“Evelyn,” Mom began, “do you remember the story you heard in Sabbath school about the boys and girls in Africa at the school for the deaf ?”
Evelyn looked at her Mom and nodded her head. “Those are the children who are getting the chickens.”
“Do you remember what those boys and girls get to eat?” Mom asked.
Evelyn tried to remember, then she said, “They eat whatever they can find that is green.”
“Good job listening!” Mom praised her daughter. “But why is that what they eat?”
Evelyn stared at her spoon as she thought about this question. Finally she answered, “They don’t have any other food?”
Mom nodded, “That’s why we are collecting money to send with the academy students when they go on their mission trip in a couple months.” Mom began. “We want the boys and girls from our school to be able to buy chickens to give to the children at the school, so they can start having eggs to eat with their greens.”
Evelyn didn’t say anything as Mom got up to help her little brother with his lunch. She looked back at her own plate of food. Maybe what Mom fixed would not taste as bad as she thought. One taste led to another and soon Evelyn had finished her lunch.
Later that day, Evelyn went with her Mother to the store. After Mom paid for their items, the change clattered out into the little cup as Evelyn held out her hand.
Surprised, Mom asked, “Why do you want the money?”
“It’s chicken money,” Evelyn replied. Mom handed her the coins with a smile.
Each week Evelyn and the other Sabbath school children brought their coins and dollars for the chicken project. Each week they studied the door where a picture of a chicken was taped for each chicken they were able to buy for the boys and girls in Africa. Soon the door was almost full of pictures of chickens.
When the academy students returned from their trip, they told Evelyn and her friends about the children at the school. These children now had over 30 chickens as well as chicken feed.
Other people also had heard about the children’s Sabbath school chicken project. They had added more money to the project, enough to give the children and their teachers four goats and three cows so the children would also have milk every day.
At Sabbath lunch, Evelyn was able to tell her Dad about the chickens. “Well, Evelyn, what do you think about your special chicken project?” Dad asked.
Evelyn thought for a moment. She had enjoyed seeing the pictures of the chickens running around and the new chicken house that had been built. She also thought the goats were funny jumping around outside the school building. The only picture she had seen of the cow was of it staring from the back of a truck. Finally, she answered, “I think the chickens were a good idea.”
Evelyn’s Sabbath school class, along with the other children’s classes in her church, are so excited about being able to improve the lives of some children that each quarter they are finding new projects that will help other girls and boys in different parts of the world.
Chickens were brought into the Sabbath school classroom to help the children make the connection with their fundraising efforts to buy chickens in Kenya. Courtesy Khai Khai Cin
