GREENSBORO — Dozens of school children in Africa now have uniforms thanks to some St. Pius X School parents who saved used student uniforms from the shredder.
St. Pius X parent Katherine Martin offered to find children who could use the clothing and parent Monica Schwartzel volunteered to help her pack them up.
“We had heard the old school uniforms were going to be shredded or thrown away, so I said I would spearhead trying to find a place overseas that could take them,” Martin explained. “I finally discovered that another friend and neighbor who attends another local church was going on a mission trip to Africa. She, and a few others traveling with her, would be able to take some uniforms with them.”
Her friend Cathey Miller, a member of Guilford College United Methodist Church, volunteered to take the uniforms to a new school and a center built to aid orphans in Maua, Kenya: the Clark ECD Pre-School (ages 3-grade 5) and the Watoto wa Ahadi (Children of Promise) Rescue Center.
Martin bought four large duffel bags and she, her three sons, and Schwartzel and her three daughters packed the bags for the mission trip that took place June 26-July 8.
“We were only allowed to send four big duffle bags the first time, but we have more uniforms to send when they go again, and we’re able to send them with these missionaries,” Martin said.
At the Clark ECD Pre-School, the uniforms were given to the orphaned children cared for by “grandmothers” in the community. The rescue center which also received uniforms helps homeless children who are addicted to drugs and provides them with education, life skills and food.
“The goal is to reunite the street children with family (theirs or a foster family) so they will no longer need an institution to take care of them and they can be part of a loving family,” Miller said.
“In order to go to school in Kenya, a child must have a uniform,” Miller explained. “Most of these children only have one uniform, and it is also the only set of clothing the child owns.”
She relayed that the children “were so happy to get the new uniforms. They were wearing the fleece pullovers the minute they were distributed. They were overcome with joy at the gift provided by St. Pius. This was in God’s plan. The colors of the St. Pius uniforms are an exact match to the uniforms being worn at the school.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter