You will meet our first three students, Brayah Davis, Layla Fleming, and John Grasso, in this special episode. They helped create the Hands of Hope Banner, which was given to Whoopy Matewere, National Coordinator of The Eye of a Child, when she visited RJEC. The students explain what it means to them to be involved in this project and offer messages of hope to the children of Malawi, Africa. Don't miss this special episode of children giving hope and inspiration to other children. You will also learn how this program will grow to include storytelling, music and dance, cooking traditional dishes, instrumental learning, and eventually connecting the children to meet virtually.
Episode Transcript
Welcome to this special editionof Project Rare Core Chronicles.
Today we have some wonderfulchildren here with our special
project, Hands of Hope forMalawi, Africa.
You're gonna meet children whoare giving messages from the
United States to children at theeye of the child from Malawi,
(00:34):
Africa.
We want to empower them bymessages from the children.
Thanks for joining us for thisepisode of Project Red Court.
I'd like to introduce our firstguest on this special episode of
Project Rare Chronicles.
Can you tell us your name?
Yes.
What's your name?
Layla.
Layla, that is a beautiful name.
(00:54):
How old are you, Layla?
Five.
Five years old, wow.
And what school do you go to?
Celebration Army.
That is wonderful.
What do you do when you want tomake someone that feels, say, I
feel happy?
Give them a toy.
so you really like to share.
(01:15):
Sharing is a good thing, that'swonderful.
Yes, sharing is caring.
It is caring.
Now, what I want to know, Layla,is if you were a superhero, who
would you be?
Spider Girl.
Spider Girl.
That is amazing.
And as Spider Girl, what wouldyou do to save people?
(01:37):
Um, get them from a car.
Okay.
So you would be doing good worksas Spider Girl.
Yeah.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Okay.
I got a couple more questions.
What is one of your favoritethings to eat?
Chicken and macaroni.
Chicken and macaroni.
That is awesome.
(01:58):
I love it.
Okay, and what is your favoritecolor?
Um, pink, yellow, blue.
That is wonderful.
You have several favoritecolors.
Layla, how did it feel when youput your hands on that poster
and wrote that message to thechildren in Africa?
I feel excited that I can't stopbeing excited.
(02:24):
That is wonderful.
You felt excited and you'restill excited about it.
I'm sure the children that readyour message are as excited as
you were to write it, so thankyou for that.
How does it make you feel to beable to do something for
children all over the world?
Happy.
It does?
Yeah.
Why does it make you feel happy?
(02:44):
Because I like to take care ofall of them.
You do.
So you're compassionate.
That's called caring and beingkind and compassionate, which is
what this program is all about.
So if there's one message thatyou could say to the children in
Malawi, Africa today, what wouldyou say to make them feel happy?
(03:06):
Thank you all for letting ustake care of your kids.
I love you.
That is beautiful.
Do you know that love is such apowerful thing?
And for you to spread that, thatis wonderful.
Well, I thank you, Layla, forjoining us for this special
episode.
And I'm sure that all thechildren that will be listening
will enjoy your messages ofhope.
(03:28):
Thank you.
You're welcome.
I'd like to introduce to youanother wonderful guest in the
studio today.
Can you share with our audiencewhat your name is?
My name is Brea.
Brea.
What a beautiful name.
And how old are you, Brea?
I'm nine years old.
Nine years old.
Wow.
And what school do you attend?
I go to St.
(03:49):
Jerome Catholic School.
That is wonderful.
You were a part of the Makingthe Hands of Hope project to go
to Malawi.
How did you feel being a part ofthis project?
I felt amazing.
You did?
That is wonderful.
Because it's amazing to offerhope to other children, right?
Yep.
I'm so glad.
What do you do to make someonewho feels sad feel happy?
(04:13):
I comfort them and make sureeverything's okay.
That's wonderful.
What if someone is differentfrom you?
How do you handle that I tellthem that they don't have to
worry about how different theyare from me.
Yes.
And you just appreciate eachother's differences, right?
Mm hmm.
And can you still encouragesomeone, different from you?
(04:35):
Yep.
Absolutely.
We're so happy about that.
If you were a superhero, whowould you be?
I would be Fire Girl.
Fire Girl.
Okay, tell me about Fire Girl.
What does she do?
Fire Girl.
She has fire powers.
She helps people.
(04:59):
I like pink and purple.
I like rice and, um, greens.
Yes, I like cats and dogs.
(05:20):
You do?
Wow, that's really wonderful.
Thank you for all your help inputting this banner together for
the children of Malawi.
Brea, how did it feel, when youcreated that banner we sent to
Africa, where you put yourhandprints on there and you put
a special message to thechildren there, how did that
feel for you?
(05:41):
It made me feel happy that Icould help the Africa kids feel
happy and love themselves evenmore.
That's wonderful, because that'swhat this Project Hand of Hope
is all about, is encouragingkids and making them feel loved
and hearing from other childrentheir age.
Because there are children yourage there in the shelter.
(06:01):
We thank you for doing that.
That was so important.
Also, what does it feel like tobe a part of something like this
where you are helping childrenall over the world?
It makes me feel happy and proudof myself that I'm helping
people inside Africa.
To be your age in the fourthgrade That is so wonderful.
(06:24):
I am sure your principal and allyour teachers at St.
Jerome School are very proud ofyou, as I am, that you are part
of something like this.
Because community service andgiving back to others is what
we're trying to do with thisproject One last question what
message would you give, afterlooking at all the pictures we
showed you about the work we'redoing in Africa?
(06:46):
You see the children, you seethe things that they need.
What message would you like tosay to them today?
I would like to say that I loveyou all and I hope you guys stay
strong.
And I hope you all pray and Iwill always pray for you.
Always and always.
I hope you are, wonderful, doingawesome.
(07:08):
I hope you are, Living your bestlife That is beautiful.
What a wonderful message.
Wonderful.
Thank you so much.
And you have a great day.
We thank you for joining ustoday.
You too.
Next, we have another specialguest and we're so excited to
introduce to you.
Can you tell us your name?
(07:29):
my name is John Grasso.
Very nice, John.
John Grasso has been a volunteerhere at the Center for many
years, working with our ProjectRare Cord outreach, we're
excited to have him as a part ofthis Hands of Hope project, Can
you tell us your age and whatschool you attend?
John.
I am 14 and I attend GarfieldMiddle School.
(07:52):
Wonderful.
being a part of the Project RedCourt Street Outreach, what are
some of the main things you havelearned about serving others?
How privileged we are comparedto others.
One time when I was doingoutreach, I saw some people get
really excited over stuff that Iuse every day.
(08:12):
You Like, deodorants and allthat, and I got, like, really
excited, and, like, new clothes.
So, it gives you, like, a newperspective of other people in
the world, Yes.
That's a really good point forpeople to understand, sometimes
if we have things, and we feelprivilege, or we take it for
granted, when someone, doesn'teven have those basic care
needs, how would you, encouragesomeone who may be feeling down,
(08:35):
and, just try to get theminvolved, help them out, don't
make them feel worse aboutthemselves.
You want to build them back up,not kick them while they're
down.
And then they can start helpingother people too, along with
themselves.
Right, that's wonderful.
We know the importance of thispodcast is to show that young
(08:57):
people can make a difference toother young people.
So thank you.
What message would you give tothe children in Malawi?
A message of encouragement.
Always try your best.
Think of the positive.
Help each other grow.
Don't push each other down.
You need to work together asmuch as possible.
And be the best version ofyourself.
(09:18):
That's wonderful.
Being the best version ofyourself is excellent.
Well, John, thank you forjoining us for this special
episode of Project RedcordChronicles.
We appreciate you.
We are so honored to haveWhoopi, our guest from Malawi,
from the Eye of the Child.
She's the national coordinatorthere, we're so excited to have
(09:39):
her here today she received thebanner from the children they
made to take back to Malawi toshare the messages the kids had
in the USA to the children inMalawi.
I just wanted to find out, howdid that make you feel?
You didn't know we were gonna dothis.
Oh my God, this is so amazing.
I didn't expect it.
And, it's so amazing in a waythat, I didn't expect that
(10:03):
children from America can alsotake their time to think of, of
other vulnerable children inMalawi, so this is really,
really great and I can't wait totake this partner to Malawi and
show the children of Malawi.
That is wonderful.
It's really, really amazing.
We intend to do more things, wewant to get to the point that we
are able to communicate and setup something where the kids
(10:24):
there can talk to the kids here.
We're gonna figure that out, andmake it happen, we were so
excited, we just want ouraudience to know this is.
A new project, we were happy tokick it off while you were here
for your mentorship and trainingas part of the global
initiative.
We thank you for the work thatyou do with the children and all
(10:44):
of the good work that's beingdone there by the eye of the
child.
Thank you for joining us forthis episode of Project Rare
Core Chronicles.
Thank you so much Renee.
We are thrilled to bring youadditional podcasts about the
hands of whole project.
As this program grows, it willincorporate the following
cultural exchange programs likestorytelling, music and dance,
(11:08):
preparing traditional dishes,instrumental learning,
journaling, all done by childrensharing with children in Malawi,
Africa.
Thank you for joining us forthis edition of Project Rare
Core Chronicles.
We want you to remember ourtagline, no human trafficking
and care.
Thank you.
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