BonnerSprings.com / Clark students beat drum for cohorts in Botswana

Archive for Thursday, September 18, 2008

Students in Clark Middle School's world drumming class practice their rhythms during a lesson with teacher Patti Selby. The class has recently started a fundraising project to send donated school supplies, clothes and money to students in Botswana, Africa.

By Nicole Kelley

September 18, 2008

What started as a simple presentation about a mission trip to Botswana has turned into a serious fundraising project for a group of students at Clark Middle School.

After listening to two former Bonner Springs High School students talk about the poverty-stricken schools in the southern African nation, a group of students in Clark's world drumming class decided to take action.

"They told us that those children (in Botswana) don't have what we have here and how lucky we are that we have the education we do," said student leader of the fundraiser Kennedy Bizzell about the presentation given by brother and sister Leslie and Jack Holtzen. "They told us that each classroom only has one pencil for all the students. We are truly lucky we have everything we have."

Leslie and Jack Holtzen were invited to speak to the students by Craig Carberry, a teacher at Clark who lived next to the Holtzen family and knew about their trip. The brother-and-sister duo took the mission trip to Africa as part of a Kansas State University leadership project. The Holtzens were gone about eight weeks and stayed in the city of Gaborone in Botswana.

The K-State team was assigned a school in the village of Old Naledi in Gaborone, where they helped teachers in each grade level with lessons. Old Na Education, the school where the Holtzens and other students taught, was so poor, Leslie said, each grade level had to share one textbook and one pencil among the class of students. Leslie's duty would be to write out the text of a particular chapter on the chalk board, otherwise, she said, it would have taken too much time to pass the book around for each student to read individually.

When she and her brother were invited to speak about their mission to students at Clark, Leslie said their goal was to portray what it was like for a student the age of the Clark students during a regular day. Leslie said the students in Botswana wore the same clothes every day and used pieces of trash found on the ground as toys.

Leslie said she never expected the students to take her message and turn it into a fundraiser project. When students asked how they could help the students in Botswana at the end of the presentation, Leslie said she was touched by the generosity.

"We told them to appreciate what they have and don't take it for granted," she said. "But a lot of the students wanted to help in Botswana specifically. It means a lot, especially knowing where it's going and knowing those kids need it."

So far, the students have collected boxes of school supplies including pencils and paper, as well as clothes and money. The fundraiser already has spread school wide, and Bizzell said students throughout are bringing in items to donate.

"It's really an honor to know we're all helping someone else," Bizzell said. "There are people out there that don't have a lot, and we wanted to help. (The Holtzens) presentation touched a lot of people in our class."

The students have contacted various businesses throughout Bonner Springs looking for sponsors to help fund the shipping cost to get the donated items to Botswana. While there is no end date set, the students eventually plan to send their collected items to the same school where Leslie and Brandon volunteered.

"It was a really neat experience," world drumming teacher Patti Selby said about the Holtzen presentation. "(The students) were just stoked. It's just neat to see them be so excited. They're bringing in pencils and pens; kids are cleaning out their closets. Now we have to figure how to get it there."

Discussion

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19 September 2008
at 1:25 a.m.

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tshipinarek (Anonymous) says…

Well, not taking anything from the “good effort” from those students but i reckon that giving other people a good picture of what is really hapennig in Botswana is equally apparent. I went to that kind of primary school more than twenty five years ago but still back then we all had pencils and enough books in each class room. Occasionally one pupil may not have a pencil because (s)he mispalced it (we all know how kids behave) but not because there are no pencils in Botswana. We all love our countries equally irrespective of whether that country is rich or poor. It is therefore important to practice a bit of caution and stick to the truth when talking about other countries.
19 September 2008
at 11:08 a.m.

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bpiz (Anonymous) says…

No intelligent Mostwana would deny that severe poverty exists in Botswana. Of course there are people who live under dire conditions in our nation, as in many other nations. The education itself in Botswana is generally of a high calibre, as I am also a beneficiary of it, even if it is under less luxurious conditions as those in some other nations of the world.

However, where those middle school children were posted is not a reflection of the poverty they wanted to encounter, hence, I feel that their feedback was exagerrated and therefore, disrespectful. Old Naledi is in Gaborone, and no doubt there is more than one textbook per classroom there.

The comment about pencils deserves only a comment that it is not true.

Indeed there are areas where more supplies, faciities, and clothes are in need. Nonetheless, activities that aim to raise the required materials should be done with honest judgement and understanding of the conditions that currently exist. It is great to see someone trying to do good, but good acts should be directed by honest and well guided intentions.

I will go and visit this school myself when I go home in December, and give an objective report on it. This is not an attempt to derail the fundraising initiative; it is an attempt to encourage those who want to do good for others to actually seek the facts first, and avoid smearing the image or development of other people and places.
19 September 2008
at 11:46 a.m.

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bpiz (Anonymous) says…

A very touching story indeed with a good moral lesson. But when all is said & done no one who has been a student in Botswana or worked as a teacher or anywhere else in Bots will believe a word that has been written. I wonder how many people, charity organisations or even sympathisers have been ripped off after hearing a story of such nature and believing it without first doing a thourough research to find out if indeed what is being said is true?

I have been a student in Bots for more than 12years and I trained as a teacher in the University of Botswana for one full year. During my time as a teacher trainee I have been to several schools in & around Gaborone conducting research. I have been to several Schools around the Old Naledi area & I have never seen a situation presented above. This article left me wondering, which school is the writer talking about? To all those who read this article & dont have the slightest idea of the educational situation in Botswana let me brief you on something: If a student is poor he/she gets free stationery & school uniform curtesy of the Government. In government aided schools, Text books are given out free of charge to each & every student irrespective of their economic background. So a strory that goes out of its way to say that there was one pencil & one text book for a class of students holds very little truth in it. Moreover, students do not go to school putting on clothes in Bots. They put on school uniform for Christ's sake! So I dont believe that they was ever a student who was seen putting on the “…same clothes everyday” This article is not only misleading but a disgrace to the people and government of Botswana who throughout history have been making efforts to make sure that each and every student's financial needs are met.

I understand how passionatepeople are about helping others & we all appreciate the effort.It is a good thing that students everywhere around the world shall read this story and relate to it and maybe, thats maybe try to help those who are in need. But next time before we seat down and write an article like this lets sit down and do some research then ask ourselves, :”Is this information reliable?”
21 September 2008
at 1:43 a.m.

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NENE (Anonymous) says…

Im realy surprised at the untrue statements in this article!!! First of Old Naledi is not a village, it is a residential area in the city of Gaborone, second of all, every student is provided with stationery (they wont have it if they have lost it), and textbooks are given free of charge to every student in Botswana by the Botswana Government!! I dont doubt that you saw students wearing the same outfit daily, its called a school uniform!!!! every school in Botswana has one so that all students have some sort of equality irrespective of their economic background.
Please dont write misleading pieces about our country, as much as we are a third world country, that doesnt give you the right to over exaggerate our circumstances, our learnng institutions may not be as comfortable as yours but they are not so bad and the education provided is of very good standards.
You may have been given the wrong information, but next time please research thoroughly.