A Token Of Appreciation

In January I posted a blog about Alex's Pre-K project.  The students, with some help from their parents, gathered items to send to the assistant teacher's husband who is in the military and stationed in Afghanistan with the Agribusiness Development Team from Oklahoma. A lot of the children included letters and/or drew pictures to send to MAJ "Bobby." That has been about three months ago.  Today, when I picked up Alex at school he was very excited.  He said there was something in his back pack he wanted to show me.  When we got home he quickly opened his back pack and pulled out a Ziplock bag.  Inside was what looked like a piece of cloth--I couldn't really tell what it was at first--and a piece of paper with writing on it.  Alex pulled them out and showed me that the material was actually a hat. He handed me the letter and said, "Mrs. Bruner already read it to us at school, but read it again, momma!"  So, I read the letter, which was from Mrs. Bruner's husband, aloud so the boys could hear.  While I was reading Alex put the hat on his head.  He seemed very proud of it. After I read the letter Alex said, "Bobby liked the things we sent to him and he sent us hats!" (The girls in the class received scarves.) The hat Alex received is a traditional Afghanistan hat called (or so we have been told) a kandahari style hat and is worn by males in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan.

Mr. Bruner signed the letter to the class as "your overseas friend" and even went to the trouble to write every child's name on the letter.  Alex walked around with it for a while and seemed very proud to have received it. This experience gave Alex's teachers a chance to teach the children in the class about how children in other parts of the world live.  Alex was so excited about all he learned today while at school and also about the hat and letter.  He kept saying, "It was a good day, mom!"

                                     Alex's hat from Afghanistan

 

   Alex wearing the hat and holding the letter (he wanted to hold Spider-Man, too)

                                          

      This is the letter (Sides A&B) Alex's class received with their hats and scarves