Journey of Hope 2017 journey-of-hope-2017 | Page 45

“Some of those kids don’t have the
chance to go to school!” The revelation
was shocking to Alex, a fifth-grader at
Ritchie Park, who had never considered
that someone his age might not be
in school.
In May, using the Pennies for Peace
toolkit, which includes videos and
classroom exercises, Ritchie Park students
learned about Central Asian culture and
collected pennies to donate. For the first
time ever, many of them got to see how
girls and boys in Afghanistan, Pakistan,
and Tajikistan live.
“The videos given to us by the Central
Asia Institute that showed children in
faraway nations who live completely
differently than we do in the United States
were captivating for our students,” said
school counselor, Caroline Capoccia.
“To see these children get up at the
crack of dawn to do chores, and then walk
miles to school, only to come home in
the afternoon to do more chores was so
powerful. To see the school houses without
electricity or the abundance of supplies
that we are used to seeing in our schools
was enlightening. It helped our students
realize how fortunate they are and this
helped motivate our students to donate
in order to help improve the lives of those
less fortunate children.”
Life in the suburbs outside of Washington,
D.C. is much easier than life in a Central
Asian village — students ride the bus to
school, classrooms have electricity, and
chores are simple household tasks like
setting the table or cleaning their rooms.
Nevertheless, the American children didn’t
see these lifestyle differences as an excuse
to ignore or distance themselves from the
boys and girls overseas. Rather, they saw it
as an opportunity to help. Rallying around
their Central Asian counterparts, the
Ritchie Park students raised an impressive
$2,360.59 for education.
Fifth-grader Brynn reflects on her
experience. “My first thought was ‘Wow!’
this sounds amazing to raise so much and
get to help so much. We knew exactly
what the money was going for and what
it would do to help. I really like the idea
of helping girls get an education. We all
FALL 2017
need education. Going to school can be a
time to play and be a normal kid and
not think about chores. I am happy that
we made so much and it is going to an
amazing organization!”
For students like Aanish, who was
born in Pakistan, it was the thought that
she could make a difference that stuck
with her.
“I’m from Pakistan and I know that there
are places where kids don’t get to go to
school, especially girls, but we all need
to go to school. Buildings are broken and
sometimes kids have to go to school outside
or the teachers don’t come because they
can’t get paid. Now, with our help, they
can come teach and maybe more will see
that and come. Everyone needs to learn
humanity. I mean one single penny can
change someone’s life. I’m proud that we
all participated with even a penny each.”
Teaching Assistant Sally White has
worked at Ritchie Park for eighteen years.
She has seen a lot of service-learning pro-
grams come and go at the school, but
none she says that have had an impact
comparable to that of Pennies for Peace.
“After all the pennies had been collected
and sent to Central Asia Institute, I would
still hear the students talki ng about the
experience in the hallways. They were
talking about big ideas like kindness
and how they had an impact on another
child’s life. That’s when I knew that the
lessons had really sunk in.”
She continued, “Showing the children
what it’s like to live in Central Asia was one
reason that we decided to do the Pennies
for Peace program, but the real objective
was to give the children a chance to
practice empathy, and to show them
just how important even a little gesture
of kindness can be. Our job as educators
isn’t to tell them what to think, it’s to
empower them to think for themselves
— to help them to be curious, bright,
thoughtful people. By participating in
Pennies for Peace, the students learned
important life-lessons that I hope they will
take with them and continue to cultivate
for years to come. They’re on their way
to becoming the best they can be and
they helped others in the process. That’s
something to be proud of.” n
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