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 Children
at Bookwell School have made lots of new friends from the other side
of the world. They come from Netzahualcoyotl (‘Netza’) in
Zihuatanejo, Mexico, divided from Egremont by the Atlantic, huge
contrasts in climate, and most of all by the conditions in which
they live.
Their new friends might live only a few hundred
metres from a luxurious tropical holiday resort, but their wooden
shacks or very basic cement homes have no indoor plumbing and only
one bare electric light bulb if they are lucky. The 430 students
who attend the Netza School for Indigenous Children come from
extremely poor but hopeful families who believe that the chance for
education will make a huge difference in their lives.
You could see in the eyes of the six and seven year
old children of the Bookwell class that made this link what a
struggle it was to get their imagination round these ideas. Many
had come across people who spoke other languages on holiday with
their parents. McKenzie could count up to 10 in Spanish and Nina
had visited Mexico and lived in America. But to imagine having
children in their class who did not speak their language was a
challenge. The lives of Mexican children who are not surrounded by
all the comfort and security they take for granted in their own
homes are perhaps too hard for them to imagine at such a young age.
But they are taking the first steps in cultural understanding and
their imagination is growing stronger.
This remarkable link was forged by the ambition of Headteacher Christopher Ashcroft and Year 2 Teacher Sheila Benbow to
make the topic of Mexico more ‘real’ by finding a school in Mexico
with which the children could correspond. Mr Ashcroft explained
that it had at first been very difficult to find a school that
wanted to take part in the project, but their search was eventually
rewarded by a really exciting reply from the Netza Project, the US
charitable organisation that supports the work of the Netza school.
"What we have found out about the school and its children, so far,
has been amazing,” he declared.
It has opened a really fruitful exchange of
information between the schools. Bookwell’s Year 2 has, so far,
sent the Mexicans booklets about their school and the town of
Egremont. In return, Bookwell has received photographs of the Netza
children along with writing in both Spanish and Nahautl, one of the
61 indigenous Mexican and Aztec languages still spoken today by 14
million Mexicans. Working out what the foreign language means has
been an exciting challenge. Matthew Williamson (6), along with
several other children, used the clues in the pictures to try to
understand the children’s writing. “Verde, blanco and rojo must
mean green white and red,” Matthew said, “because they are
describing the Mexican flag.”
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world”,
the words of Mahatma Gandhi, is the Netza project motto.
This
inspired Bookwell’s School Council to see this as a chance for the
whole school to become involved and
raise funds to help support
their new pen pals in Mexico. Children have brought in treasured
toys and other possessions for a bring and buy sale, and even as we
were there, they chatted excitedly about filling boxes with pennies
which would mount up and fill the lives of their friends with hope.
They plan to buy books, “But remember to get books written in
Spanish,” warned 6 year old Aaron Kelly. 11 year old Hayley
Moreland is shocked to realise how basic homes are in Netza, and 10
year old Paul Shepherd hopes that they can raise some money for
these children because "it makes me realise how lucky we are to
have schools like we have in the UK.”
“I hope that this is just the start of a long
partnership with the Netza School,” said Mr Ashcroft. “The children
at Bookwell are so eager to help the children in Mexico and it is
wonderful to hear them talking so enthusiastically about trying to
help to change the Mexican children’s lives. We continually teach
our children about the importance of thinking of others and this
relationship provides us with another opportunity to put this into
practice. ”
Fundraising donations will not only continue
equal-access support for the unique six-language Netzahualcoyotl
School and Kindergarten for the children aged 3-12, but will also
help them to expand their programmes to reach hundreds more
deserving children. Major development issues for the school are the
construction and improvement of classrooms, provision of books and
learning materials, teacher training, nutrition, health and family
assistance services and student scholarships for middle and high
school, and even university.
Any Egremont Today readers who wish to donate to
Bookwell’s Netza appeal can contact the school on 01946 820408, or
email
head@bookwell.cumbria.sch.uk.
You can also visit the Netza School website at
www.netzaproject.org
In the name of our readers, Egremont Today will send its own
donation of Ł1000.
Minister of State for International
Development, Gareth Thomas, visited Egremont Market Hall on 16th
February, to celebrate Egremont's engagement with the Fair
Trade movement and hear about the ways in which Egremont
schools have twinned with schools in other countries. He met
representatives of the Copeland Rungwe Link and in this photo
listens to Bookwell Head Teacher, Chris Ashcroft, explain how
his school became involved in the Netza Project."
Peter Watson
More: The School that grew from a seed
under a tree
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