Milwaukee Jewish Day School seventh-grader Jason Jesse, 12, was startled to learn “the interesting and very sad” fact that half of the people in the world live on less than $2 a day, “with food and everything.”
Classmate Max Hart, 12, was “surprised and shocked” to learn that many children her age in Tunisia and South Africa, among other countries, are sexually exploited by adults.
Jason and Max are two of the school’s 34 seventh-grade students who are not only learning about developing countries in Africa and Asia. They have also created a charity to help children there and in underprivileged Jewish communities around the world.
“Voice of the Children,” or Kol Hayeladim in Hebrew, began with seventh and eighth-grade social studies teacher Brian King’s attendance last November at a program to inspire teachers.
A speaker at that program, 25-year-old Craig Kielburger, described how at 12, horrified by an account he stumbled on of child slavery in Pakistan, he gathered 11 school friends together and began fighting child labor in developing countries.
They created an organization, “Free The Children,” that today boasts more than 1 million young people involved in programs in 45 countries, according to its Web site.
“When the year started, I didn’t even have this in my head,” King, 34, told The Chronicle in a telephone interview last week. “I was trying to think of ways I could enrich the [new seventh-grade world cultures] curriculum” and Kielburger’s story “got me thinking about why we couldn’t do that.”
Realizing that such a project would allow his students to live the Jewish values of mitzvot (commandments), tikkun olam (healing and repairing the world) and tzedakah (charity), King thought the project through and set an ambitious fundraising goal of $5,000.
Through King’s and his wife Sarah Schott’s expertise as lawyers, Voice of the Children has become a wholly-controlled subsidiary of MJDS. It has its own legal identity and its own board of directors, made up of five adults associated with the school.
King also established plans for multi-faceted learning activities, which have exceeded his expectations in providing opportunities for cross-curricular and technological learning.
In groups of two and three, students researched 12 “awareness” areas that King selected, including poverty, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria, child labor, vaccinations, war, child soldiers, orphans, education, sexual exploitation and unclean water.
Another part of the curriculum is direct meetings with people who have experience in Africa. This year, students have hosted at the school people who have worked in South Africa and Tanzania as well as Malawians studying in Wisconsin.
In addition to the Judaic aspects, students have learned about economics and have tied their fundraising efforts to an English class unit on business letter writing.
They created a Web site (www.voiceofthechildren.net) featuring Power Point presentations on their research results; tools that allow visitors to donate money and buy donated items; and links to other organizations that help children in developing countries.
They have also used technology for such things as setting up an intranet that allows them to collaborate on the same document at the same time, wherever they are, King said.
“I think 100 percent of the children have connected with this project in some way. Some were energetic about bringing in things to sell. Some wanted to think up slogans. One kid suggested a sponsorship page. Another worked with his aunt in creating a logo,” King said.
On March 26, the students reached — and doubled — their $5,000 goal. By raising $5,000, they acquired an additional $5,000 in the form of a matching gift made by the Richard A. Ross family.
Ross’ wife Judee Ross, an MJDS sixth- and seventh-grade English teacher, was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 2005.
Fired up, these students have not stopped raising funds by selling donated used DVDs, video games and home electronics online and by soliciting family and friends. As of press time the total of funds raised had reached $10,044.
Max Hart said she initially “thought that it would be a little hard” for 34 students to raise that much money. “Now that we have reached our goal, we are so ecstatic. We can help so many people! We have to think really wisely what to do with the money.”
King said these students “are still processing how big this has become. It started as ‘let’s raise some money for some kids in Africa’” but it grew to something so much bigger than what they first imagined, King said.
Students will “research charities whose mission matches ours and then present them to one another,” he said. And in late May, subject to board approval, they will vote on recipients. Part of the distribution of funds will go to a poor Jewish community somewhere in the world.
Max said she especially appreciates the opportunity to help children directly.
“Usually we don’t have a big say in what is going on at school and in the Jewish community, but here we have the chance to voice our concerns for all the problems that are going in the world right now and actually help people.”
Jason said, “What I really like about the charity is that we are helping people who are in need — people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from — children in Africa. And when [we] get a donation, [almost] 100 percent of that money is going to help them.”
Parent Andrew Muchin said that his son Zach “has a drive to find electronics to sell — he’s taking it seriously. He’s excited about it.” Muchin is pleased that in addition to supporting Jewish causes and Israel, the students are learning that it’s also important to support the larger worldwide community.
Next year King intends to incorporate more information about Asia into the new curriculum, which was slowed down a little bit this year. “With the exception of the building blocks, the project can rebuild itself [every year],” he noted.
Some of his students have already asked if they can come back and work with next year’s seventh-grade class.
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