Gemma’s manna from Kevin (by Gemma Hayes)
Gemma Hayes of Urban Seed writes about her experience of giving her manna from Kevin away.
This is an exerpt from an email from my friend working in Guatemala:
“Hey I really appreciate you giving some of your manna to me. The same day that you told me you were going to give me the money, I was in a counseling session with one of the girls from the young mum´s group. This is one of the poorest families that we work with and her Dad is in jail and her Mum is in and out of work all the time. Thus this girl, who is 14, is often looking for work. We want her to finish school though, so I was trying to think what she could do that could help her to earn some money. I started thinking that I would like to maybe start teaching her and some of the other clients how to make jewelry and then they could sell it to try and get a little bit of an income…I don´t know if it would work as a business project, but even if it was only fun and they just earned a little bit of money that would be good too. So I was thinking that I might also, if I get the go-ahead from my boss, start doing this group and use the money you give to buy the essentials and first part of the kit and beads and everything…
This is Gem writing now.
Ok I confess there are days when I feel a bit resentful for all the things I could have bought if I had have kept my $950. But when I received the above email (as corny as this may sound) all that resentment kind of melted away. Like yeah, I could have bought a really hot new pair of pants or gone for a facial or had a real nice dinner at a fancy restaurant or more subduedly, saved it for my future travel. But even better than that is the thought of helping a young 14 year old girl in Guatamala earn a little bit of cash and stay in school.
