This past weekend my 8-year old son had three-months of work and energy come to fruition.  After seeing Craig Kielburger speak (Free the Children - see link below)  in early May, my boy decided he wanted to raise enough to build a well for a village in Kenya.  He made a lovely flyer that he delivered to all the neighbours advertising a street sale and that he was accepting donations.  He set the date, worked out some advertising (with parent help, of course) and made (many many) posters to direct likely yard-salers to our street.

He stuffed grab-bags, collected donations and coerced friends and family to bake, face-paint and generally support this endeavour.  At 6:45 in the morning I took his picture, proudly standing in front of many tables of stuff awaiting the start of the sale.  He looked over at me proudly and said “I’ve waited so long for this day”.

Wow - I looked at him with tears in my eyes.  Yes he had.  And worked hard.  And sacrificed (first round competitive hockey tryouts ended up being at exactly the same time as the Street Sale and so he missed them).

Later that night, with friends and family around for a neighbourhood bar-b-que he came over to me, quietly hugged me and said “This has been a great day”.  Indeed.

It’s impossible to know the long-term impact that social giving and global awareness will have on him, after organizing something like this.  He still has a ways to go to raise the money needed for a well.  But - he understands and can explain to you why it’s important for kids to have clean water.  And why we need to do what we can so that all children have a chance to drink clean water.

On a larger scale - as parents - let’s try to take some time to talk to our kids about all those other children who need.  I don’t think our kids need to hear about how “they have so much, and others have so little” - though it’s true.  We can, though, activate our kids to learn a bit about children in another country and what those kids need to be able to learn; to live; to be healthy. THEN - most children will want to do something.  Their wonderful minds and spirits tell them - we can do something about this.  We will do something about this.

And so, we adults in their lives, need to then help them to realize this vision of helping others.  However we can.  As often as possible.  There are lots of life lessons learned in planning a Street Sale that benefits other kids.  Why not take some time for your family to pick one thing that matters to you, and then make a plan to make a change.

MeToWe and Free the Children have great resources to help you along this journey.  As a family - you can work together, or let your child take the lead and support them.  Only good can come from this.  Do it today.

http://www.freethechildren.com/

http://metowe.com/