Charity

The questions that surface when we are approached by Charity are numerous and varied. It is something personal, it requires us to think and give beyond ourselves. Because charity does not expect a payback, so we give with intent. And we expect results, we expect good to come from our effort. We expect generosity to be repaid with the currency of progress, of development, of health and wellness, with a smile and with unspeakable gratitude… .

But what I’ve learned is that often times our expectations fall far below what we envision. Its what we read about, its what we [only after the fact and once we have finally seen to calculated results] admire in the silent giver, the unnoticed servant.

Hosted a little fundraiser this weekend with some friends.

Here are some favorites from the photobooth

Thanks Everyone for the Support. All funds have gone

to our Project Rhino Learning Centers

This week and for the last few months I have been plagued by the question of uncertainty, what happens when a student walks away from our learning centers? We often call them ‘drop outs’, the connotation of which expresses one who has given up, who has thrown in the towel, one who is ungrateful and lacks motivation. And I would have said the same thing, but now I know their story, a story that explains why until now they have had no education… how do you communicate to a child or a family the Need for education and its fruitfulness when a child’s basic NEEDS are neglected?, but we have to Try, its the only way change will be come a discipline. And this why I am proud to say that we are dedicated to the Holistic treatment. It is remarkable to communicate to a community that they will be given education... yes, but that they will be given healthcare and nutrition, simply for showing up. That's the fun part of my job!

What I know of our students is their dedication and their gratefulness almost to the point of disbelief. “why?” they ask. Why would anyone care and what have I done to deserve this? And then, once we have satisfied the “why’s”, comes the “how?”. How do I balance this? How do I attend school, excel and still work to help feed my family and myself. How do I focus when my stomach pants for nourishment and I am sick from the leaky roof that drips and floods my room at night, that dares me to sleep and infests my body with impurity?

The struggles, the barriers are not common, they are not even believable until you go and you sit with a child. You sit across from their home, a home in the slums. Another terrible word and another misrepresented connotation. It is not dirt and grime or even scary. But within the walls of the slums there is genius and there is strength and there is the greatest display of endurance and resilience I have ever known, and I expect to ever know.

So, is there Hope? Absolutely. For if we refuse to hope then we diminish the ability to act and it is in movement that miracles take place. It is a partnership, a marriage of sorts, because without the two, we hobble and we stumble. We must believe, we must have faith and in that we have the confidence to Go, to Do. And it is in the doing that we find structure to our Faith.

I never knew the true value of education until now, for in our society if you are simply talented or hardworking, you will succeed. Yet to be given education freely, to be expected to participate in school and to be pursued. That is beautiful.

The obstacles might be many, the mountains of struggle seem too daunting to climb, and those who expect you to fail are a plenty. Yet no one can take away your right to education and therefore your right to live well… This is what we want for our learning center students and this is what we want to institute among the poor and disadvantaged communities of India. May our students know that it is their human right to pursue education, to deepen their understanding of the world in its fullness. And may we as administrators and teachers and leadership demand excellence and honesty and integrity in that which we teach and the knowledge we encourage our students to pursue.