(with PowerPoint)For primary schools

Slide 1 [Explain that you will be talking about World Gifts today, and introduce the idea of working towards building a virtual village through World Gifts. The world gift stories in this presentation are Chickens, School Starter Pack, a Pair of Piglets, Community Water Supply and a Vegetable Garden. You could choose a selection from these to talk about if time is limited.]

Slide 2 – What are World Gifts?Before you start, ask the children if any of them know what World Gifts are. Ask if any have received one in the past etc. Explain at this point that World Gifts are.World Gifts are special presents and are really two gifts in one. When you buy a world gift, you help people who are living in poverty overseas to help change their life. Today I’ll be talking to you about what type of World Gifts there are, and how they have changed people’s lives in the past.•

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Theme(s): Livelihoods, emergencies, health, educationMaterials Required:• PowerPoint: • World Gifts catalogues (to give out after talk)

Desired learner outcomes:• For pupils to think about the issues behind each world gift• For pupils to have more of a holistic understanding to development

Time allocation: 15-25 mins

Slide 3 – How it works

This is how World Gifts work – you choose a gift from the catalogue (show a copy of the catalogue), which may be a gift of water, or a gift of pigs, or any of the other World Gifts available this year. You can then order your gift, and you will receive a beautifully illustrated card of your chosen gift, together with a presentation gift envelope. You then give the card by hand or post to a friend. And your gift will help to transform the lives of individuals, families and communities around the world who will be helped by your kind gift.

Slide 4 – Chickens!Here is the first World Gift. A chicken! Have any of you ever had a chicken for a present before? Well the gift of a chicken can really help a family living in one of the world’s poorest countries. Can anyone guess how? What do chicken produce? That’s right, eggs. The gift of a chicken can help by laying eggs to eat and to sell.

Slide 5 - HensDid you know that one hen can lay 300 eggs a year? That’s a lot of eggs. Now multiply that by several chickens and a family can have enough eggs to eat as part of a healthy diet – eggs are full of good vitamins and minerals – and have enough left over to sell. And the money that comes from selling these eggs can be used by a poor family to buy medicines, food, or to send their children to school. Just think all that from a gift of chickens!

Slide 6 - ErikaThis is Erika who is 11 years old and lives in Honduras, a country in Central America. Her family raise chickens, and these chickens provide the eggs to eat and to sell. They also help to keep her family healthy as well as helping to raise some money.

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Slide 7 – Erika’s dayWe asked Erika about her day, and how she looks after the chickens. This is what she told us: “At 6am I sweep the house. I wash my hands and eat. My mum has prepared the food – tortillas, beans and eggs from the chickens. I go to school after breakfast. School starts at 8am. I come home after school at 1pm and go and collect the eggs we eat for lunch. We have them with beans, rice, sweet corn on the cob and spaghetti. I like beans. I wash the plates every day. Then sweep the house again. I feed the animals three times a day I feed them maize and scraps from the kitchen. Then I do my homework.”

Slide 8 – A school starter packPens, pencils, books, a uniform. At first, these items in the school starter pack might seem quite ordinary. But in developing countries – where many families can’t afford to send their children to school – they’re life-changing. Even when there are no school fees to pay, families are still expected to buy their children’s uniforms and books – sometimes they even have to pay for soap and toilet roll too! In fact, children are often turned away from class if they don’t have these basic items. So the school starter pack really is far from ordinary – for a child who really wants an education, it’s magical.

Slide 9 - ButterflyButterfly is ten years old and lives in Cambodia – a country in south east Asia. In Cambodia all children have to pay to go to school, so not everyone can afford to go. Thanks to Butterfly’s school starter pack, he is now getting an education. His school day starts at 6am in the morning and ends at 11am. In Cambodia it is very hot in the afternoon, so it is good to go to school early in the morning, when it is cooler.

Slide 10 – Butterfly at schoolHere’s what Butterfly has to say about his school day: “I like learning at school. I am in grade 4 and my favourite subjects are Khmer [pronounced Kah-meer] language and art.”

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Slide 11 – Butterfly meditating“Every day we have to do exercises before school. We meditate when we are at school and ask Buddha to bring happiness and peace to our families.”

Slide 12 – Water supply for a communityImagine that you, and all the people living in your community, had to walk many miles every day to fetch fresh clean water to cook and clean with. Well, before the World Gift of two water pumps were installed in Odetta’s village in Zambia, getting water during the dry season meant that she had to walk 15km, and then had to dig for hours to fill just a few buckets. Let’s go and meet Odetta.

Slide 13 - OdettaThis is Odetta, the two pumps in her village pump water collected in the rainy season to the school and over 300 households, making sure the community has water throughout the year.

Slide 14 – Long treks for water a thing of the pastLong treks to collect water are now a thing of the past. Instead, Odetta and her sister Chipo here spend their time looking after the vegetables so that they can sell them at market.

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Slide 15 – Odetta’s lifeOdetta’s life has been transformed with the gift of water. The gift of clean water can keep a whole community safe and happy

Slide 16 – A vegetable gardenMany people across the world have very little money so they struggle to buy food for their families. Teaching them how to grow vegetables, and giving them seeds and tools, is often the best way to help them. Each year, they can plant their own seeds and watch them grow into strong and healthy plants. Now here’s the best bit! The vegetables will help the family to stay healthy.

Slide 17 – Climate change

You might know that the effects of climate change are causing problems for many farming families. Floods and droughts mean that the crops get damaged or won’t grow. We can teach people about special plants and farming methods that will keep their crops safe.

Slide 18 - EddieEddie is 14 years old and lives in Mozambique – a country in Africa. He is an orphan which means that his mum and dad have sadly died. He lives in an orphanage with his brothers and sisters, and lots of friends. The orphanage is run by a group of nuns who pay for the children to go to school. The nuns and children have planted vegetables and trees in their garden. Eddie enjoys watering the plants. This is very important because Mozambique is a very hot country. The crops are very green and healthy and the children feel very lucky because they get three meals a day – many people in Mozambique don’t have enough food to eat.

Here’s what Eddie has to say about the vegetable garden:“The best thing about living here is all the good vegetables we get to eat. I didn’t eat many vegetables before because we couldn’t grow any and they are too expensive to buy.”

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Slide 19 – Build a virtual villageSo now you can see all of the different World gifts that can make a huge difference to communities, from a community water supply, to a chicken! People who buy and fundraise for world gifts can give such a special present to people like Erica, Eddie, Ruth, Butterfly and Odetta.Do you think you could build your own Virtual Village? Why not make a display, and decide in classes what gifts you think would be important and life changing.

[Suggested text if appropriate: Why not try fundraising for gifts here at school? You could create a virtual village and choose the gifts - maybe a few chickens, a vegetable garden and a water supply? Create a display of your village in your parish or school hall yourselves, or by using our resources. Celebrate your fundraising by sending us stories and pictures for the website!Here are some ideas on how to create your display!You could use recycled paper, old newspaper or other materials to make sure your village is environmentally friendly. How about stringing the cut out gifts around your parish hall or classroom, or across you display board and display them somewhere central! Create a mural with coloured paper, crepe paper, material, or rolls of wallpaper to form your village. You could use poster paint or fabric paints or pens, then write on or around them when they’re dry. ]

Slide 20 - PrayerLet us say a prayer to think about all of the people who have been helped by a world gift, and for those who are in need.

Loving God, you gave the world for us all to live on,a world of wonder, beauty and plentywhere no one should go hungry.We pray today for the people who work hard in the fields and for those who look after animals.May the seeds that we givegrow and ripen under their care.Lord, teach us to look after the earth and to take care of our sisters and brothers around the world.Amen

[There are 5 primary school prayers in PowerPoint format available from cafod.org.uk/groupgifts]

Slide 25

Thank you!

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