Last week, 5th Grade classes enjoyed hearing the story Beatrice’s Goat, written by Page McBrier. This narrative nonfiction book tells the story of a young Ugandan girl and her family who receive a goat from Heifer International. Beatrice is a 9-year-old girl who longs to go to school, but cannot afford the uniform and fees. When her family is chosen to receive the goat, Beatrice works hard caring for it and selling its milk. She eventually earns the necessary fees and is thrilled when she is able to begin school. The book ends here, but Beatrice’s real-life story continues as we learned from this 60 Minutes clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x_HMGRa0SY).
Beatrice earned a scholarship to attend a prep school in Massachusetts, then went on to Connecticut College. Her goal is to help underprivileged children and ensure that many of them are given the same opportunities she was when she was a child growing up in her poor village.
This week, we will read a similar story called One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference, about a young boy from West Africa whose poor family receives a small loan. Kojo uses this loan to purchase a hen, and he uses the money he makes to go to school, which he has not been able to attend since his father died several years before. Kojo ended up becoming a very successful poultry farmer and provided many jobs in his poor village in Ghana. He also worked to ensure other families were able to receive small loans to better themselves an their families. More information about One Hen can be found at http://www.onehen.org/
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