Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Good Cause...

Go here and pledge. This is a great cause - anything that sends books to kids is ok by me ;)

Here's a synopsis of the cause from Heather's blog:

"The pledge program is being sponsored by Usborne Books -those of you who know them will know they have GREAT books and are a great asset to all types of educators. 50 percent of the pledge money will go directly to Amelia (well not to her directly but to the school and then to her) to pick out books for her own personal library from Usborne books. She is choosing to donate 50% of her cut to purchase books for her classroom and the school, which I'm just floored by her little 4 year old generosity. The other 50% will go directly to pay for books for our sister school in South Africa. Our sister school was actually co-founded by my friend Anne, who just recently moved here from South Africa . The story is heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once, but it's also entirely too long to tell all of it right now but I'll give you the basic details with more info to come over the next couple weeks. There was no formal preschool education in this extremely impoverished South African community in which Anne lived. So the women at Damion Chrysler pooled their own personal resources to start a school for some of the local children who would probably never have an opportunity to attend any sort of formal schooling. This community has literally THOUSANDS of CHILDREN in it, the majority of which are living in conditions with NO RUNNING WATER, NO PLUMBING, LITTLE ACCESSIBILITY TO MEDICINE, AND VIRTUALLY NO FOOD. And if this is not enough, the entire community has been devastated by the HIV virus as well as drought and famine. The preschool started in a shack, moved to a clinic and is now in a brick and mortar building, it is run entirely by VOLUNTEERS who pay for all expenses out of their own pockets. The school has room for 60 children, all of which are chosen by a random lottery. They are provided one meal everyday, which for most of them is their only meal, and are taught English and other skills that will help them survive in their economically devastated community. "

Thanks!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You've described the situation many of our schools here in South Africa face extremely well. Thanks for high-lighting this issue.