My Barmitzvah Project - by Ethan Haas

Alpine Primary School is in Beacon Valley, Mitchell's Plain, one of the poorer areas of Cape Town. There is high unemployment and many people struggle to survive. Some children are often without food and they hardly ever get any treats. Alpine Primary School itself has not got very good facilities and only has a small number of books for the children from which to learn and practice how to read. When I heard about this, I decided that I would like to start to collect books and then go to Alpine Primary and hand out lots of books for the children to read. I have been taught that to educate children gives them the best start in life and books are also so much fun. When I gave them the books they were obviously very happy to have their own books to learn to read from. Their teacher who is so dedicated was excited too.Also, I handed out Easter eggs as it was Easter time. When I saw the happiness and joy on their faces on getting the books and eggs I felt I had really performed a mitzvah. I learnt from these children, whose daily life is often such a struggle, that the things that I take for granted are things that they really appreciate and value .This visit definitely opened up my eyes and I plan to repeat my visit and share my love for art and drawing with them in the future.