Last week Kaelyn was our star. She gave an awesome presentation and shared her love of horses (real and Schleich!) Below is her blog post about herself, as well she would like to share a blog post she wrote with her friends Jamie in Grade 4 and Ashlyn in Grade 5 for Parkland School Divisions 184 Blog.
Hi, my name is Kaelyn and I am nine years old in Grade 3. I love the outdoors and being with nature, especially horses. Green, blue, and purple are my favourite colors and my favourite places are Laos, Costa Rica, Hawaii and Belize. Horses are amazing animals and I love paints, pintos, appaloosa, kanstrup, and quarter horses.
By: Kaelyn
184 Project Blog
This year we have been involved in a project called Give a Shirt. This project started two years ago when Kaelyn’s family was traveling to Laos. Her mom showed her a video of an orphanage in Luang Prabang and this is what gave her the idea to collect clothing from the kids at Graminia School. They took 6 hockey bags full of clothing donations and handed them out to the Deak Kum Pa orphanage in Luang Prabang, Laos.
Jamie, Ashlyn and and Kaelyn have all been friends for a long time. Kaelyn’s family talked a lot about their experience in Laos. Jamie and Ashlyn’s families learned a lot about it and wanted to get involved. “I wanted to experience how other people live in different communities. I wanted to help the kids.” Ashlyn explains. “I wanted to have a new experience and help kids to make a difference,” Jamie says. So this year, Give a Shirt grew! We packed a twenty foot SeaCan full of clothing, blankets and shoes from many schools in Parkland School Division as well as schools around Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Over Spring Break, a group of fourteen people went to Laos and visited three orphanages and a village.
We learned a lot by visiting Laos. We learned how much we have and also how much we take for granted. We need to think more about how we can help the kids. Now when we want more of something or we want something bigger we always think again and think of the kids in Laos who have nothing. Before we used to think about what was happening at school and at home only, and now we think about what is going on around the world. When we were handing out the clothes, we were happy and sad at the same time. We were happy because we knew we were helping them and we could see how grateful they are even though they have so little. With us here in Canada we never seem to be happy and grateful even though we have so much stuff. We were sad because the conditions they live in are terrible and people shouldn’t have to live like that. Now that we have come back, we think twice about whether we really need something or if we just ‘want’ it.
When we were at the Num Buk orphanage we saw a dark, gloomy dorm with no electricity, the roof was caving in, and it was extremely hot. If it rains the kids get wet because there are huge holes in the roof. There are about 90 kids that live in one small dorm. They sleep on a piece of plywood and they are crammed in together and if they are very lucky they might have a blanket. We decided we need to rebuild this dorm for the kids in the orphanage. To raise money to make this happen, we are hada fundraiser at Woodbend Hall on May 11th. It was a dinner, dance with a DJ, a silent auction and we had many items for sale. We really hope that we can raise enough money for these kids because they desperately need it.
By: Kaelyn, Jamie and Ashlyn