Schools for Humanity

My good friend Kim (whom I recently realized I've known for 19 years!) passed this link on to me from her good friend Sally.

Most likely you are familiar with Habitat for Humanity. Former President Carter has done a lot of work with them, which is how I first learned about their projects to build homes for people in need of housing, both here in the U.S. and internationally.

Dave Brown, a colleague of Sally's, volunteered with Habitat several years ago. What he observed in Ethiopia was that the children living in the new homes they built now had roofs over their heads but no school to go to. And rather than simply talk about the problem, he founded Schools for Humanity. The organization's first project was to build a school that now serves 160 children!

From their website:

While visiting the town of Shashemene, Ethiopia in July 2006, I was saddened to learn that the children of the community had little or no access to formal education. These wonderful kids, who had become my friends, were a small part of the 6 million other children in Ethiopia who did not go to school. They were destined to start work at a very young age and be caught up in a cycle of hard work and poverty their whole lives.

At the end of my trip, I vowed to build these children a school. Not a grand facility that would lead these children away from their families in search of higher education - but a local neighborhood school open to boys and girls regardless of clan, caste or religion....

We plan to increase the number of children we educate, and take on other projects in places of need. Schools for Humanity is an effective and efficiently run organization: we are all volunteers; no one draws a salary and when we travel to work on our projects, we pay our own way.

We are committed to providing formal education to children in the poorer areas of the world. We are also committed to ensure that every dollar donated to us has the maximum impact on the lives of the children.

We believe that education is key to the success of a child and a community.

Check out their website. Consider making a contribution. And dare to think a little bigger this week.

Dave did... and for those kids he's made all the difference in the world.