Monday, October 28, 2013
Making Soap that Lasts for Life
Don and Jen Knebel
On a trip to Christel House in Mexico City, we visited the ninth grade chemistry class. It was unlike any chemistry class that we had ever experienced. We first noticed that each student was wearing a starched white lab coat over his or her uniform. The student's name was stitched in black over the pocket, giving the students a remarkably professional appearance. Just learning how to dress the part of a scientist is an important lesson for students who likely have never before seen anyone dressed that way.
But we saw something else in the lab that made a lasting impression on us. These students were not mixing chemicals that create smelly gases or the scent of strawberries. Working in small groups, each with different a task, they were making soap. Some were carefully measuring and mixing chemicals to get just the right consistency and color in the end product. Others were pouring the resulting mixture into molds incorporating various symbols and logos. Still others were placing the soap in boxes. All were caring out their tasks with care and enthusiasm. At the end of our visit, the students proudly gave us a bar of the soap they had made.
Making school relevant to the lives of students is a challenge faced by educators everywhere. Christel House has met this challenge in Mexico City and its schools in India, South Africa and Indianapolis. Not all the students we saw will ultimately become chemists. Maybe none of them will. But they will all need to know how to how to follow written directions, to measure carefully, to work together in teams and to take pride in their work. The students in the class we visited were not just studying chemistry. They were being prepared for life. That is what Christel House does. That is why we support Christel House.
Labels: chemistry, Christel House Mexico, Don Knebel, Jen Knebel, Mexico, Mexico City, science, science lab
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Facts of Life in South Africa
Don and Jen Knebel
On a trip to Christel House South Africa, we were taken
aback by a particularly frank note posted on the bulletin board in the nurse's
office that would raise an eyebrow if not a protest if posted in an American
school. The note gave advice to students
about how best to deal with the urges that come upon pubescent teenagers all
over the world. When we asked the nurse
about the note and the picture that accompanied it, she said that it was an
effort to deal with the number one obstacle to getting students to complete
high school in South Africa. By the time
they are 18, about a third of all South African girls have given birth at least
once and most of the young mothers leave school for good.
Christel House
South Africa has attacked this problem with candor and compassion, recognizing
that Christel House children face enormous challenges, ranging from neglect to
sexual and substance abuse. As the note
on the bulletin board shows, Christel House does not ignore the potential
impulses of its students, any more than it ignores their need for food and a
quiet place to study. Instead, it
encourages students to make good choices in all aspects of their lives, with
extraordinary results. In the last 12
years, only 13 Christel House South African high school students, drawn from
the poor townships around Cape Town, have become pregnant and only one has
dropped out of school. In a country
where less than half of all students manage to finish high school, the graduation
rate for Christel House students is an astounding 99 percent.
Christel
House succeeds where other schools do not because it recognizes that schools
must administer to more than the brains of its students. It must deal with their hungry stomachs,
their sore feet, their tired eyes, and, yes, their awakening sexuality. That is one of the many reasons we support
Christel House.
Labels: Christel House, Christel House South Africa, Don Knebel, Jen Knebel, pregnancy, students
Monday, July 15, 2013
Skirting the Issue
Don and Jen Knebel
On a visit to Christel House in Bangalore, India, we watched
as some students played a three-on-three basketball game on a court yard just outside
the school building. The equipment and
the game looked just like they would in the United States. But the players were not wearing traditional
basketball outfits. Instead, they were
wearing the jumpers and blouses that constitute the Christel House India
uniform. The reason these students were
not wearing athletic shorts and shirts is part of the Christel House story.
For people
living in some parts of the world, it is immodest or even immoral for women to
expose their legs or shoulders in the presence of men other than their husbands
or brothers. There is no exception for basketball
games. As a result, if students in India
were required to don traditional uniforms in order to play basketball, at least
some students would not be able to play.
And if they couldn't play, they would not learn the valuable lessons of
team work and discipline that playing basketball or any other team sports can provide. So Christel House students in India play
basketball with all the vigor of their counterparts in the U.S., but with the
modesty their culture requires.
The leaders
of Christel House International understand that its schools in India, Mexico
and South Africa include students whose cultural values can be different from
those of students in the United States. So
local administrators, attuned to the morals and values of their communities,
make sure that Christel House schools stay true to their educational missions
while respecting the unique cultures in which they operate. The results speak for themselves. That is why we are proud to support Christel
House.
Labels: basketball, Christel House, Christel House India, cultural sensitivity, Don Knebel, Jen Knebel, students
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
A Mother's Joy
Don and Jen Knebel
A trip to a Christel House school outside the United States
usually includes an opportunity to visit the homes of students. So, when we visited the Christel House in
Mexico City we went to the home of a student located about 45 minutes from the
school. The home for the student and her
mother was a single room about the size of an American walk in closet, with a
light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
Light (and who knows what else) came into the room from large cracks between
the walls and the roof. Clothes, dishes
and the other necessities of life were neatly stacked around the room.
Later in
the day, the Christel House students put on a program celebrating the 10th
anniversary of the school in Mexico City.
Among the participants was the young girl from the tiny home we had
visited. Unbeknownst to us at the time,
her mother was also in the audience as she sang and danced and just stood
quietly in line with the other children in her neatly pressed uniform. At the end of the program, the mother whom we
had met in the morning came forward to say thank you to Christel and the school’s
principal. The thank you was expressed most
sincerely by the tears of joy and pride that came after seeing what Christel
House was doing for her child.
Christel
House brings into its programs children who live on the very bottom rungs of
their societies – children who live in a single room with a single light bulb
and a mother struggling just to survive.
What comes out of those programs is a young person able to break away
from that struggle and to help others to do the same. That is why we support Christel House.
Labels: child development, child nutrition, child poverty, Christel DeHaan, Christel House, Christel House Mexico, Don Knebel, Jen Knebel, mother, poverty, student
