I just finished grade 7 here in Canada. Last year when my sister came back from Tanzania, she recounted helping students from HOCET Secondary School who were close to her age, but who’s skill levels were much lower than she would have expected. Here in Canada, education is taken for granted, and although I am 12 and have heard about education being a problem in Africa, I never really thought about it until Jessie told me about her experiences. I realized what a big difference education can have in someone’s life.
When I heard that the first graduates had graduated, I realized how hard they must have worked to achieve what they have. I wanted to help them in some way, but what could I do? In the fall, I went to a special event called Me to We day that was put on by the charity Free the Children. They had lots of different people speak about their experiences and this inspired me. It helped me realize that one person can make a difference.
One day my mom and I came up with the idea of having a used book sale at my school to raise money for the graduates from HSS. I pounced on the idea, excited with the plan I went to my principal and asked permission. I made up some flyers and talked to all the classes in my school. Soon books were pouring in, we had boxes and boxes of books. My friends and I sorted through them at lunch and put them out on tables in the library, even the day that we sold them, more books were coming in. We sold them after school, but even when we were done that day, loads of books were left. So, we sold them the next day too. We still had some books left over, and we gave those to a thrift store, but we ended up with a total of $400.00!
I am so happy that my school was so pleased to help and enthusiastic about my book sale. Good luck to all the grads and future grads of HSS,
Maya Angelou
To me this means don’t reach for a dream because you know how to reach it, reach for a dream because you have a dream.
Megan Stewart
