St Brigid’s Lent pack for children

Zin Thu Thu, 8 years old

Name: ______________________________

Take a look on Youtube (3 minutes 25 seconds)CAFOD: Lent 2015 for Primary schools – Zin Thu Thu’s story

Lent is a time of reflection for all of us. This Lent, St Brigid’s Children’s liturgy, are asking everyone to think about the impact we have on our world and how we can be better neighbours to all of creation. We are all invited to think of all the things we can Cut it Out to support our sisters and brothers.

Draw a picture of Zin Thu Thu

Here is my drawing of a little girl in Myanmar called Zin Thu Thu (pronounced zin-too-too). She is eight-years-old and lives in Myanmar. When she was very young a strong storm destroyed her village. Sadly, the storm killed many people.

After the storm, CAFOD worked together with Zin Thu Thu’s family to rebuild their lives and also supported Zin Thu Thu’s community to learn ways to keep safe in an emergency.

Emergency Drill

One of these ways is by running an emergency Drill. Let’s read what that is like…

The first thing Zin Thu Thu must remember is to always have her emergency bag packed with things she might need during a storm.

In the bags there are dried noodles, a torch, a blanket an ID card water medicine candles a pencil case.

Draw Zin Thu Thu’s emergency pack

If an emergency does come, the village leader gives groups of people different tasks.

One team collects ladders and tents. This team’s job is to set up a safe zone for the community to gather in. When Zin Thu Thu hears the warning signal, she must take her bag and go quickly to the nearest safe zone.

This is what I think a safe zone would look like.

Another team, who are good climbers. Sometimes during a storm, flood water comes into the village, so this team helps people climb up on to the roof of the church to keep them safe and well away from the flood water.

I think climbing to escape the flood water would look like.

Another team practises first aid. These people can take good care of and help anyone who is injured.

This is a picture of the first aiders helping the injured.

This is a picture of me. Can you see what team I would be in?

During all this, someone keeps track of the storm with a radio and lets everyone know when it is safe again.When the storm is over, Zin Thu Thu and her community go to collect rice that has been safely stored away. Food that is growing in the fields is often destroyed during a storm, so having a good store of rice means Zin Thu Thu and the rest of the villagers will have enough food to eat in the days after a disaster.

The changing weather is making life very hard for many people in the world.

By raising money this Lent, we can help communities like Zin Thu Thu’s to stay safe in case there is another emergency.

Let’s think about what we can do to Cut it Out and fundraise for CAFOD this Lent. We could walk to school instead of using the car or bus; watch less TV or use computers less.

What are your own ideas to Cut It Out this Lent?

Prayer

Caring and loving Jesus,you show us how to look after each other,help us to see that all people are precious,and that we are all blessed by your love.

This Lent, help us to be generous and kind.Help us to cut something out and live more simply.

Amen.

St Brigid’s Children’s Liturgy – Lent 2015

Notes to parents/guardians

Please use the Lenten journey with your child (see insert). Ask them what they can give up for Lent. Colour in each day in one colour that they have successfully given something up for Lent.

Add another colour for the days which they might not have been successful with a strong emphasis on it is OK to fail, we all do, and we all need to keep trying and not give up!

Encourage your child by sponsoring them to complete their journey! Giving something up for Lent is really difficult, especially for young children. The more we can encourage and incentivise them the better.

Remember to link the child’s Lenten journey with helping those who are poor. The church asks us all to pray, fast and give alms during Lent. Linking our personal actions to helping our global neighbours is a great way of introducing children to our interconnectedness and that we all belong to one family.

Oh, and don’t forget to pray with your child! Link their Lenten journey to their bedtime prayer, reflecting on how they did that day and remembering children around the world like Zin Thu Thu who should always be in our prayers.

As CAFOD will have matched funding this year from the UK Government, talk to your child how the money they will raise will be doubled. Could be part of a maths lesson, working out what the double is of the money they raise!

Head over to cafod.org.uk/primary for further resources or contact Kieran O’Brien on 029 20 344 882 or email kobrien1@cafod.org.uk if you want any further information.

Thanks to Brigid Brown for pulling this pack together. And good luck!