What I Learned on My Recent Trip to a Tunisian Elementary School

By Lisa Pomerantz (@lisapomerantz)

I just went on a whirlwind tour with a diverse group of third grade students from Northeast Philadelphia to Tunisia! Yes, Tunisia! We didn’t need to pack, find our passports or get vaccinated. But we did need permission slips and to get our ducks in a row very quickly before the close of school. Our method of travel was Skype in the Classroom and the learning obtained for all was goose-pimply wonderful!

Our company, Community Recycling, recently launched a new business model called CR Kids. This recycling program, aimed at the K-5 schools is so much more than a clothing drive…it is an adventure delivered in a PODS container, with pledges to recycle for all and a global map made from recycled clothing. CR Kids has everything an elementary school could possibly need to be more uber-successful in their efforts to recycle clothes, shoes, bags/belts and related materials. The true goal of CR Kids is to collect clothes for reuse and connect diverse cultures to make the world feel a little smaller, a little greener, and a little friendlier. Our Tunisian journey literally closed that ‘clothes loop’ because the collection from these amazing kids and their families made it’s way via container ship to Tunisia for reuse and re-wearing.

A little history: Community Recycling has been in the ‘REUSE’ business since 2001. The majority of US residents simply throw away the things they no longer wear or use.  It’s mind-boggling. In fact, the EPA tells us that we all frivolously toss out about 70 pounds per person per year! Our mission is to connect the dots via education and awareness between the extra clothes and other things we all have, and the people who need it most in an affordable way. Reuse ensures that the clothes, shoes, backpacks, purses, and other things can still keep on keeping on in an efficient and optimal way…A pair of jeans you no longer like, or no longer fit into is still a great pair of jeans for someone else!

Back to our trip to Tunisia…CR Kids is a fully integrated clothing drive that incorporates fun and educational activities to support REUSE, engage, teach and entertain, allowing kids to learn about diverse cultures around the globe where their clothes will go. This environmental service project promotes sustainability, geography, social studies, language, and art and includes a global mapping project that adds depth to the act of collection for reuse. The more collected for reuse, the more funds and rewards schools can earn. Classrooms here in the US can connect with classrooms around the globe, rethinking their impact by literally bringing communities closer via Community Recycling’s collaboration with Skype In the Classroom.

Enter Loesche Elementary School, who filled their PODS container to the brim with beautiful, gently worn and even some brand new things! We all know that kids grow like weeds. The families and staff supported the CR Kids drive in droves! Thousands of pounds were collected in the 30 days that the PODS container served as our portal to this community—the most of any school to date—and it was time to hook up this group of zealous recyclers with an Elementary School in the location the clothes went to—hence the Tunisia travels…I began to worry. Can we do that? Do we speak the same language? What’s the time difference? Do the students there (where?) have any interest in meeting us here in the states? Do the kids here want to know more about kids there? Will we all get along? Will the teachers let us do it? Will the principal okay it? Do we need permission slips? Photo releases?

Yes, yes English is one of many languages students are fluent in, 5 hours ahead, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and YES!

What about connectivity? Turns out, almost every Tunisian has a smart phone and easy access Internet. How about Philly Public Schools? The stars were aligned because our favorite Tunisian customer just happened to stroll in our front door for a visit before leaving for his homeland the next day. When he reached terra firma, he contacted the local schools and we had a time and date. The Tunisian students were just as happy to meet with us as we were to meet with them! The teachers too!

I happily make my way for a dry run one day early, with a shiny new iPad for the kids of Loesche that led the recycling charge. The children were so EXCITED at the chance to talk to kids around the world! They were so excited to have won an iPad for their class! So were the teachers! I felt a little like Santa delivering such a primo gift to the kids. Santa quickly learned why we have trial runs--the school district of Philadelphia firewalls such Skyping activity and we were experiencing a temporary kibosh on our plans. All of the students near and far were as crushed as I was. We called on the teacher in charge of all things IT and we finally made a very grainy and crackly connection to our new best friends. The speech was delayed and we had to resuscitate the connection quite a few times. Our encounter was brief and we all wanted more! We needed a work around and we needed it quickly.

The next day we show up with our own hi-speed Internet connection (Ah, technology). We connect. We talk. We broadcast on a large whiteboard from our laptop. We make magic. The kids here lined up to ask questions with index cards in hand and the kids in Tunisia couldn’t wait to respond.

§  What is school like? How much of the day/week is devoted to learning?

§  How many teachers are at the school? How many grades?

§  What kind of homes do kids live in?

§  Do you have to work?

§  Are there any hi-tech things like smart phones or computers? Internet access?

§  What kinds of pets do you have?

§  How many people live in your household?

§  What’s the climate like?

§  Does religion play a big role in your family? What religion?

§  What kinds of foods are Tunisian?

§  What sports do you play?

§  Does it really look like Star Wars there?

Turns out, kids are kids no matter where you are, and having a Skype in the Classroom is like inviting the students right into our local classroom. It made me as proud as when my kids grandparents or Aunts and Uncles Skype with my own kids. Everyone learned something. I learned that socially connecting is what it’s all about. When we can see the humanity behind our actions, we can further inspire the part of ‘us’ that wants to connect and repeat the behaviors. It’s what CR Kids is all about. It’s what Community Recycling is baking into the DNA of all of our recycling programs.

I can’t wait to go back to Tunisia; and to tour Chile, Dubai, Guatemala, Poland, Spain, Texas, The Carolina’s, Arkansas and Zimbabwe, and everywhere else in between. Thanks Skype in the Classroom. Thanks to all the children who helped me to see that we are indeed on the exact right path.