Zabreh, Baie de Henne – Monkey, hare, owl. For example, these animals are sewn and knittted by pupils, their parents and teachers of the Zábřeh elementary school in Školská Street. Toys will be offered for sale on Tuesday, November 12^th, at a charity exchange directly at the school. The money they manage to gathered will pay an education of nine-year-old Ermison from Baie de Henne, Haiti. Zábřeh schoolchildren support him through the project of the Child Sponsorship of Archdiocesan Charity Olomouc.

Ermison lives with his sister and dad, who tries to feed his family by making charcoal. The family keeps cattle. The boy is lucky and goes to second grade in Baiedehen school. “He likes painting and he behaves perfectly at school. He is a decent boy,” says project coordinator Klára Lőffelmannová from the Archdiocesan Caritas Olomouc. She greatly appreciates the support from the school, because their parents and teachers are also involved. “Pupils from Zábřeh could only organize a money collection, but they produce beautiful toys. Only making them, had to cost them a lot of effort. And moreover, it will please someone else. It is so double help and joy. For Ermison in Haiti, but also for someone around him,” says Klára Lőffelmannová.

The things exchange event allows the school to pay for a poor child in Haiti, has been held in recent years. “Before Ermison, we had another boy – Dave. We also held a thing exchange for him. Children brought toys from the house, which they did not play with, and we offered them at the exchange. This year the toys were sewn and knit by parents and our teachers. In addition to toys, we will also offer herbal tea, which we grow at the school thanks to subsidies from the Olomouc region, ”explains Pavlína Hamplová from the school at Zábřeh, adding that the exhibition will be enriched by an exhibition of large-format photographs from Haiti.

Thanks to the Child Sponsorship® – Haiti project, poor children get not only education at school and thus a chance to improve their lives, but also one hot meal a day. Many schoolchildren do not even have it at home. It is dawn in Haiti around six o’clock in the morning, children go to school, some hungry and dehydrated. Some of them walk more than 2 hours on foot. After school, they head home where they help with housework or set off with a heavy bucket on a long way for water. There is a shortage in Haiti. “Children appreciate the opportunity to learn and eat at school. And we also value the support of our donors to help Haitian children. Thank you!,” adds Klára Lőffelmannová for the Archdiocesan Caritas Olomouc.

Over the 14 years of the Child Sponsorship Project at Haiti, Czech donors have supported more than 1 000 children in need, including those coming to school right now.

Karolína Opatřilová, Archdiocesan Charity Olomouc