God Brings Interest Full Circle
Whe Avonworth Middle School social studies/language arts team teachers, Sarah Flowers and Amanda White started looking for books/materials/resources about kids who changed the world, their librarian mentioned the book I Will Always Write Back. The book is a true account of two teenagers, a girl, Caitlin, from an upper middle class family in the US, and Martin, from an impoverished town in Zimbabwe.
The book produced a flood of memories for Sarah. Sarah Boyd Flowers grew up in CUMC and is the daughter of Kathy and Glenn Boyd. She went to India on the Mission for Peace. Also Sarah always thought she would go to Zimbabwe on a mission trip with The Nyadire Connection. Now she feels, "God had brought interest full circle." Sarah graduated from Grove City College with majors in Religion/ Christian Thought and English and received her M.A.T. from Pitt. She is married to Andrew Flowers, a Pittsburgh Theological Seminary student.
Sarah and Amanda assembled ways their students could learn about the Zimbabwean culture. Their students had already read I Am Malala, an account of a Pakistini girl who stood up for educating girls in her country. They provided informational videos about life in other countries. One valuable tool was a CNN video about how others perceive Americans.
A set of books was obtained and read aloud. Students could also read during lunchtime. “They loved it. The book wrapped their minds about what Martin’s life in Zimbabwe was like. They expressed frustration around Kaitlin’s privileged life. The book sparked desire for the students wanting to help. Could they write letters to Zimbabwe?
Sarah relates, “The students were so excited and engaged – the most engaged they had been all year. So we posed the question, “What do we need to know before we start the project of writing letters to students in Zimbabwe? And the guiding question for their students was “How can I change the life of a student in Zimbabwe?
Sarah looked on The Nyadire Connection website for information, then contacted Jeanna-Mar Simmons, Christ Church Outreach Coordinator, who in turn contacted Molly Michael, TNC Education. A series of visits to the Avonworth classrooms was scheduled.
Engineers Without Borders (EWOB), young engineering students from Carnegie-Mellon University, who are involved in bringing solar street lighting to the Nyadire Mission and will travel there this August to facilitate the installation, visited the classrooms to share their project. "They were so articulate and posed the question, ‘What projects would they suggest to improve Martin’s life in Zimbabwe?’ Student suggestions were phenomenal – ways of bringing clean water, a foot powered washing machine, building or renovating schools, starting thrift shops, and creating community jobs were a few ideas. Because the EWOB students were not much older than the 7th graders, our students were empowered to look at what they could."
Jillian Schmidt, a nursing student, had the same effect. A member of the 2016 Mission Team, she will return to Nyadire this summer. Her photos of her experiences, particularly her involvement in the Nyadire Hospital and with TNC’s Eyeglass Project, were evidence of what they could do in the future. Elsa Zollars, another TNC member, answered students’ questions about what they write about in their letters. She showed large photos of typical family life in addition to a typical homestead model of a Zimbabwean family and passed out a list of some greetings and commonly used words for use in their letters.
The results – 130 letters were written and will be passed out to high school students in Nyadire and surrounding high schools. The July Mission Team will carry them in the suitcases. Sarah concluded, "I am excited to envisage where students will take this SPARK. Some may become teachers, nurses, or missionaries or be called in a different way to make a difference. We are grateful for the school administrators who encourage the staff to take on such a project. We plan to do this again next year."
I Will Always Write Back is available at Barnes and Noble and on Amazon.com.
The book produced a flood of memories for Sarah. Sarah Boyd Flowers grew up in CUMC and is the daughter of Kathy and Glenn Boyd. She went to India on the Mission for Peace. Also Sarah always thought she would go to Zimbabwe on a mission trip with The Nyadire Connection. Now she feels, "God had brought interest full circle." Sarah graduated from Grove City College with majors in Religion/ Christian Thought and English and received her M.A.T. from Pitt. She is married to Andrew Flowers, a Pittsburgh Theological Seminary student.
Sarah and Amanda assembled ways their students could learn about the Zimbabwean culture. Their students had already read I Am Malala, an account of a Pakistini girl who stood up for educating girls in her country. They provided informational videos about life in other countries. One valuable tool was a CNN video about how others perceive Americans.
A set of books was obtained and read aloud. Students could also read during lunchtime. “They loved it. The book wrapped their minds about what Martin’s life in Zimbabwe was like. They expressed frustration around Kaitlin’s privileged life. The book sparked desire for the students wanting to help. Could they write letters to Zimbabwe?
Sarah relates, “The students were so excited and engaged – the most engaged they had been all year. So we posed the question, “What do we need to know before we start the project of writing letters to students in Zimbabwe? And the guiding question for their students was “How can I change the life of a student in Zimbabwe?
Sarah looked on The Nyadire Connection website for information, then contacted Jeanna-Mar Simmons, Christ Church Outreach Coordinator, who in turn contacted Molly Michael, TNC Education. A series of visits to the Avonworth classrooms was scheduled.
Engineers Without Borders (EWOB), young engineering students from Carnegie-Mellon University, who are involved in bringing solar street lighting to the Nyadire Mission and will travel there this August to facilitate the installation, visited the classrooms to share their project. "They were so articulate and posed the question, ‘What projects would they suggest to improve Martin’s life in Zimbabwe?’ Student suggestions were phenomenal – ways of bringing clean water, a foot powered washing machine, building or renovating schools, starting thrift shops, and creating community jobs were a few ideas. Because the EWOB students were not much older than the 7th graders, our students were empowered to look at what they could."
Jillian Schmidt, a nursing student, had the same effect. A member of the 2016 Mission Team, she will return to Nyadire this summer. Her photos of her experiences, particularly her involvement in the Nyadire Hospital and with TNC’s Eyeglass Project, were evidence of what they could do in the future. Elsa Zollars, another TNC member, answered students’ questions about what they write about in their letters. She showed large photos of typical family life in addition to a typical homestead model of a Zimbabwean family and passed out a list of some greetings and commonly used words for use in their letters.
The results – 130 letters were written and will be passed out to high school students in Nyadire and surrounding high schools. The July Mission Team will carry them in the suitcases. Sarah concluded, "I am excited to envisage where students will take this SPARK. Some may become teachers, nurses, or missionaries or be called in a different way to make a difference. We are grateful for the school administrators who encourage the staff to take on such a project. We plan to do this again next year."
I Will Always Write Back is available at Barnes and Noble and on Amazon.com.
