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Students studied the habit-of-heart farsightedness. The lesson plans were designed to help students see the value of planning ahead, whether in personal matters or in caring for a global community. The project involved working with Plan International students in Kenya to experiment with ways to increase the potable water supply. Here is one example of a project that maximized both local and international resources.

• Character education activities included discussions and role plays encouraging them to think about how their choices will affect themselves and others.
  
  
• Music lessons included songs about looking ahead, which students later performed in a program they presented with environmental themes.
  
  
• A science presenter taught students about the nature of water.
  
  
• In a related service project, students studied the causes of water shortages and drought around the world. They made charts and graphs to show the importance of the critical need for clean drinking water around the world.
  
  
• They wrote speeches and took their presentation material on a field trip to a sister site across town and conducted a knowledge exchange with students at that site, sharing their speeches and presentation materials.
  
  
• They worked with the students at the sister site to make solar cookers for students across the globe, in a community with a shortage of potable water (see photo at top of page). The cookers were designed to help people in deserts or deforested regions purify their water without using firewood and thereby contributing to drought and famine. The students wrote directions on how to use the solar cookers to pasteurize water to make it suitable for drinking. The cookers were sent off to students at the site in Kenya.
  
  
• Some time later, the Childreach/Plan International project liaison wrote to say that the Kenyan students had conducted experiments with the cookers, had written essays and taken photos and would be sharing the materials with the students!

One teacher at the school in Kenya wrote in a letter: "...Thank you very much for the materials presented to our school about the solar cookers. Tha pupils did an experiment with the help of your students' instructions for three consectuive days...We appreciate this kind of exchange of materials, and with your collaboration, we can have more exchange. This has enhanced discussions and practical approach in sceince as a subject."

The students then wrote individual letters to their pen pals in California, describing how they practiced until they found the right techniques for bringing the water up to the 149 degrees' pasteurization point. After describing the experimentation results in detail, one boy wrote:

"...My friend, that's what we did an (sic) I am very, very happy about you. I would like to be (sic) communication with you all the time. We are happy because you send us the instrument for experiments. I shall be glad to see your letter again...."

The project had truly come full-circle, for students in America and students in Africa.

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