Sometimes...

...something happens that just stops you in your tracks, that makes you so proud of a child who has just acted instinctively. This morning I visited an amazing primary school to lead an assembly about Kakuma and the situation that children there find themselves in. At no point did I ask the children to donate anything - we mentioned a non uniform day but that was all. At the end of the assembly a little girl quietly motioned me over and I sat on the floor in front of her. She must only have been 7 or 8. She solemnly took off a white beaded bracelet and handed it to me. 'I want you to give it to one of those children'. With a huge lump in my throat I explained that I couldn't sent 'things' all we could do was raise money and send that. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out the 7p that was in there and held out her hand. The widows's mite came to mind. Not only had this young girl understood she had been moved to do something herself - not ask an adult for money but to give what she had. I looked at one of the other teachers and wondered which one of us would cry first!
It is humbling to look at how children respond. In a Special school yesterday a young boy said 'we couldn't raise that amount' when we were discussing how much a classroom cost. The response of one of his peers was 'Why not? No one can tell us we can't if we set our minds to it'