At the end of last year, 69 students in P.J. Williams’ fifth grade classes at Southside Upper Elementary studied the characteristics of mythological and real-life heroes.
Last week, they put that knowledge to good use when they participated in the Sole Hope project.
“We strive in our teaching to focus on core skills and the value of being a good human being,” Williams said. “After the unit, the students wanted to do something and put the things they learned in action.”
During her research, Williams discovered Sole Hope, an organization that ships material to make children’s shoes to Uganda, a country in Africa.
Sole Hope members train the local village people as tailors to create the shoes from the parts sent, Williams said.
The shoes are made from old jeans, fifth grader Roman M. said.
“We cut them into shapes and sizes to make shoes for kids in Africa,” he said. “Without shoes, they catch diseases from their feet and can’t walk anywhere.”
The diseases are caused by tiny bugs known as jiggers, Williams said. The children mostly walk around barefoot so they suffer from numerous open wounds.
“Jiggers lay their eggs in the cuts and they fester,” Williams said. “We watched a video where it showed that the kids can actually get paralyzed. It’s a big problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sole Hope also provides medical assistance to those already afflicted with jiggers.
In total, the students collected about 40 pairs of jeans that either didn’t fit or were worn out from use, Williams said.
“We cut out patterns for soles and tongues,” Williams’s student Alexis F. said. “When they are sent to Africa, the adults who don’t have jobs sew them together. It’s helps the community with money. There are many kids walking around animals and these shoes will protect their feet.”
Tanner P. said he felt like a hero because he helped other people by participating in this project, just like the hero he read about, Martin Luther King Jr.
“Our class motto is ‘Work hard, be kind and change the world,’ and that’s what we wanted to do,” Tanner P. said.
This was the first service project Rylie M. completed and said it made her feel good to help people less fortunate than herself. “If you didn’t have what you have, you would want help,” she said. “The children are probably not happy without shoes and these shoes will make them happy. Mrs. Williams did a really nice thing, because we are only 10 and 11, so helping people at a younger age will make us help people when they get older.”
Jordan G. echoed his classmate’s sentiments about his teacher’s heroic efforts. A hero, he said, is someone who helps others and doesn’t think of themselves more than others.
Kyla S. said now, she wants to help people everywhere.
“What if America was Africa and no one cared?” Roman M. said. “You would hope people would care and want to cure diseases. You have to be selfless instead of selfish and care about others.”
Williams said this project proves to her students that they can be heroes.
“Even here in Picayune as fifth graders, they have the opportunity to be heroes and change the world from right where they are,” Williams said.