Lunch Bunch learn about Afghanistan

The Lunch Bunch at Cypress Lake Middle in south Fort Myers recently took a trip to Afghanistan without ever leaving their media center.

The students, which meet once a month to eat lunch and discuss books, were visited by two Barry University faculty members who talked about the group's recent read "The Bread Winner" by Deborah Ellis.

The book takes place in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, during the Taliban's rule. It chronicles the life of a young girl and her efforts to support her family.

"Reading is a journey and it didn't happen over night but we did it step by step," said Vivian Posey, a faculty member at Barry University. She visited the students along with Peggy Van Voorhis.

The faculty members, which used to work for the Lee County School District, spoke to children about the book and brought a closet full of typical Afghan clothing for men and women.

"Our goal is for the students to have this global understanding," said Posey, adding that the school was the first they had visited with a lunch and reading type activity. "We used to teach teachers at first and then realized that these children are the ones that will grapple with this area in the future."

That's why Posey and Van Voorhis spent time discussing the history of the area and the differences between the Middle East and the United States.

"They read books out of their genre in this group and they are making the sacrifice to be in the lunch bunch," said Dana Thomas, the media specialist. She helped organize the event with Diane Konkel who had seen the faculty members at a reading conference and invited them to the school.

"They had these slides and the clothes and I knew they had work for Lee County and other literacy circles so I invited them," Konkel said.

At the conclusion of the presentation, students had a chance to sit down with the faculty members and discuss other aspects of the book. The visit was the first of its kind for the literacy lunch bunch.