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Lily Matthews took "Nobody" home with her for the weekend and helped
do chores for her family. Through her hard work, she receives $5/week
which she is putting toward buying a goat and a mango tree for a family
in Africa.
Because of her good deeds, "Nobody" is now sporting a picture of a goat
and a chart of Lily's chores on its chest.
It's all part of the "Who is Nobody?" program at Kincardine
Township-Tiverton Public School. Seven classes, from Senior Kindergarten
to Grade 6, including the support class, have welcomed an unadorned,
faceless denim doll into their classrooms. Each student will take home
"Nobody" and complete some good works, pin a representative article on
"Nobody" and then write a report about what she did.
Lily, a student in Katherine McFadden's Grade 1 class, said she liked
taking "Nobody" home but she had to keep the doll in a bag, otherwise
her cat would have scratched it all up.
McFadden's students are also collecting eyeglasses as a class project.
The eyeglasses will be sent to Third World countries to help people who
can't afford glasses. So far, the class as gathered up about 100 pairs
of glasses.
This is the first time a local school has taken on the program, said
McFadden, adding that another school in the northern end of Bluewater
District has tried it which is how she learned of the idea.
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"It's a tangible way of using our character traits and actions," she
said. "You have to help another living thing, be it people, animals or
the earth, and it has to be a reflection of your own personal interests
and activities. With Lily, she helps her family by doing chores, and she
is making a global connection by purchasing a goat and a mango tree for
someone in Africa."
The program began in early November once the kits arrived, said
McFadden. Thanks to the Kincardine Rotary Club which purchased two kits,
the Bluewater District School Board which bought three kits, Meridian
Credit Union which bought a kit, and KTTPS and its School Community
Council which bought a kit, there were enough for all seven classes to
be involved.
Each kit contains the "Nobody" doll, teacher's guide, student guides,
charts, DVDs and music. "We had a week of introduction, and now each
class is under way," said McFadden. Her class project will run for just
two weeks, while other class projects will run the whole year. Melinda
Smegal's class is reading 100 books and then Scholastic Canada will
donate 100 books to children in need.
When each student returns on Monday after taking "Nobody" home for the
weekend, he has to write a report about what he did, present it to the
class and then draw a picture to put into the book that follows the
transformation of "Nobody" to "Somebody."
"The program helps children understand that through acts of kindness we
can make people who feel like 'Nobody', feel like 'Somebody'," said
McFadden. "At some point, we all feel like a 'Nobody,' but everybody is
'Somebody'."
For more information about the "Who is Nobody?" program, check the
website at www.whoisnobody.com
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