This Friday, April 22 is Earth Day! From the creation of Grain of Rice Project, we have made it essential to cultivate environmental stewardship. In fact, it is one of the 9 Key Principles as members of Fair Trade Federation: "Fair trade seeks to offer current generations the ability to meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Members actively consider the implications of their decisions on the environment and promote the responsible stewardship of resources. Members reduce, reuse, reclaim, recycle, and regenerate materials wherever possible. They encourage environmentally sustainable practices throughout the entire trading chain."
Recycling and reusing has always been important to us. At our original site in Kenya, we worked in the largest slum in East Africa where trash pick-up was extremely limited, so we always made it a priority to try to repurpose materials. Now we are in a village that doesn't provide trash pick up and so the need to creatively reuse materials is imperative. We are proud that our artisan team produces little waste and that most of our scraps from sewing and other various pieces can be reused in new pieces. This also goes for our school. If you've been following us on social media, especially Instagram, you may have noticed all the materials we use for school products and experiments.
This Earth Day, we invite you to consider your own environmental impact in your everyday life. We have gathered several activities that are great for all ages. Some activities will require supervision and assistance for younger kiddos. Several of these activities our students participated in last month as a part of the curriculum. Some activities require a little bit of planning while a couple can be more spontaneous.
Make your own Bird Feeder this Earth Day (Minimal Prep Work)
Download Earth Day Activity Sheet (Flower Collage and Nature Scavenger Hunt) (Medium Prep Work and Spontaneous)
(Flower Collage)
Download Sheet for Bury Your Trash Experiment (Medium Prep Work)
We hope you enjoy these activities to enjoy this Earth Day or over the weekend! We also invite you to take a photo during your activities and tag @grainofriceproject to be featured on social media!
I’m back in Kenya– baby in tow. I can actually say that I think flying internationally with a baby is easier than doing so while pregnant. I wasn’t spending the whole flight watching my legs swell up but instead watching Ellis, which is much better. Thirteen hours goes by a lot faster when you have…
Read MoreAfter a long battle with cancer, this week Grain of Rice Project lost our dear friend and supporter, Dinah Woelfel. In our nearly 6 year journey as an organization, there have been a few behind the scenes people who’ve been instrumental in helping us move forward and grow the vision. Dinah was one of those…
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I can’t believe there’s only 12 days until Christmas. Perhaps like many of you, I find this time of year a little overwhelming. What I want in my heart is to be reflecting on the Advent season reminders of hope, joy, love, and peace, but instead everything just feels like a lot. The lines at…
Read MoreWhen I was in the fourth grade, I helped start a Free Willy club. As best as I can recollect, during recess a group of friends and I wrote down our plans to raise money to save this whale. If you’re a kid of the 90s you remember the Free Willy movie, and know what…
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I love iMessaging—it makes the world smaller and easily allows our team in Kenya to send me pictures when I’m not there. It keeps us connected. Usually the pictures I get are the happy type: smiling kids, videos of them reciting poetry, and beautiful photos of their artwork. But the ones I received this week…
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I know I’m supposed to write a lot when I’m in Kenya. I know people like to hear about what’s happening–the good things, the funny stories. And there a lot of those. But in all honesty, sometimes once the end of the day has reached, I haven’t a morsel of energy left to spend on…
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One thing I have learned on this Grain of Rice Project journey is that it is all about having faith, and being willing to take risks. All of our programs, from the kids, to girls, to footballers, are exciting, but sometimes challenging, and always so much bigger than myself or anyone person. Indeed it is…
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It’s been great to start off 2018 in Kenya with all of our Grain of Rice team. I arrived in Kenya on January 2, and quickly jumped into all that is happening. We began the first day with a New Years party for all of our artisans, children, footballers, and staff who are a daily…
Read MoreIt may be November, but this week, I’ve still been uprooting carrots and vegetables from my garden. If you live in Northwest Indiana, you know that this is nothing short of a miracle. Fall has pushed itself in, and as much as I wish I could be one of those people who walk around proclaiming…
Read MoreI’ve been living in a box truck for a week. Yes, you read that correctly. My last week and half was dedicated to a big outdoor event selling for Grain of Rice Project, where most people camped in rather nice or at least decent RVs, while my friend and I spent 10 days living the…
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