Hope Kits for Lao Children

I’d almost lost faith in the value of material aid. Despite having spent the better part of last summer encouraging Canadian kids to collect school supplies for MCC to send overseas as part of the peace program I led at summer camp, I had become rather cynical about the whole idea. Does collecting these items simple appease the guilt of North Americans while shortchanging those in need? Is it really worth the financial and environmental cost to ship school kits, AIDS kits, health kits and all the rest, as MCC has been doing for decades? It’s certainly much cheaper to buy such things in country.

Then, yesterday, I met two little girls who gave me a new perspective. We got to talking and when they found out I was Canadian they simply shrieked with joy. “Canada!” they squealed, “Some kids from Canada gave us pencils and notebooks so that we could go to school this year. They put them in beautiful little bags. The kids from Canada sewed those bags themselves. We know that in Canada they love Lao people.” And with that those two little school girls wiped the cynical smirk right off my face. Who can put a price tag on hope and interconnection?