CHILDREN at a primary school will be particularly grateful for their Christmas presents after they compared their festive wishes to those of children in Kenya.

CHILDREN at a primary school will be particularly grateful for their Christmas presents after they compared their festive wishes to those of children in Kenya.

A group of pupils at Sprites Primary School in Stonechat Road, Ipswich, were asked what they had requested from Santa before being shown a video about children their age in a Kenyan village.

The six to ten-year-olds, who wanted video games and toys, learned that in the village of Korogocho, a town built on a rubbish tip, people's priorities were very different.

Ben Robinson, ten, who is chairmen of the school council, said: “What we asked for here is what we want, and what the children in Kenya asked for is what they need.”

The five children who had been interviewed and shown the video then helped headteacher Shaun Valentine lead an assembly in which all the pupils were shown the same video.

They helped explain why they should be thankful for what they have even if they did not get everything they wanted at Christmas.

Ben also approached Mr Valentine to ask if the school could fundraise for the charity, which works with the children of Korogocho.

Children from Sprites asked for Nintendo DS consoles, video games and Lego.

In Korogocho - which translates as “dumping site” - the residents live amongst rubbish, which they search through to find things they can sell for a pittance.

There, a 16-year-old girl said she wanted her younger brother and sister to be able to go to school, while other children wanted boots for the rough terrain they live on, and cheap plastic flowers for their homes.

The information about Korogocho came from the government Department for International Development.

headteacher Mr Valentine said: “We are in an area of Ipswich with very few minority groups, so we wanted to make links and comparisons to other communities.

“The whole idea around this was to encourage the children to feel very grateful for their lifestyles and, given the present economic climate, they can be grateful if they get something that isn't exactly what they wanted.”

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