St Dominic’s program connect students in Perth and Myanmar
St Dominic’s Innaloo Year 3 teacher Liz Lofthouse (centre left) with Year 4 Support and Music teacher Mags James (right), with students from Metta Geha Orphanage, Myanmar. PHOTO: Supplied
Students at St Dominic’s Primary School, Innaloo have this year had the opportunity to connect with students living in the Metta Geha Orphanage in Myanmar through a pen pal and gift-giving project.
The school introduced the project early in the year, which involved Year 3 and 4 students writing personal letters to send with gifts of stationery items to individual students at Metta Geha Orphanage, which is located in the small town of Kanpetlet.
The school also held a ‘rice day’ fundraiser, and used the money generated to purchase educational toys and sporting equipment for the orphanage, run by local resident Tui Tui and her husband, Stephen.
The centre is home to some 40 children between the ages of one and 18, who have been affected by poverty.
St Dominic’s teachers, Liz Lofthouse and Mags James, delivered the letters and gifts during a three-day visit to Metta Geha during the April school holidays, after journeying to the mountainous area in Myanmar’s western Chin State.
The children at the orphanage were delighted with the letters and gifts, and spent hours playing soccer, Connect Four and building with Lego during the teachers’ visit.
The two St Dominic’s teachers were welcomed warmly during their stay, and left the Metta Geha Orphanage enriched by the experience and with a greater understanding of humility and gratitude, which they have returned to share with their students.