Big Blue Marble Academy Students Raise Funds for Mothers in Africa

Students at Big Blue Marble Academy (BBMA) in Lawrenceville collected change to provide pre-and postnatal care for three mothers and their babies at Rotifunk Hospital in Sierra Leone, Africa, as part of its “Change for Change” project. This initiative is part of BBMA’s community heart projects that aim to teach important service learning skills and illustrate the impact the efforts young children can have on their world. In total, the school raised more than $200, which directly benefits the new families.

Throughout March and April, the students not only collected change to benefit Mission of Hope’s Madonna project at the hospital, but they also learned that mothers need healthy food, clean water, and doctors so that they can have healthy babies. The children play an active role in this effort, making posters to inform the community of the need, asking for change to help the mothers and babies, and brainstorming locations to display their posters to help generate awareness and attract donations.

As the change is collected, the children are also responsible for counting and rolling it into coin containers, as well as creating cards for the new mothers visiting Rotifunk Hospital. While the young children are counting change, they tally their efforts in terms of how many “mommies” their change is able to support versus the total dollar amount raised -- to further drive home the impact.

“At Big Blue Marble Academy, our global curriculum does more than introduce children to different countries, languages and cultures, it also demonstrates the role they can play as good citizens in their community and the world,” commented Donna Whittaker, Vice President of Curriculum and Education at Big Blue Marble Academy. “The Change for Change heart project aims to do just that. This is more than a charitable donation, our students are learning how their efforts have a direct impact on mothers and children in Africa, and they play a vital role in every aspect of this effort to help deepen their understanding, while also integrating important math, writing and social-emotional skills.”

This charitable endeavor also ties seamlessly into the school’s curriculum, which centers around a new country each month. The month of April focused on Kenya, where each week students have lessons centered around African-centric languages, animals, and literature.