It Takes a Village and You

In early 2010, in the small village of Nshupu, Tanzania, nine malnourished orphans were sleeping on a cement floor without even a blanket or sufficient food. Four years later, these children have a lovely new permanent home, are attending school, and have welcomed six more orphans to their family. Their home also serves as a village community center that hosts, among other things, a weekly women’s empowerment group that has created a savings and loan program for impoverished single mothers and widows. There is also a kindergarten program that serves 70 village children annually, including feeding them regular meals. All these endeavors are shepherded by PreciousProject.org, which explains on their website, “Though lack of education is a leading cause of poverty, Tanzanian schools are not free. Attendance even at the primary school level requires the ability to pay for school uniforms, meals, materials, equipment, fees, and other expenses. As a result, there are children who are unable to even receive a primary education. Our goal is to help break the cycle of poverty by providing educational opportunities for orphans and other high-risk children.”

Pens Really Are More Powerful than Swords

https://pencilsofpromise.org/

Raise money for Pencils of Promise to help build a school in an impoverished country. For more information, visit their website: pencilsofpromise.org.

Teach at Citizen School

Teach yoga, gardening, and more to middle schoolers. Reducing dropout rates by getting kids excited about learning is a major goal of Citizen Schools (citizenschools.org). Subjects covered in the 90-minute, 10-week after-school, volunteer-taught classes have included journalism, yoga, and architecture, with a focus on being “very interactive,” says Stacey Gilbert, Director of Media Relations. “Volunteers are encouraged to teach what they’re passionate about.”