ETA: At the current rate, I will reach 400,000 contributors in about 300 years. While I’m optimistic I will live that long, I can’t bank on it. Therefore, I will end my blogging hiatus satisfied that 26 wonderful people helped and many many more helped spread the word. Thank you!!! 🙂
This morning I saw an amazing story – the kind of story that puts everything into perspective and makes me want to get up and do something equally awesome.
The story was about a woman named Luma Mufleh. Born in Jordan, Luma came to the US, attended Smith College, and then got a teaching job outside of Atlanta, Georgia. A wrong turn took her to an apartment complex where barefoot children were playing soccer on a makeshift field. It was a scene Luma had seen in many other places in the world, but not in the US. As it turned out, the children were all refugees from countries that had been torn apart by war and violence.
What began as Luma bringing the kids a new soccer ball to play with evolved into the creation of a Fugees (for Refugees) soccer team. That evolved into an academy that helps the children in school, because no one was paying attention to the fact that these kids couldn’t read or write in their own language, not to mention in English.
Now, Luma wants to create a permanent home for her kids called the Fugee Village. It will be a school, a home, and a place for these kids to safely establish themselves.
But creating something like that needs money. Lots of money. And the Fugees are not funded by the government.
The minimum recommended donation is $12, because $12/week is enough to help one student get tutoring for a week. If 400,000 people donated $12, Luma would be able to build her village. How many people in the online world have that many people following them on Twitter right now?
I think this is entirely doable.
So, I’m going to leave this post up until we have gotten that many people to donate. I don’t need to write posts. There are plenty of people doing that. This is more important to me than any other message I could put here.
All you have to do is let me know you donated – you don’t have to tell me the amount. You can comment here or anywhere else you know me, and I’ll keep a running tally.
Let’s change the world, starting with one little village in the state of Georgia.
I am donating $12. You can donate here. Or visit the Fugees wishlist for in-kind donations, including clothing and soccer equipment. We’ll certainly count those contributions too!
Tally of contributors: 26
Image Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/falto