Carnival of caring

Children are taught from an early age to show concern for others less fortunate, develop empathy, and be thankful if they’re in a more fortunate situation.
Those lessons were taken to heart recently by the third, fourth and fifth grade students at Waterfront Montessori, a private school located on Warren Street in downtown Jersey City founded in 2003 by a group of Jersey City mothers. The school holds classes for children from toddlers to fifth graders.

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“I am incredibly proud of these kids.” – Karen Westman
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The students organized a carnival in a nearby playground and raised $1,800 from parents and fellow students who attended the carnival. The money went toward purchasing school supplies for schoolchildren in the African county of Malawi.
But in the process of running the carnival, they learned valuable lessons on how to improvise.
Ella Walmsley, 7, a third-grader, was a “welcomer” at the carnival. She brought her entire piggy bank to school.
“It wasn’t like an actual carnival; we had to get things from home,” Walmsley said.
And also some important life lessons as well. The other “welcomer” was 8-year-old Esheka Varshney.
“We did it for a good charity for the kids in Malawi,” Varshney said. “They don’t have as many things as we do.”

Learning to make a difference

The head of the school, Karen Westman, said the kids were inspired to put on their carnival after representatives from Goods for Good, a New York non-profit specializing in organizing surplus goods and money to send to African children, came to the school on Sept. 11 and made a presentation as part of President Barack Obama’s call for community service on that day.

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She brought her entire piggy bank to school.
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“I knew they wanted to do something, but coming up with the idea of carnival, then staying after hours and putting it together, I don’t know I could have done that at their age,” Westman said. “I am incredibly proud of these kids.”
What also inspired the kids was seeing pictures of the Malawi children and communicating with them as pen pals. Third grader Callen Hope was surprised by what she saw.
“I saw when they had their school, the kids were sitting on the ground, and they used a stick to write, and sometimes they would have no schoolteacher,” she said.
When asked what they would do if they found themselves in a situation like the Malawi children, they said they would like to teach themselves, but otherwise they felt grateful for having a roof over their school and supplies to write and create wonderful things with, such as the posters they made for the carnival.
The school is still collecting money for the children of Malawi and has plans to hold a bake sale in the future. For more information call (201) 333-5600.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.