“We’ll do 100,” said the first child. “Five hundred,” said the child who leaned over the pew as though he could crawl over it and reach the front row by sheer excitement. A thousand,” another chimed in enthusiastically. “Two thousand,” came the voice from the back of the group as though he were at Sotheby’s bidding on a famous painting. By now almost all the students were on their feet and calling out numbers excitedly. Within seconds the number climbed to 2,500, then 3,000, and finally rounded out at 6,000!
The students at the Redwood Montessori School in Lebanon, Indiana talked about toilet paper rolls they could collect, not the paper itself, but the cardboard tubes in the center of each roll. They had just listened to Dan Brewer, a member of the Board of Directors for the Malawi Project, describe the new fire sticks being made to help offset the cutting of trees for cooking fires in Malawi villages. The room filled with eagerness and the students realized they could help Malawi mothers, as well as help save the forests, by what they were about to do.
Dan explained to the attentive group how three of the tubes, filled with shredded paper, and a bit of candle wax as a starter could create enough fire and heat to cook a meal. “Help the mothers and save the trees,” quickly became a winning combination for the group. That was when the upward goal started, “We’ll do 100,” “Five hundred,” and on and on till they finally stopped at 6,000.
For the next hour, the students went to one of the classrooms at the Lebanon Church of Christ, where the school is located, and learned how to pack the tubes with the shredded paper.
When they went home that day the collection of empty rolls began in earnest. They had only a short time until the Christmas break when they challenged themselves to reach the goal. 500, then 1,000, then up to 2,000, 3,500, holidays approaching, 4,000, time is getting short, 4,800, then the final week, 5,400, then the last day, total? Over 6,800. They had surpassed their goal!
This project is still in early development. A full-scale collection of toilet paper rolls is not ready to be rolled out to the public. Stay connected to the Malawi Project website ( www.malawiproject.org ) or sign up for the newsletter that will alert you when this program is ready to go public in the collection of toilet paper rolls. (https://www.malawiproject.org/subscribe )