For our first charity events of the year i helped plan and initiate primary school movie might. We projected Kung Fu Panda 2 on a huge screen using the auditorium projector. The fund raiser was in aid of a charity project supported by the larger habitat organization. They are raising money to buy young students shoes - as in a lot of schools located in the more rural areas of Sri Lanka, particularly those affected by the tsunami - they don't have any. As an interesting twist to the standard fund raiser we told the primary children to bring an old pair of shoes as an entrance ticket.
The day before everyone in the service helped set up and we worked collaboratively dividing up all the jobs. I helped carry high jump mats from the auditorium and set up the auditorium in advance while others went out and bought drinks and popcorn for the night. The next day while the children gathered in the canteen we divided the tables into sections then had half the service waiting tables in one section while the other half poured juice and prepared bags of popcorn to go out.
Working with so many children at one time was unexpectedly challenging, a new challenge I hadn't attempted before. They were incredibly hyper! We were lucky the primary school teachers offered to stay afterwards and help us keep control of the situation. Watching them though i picked up on the methods they used: a distinctive double clap to attract all the children's attention, single file lines to keep them from wandering off, and having the group repeat instructions to make sure everyone heard and understood. They helped me develop new skills working with large group of really young children and by the end of the day i felt much more confident and able to deal with similar situations.
The movie night was a huge success in reference to our original goals, we collected 2 huge sacks full of shoes and a few weeks later drove to the main Lanka Habitat office to deliver them for distribution to the local school children. Many children in rural areas don't have access to basic goods such as a healthy varied diet, school supplies, and shoes. Working to help these areas of extreme poverty is an issue of global importance
