We’ve all heard “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Holidays!”, and “Feliz Navidad”. While these season’s greetings are tried-and-true, why not find a new way to offer warm wishes this Christmas season—in a way that doesn’t involve any words at all?

Instead of simply saying “Merry Christmas,” what if we turned these words into action?

What if it looked like the gift of generosity—the gift of your support to empower girls in their learning, build into new school leaders, and equip parents to support their children?

This year, we at Wellspring invite you to find a new, unique, and impactful way to wish your friends and family a Merry Christmas through these 10 gifts from Wellspring’s Gift Guide! They are sure to bring hope, warmth, and joy to the loved ones on your list, and to the teacher, child, parent, or school principal who will receive the gift of your generosity!

Here are 10 new ways to say “Merry Christmas” this year:

1. Coach a New School Principal
   Help a brand new school leader or principal thrive. With personal leadership coaching and training, a principal is given much-needed skills to transform her or his school into a vibrant place of learning.
2. Cultivate Belonging for All
   Nearly 50% of children with disabilities are not in school, and disability is the single most serious barrier to education across the globe (UNICEF). You can provide training for parents and teachers to ensure children with disabilities not only attend school but are integrated into classrooms where they can thrive.
3. Develop Thriving Communities
   Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) empowers community leaders to help themselves. Instead of focusing on what is lacking, this approach emphasizes a community’s current assets and strengths. You can invest in training for community leaders who want to move away from a dependency mindset towards an asset and resource-rich approach that improves their local schools.
4. Empower Girls in Rwandan Classrooms
   Although there are relatively equal numbers of boys and girls in Rwandan classrooms, girls are more likely to drop out of school. Provide all, or a portion of, training workshops for teachers to combat gender inequality in their classrooms–and help both girls and boys get a quality education.
5. Give Play!
   One of the best ways young children can learn is by doing what they do best: play! Invest in preschool children and their healthy social development by providing their educators with training in play-based learning.
6. Give Tech for Better Programming
   Purchase tablets for our growing team to use for real-time training, data collection, and so much more. Technology that functions well in remote and rural areas in Uganda and Rwanda is critical to developing and delivering programming that responds to realities on the ground, and is becoming an increasingly important component of creating sustainable educational change.
7. Mentor a Teacher to Lead Her Peers
   Invest in a teacher who has leadership potential by providing 1:1 mentoring, classroom observation and leadership coaching from Wellspring trainers. You will equip a teacher-leader to train her peers within the school and classroom setting in critical areas of teaching excellence, thereby multiplying the impact of Wellspring’s work across schools and districts.
8.  Put Children at the Centre of Their Learning
   Train primary teachers to facilitate a classroom environment that puts kids at the center of learning. Rather than rote memorization and other outdated teaching techniques, children in a student-centred learning environment become empowered and active participants in their learning journey.
9. Buy a SIM Card for Tablet
   Purchase a SIM card for a tablet, ensuring that our trainers can access and upload data in remote regions without wifi.
10. Strengthen Learning Leadership in Uganda
    This year, we’ve expanded our work into Uganda through a partnership with Kuwasha International Development Society. Without intervention, persistent gender inequity could stunt development in the region. But you can change that. Help our team learn about gender equity and inclusion from a gender specialist and transform education in Ugandan classrooms.

No matter which new way you choose to say “Merry Christmas” this year, we thank you for your partnership and the gift of hope you are providing and making tangible for school communities across Rwanda and Uganda! 

Remember to send a free eCard to let someone you care about know that you’ve given a life-changing gift of quality education, in their honour, to a child in Central and Eastern Africa this Christmas!