Write to children affected by disaster, conflict and poverty

Type of activity: A writing assignment that will help groups “connect” to children whom they met in the exhibit

Grade level: Middle school and high school

Setting: Can be adapted for use in public schools, Christian schools, other private schools, homeschools, and other groups

Overview: Two walls in the exhibit reveal REAL. LIFE. for children of the tsunami and for children of war. On each wall are stories and drawings of the children affected by these disasters. On an adjoining bulletin board is this message: Do not forget us.

Students are encouraged to leave messages—a hope, a prayer, a thought—for a child. Many students will have done that in the exhibit, but given the time, they may have more to say.

Procedure: Ask students to write a message or a letter to a child who is in one of these situations:

Survived Hurricane Katrina but had to evacuate and live elsewhere for an extended period of time; returning to a home that has been rehabilitated by volunteers from Medical Teams International.
Survived the tsunami but lost a family member in the process; still has trouble sleeping at night.
Lives in a camp for internally displaced persons in northern Uganda; goes to a makeshift school, has very little food, lives in an 8’ x 12’ hut, has no running water, has no electricity. The person’s sister would have died from malaria if not for the help by the medical teams sent by Medical Teams International.
Lives in a rehabilitation center after escaping the Lord’s Resistance Army, where he or she spent three years as a child soldier.
Lives in a refugee camp of 10,000 people, in a tent, with very little food, inadequate sanitation, no school; has no idea what happened to his or her home when the family had to flee.
Has HIV, infected at birth from an HIV-positive mother. Lives in a small village in Africa. Mother is dying of AIDS. Doesn’t have money for necessary drugs. The mother receives homecare from members of the church in the village and medical help from the clinic supplied by Medical Teams International.
Lives in a garbage dump in Mexico City. Gathers recyclables with family, which earns only a few dollars a day. Has no running water in dump. Attends school at a community center staffed by Medical Teams International.
Is an orphan in Romania. Lives in a placement center operated by the government. Has minimal food. Placement center was recently renovated by volunteers from Medical Teams International. Attends a summer camp run by Medical Teams International’s Romanian partner agency.
Has extensive burns on 60 percent of his or her body and is a patient at the children’s hospital in Moldova; has deep scars and tissue damage; cannot use left arm at this point. Parent stays with child and prepares meals for him or her in the hospital room. Receives physical therapy from volunteers from Medical Teams International

If your group's responses are ones you would like to share with us, please e-mail them to us. We will review the messages and post the best ones on our Web site.

(Note: We cannot promise that we will pass on all of the messages or letters to the children. In places where English is spoken, we can send the messages. However, we do not always have the resources to translate the messages into the languages spoken in the various countries.)