For the most important people in the world
The annual Soft Toy for Education campaign at IKEA makes a huge difference to children in many parts of the world. Bangladesh is one of many countries where children get a better life due to education provided by Save the Children, and already after a few days in Bangladesh, we have met many many children proving this.
Our Thursday in Cox’s Bazar started with a ride in a baby taxi, as yellow as the sun shining from a blue sky. The streets were free from any other motorized vehicles due to a countrywide strike and we got a picture of what Cox’s Bazar could have been like some decades ago.
On our agenda for today was a visit of a school class who had invited us to a cultural program. The taxi dropped us close by and we walked the last hundred meters. We met curious people along the way and I can tell you that we were as curious about them as they were about us. The school we arrived at consisted of one single room for about 25 children with walls covered by posters with English vocabulary and all other kinds of useful information for children in their first years at school.
The cultural program started and proud and happy kids were singing and dancing for us, they asked us about our home counties and we told them about a country far away called Switzerland, with snow, high mountains and many many cows.
The children in this class visit school three hours per day and when we asked them if they like going to school, there was no doubt about their opinion. The answer was a clear and loud YES. The school we visited is part of a bigger education project called Shikhon run by Save the Children, supporting 5000 schools like this one, all over Bangladesh. With this kind of project, the children have the chance to receive education and a thereby later on, the possibility for a higher education, a higher life standard and a better life.
What we saw today is one of many projects showing how education can be a first and extremely important step to a better future for the most important people in the world – our children.
