Why am I doing this?
The short answer is that God drew me to this place.
The long answer is that I want to help. There are so many people who are in need that the world is turning a blind eye to. I want to be there for them. I believe that we of the so-called ‘First World’ have a responsibility to help those less fortunate.
‘Give a man a fish, feed him for a day,
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.’
Someone I know added this: If he doesn’t have rights to the pond, what good is it?
If we teach someone a craft, but they don’t have access to the materials, how will they profit? If we gift the materials, but don’t teach the craft, how will this help them?
I want to be able to enable people- to start their own business, to become self-sufficient, to climb out of poverty, to change their lives. We can gift 10 computers to a school in rural India, but if no one is there to teach them how to use the computers, what good is it?
How do I, a 24 year old with little-to-no life experience, help someone with whom I have no common ground? Well, I’m not claiming to be able to help change everyone’s lives, but even if I come home having just impacted one person that will be enough. Whether it be by helping someone grasp simple numeracy, or teaching a small business owner how to use Microsoft Office. These are small things to us- we take them for granted- but for many it is the difference between staying stuck where they are or breaking out of the poverty cycle.
A major problem in the mindset of the Western world is that money will solve poverty. This is simply untrue. You cannot throw money into a situation and expect it to remedy itself. Corruption and violence run rife within small communities where help is most needed- it might even be the reason the problem is so big. By enabling those who are less fortunate- by teaching and guiding them- I hope that this will change the course of their future.
Even if it is just one, I will be satisfied.
