporting children and families who don’t have access to some of the things that we have access to. Children in other places will be told these things are coming from other people and children who care about them. The children are expanding each other’s worldview.”
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