kewlife 107 for print

FRENCH DONATION TO HELP THE WORLD
If you had to leave home tonight in a hurry because your life was in danger which three things, would you take with you? After many innovative
suggestions from the children, our special guest speaker, Josh Rosenthal from Doctors without borders or Les Médecins Sans Frontières, told
the children that it boiled down to these essentials; - water, shelter and healthcare. Josh explained that the mission of Les Médecins Sans
Frontières was to provide humanitarian help and healthcare to all people. They pride themselves in being independent, impartial and neutral.
Many of the children couldn’t comprehend how he could go into conflict zones unarmed. Josh explained that the only protection they had
was their MSF armband and although it was
dangerous, rarely did people target any of the
humanitarian workers. The children were so impressed
by the way Les Médecins Sans Frontières do not take
sides in wars. Josh showed pictures of a village in
South Sudan where there were fighting factions. Here
they had set up field hospitals and treated sick people
who would otherwise have had no healthcare. He
played voice recordings of women singing in a
maternity ward and conversations between the people
and the helpers. The children thought that working for
the charity looked ‘cool’ and challenging and they
liked the idea of travelling around the globe on
exciting missions helping people. If they intend to do
that in the future, they will need two languages – the
vital ones being English and French. Josh handed
around some beautiful, beaded jewellery that he was
given by some of the tribesmen as tokens of their
appreciation. As a token of our appreciation, using
money from the French Fayre, we gave a generous
donation to this worthy humanitarian charity with the
French name. Madame Thorpe-Woods
HOME IS WHERE THE FUN IS
It is easy to forget how lucky we are to have one of the world’s most well-known rivers right on our doorstep. As we discovered on our
incredibly exciting Thames Explorers trip, the Thames is not only full of history, mystery, and a place of boundless adventure, it is very much a
part of what makes us Londoners! We learned about (the amazingly named) Joseph Bazalgette (pronounced Baziljet!) and his transformative
sewerage system and how city planners need to balance environmental factors with the needs of London’s citizens. We also measured the
speed of the river and learned about tides and water pollution. As soon as low tide was upon us, we eagerly squelched out onto the riverbed
to discover leeches, crabs, fish and even a few historical artefacts! Socks did not stay clean and dry for long! What a joy to be 8 years old,
stomping around in muddy water and discovering all sorts of creep-crawlies while the warn sun shone down from a cloudless sky! “This is the
best day of my life” – Orlando 3G. “Can we come down here every day?” – Myla 3K. “What’s the point of wearing wellies when you go stand in
waist deep in water!” – Mr Searle and Miss Powell