Interactive Educational Materials — Cross-generational Activities
Can your household live on $1 today?
Around the world, 1.2 billion of our neighbors live on less than $1 per day. Some of us can barely imagine what it would be like to have so little to spend — and we probably have very little idea of how much we spend each day on the comforts we take for granted.
Try these activities as a household —
• Add up a month’s worth of utility bills and calculate the cost of running your home each day.
• Add up your food bills for one month, and calculate the average cost of food per day.
• Add the cost of school fees, books and activities for each child. How would you pay for school if your family made less than $400 per year?
• Go one day without using electricity — no television, no lights, no stove or micro-wave, no hairdryer, no computer! You might even try taking a cold bath or shower. Imagine what your life would be like if you could not afford electricity. Remember: your water may be supplied by an electric pump. In many parts of the world, water must be carried from a well some distance away, as homes do not have running water.
• Try to prepare a meal by spending no more than $1.
Rice and Beans
A staple in many families’ diets, meals of rice and beans are very simple and inexpensive. If a family has a small garden or farm, vegetables can be added to the meal to enhance flavor and nutrition. Soak dried beans overnight in plenty of water, then drain (although you can use canned beans, dried beans are less expensive). If available, sauté thinly-sliced onion and garlic in a pot, then add the drained beans and cover with water. Add salt and pepper, and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn heat down and allow to simmer for an hour or until beans are soft. Serve over a bed of rice.
Vegetable Scrap Soup
When vegetables are available, hungry families avoid throwing away anything that can be used for food. Over several days, save up the vegetable scraps you usually throw away — peelings from potatoes; onions and carrots; tough parts and tops/ends of carrots; broccoli; celery; bell peppers and green beans. Put the scraps in a pot, cover with twice as much water, add salt and pepper, and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn heat down and allow broth to simmer for at least an hour. Scoop out the vegetables and strain the broth. Serve as a clear soup, or add leftover vegetables, rice or noodles.
Host a “solidarity” fundraiser
As a congregation, gather to learn more about Week of Compassion — and to experience glimpses of life in the developing world —
• Prepare a simple “solidarity” dinner (ex: Rice & Beans, Vegetable Scrap soup)
• Encourage children/youth to set up a shoe shine shop or other small money-making venture that reflects the work done by child laborers in many countries. Children or youth may also want to cook and serve the meal (under supervision).
• Invite craftspeople in the congregation to demonstrate skills that people in develop-ing countries can use to earn money (no fancy equipment or electricity allowed!): simple woodwork, sewing, embroidery, knitting, hand-quilting, etc.
• Show a video (see website for resources) and lead a group discussion about an issue addressed, thanks to gifts to Week of Compassion. Another resource: Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, by Ronald J. Sider, W Publishing Group (2005), ISBN:0849945305
Dramatic Interpretation
Good Samaritan story (Luke 10:25–37) — modern
The regions known in Jesus’ time as Samaria and Judea are today part of modern Israel and the West Bank, an area long torn by violence where enemies have, quite literally, become neighbors. But this area is not alone — in Bosnia and Serbia, in Rwanda, in Indonesia, and in many other parts of the world, neighbors have lived as enemies. Even in the United States, people with differing views eye each other with suspicion.
So how might the Good Samaritan story be retold for a 2007 audience?
• Think about the issues that divide people or make them uncomfortable around each other: religion, politics, sexual orientation, homelessness, poverty/wealth . . . Choose one person to be the injured person, and another to be their adversary (and the Good Samaritan).
• Choose other people to be the ones who ignore the injured person. What are the reasons that these people might not want to stop and help someone who is in trouble: not enough time, not enough money to help, safety worries . . . ?
• Put on a skit that re-tells the Good Samaritan story with these new characters, being sure the audience understands why some people ignore the hurt person and why the Good Samaritan stops to help.
• Ask one person to explain how we can continue to be “neighbors” to people in need around the world through the Week of Compassion offering.
Good Neighbor Newscast
• Invite “reporters” to investigate Good Neighbor stories among their friends, family members or other members of the congregation.
• Interview Good Neighbors who have done something kind for someone in need.
• Create a mock newscast of Good Neighbor stories — set up tables like a news set, and videotape the “program” if a camcorder is available.
• Be sure to include an interview of someone encouraging gifts to the Week of Compassion offering.
• Present the newscast at a fellowship event, worship service, or as part of a Sunday School program. Alternatively, the newscast can be produced “live,” with in-person interviews of preselected congregants.
Interactive Educational Materials — Children
Online Resource- Build a Village
The Good Samaritan — story, discussion and activity
Using a modern or child’s version of the Bible, read Luke 10:25 – 37
(The Good Samaritan).
Ask the group to imagine the situation and draw parallels to a modern example —
• What do you think happened to the man who was beaten up? (What had he been doing to earn the money that was stolen from him? Were robbers hiding and waiting for him? How long do you think he was lying in the road?)
• Why did the priest and the Levite avoid the injured man?
Help the children consider the fact that these men couldn’t touch blood — and would lose their jobs if they touched a dead body. How is that similar to our lives today?
• Why do you think the Samaritan stopped to help the man?
Explain that the Samaritans and the Jews of Jesus’ time didn’t get along, and the Jews didn’t respect the Samaritans’ beliefs or their way of life. The fact that a Samaritan would be kind and merciful would have been a surprise to Jesus’ audience.
• What ways did the Samaritan help the man? (ex.: time, energy, resources: gave the man first aid, put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, gave the inn- keeper two days’ wages to cover expenses and promised more money if needed, promised to make another trip to the inn later . . .)
• Can you imagine how the same kind of situation could happen today?
• If we were telling the Good Samaritan story in a modern way, who would be the injured man? Who would be the people who crossed the street and left the man suffering? Who would be the person we didn’t really like or respect that ended up being the true neighbor?
• What does the story of the Good Samaritan say about how Jesus wants us to treat other people — even people we don’t know or like? Who are our neighbors today?
• Explain how Week of Compassion enables us to be Good Samaritans to people around the world who are suffering from hunger, from poverty, from war.
• Ask children to create a picture of themselves helping someone they don’t know. Pictures can be drawn or created as collages of images cut from newspapers and magazines.
• Invite children to offer prayers for people in need and for their own ability to show compassion for people who are sad or suffering.
