Raising Global Citizens: Beatrice's Goat

Last Tuesday I highlighted microfinance and the book One Hen. Today, here's another book that will open your children's eyes to the needs of our world's children and the ways people can help.

Beatrice's Goat by Page McBrier and Lori Lohstoeter (illustrator) tells the story of Beatrice, a young girl growing up in western Uganda. Malnourished and unable to attend school, Beatrice's life improved dramatically when her family received a goat from Heifer International. She grew stronger and healthier because of the goat's milk, and eventually saved enough money from sales of the extra milk to build a weather tight house for her family and to go to school. (Note: If you purchase the book, a percentage of the proceeds go to Heifer).

I was lucky to have Beatrice visit my classroom in 2001. She was an intelligent, lovely, 16 year old. She spoke several languages and shared her story with my students in English. They were so moved, they began a fundraiser for Heifer. We have been regular supporters of the organization ever since.

Heifer International  focuses on raising people around the world (including the US) out of hunger and poverty by helping them become self-sufficient. They provide animals appropriate to the region in which a family lives and teach them how to keep the animals healthy and productive. When the animal has babies, the family "passes on the gift" by giving the offspring to others in their village. If you donate in someone's honor, Heifer provides lovely gift cards that announce your gift, or you can have an email sent to the recipient.

Perhaps you and your children would like to donate to Heifer International. You can choose what kind of animal you want to fund, which helps determine which country it will go to (animals must be suited to the area they're going to). A donation as small as $20 will go a long way. $20 will provide a family with a flock of chicks. Eggs from those chicks will nourish the family and extra eggs can be sold for money to buy other things.

Everyone needs to make hard choices about where to spend and/or donate money. Maybe you're not in a position to make a donation or maybe this doesn't happen to be a cause you choose to support. Of course we can't give to every charity, no matter how good the work they're doing.

Regardless of a donation, reading Beatrice's Goat with your children will open their eyes to the broader world and hopefully give them a sense that they can make a difference in it. One person can buy one goat that changes an entire family's lives for the better. By knowing this possibility exists, they will be able to imagine other ways they can make the world a better place.

Related Posts:
Raising Global Citizens: One Hen
Raising Global Citizens
The Holiday Season- Offers ways to help children develop skill with saving, spending, and donating money in addition to providing suggestions for holiday gift giving.

Raising Global Citizens: One Hen

Have you read the book One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway and Eugenie Fernandes?

It's a wonderful story inspired by true events. A boy from Ghana, named Kojo, turns a small loan into a thriving business that benefits his family, his village, and ultimately his country. Many lives improve as a result of one micro-loan.  It was inspired by a real man- Kwabena Darko- who benefited from a similar small loan. 

I first learned about microfinance when Muhammad Yunus' won the Nobel Peace Prices in 2006. The idea is simple- lend a small amount of money, often as little as $25, to a person who wants to start a small business. In the case of Yunus' bank, Grameen Bank, the loans were made to women. Other organizations may encourage a village to work together to secure a loan with one person benefiting initially. Once that person repays the debt, another person takes the loan and so on. 

An amazing 97% of the loans are repaid because each beneficiary knows that another person is waiting for their opportunity for a better life. Loans may be used to buy a sewing machine to sew clothing to sell, or a vegetable cart to transport vegetables to market. Or in the case of Kwabena- to buy laying hens.

This book and microfinance offer a wonderful opportunity for opening your children's eyes to what they can do a citizens of the world to help others in need. My family has made loans through Kiva.org, an on-line organization that lets individuals lend as little as $25 to alleviate poverty. There are many other organizations that do similar work. The One Hen website offers an overview of 6 organization you might consider, including Yunus' Grameen bank and Kiva. If you are called to Christian work, Opportunity International provides "Christian Microfinance."  

I hope you'll visit the One Hen website to learn how you and your students/children can participate in microfinance. There's a section titled, "Resources for Parents" and another for "Teachers and Librarians" that provide lesson plans and curriculum connections.

Have you heard of Microfinance? Have you provided a microloan? Please share your stories.

You might also Like:

Raising Global Citizens

Pinterest Boards: Global Citizens and World Religion Resources

Raising Global Citizens

Note: I can't figure out what's causing the wonky formatting at the end of my post. Sorry.

I've been thinking about the topic of raising global citizens a lot lately. This is something that's always in my mind, but this recent Twitter conversation brought it to the forefront:

KateMessner: Inundated w/ tweets from someone who called me a "Muslim sympathizer" for recommendin this picture book: http://t.co/8BC0ISBuLK Scary world.

MCusolito: @KateMessner To your tweeter: Thanks for inspiring Kate to tweet about it again. I just ordered it. Looks great.

The picture book mentioned is Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors by Hena Khan, illustrations by Mehrdokht Amini.

The first page of text says

Red is the rug

dad kneels on the pray,

facing toward Mecca,

 five times a day.

The book goes on to describe various colors that relate to the child's religious life, such as the blue of the mom's hijab and the golden dome of the Mosque.

This book does not proselytize (Try to convert a person to Islam). It simply describes basic details about the life of a Muslim child.

I believe that all children should be taught basic facts about major world religions. They should be taught about those religions, not necessarily to believe in those religions. I believe the choice about religious observance belongs with the family, and ultimately the individual. Certainly not with a public school.

In fact, when I was in the classroom, I never revealed my religious beliefs to my 4th grade students. Many children look up to their teachers and want to follow in their path. I didn't believe it was my place to contradict the religious teachings of their parents. It was my place, however, to expand my students' understanding of our world. We had interesting conversations about beliefs of others, though, and even the students who came from devout families left just as strong in their own convictions but with more appreciation for the beliefs of others.

At one point, a set of parents demanded a meeting with me because they were concerned I was teaching their daughter "Pagan religions." Once we sat down and I explained what I was doing, shared my resources, and described the kinds of conversations we had in the classroom, their concerns fell away. Those parents became some of my biggest supporters and their daughter left my classroom a Christian, just like when she entered. But she left as a Christian who had a better understanding of the ways other people worship.

Public schools should help children understand what other members of our country and our greater world believe. If every person had a basic understanding and acceptance of the beliefs of others, we'd have a much more peaceful world.

So back to my Twitter exchange. Following that exchange two things happened:

1. I began building a Pinterest board to help you teach your children/students about world religions. Golden Domes was the first book I pinned. Then I pinned my favorite books from my own collection. Now I've expanded my search for resources and am adding them as I find them. If you have books, websites, or videos to recommend, please leave them in the comments or email me. michelle(at)michellecusolito(dot)com.
2. I was contacted by an Associate Editor at School Library Journal who is writing an article on the topic. She saw my tweet to Kate Messner, so she interviewed me for the article. I'm excited that SLJ found this topic important enough to dig deeper and write about it.

I hope you'll visit my Pinterest board.  Check out the resources and let us know how you like them. (Most of the books are available through my library system, so be sure to check yours, too).

Repin the resources you love. Share my board with others via Facebook and Twitter. Let's help other parents and teachers raise global citizens.

You Might Also Like:
Picture Book Biographies
Resources for Readers: New Pinterest Boards