MOTHERING SUNDAY
ALL-AGE TALK
MUMS AGAINST THE ODDS
You will need:
•
Mums against the odds PowerPoint
presentation, available from
christianaid.org.uk/motheringsunday or
christianaid.ie/lent
•Squares of scrap material (enough for every
female in the congregation). If you have time
to prepare in the weeks before the service, ask
children to draw, write or sew messages of love
and thanks on the material. Alternatively, simple
strips of ribbon could be used.
Christian Aid/Tabitha Ross
for them. Ask them all to act out different duties until
you have a group at the front where each person is
performing different things; cleaning, cooking, washing
up, giving lifts in the car, looking after someone sick,
etc. Ask the rest of the congregation to guess what is
happening in each scene!
When everybody has sat back down, ask if they’ve
ever made it difficult for somebody to look after them;
either by being naughty or not following instructions, or
going out when they were supposed to stay at home?
Today we’re going to think about mothers and carers
around the world who are also doing lots of different
things to look after children – sometimes in very
difficult circumstances.
Show the image of Golbibi Kohsani [slide 1] who is from
Pesta Leghek village in Afghanistan. Golbibi is 20 years
old and has a little boy and a little girl. Life can be very
difficult for women in Afghanistan; they might not be
able to decide for themselves when they want to get
married or who they will marry, and many of them are
not able to go to school.
Explain that today (10 March 2013) is Mothering Sunday
and ask the congregation whether anyone has done
anything special for their mum or carer so far today.
Ask a few young people to come up to the front and
act out some of things that their mums or carers do
Golbibi has lots of different things to juggle – as well as
looking after the children, she looks after the animals,
cleans the house, cooks and makes tea. She also has
to collect wood for the fire, and wool from the sheep
that she owns.
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This is already lots of work, but Golbibi also has a
special skill – she is able to weave beautiful carpets.
Through Christian Aid partner Rehabilitation Association
and Agriculture Development for Afghanistan (RAADA),
Golbibi has been given a loom [show slide 2]; a
machine for weaving carpets and rugs. It means that
she can now make rugs from the wool that she can
take from her sheep. Each rug takes her around three
months to make, and she can sell them for US$60
(equivalent to £37 or €46); which is a great help for her
to be able to buy extra food for her family.
Mothering Sunday was originally a day each year when
people who worked were given the day off to visit
their home church and family. Nowadays, we celebrate
Mothering Sunday because mums and the people
who look after us work very hard to care for us and
they deserve a special thank you. Often, we try and
do something nice on Mothering Sunday to make life a
little easier for the people who look after us.
Christian Aid knows that mothers, grandmothers,
carers and all women are very important. Right now,
around the world, women are more likely to be in
difficult situations – they are more likely than men to be
unable to read, more likely to be poor, and more likely to
be victims of violence. That’s why Christian Aid works
all over the world, to try and help make life easier for
women like Golbibi.
Just like mums and carers, God loves us whatever we
do – even if sometimes we do things wrong, or think
that we are difficult to love. And God wants us to love
each other too. That means saying thanks to the people
that look after us, and sometimes making the effort to
look after them. But it also means praying for women
like Golbibi, and doing whatever we can to show her
God’s love.
Give each female in the congregation one of the
squares of material or strips of ribbon. Tell them to
keep it in their handbag or Bible as a reminder that they
are loved and to remind them of mums – like Golbibi –
around the world.
Extra activities for
children’s groups
•Play a version of ‘My Mother Went to Market’
but instead of listing items of food, list ways in
which mums and carers help us. Start by saying,
‘My mother helped me by …’
•Read a children’s version of a story from the
Bible of a mum put in a difficult situation
– the story of Moses (Exodus 1:22–2:10).
Alternatively, show a video clip of the story
such as VeggieTales ‘Babysitter in De-Nile’.
Ask the children what the difficult situation
was for Moses’ mum? What did she do? What
happened? Do the children think she made the
right choice – why or why not? What kind of
difficult decisions do our mums and carers have
to do today? What can we do to help them?
•Make rugs! Use strips of cloth and or ribbons
to weave like Golbibi. Search the internet for
examples. Make weaved bookmarks to give to
mums and carers.
•Prayer activity: give everybody three pieces of
thread, tied together by a knot at one end, stuck
down on the table in front of them with sticky
tape. Pray as you start to slowly plait the thread
together – pray for you, that you will show God’s
love to everybody you know; say thanks for all
the people who look after you; and finally, pray
for women like Golbibi who are being good
mums in very difficult situations.
•Plan a treat for mums and carers as a way of
saying thank you for all they do – it could be a
cup of tea and a biscuit after the service or it
could be a yummy treat for them to take away
and enjoy later.
•Fundraising idea: if appropriate for your group,
make friendship bracelets and sell them to
people in your church, then use the money to
purchase an item from Present Aid (presentaid.
org or presentaid.ie). Through Present Aid, you
can choose a gift that supports Christian Aid’s
world changing work in a specific area such as
healthcare or education.
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The Christian Aid name and logo are trademarks of Christian Aid.
© Christian Aid January 2013 13-610-J940
All-age talk
for Mothering Sunday
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