Final Push For Passports With Purpose

cambodian-schoolgirl

Photo Friday is usually a fun, easy blog post for me. Sometimes I write about the photos I post, sometimes I just indulgently post cute photos of my boys when they were younger.

Today, I don’t want to be fun or cute. I want to take a moment to review some hard statistics:

– 1 billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their name.
– 121 million children in the world today do not attend school.
– About 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 percent of them were girls.

I am a co-founder of Passports with Purpose because of statistics such as these. I passionately believe that every child should have access to basic education. I also believe that education is a way out of poverty.

For a variety of reasons, when I was born my Mom was 21 and at best semi-literate. She says that looking at my newborn self, she made a promise that I would never want for access to education. She taught herself how to read by reading alphabet books to me. She and my Dad made education a primary focus in our family and she followed through on her promise for me and each of my siblings.

I haven’t been to Cambodia (yet!). I can’t honestly describe the situation on the ground there and the impact a new school will have for children in rural areas. But in other countries I have seen abject poverty and illiterate children, usually begging or playing in the dirt. I want every child like that to have an opportunity to learn how to read and write and possibly choose to make a better life for themselves.

Passports with Purpose will finish on Monday, December 21st. We have a goal of raising $26,000 to fund a school, a well for fresh water, one year of basic healthcare and the creation and maintenance of a garden from which the children at the school will get one nutritious meal a day. If you believe, as I do, that every child should be given a chance, please consider making a donation. You can donate as little as $10 and get an entry in to a free prize drawing or you can just donate as little or as much as you like.

Thanks for listening