POULSBO — As darkness falls over the lands of northern Uganda, hundreds of kids hauling mats and blankets discreetly creep from their threatened villages to the safety of a UNICEF tent in the nearest city to spend the night.
A rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army has pulverized the country which has been torn by more than 18 years of civil war. The LRA is accused of kidnapping more than 20,000 children, enrolling boys, against their will as soldiers and eliciting girls, against their will, for sex.
As a result, Ugandan parents have been sending their kids on nightly commutes to UNICEF shelters in hopes of their escaping the horror of abductions and ambushes.
After reading of the Third World nation’s plight, North Kitsap High School students — with the assistance of a $300 grant from the North Kitsap Education Foundation — crafted and recently sent books of hope to the country’s children, through the Wisconsin-based Memory Project.
“At first you think, ‘Oh we’re just going to write a book,’ but it’s harder than you think,” said NKHS junior Kyle Swanson. “Even if it doesn’t really change their life, as long as it gives them something to read, hopefully it will make them feel better.”
From October to December 2006, Swanson and more than 150 NKHS juniors compiled optimistic stories under the direction of NK English teachers De MacKinnon and Peggy Cook. Matching their text with graphics or illustrations, the students created storybooks for the Ugandan children.
“(The books) are given to them at the shelter, so they can read them before they go to sleep … then they are theirs to keep,” said MacKinnon, adding that she hopes upon receiving the delivery, the Ugandan readers will “know that they are not a forgotten part of the world.”
With Uganda’s perilous situation in mind, NK students penned both creative fiction and informative educational stories with references to their lives in America.
The two box loads of books include stories of undefeated sports seasons and grandmother’s house mixed with a positive twist of last year’s brutal South Pacific tsunami and a in-depth look at the Port Gamble S’Klallam culture.
Cook said she was impressed with the thoughtfulness, care and extra time her students invested in the project. And while their story concepts varied greatly, the lessons learned by the NK students were similar.
“People in other countries have it a lot worse than we do here, even though we sometimes think we have it really bad,” said student Dani Evans. “It’s amazing the lengths they have to go to to be safe.”
“It is imperitive that these kids know that they are global citizens,” MacKinnon said. “And that’s why activities like this are crucial for our young people because it does connect them to the rest of the world.”
“(With) this project we were actually helping people,” said NKHS junior Lauren Johnston. “It’s not just for a school grade, it’s to send out and give a story to somebody.”
The ability to send stories to peers halfway around the world was made possible by the NKEF as it provided the financial means to purchase resilient book materials and pay the overseas shipping fees for the project.
In total, the foundation has awarded $3,800 in 11 different mini-grant projects this year;’ ranging from $100 to $850. The grants were selected by an evaluation committee made up of the NKEF board and community members.
“With these mini-grants, we want to encourage teachers to take the initiative to do something ‘out of the box,’ and not have to pay for it out of their own pocket,” NKEF president Ken Shawcroft said.
Grants are accepted, evaluated and awarded annually at the beginning of each school year. For more information on applying for a grant or to offer a donation to sustain the program, visit the foundation’s Web site at www.nkef.org.
