What did you dream about when you were little?

In one of the lessons at Ecole L’Union, we asked 25 students the question, “What would you like to be when you grow up?”

You can learn a lot about these precious little ones when looking closely at their responses. Here are some things that stood out:

1. They dream really, really big

What I would love (to be) is a soccer player, nurse and astronomer. I can also be a principal and an accountant. That is what I would like when I am grown up. – Syndialove

2. They are aware that people around them are suffering, but they have big hearts and want to help

I would like to be an engineer. I would like to help the people that have no work. I do not like to see people going through calamity. – Ojempson

When I grow up, I would like to be a great nurse to heal the sick. – Withlene

When I grow up, I would like to be an agronomist for the people in the streets and for my family. To make a garden of bananas, coffee, rice and corn to help the people to give them something to eat. – Chrisno

I (would) like to be a nurse. To take care of the sick and their wounds. I will open a house for those that have no home and the disabled that cannot work and the children that have no parents to take care of them. – Yolanda

3. They know that education is key and can help them out of poverty

I do not want to be poor. It is for this reason I have to study all my lessons and do my homework. I do not want to stay in poverty. I want to help all the people that cannot work. My father and mother are poor, my sister and I are also poor. When I am older I will do everything I need to do for my family and help the people that cannot work. – Chella

There’s a good chance that an awareness of suffering didn’t shape our goals at such an early age. 

None of us know what it is like to live in a rural, hillside community without access to education and an average wage sitting at just a few dollars per day. We did not grow up seeing the effects of poverty, with our friends and family getting sick and not being able to afford medical care.

But there is one thing that each of us can relate to! We all know that we would never have made it to the place we are standing right now without help from others. 

Help support the dreams and futures of the children at Ecole L’Union.