Bromley Junior School Do Enterprise 4 Change!

"Please can you give this money to the children that work on the dumping grounds?" a wide eyed year 4 pupil asked putting £1.40 determinedly into my hand. She had spent the morning carrying out our popular Slum Lesson from our (newly branded) Enterprise 4 Change education project, and like all other children that partake in the experience, she had developed the empathy and desire to give back.

The children went on a journey around Mumbai's biggest dumping grounds by watching footage taken of their peers that live in the informal settlements, in and around rubbish tips. They learnt how little money and food the children that live there have to survive on, but they also learnt just how resourceful and enterprising these children can be! They learnt how to make products out of the rubbish they had brought in and they had untold amounts of fun thinking and working creatively as part of a team.

At the end of the session, the girls presented the things that they had made from the recyclables and then voted on whether what they had made was good enough to be sold to buy lunch that day - just as is the case for millions of children living in poverty.

Throughout the project the Bromley Junior students were exposed to what life is really like for children that live in poverty in Mumbai. They learnt quickly just how lucky they were to be able to go to school everyday and have enough food to eat and enough money to buy the things that they need; it prompted them to ask over and over again how they could give back to their peers in India - hurrah the next generation of philanthropists is born!

They also learnt from their friends and were able to demonstrate their newfound entrepreneurial skills!

Check out the rucksack made out of rubbish below!