Shoes and Story Books
Much of what we do is about raising money to fund scholarships and construction. But
sometimes we have donors who lead a donation campaign straight from the heart. Here
are just two examples.
Antonia wanted to help other children in the world. As her 4th birthday approached, she and her mom decided to share the gifts she would receive from her family and friends with the children in Kenya. Instead of toys and goodies for herself, Antonia wanted shoes to donate to African children who likely walk barefoot for long distances to school. As the packages of shoes began to arrive, Antonia's mom wondered if there would be disappointment as her little girl really grasped what she'd given up. That wasn't the case—Antonia was quite happy to see the shoes piling up. She learned (and taught) a great deal about love that is not self centered. A huge duffle bag of shoes, underwear, coloring books and crayons was delivered to a village in Kenya during our Board member visit, along with a photo book to tell the story of the people who helped from Antonia's point of view.
A California teacher also wanted to share with her fellow teachers around the
world—fellow teachers who she knew needed colorful picture books to help them inspire
children to learn. She gathered up boxes of library books that were no longer being
used in her community, which became a great start for a library in a Primary School in
Kenya. As the teachers opened up the bags of books, amidst a room of empty library
shelves, they were greatly moved by the generous gift of beautifully illustrated
books. The teachers spent hours going through each book, talking about what they could
teach with it, which class would benefit most from which books, how much the children
will enjoy the stories and pictures. The California teacher's dream of supporting her
fellow teachers certainly came true.
We can use your help in leading a campaign for gathering books or teaching supplies
that we can transport to a school in need. Before you begin, please contact us at
info@asanteafrica.org to coordinate current areas of need and our schedule of upcoming
visits to Africa.
