A Coincidence? Maybe

While sitting in the office of the American International School of Lusaka Headmaster Chris Muller today I noticed a newspaper on a table. Chris had left the room for a few minutes and my curiosity led me to pick up the newspaper. It was called NewsLinks and is published by an organization called ISS, International School Services. Half way down the right hand column was a story about a great sounding project involving students organizing a school flea market to sell unwanted toys and games. The proceeds from the flea market were used to purchase materials to build a much needed piece of playground equipment for a home for needy children in Romania. The project involved many interdisciplinary skills as students had to organize the event, advertise it, and then manage the sales etc., This is a very brief summary of a wonderful project. The article was written by Kevin Fayarchuk, the third grade teacher at the American International School of Budapest. It was Kevin's class that had participated.

The story made me feel epsecially good because I know Kevin. I met and had dinner with him, his wife, and other educators last March when I was in Budapest. At that time he expressed a great interest in becoming involved in Bridges of Peace and Hope which thrilled me because Joe Giulietti, a teacher at AISB, who had been very active with Bridges projects was moving to the Netherlands. It was great to read about the good work Kevin is doing. I hoped that he would become active in BoPH and share his good ideas and talents with us.

When I opened my email this afternoon there was a message from Kevin Fayarchuk. He said he had been busy but was still really interested in BoPH and would be in touch with me again soon because he wants his class to participate in our Heroes Project. A coincidence? Maybe, but the timing was sublime.

If you'd like to know more about this Flea Market project send me an email. I'll ask Kevin if it's okay for me to give you his email address. Mine is hoperivermusic@yahoo.com The young lady in the photo above was sitting next to me today during the Zambia / UN World Unity Day assembly. More on that next time.