Students of the Władysław Syrokomla High School adopted a teenager from Africa

The year of the Mercy of God is a special year for all of us. We try to be better, more understanding and more sensitive to other man’s poverty.

The students of 6b and 6c grades in the Władysław Syrokomla High School in Vilnius (the school promotes Christian values) together with their English language teacher, Alina Swatkowska, decided to “adopt a heart”.

This year, in January, within the project framework, the students attended an informative meeting with a missionary sister Maria Cichoń from the Congregation of Sisters from Angels, who spent 12 years on missions in Africa (10 years in Rwanda and 2 years in Esseng). During the meeting she told students a lot about the situation of children living in Africa, she showed them photos and shared her experience. The school youth was really deeply moved by the visit of sister Maria.

The meeting bore fruit. The students decided to take care of one of the students from Cameroon. The “adopt a heart” program (distance adoption) – is a form of aid for the children in Third World Countries. It is usually about financial support for one, particular child to enable their education.

Everyone could donate as much money as they could or wanted. It was support straight from a heart, not forced. The students gathered in total 50 euro. This is exactly how much are the tuition fees in a school in Cameroon, buying a school uniform and school aids.

In this way the students “adopted” a teenager from Cameroon – Metouk Mbone Blaise, born on 23 December 2001. The boy attends the first class of a vocational school, he has six siblings. He comes from the Maka tribe, lives in Esseng II. The students of the schools also received a thank you letter from sister Katarzyna Mazurek, who is a mission secretary in the Congregation of Sisters from Angels.

We are all happy that in the year of Mercy of God we opened our hearts to our neighbor’s needs because the Bible says: “All you did to one of my youngest brothers, you did to me” (Mt.25,40).

Alina Swatkowska