i'm doing my part...are you?

If you actually read the 'about me & my blog' page, then you would know that I'm passionate about education, youth development and children in general. I guess you could say I'm one of those hopeful citizens who think that educational opportunities (at least up to the secondary level) should be equally available to all.

There is of course the debate that it is a costy venture to truly give free education. I will admit that I believe that those who can without a doubt afford it, should pay; and I can agree that it really isn't fair for the government to have to 'pick up the slack' for parents who choose to multiply in abundance when they wholeheartedly know that they can barely afford the expenses of one healthy child! .....that rant is for another post though.

Anywho....

In trying to play my part in this 'education for all' fight, I decided that I would start a charity which would help raise funds for school's or specific students in need. With a few more things to iron out, all work is on pause until January 2012.

Until then, I'm doing my part by working alongside the Jamaica Association for the Deaf (JAD) to improve the opportunities available to students at the Danny Williams School for the Deaf.

Many of us I believe take for granted how lucky we are. Probably not remembering that many of these persons (who are usually unable to benefit from all the education system has to offer) don't get to choose how they are born and their disabilities are rarely as a result of something their parents did. In other words.....it's almost a gamble. We tend to turn a blind eye, or do nothing more than talk about how much we want to see things change.

The question is: how much are you doing to improve the life of someone who needs a helping hand?


By the way....I don't count giving a dollar to the guy who begs at your car window, or putting money in the collection pan at church as helping. The former is really just giving him a '1 day money' that probably can't even buy food, and the latter is really your contribution to the church community.

What I'm talking about is you being actively involved in helping someone else and being able to see the benefit of your contribution in his/her life. Or I can spin it and say that you would be able to see the benefit in your country. hmm

I know by now most persons would be thinking that they really don't have the money for it; so let's do some calculations.

If you decide to save $20 a day, then at the end of the week you'll have $140 (adding the $10 brawta that you can probably spare = $150....but we'll work with the $140 for now). Instead of working this by month since some months have more weeks than others, lets work out the total amount by the end of the year. Since each year has 52 weeks, then at the end of the year you'll have $7,280 (and you know if you added that brawta every month you'd have $7,800 ). Now that's just from one person, and it may not really seem like much; but if 10 people give $7,280 then that's $72,800 a year.

It still probably doesn't seem like all that much, but give even a third of that to a mother who is struggling to purchase back to school items for her child so that he/she can be adequately prepared for the academic year. Or hand it all to a parent who's child needs a life-saving operation or has compounded medical expenses from an unexpected birth defect. Yup, that's when $72,000 seems like a gift from the heaven's above!

We often think that we aren't financially able to help, but imagine what can happen if we each take out that $150 each week? The JAD has a student sponsorship program, and I am currently working on various projects, including a merit scholarship for students which will be administrated through the association.

I'm doing my part....are you?