For the past 11 weeks we have been on the road. Visiting almost every US state east of the Mississippi River, and even taking a trek into Canada. In between driving over 12,000 miles we visited friends, family, supporters, prospects, advocates, and a number of restaurants and petrol stations. The visits cannot be numbered, nor the hugs, laughs, or tears. We loved every connection and were saddened by every goodbye.
Funny thing, there was a strange constant in many, many conversations. People who have known us for decades, friends who have been following our adventure since the early days, even folks who have been supporting this work for close to ten years, all seemed to have the same question: What do you do?
Really? Really??? What do we do? Obviously we have not clearly communicated enough. So, odds are, many of you might have the same question. So, let’s get down to basics.
May the first bit be….why do we do?
Call it destiny, a calling, fate. Call it whatever you want, the results are the same. There is a huge need, and we were crazy enough, or driven enough, or caring enough to want to make a difference.
The need? Imagine every Facebook user (approx 900,000,000) suddenly being forced to live below the international poverty level of $1.90/day. Catastrophic. Earth-shattering! Cataclysmic! Those nations who didn’t collapse would rush in with aid to stop this ginormous pandemic. Too late, the crisis has already happened, and continues to happen.
According to research done by the World Bank, that big number, 900,000,000, is the total of people who currently live below the poverty level. Granted, this did not happen over night. This has taken generations, but the results are the same. Almost 1 billion people, or the population of the Western Hemisphere, live in poverty! Some of this has been caused by natural disasters and war, but much is the result of Generational Poverty, passed down from parents to children, like old shoes. Poverty creating hand-me-down lives.
Interestingly enough, poverty isn’t the problem. Poverty is a side-effect. Poverty is the aftershock. Poverty is the illegitimate child of ignorance. You don’t solve poverty, you don’t fight poverty, you must replace ignorance. From our perspective, Education is the Ultimate Expression of Humanitarian Aid.
Now the what bit. We are running a charity with a focus on helping Roma (gypsy) and other under-privileged Serbian kids getting an education. Can this make a difference? Thanks to information from the World Bank, we can confidently say Yes!
In Serbia (you know we moved to Serbia, right?) something as basic as being taught how to read, write, and handle math will reduce a child’s odds of living their future in poverty by 50%
In Serbia (where we have lived now for a year) getting a high school education will reduce a child’s odds of living their future in poverty by 84%.
In Serbia, getting a university degree will reduce a child’s odds of living their future in poverty by 99.99999%! Notice the trend?
But wait!!! There’s more!!!! It doesn’t stop with each child. Educated parents tend to raise educated children. Thus a new cycle starts, affecting generation after generation. With us so far?
How are we doing this? Right now in two different ways;
– Student Sponsorship. We are not running a school, better yet, we are helping these kids from the ghettos, by providing the necessary books, supplies, and in some cases tutoring and clothing, they need to attend school with their Serbian peers.
– Preschool Preparation. In a month we start a new program called Launchpad. This program trains parents how to interact with their children (ages 2-5) in fun and educational ways that will prepare them to start preschool. This might sound simple, but if not properly prepared, many of these kids end up in “special classes” and are labelled as “slow”.
The short version. We are in Serbia, helping kids by rewriting their futures.
Happy New Year!!! Oh, Paul has a resolution to make this Monthly Update… monthly, for real!
Paul and Mary
We are running on faith, but we are not running alone.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Send them our way. We’d love to hear from you.
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