Kids Can Change the World

My youngest daughter turned 3 yesterday, and we had her party today (my birthday is the same day, but we won't talk about that *wink*). She had a Princess and the Frog party. Family and friends all came to celebrate with us. It is always fun to celebrate a life!

For those few short hours, as I rushed around to set up the games & make everyone happy, the world was perfect. Every one ate the food I fixed, plus cake and ice cream afterwards. Morgan opened a mountain of presents and tossed each item to the side after she pulled it out. It was raining outside, but it didn't matter because we were dry and warm completely covered from the elements inside a sturdy brick home with all of the amenities.

It is so easy, as we go about our lives doing the things we do, to forget about those "other" people. They are not there where we can see them. If they were, I imagine we would do things differently. Right? I mean how could we throw away food and indulge in all of these excesses if the children who hadn't eaten in days were watching us?

That is why, though I don't have much (by US standards), I am constantly moved to help. I have to remind myself of those children. The fundraisers give a great reminder of the needs of some of our families. I, also, am moved to read books that open my eyes to what is going on in the rest of the world.

Haiti being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and now suffering more than we can even imagine since the earthquake, has been my book focus this month. If you want to read about the people of Haiti and one woman's passion to feed the people, even when the task looks so big it is impossible, check out the book I am reading now:
"On That Day Everyone Ate: One Woman's Story of Hope and Possibility in Haiti" by Margaret Trost
Another eye-opening book about Haiti involved the enslavement of the Haitian children. It is estimated that 300,000 Haitian children are slaves (known as restavecs). Jean-Robert Cadet wrote a book about his life as a restavec. You can find my post about that here

To bring this party to a helping the world type of ending, I will tell you what we did. About 2 years ago, I started a children's philanthropy organization called "Kids Can Change the World" (it came before Make a Change). The idea behind KCCW is that children learn how great it feels to help others. We do projects to benefit those is need. In 2008, while it was just getting started (and only my two girls in the group), we made gift bags for Christmas. You can see the post here. With Haiti needed the most help right now, our organization will be doing a benefit for them. While still at the party, I spoke with some of the children to see if they would like to join us in our plight to help Haiti. I was able to get 3 more helpers!

If our organization is approved for the "party", Hasbro will be sending us a box of board games. The children will go around collecting pledges from people for a "playathon". They will get $X (whatever the person pledges) for every 15 minutes they spend playing a game. The party will go on for about 2 or 3 hours, and then, the children will go back to collect the funds from what was pledged. The money will go to help Haiti's orphans (for those who know this organization, the money is going to S.O.S. Children's Villages in Haiti). It should be a very exciting time for all. It will happen some time at the end of February or beginning of March. I will keep everyone posted!

By the way, only one of the Danda children that I posted yesterday now has a sponsor. That means there are more than 15 left waiting. Check out yesterday's post to see who is left. Remember to let me know who you choose, as we will be doing a special project for the Danda children later this week.