I asked the congressman to please support the President’s full requested amount of nearly $52 billion for the foreign operations bill which will continue international life saving programs and development assistance. He said he would be willing to support the president’s full request.

I also asked the congressman to support H.R. 2139, the ‘Initiating Foreign Aid Reform’ Act, which directs the president to develop a comprehensive national development strategy to modernize and improve US aid effectiveness. He said will take a look into it and hopefully co-sponsor the bill as well.

In further conversation, I told congressman Loebsack about the Big Read project and my story which appeared on the ONE Blog. The congressman is on the Education and Labor Committee, as well as the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. He is a former college professor and has even taken students on trips to areas of extreme poverty. He seemed very receptive to being a primary supporter of the Big Read objective — $2 billion in education funding — if and when that comes before the Congress.

Finally, I told them about some of the campaign activity locally and plans I have for outreach within the faith community as well as local colleges in the fall.

Before he left I gave a white ONE band to both Congressman Loebsack and Mr. Suppel, which they both enthusiastically took and wore.

It was a great meeting and I sincerely thank the congressman and his staff for taking the time to talk to me about these important life saving pieces of legislation.

-Thad Collins, Iowa ONE Member

We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Angela Benedetto of Round Lake, New York, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

Literacy of the Heart: a Global Concern

By Angela Benedetto
Round Lake, NY

How can we have a positive, sustaining influence on our children individually and collectively? Recently I have been significantly impacted by two events related to this question. These events have taken an enormous toll on me, my students and the larger community in which they live, work, play and learn.

On April 2, 2009, students and staff at Schenectady High School were informed that our fourth African American female student committed suicide this year, totaling eight suicides in less than four years. As difficult as the first three losses this year were to bear, somehow it was the fourth suicide that put our school community into a complete state of crisis and despair. Number four this year meant that we could no longer trudge along carrying the heavy weight of loss, frustration and disparity on our shoulders, denying its hidden anguish.

I take this time to honor each individual in our community, and extend warm thoughts of hope and healing. When a child feels devalued, unseen, unheard and powerless, she is at risk. I have great concern for the stories our children are learning through our actions and words, especially pertaining to girls concerning self-empowerment, self-worth and healthy wholesome opportunities for growth. We teach this by modeling behavior that supports growth intellectually, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I speak as a “teacher leader” who understands the value of teaching as a relational experience, and the freedom relationships bring to learning.

Even as I share our story, I am aware that I am just one teacher working in one small community of learners vitally connected to the larger global learning community in which we live. And our story, as painful as it may still seem to our community, is just a small part of the greater whole. We all share the human story of justice and injustice, freedom and enslavement, hope and disparity. What are the stories that our children are learning about themselves and the communities where they live?

Literacy is the tool we use to share our values, hopes, and dreams. Even in the most challenging times, our students demonstrate their knowing. My students have shown me this by taking literacy to a level beyond understanding towards action.

The second event, which pales in light of the aforementioned tragedy, brought up unresolved feelings of loss. Notification of the elimination of our Family & Consumer Science (FACS) Department was printed in the newspaper in the untimely week following our tragic news.

Students in my “Children in Crisis” class were discussing the ramifications of eliminating the FACS program. They were concerned with completing their program of study and what the school would be like without courses offering the freedom and flexibility to openly share parts of their personal life. One student made a comment that the district should cut the Foods & Nutrition and Fashion portion of the program because they were not as important as the other classes cut. Another student disagreed, explaining that those courses may not be important to her, but were important to the students who had a vested interest in those subjects. This decision-making process gets complicated, she explained. How can we determine what is of more value to someone else? The students listened carefully to her explanation. It was obvious that they clearly understood in that moment from another point of view. From there, the students took action. The students saw themselves as agents of change.

A senior, whom I shall call Tima, stepped into her role as “teacher leader”, organizing a petition and attending two board meetings. Other students joined in to share their viewpoints at the board meeting, following her lead. Tima was born in Sudan. I remember Tima sharing her story of arriving in the U.S. when she was twelve years old during her freshman year. Tima has learned so much in four brief years. Her senior year demonstrated her graceful growth intellectually, emotionally, and socially, with compassion and foresight. Tima saw beyond her needs, and advocated for the next generation of high school students at the end of her high school career.

How remarkable! This is what I call literacy of the heart. Human dignity, equality, and self-awareness become the cornerstones on which deeper levels of self-actualization such as self-worth; self-love, creativity and compassion for others may flourish. Students in my classes and throughout the school have demonstrated creativity and compassion in their choices to attend meetings, organize fundraisers, and develop intervention projects to share with their peers. Literacy becomes an empowering tool especially when it is used to increase awareness and support the good of the whole. All children deserve this right. Their actions hit the very core of what schools are supposed to be teaching children. Think globally, solve problems, and care for someone other than themselves.

Ultimately we are all “teacher leaders”. We must strive to create unity, inclusion, and harmony in our relations. Everyone in our community has the opportunity to step into a leadership role. In doing so, we practice tolerance, objectivity, deep listening skills, nurturance and gained confidence in our own inner wisdom. As global leaders, we may then model self-empowerment to our youth through our actions. Actions speak louder than words.

We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from 15-year-old Natasha Warikoo of Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

Imagine

By Natasha Warikoo
Cincinnati, OH

My life begins here, in the United States of America, where opportunity and freedom soar in the air, filter into my lungs, and penetrate my very veins with every breath I take. Although my life begins here, my being extends endlessly on to the ancestors I have, who lived in another century, another world: India.

My grandmother had very little schooling, and her life followed the path of tradition. She married early, had children, and never had a job. As a woman, she took the well-ridden conventional path, her learning put forever on hold. Time passed, and her experience, not knowledge, grew and thrived in the cold Kashmir valley. Her share of hardships can be seen with the naked eye; each wrinkle holds a story, each crease reflects wisdom. Still, I find myself wondering where she could have been if knowledge had been a priority.

I can imagine my grandmother waiting for my grandfather to come home one day, as night began to fall and the moon blew a few gentle breathes on the world, thinking to herself, “What do I want for my children?”

Education was her answer. She didn’t realize the magnitude of her decision, and how much it would affect everyone after her. Neither did she realize that education was actually not the true answer itself, but was much more important; education was the means by which to know all questions and fulfill all desires. With this one word, my grandmother ensured that my mother and all the children after her would be equipped with the key to any door they wished to open.

My mother got her PhD here in America, and she has become an unstoppable woman whose femininity and strength are both qualities that I marvel at every day.

As a second generation child, I feel the need and desire to broaden the horizons that even my mother had. I have the privilege to be able to make choices for myself, all due to my grandmother’s decision that learning was more important than anything. I dream of entering a nationally or world-wide respected university, so that my career will flourish. I wish to give back to the world I live in, by being a ONE advocate in my community. I wish to work in third world countries as a doctor and treat people at no charge. I wish to inspire children to take full advantage of the freedoms we have in America, and to respect the diversity and cultures of our nation.

Children are the epitome of innocence, purity, and love. The joy in their soul can always be seen in the twinkle of their eyes. I possess the key to education through the sacrifice of family, and I wish to pass this on to others, so that their eyes may sparkle too. My life without this key would be so different; I cannot even picture it. In every illiterate person, I see a story of sadness, and a cry for help. It is important to me to reach for their hands, and press into their palms the key that I was given.

Imagine a world where everyone was literate; every man, woman, and child, with at least a high school diploma. Now, imagine how developing countries could grow. Count how many unseen da Vincis have walked our planet. Add the number of philosophers and multiply the number of civil rights activists. Square the number of authors and artists, and cube the number of doctors. How many Gandhis have lived and died without our knowledge? How many Maya Angelous have walked this earth, but have never been able to express their spirit through poetry? We can only guess.

I believe that with education, anyone can change the world. With education, the soul is satisfied, and we can truly appreciate the world we live in. Education is the purist and most cherished gem that everyone can own. As my mom says, “You must be like a beautiful lotus flower, which blooms even amidst the mud.” Learning is what helps me blossom.

We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Dr. Dorothy A. Maddox of Fairfield, California, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

From Brownsville to Bimishi Village

By Dr. Dorothy A. Maddox
Fairfield, CA

I grew up in the southern part of the USA, Brownsville, Tennessee during the 1950s and 60s, the times of the civil rights movement. My parents were good people, but they were oppressed on every side. My family was extremely poor. I had eight siblings. We lived in a three room shack. We made a living from the land that we lived on.

My parents were not educated, as my mother received a third grade education, and my father may have graduated from eighth grade. They were hard-working people, believing that if they worked hard enough, their hard work would eventually be rewarded. My father taught us that the only way that we could ever improve our lives, and the lives of our children, was to get an education. Therefore, I was motivated by the idea that if acquire an education, I could thereby improve my living conditions. Daddy and Moma taught us that if we got a good education, no one could take an education away from us.

As a result, I am convinced today that if children in underdeveloped countries were to receive an adequate education, they could improve the conditions and quality of their lives and improve the conditions and quality of life within the country in which they live. Therefore if we pour into their lives today, Africa would reap a harvest in due season and the children of Bimishi village will be equipped to pour into the lives of others.

I have earned a Bachelor of Science, Master of Social Work, Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry. I worked very hard to earn my education, and I have no regrets. Currently, I am a Christian Therapist, and director of a Christian Counseling Center in Fairfield, California. My specialty is in the area of reconciling broken marriages, broken individuals, and broken families who are alienated from themselves, their God and others.

My husband and I visited Bimishi Village in Abuji, Nigeria in 2006. The village has a total number of about 475 children who desperately need some of the basic necessities of life. It is important that these children receive an adequate education for the purpose of building up and strengthening themselves, and for the purpose of contributing to their families, their village, and their country. Overall, they need an education so that they may improve their quality of life, and the quality of life of their village and country. We must understand, then help them to pull themselves up from the place where they are, so that they may understand and then help to pull others up from the place where they are.

Please remember Bimishi village in Abuji Nigeria in your thoughts, your finances, and most importantly, remember Bimishi village in your prayers.

We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Marie P. Horgan of Chelsea, Massachusetts, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

The Library

By Marie P. Horgan
Chelsea, MA

On June 11 many, many years ago, I turned 6 years old. The next day, my Godmother, Ma Tante Madeleine, came to pick me up. We were setting off for the library so I could register for a library card. I was more excited about this prospect than I had been for my birthday!

When we finally arrived at the library, we climbed the seemingly endless stairs to the large, wooden doors at the top. Pushing the heavy, solid doors opened, I entered this sacred space in complete reverence and awe. The moment had finally arrived: I was now old enough to receive the privilege of becoming a “book-borrower”!

I was quite impatient as I answered the librarian’s questions: name, address, age, school, etc. Then, the glorious and sweetest moment in my entire life happened: I heard the words, “Here is your very own library card.” I barely had time to grab the card from the librarian’s hands before I dashed off to the Children’s Fiction Room, which was filled from top to bottom and corner to corner with story books and young adult novels.

I stopped at the first bookcase on my right and immediately pulled out a book. I pulled out another, and then a third. I had been told, much to my sorrow, that three books were the limit that could be borrowed at a time.

I sat down on one of the benches and began to read. My heart was ready to explode with happiness! But suddenly, I froze. My breath stopped. I looked around the room and I was struck with an awful awareness: it was going to take years and years to read every single book in that room. And I knew, without ever having been told (an uncanny insight for one so young), that there were hundreds — no, THOUSANDS — more of these rooms all over the world! How would I ever be able to read all the books that had ever been written?

For a brief span of time, my moments of pure delight were changed to pin-prickles of sadness. But I soon dug in my heels and decided that the adventures, the knowledge, and the experiences I needed in my life would know how to mystically make their way into my hands, and thus make their way into my heart, soul, and mind.

Since that day so many, many years ago, I have never stopped filling my life, my spirit, my mind, my very essence, with the magic and wonder of reading. Some of my dearest friends live between the covers of books. Some of my most wonderful travels and experiences have been had without leaving the comfort of my home because I have the written word before me. I have only to open up again these “friends” of mine to relish the delights of escapades with Anne from Anne of Green Gables, or rediscover the murderer using my “little grey cells” with Monsieur Poirot.

Books and reading have brought me comfort in times of sadness, knowledge to dispel the fear, and excitement to fill my days. I will always be eternally grateful for the wonderful examples of my parents, Gerard and Emily, and Ma Tante Madeleine for instilling in me a love and life-long desire for reading. For they are the three who lovingly and willingly read to me from the time I was a very young child. During these precious and sacred moments, they gave of their time, attention, and joy while they shared their own love of reading. My life is so much richer for the treasures they shared, and for the treasures I continue to receive every time I open a book.

Why care about the ability to read? Both of my parents and Ma Tante Madeleine had very little formal education. But, because they could read, they were able to procure jobs that allowed them to earn a decent living. They were “self-educated” in the truest sense of that phrase. And they never once dismissed the importance of continuing one’s education, whether formally or informally.

I witnessed their compassion, their donation of time, and their financial sacrifices to contribute money, no matter how little, to many organization that promoted better living circumstances; organizations that helped feed, cloth, shelter, provide medical care, and educate others who needed these things. They gave regardless of race, color, or creed because they believed, as I do, that we are all part of God’s family; we are all brothers and sisters.

I can think of no better way to honor my family than by continuing their selfless giving to worthy organizations that promote healthy, decent, well-rounded, and educated lives. By being a member of the ONE organization, I am doing just that. Not only does this organization take aggressive steps working toward an end to AIDS and extreme poverty, but now they have joined forces with the Global Campaign for Education.

I believe, as my family did, that being able to read is the first step in overcoming ignorance, poverty, and substandard living. For the ability to read, along with improving the overall quality of life, can lead people out of their dire circumstances and lead them toward healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives.

We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Melissa Marcou of Millerton, NY, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

A Sweater Makes a Difference

By Melissa Marcou
Millerton, NY

I’m writing as a single mom in America — a waitress — to let you know that my two boys’ education, structure, and growth are very important to me. And to EVERY other mom in this world.

My son, Maximus Lennon, only 7, tells the story and life of John Lennon, whom he is named after, to help people understand that WE ARE ALL ONE. I wear the ONE T-shirt, and I’ve bought and handed out hundreds of ONE bracelets. We’ve sacrificed and saved to send anti-malaria bed nets to Africa, and I sponsor a child named Morris, who just turned 6, in Kenya.

According to our standards, I’m below the poverty level in the US. But I’m not, globally. These children like Morris have the world in their heads, hearts, and minds. They just need a little help to make it all happen. The most brilliant ideas don’t necessarily come from people with money, but people, even children, with IDEAS, HOPE, and LOVE for others and the planet. These children will strive for knowledge, and their strong hearts will work and work to make the world better. Please, we need to help all we can.

I remember when I was about 15, on a field trip to New York City, wearing an Irish sweater, very warm. We came back to Grand Central. It was December, snowing. A frail, older African American man was in a white T-shirt and pants, just lying on the steps. All the people walked past him. I stopped. I gave him my sweater. He needed it. I went home cold, and got beaten for “losing” my sweater.

I hope that man is still here, and warm. I hope that over 15 years later, he might think of the girl who stopped, and gave him protection, the best way she knew how. I hope that now, all these years later, that WE can make a difference. As tears fall, please help make a difference in the lives of us all. All over the planet, a “sweater” can make a difference. A smile, laugh, a touch, and a book of knowledge can help! With my heart on my sleeve, please help to teach, save, and spread love in this world.

We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Lisa Treumuth of Ann Arbor, Michigan, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

The Breakthrough

By Lisa Treumuth
Ann Arbor, MI

In the summer of 2006, I had the opportunity to travel to Ecuador as part of a service trip sponsored by the University of Michigan. We went to the capitol city of Quito for a month and worked with an organization that paid poor children’s school fees so that they could get an education; to help them succeed, we provided them with free after-school tutoring.

We worked especially hard with the family who let us tutor the neighborhood children in their yard. Though the main tutoring session was in the afternoon, one of us would go to the house each morning to work with the kids in the family who were still too young to go to school.

One child who required a lot of attention was a little four-year-old named Diego. Try as we might to teach him colors and numbers, no matter how many times we drilled him, he almost always mixed up rojo and azul, and he skipped the number siete when counting to ten. We were beginning to wonder if he was beyond our ability to help him.

Then one day when I was working with Diego, I decided to write his name in dashed lines so that he could trace over them to practice writing his name. I had him do it several times until he formed the letters correctly. Finally I praised him for his hard work, gave him a paper and crayon and told him to draw whatever he wanted. To my surprise and delight, he immediately sat down and wrote his name, all by himself.

I showed the paper to the other tutors, and we cheered with joy! Responding to our praise, Diego wrote his name several more times, yelling “Yay!” along with us every time he did.

Diego had proved us wrong — he was perfectly capable of learning. All it took was a little encouragement and effort, and he acquired the ability to write his name, to say to the world, “I AM DIEGO!”

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how profound this breakthrough was: if even Diego, who lived in a house with no heat, who sometimes had nothing to eat all day but soda, bread, and porridge, could make a breakthrough like this, who knows what could happen if all children were given access to an education.

Think of all the children living in slums who, if given the chance, could stem the tide of global warming by finding sources of new green energy, or find a cure to a deadly disease, or end the poverty that threatened to disable them. Who knows what wondrous impossibilities could become possible, if we equipped all people with an education.

After I came back from Ecuador, I had the chance to lobby on the Hill in Washington, DC with RESULTS, a partner organization of ONE. I shared Diego’s story with many Congressional aides and legislators, and they were energized as they caught a glimpse of what could happen in a world where all children have access to an education.

And now, leaders of the world: I am asking all of you to share in this vision, and to act to make it possible. The children of the world have the power to create a new kind of global community. Will you give them the chance?

We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Mary Kenny of Brooklyn, New York, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

A Message of Hope

By Mary Kenny
Brooklyn, NY

I work as an administrative assistant in an inner-city Brooklyn high school that is struggling to get kids to graduate. We struggle to keep them out of gangs and away from violence. Lots of them are foster kids with no adult guidance. Yet amazingly, many come ready and eager to learn, eager to share their laughter with others. These students form bonds with the adults who serve them that last a lifetime.

Their lives are tougher than most of us can imagine and recently, we had one young man from a rough neighborhood lose his battle with bone cancer. Throughout his struggle, this student was a light in this school that inspired all of us. He attended his classes daily while walking on crutches and kept a smile on his face. He knew the importance of his education. He was determined to graduate and shake off his poverty, and the other students saw this fierce determination. They all came away from this experience with the same message of hope.

As a ONE member, I know I can make a difference in the world, similar to the difference the life of this student made to his peers here, inspiring them to keep a positive attitude to overcome any obstacle. Education is the tool for creating a better life and I experience that every day at work.

Some students are immigrants with poor language skills. I worry that if they can’t graduate, what kind of a future will they have here? And, if they can’t succeed, how can society succeed?

As a mother of four boys, I know I want a better life for my sons than I had. My parents had no education and were laborers in sweatshop factories. I can remember my mother coming home from work in the summer, literally wringing the sweat out from her dress in the sink. She would encourage me to go to college and give myself the opportunities that she never had. I thank God for her words of wisdom every day.

She wanted a better life for her children, as I do for mine. All mothers around the world want that for their children, and ONE is helping give mothers a chance at that dream.

I am honored to do all I can for ONE.

We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Erika Parker Price of Mukilteo, Washington, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

Bluefields Basic School

By Erika Parker Price
Mukilteo, WA

Each September, as I send my children off to school, I wonder what the year will bring. What will they learn? How will they grow their minds?

In America, we debate school issues vehemently — standardized testing, pay for performance, and class size — but we never question whether children have the right to go to school. Of course they do. All children have that right, but sadly, we dole it out unequally across the globe.

Through ONE, I have been able to lend my voice to the fight to end global poverty in our lifetime. I sign petitions, call my government representatives, and donate to other organizations that build schools for children in impoverished countries. But how do I communicate the importance of these issues to the next generation, my own children, who are frequently lost in their own world of homework, school plays, and baseball games?

Of course I can tell them that school is a privilege, but whenever possible I like to show them in a way that their minds can absorb. When my oldest son Ryan was five years old, our family was fortunate enough to vacation in Jamaica. We were searching for sunshine and white sandy beaches to escape our own cold and rainy winter. Despite our shallow motivations, we also wanted to learn something of the country and teach our children about another culture.

Knowing that our hotel proprietors supported the local Basic School, we came prepared with a suitcase full of supplies to donate. We loaded up on pencils, crayons, books, and musical instruments which we planned to deliver to the school.

When Ryan and I arrived at the Bluefields Basic School, I immediately started cataloging all the differences between this school and his at home. The buildings were smaller. The water came from an outdoor pump, rather than an indoor sink. There was no playground equipment.

Ryan, on the other hand, didn’t even see the differences. He also hadn’t noticed the devastation left by the hurricane that had struck several months earlier. Houses were typically raised above ground with a few uneven rocks stuffed under each corner. Many of them had fallen on one side and looked more like crazy Dr. Seuss houses with floors that angled sharply to one side. Innocence blinded my son to the poverty and devastation. He saw beautiful landscape and interesting people — just as he did at the school that day.

Ryan did find many ways the school was similar to his own. The children sat at desks and ranged in age from three to six, just as they did at his school. They were studying their shapes and numbers. Recess was a chance to run around and play games with friends. In a familiar way, the teachers reminded the children to wash their hands before returning to lessons.

Although they spoke English, the words were rarely intelligible to a five-year-old American ear, but children don’t need language to relate to each other. At recess, they compared shoes, sized each other up to see who was taller, and giggled together.

I had expected my son to see the school as different from his own, but instead I shifted my perceptions after viewing it through his eyes. A school isn’t defined by its size or its playground equipment. This was a safe, nurturing environment for the children to grow their minds and develop into their full potential.

Although this type of school is available throughout Jamaica, the Bluefields Basic School is particularly successful because of the additional support it receives. People come from around the globe to enjoy the pristine beauty of Jamaica, but many also leave behind donations to supplement the funds the hotel already provides to educate the local children. Because of this, the school is able to educate 60 children each year, despite the fact that only one-fourth of the money comes from the families. No child is turned away because of an inability to pay.

School teaches children to read and write, to multiply and divide, but it also teaches them to think, to negotiate, to compromise. They learn to share, to be part of a team, to become leaders. These skills are critical in a world where modern technology and transportation have effectively removed our borders. Products are shipped across oceans and companies employ people around the globe. Many of our plights — war, illness, economic crisis — know no borders. We need to educate our children around the world today to solve the problems of tomorrow.

When I recently showed the Jamaica pictures to my children, now ages nine and seven, they were concerned with what they saw. “Why do they have to go to a school that is only for blacks?” they wondered. I reassured them that it was not a segregated school, but was pleased that they thought enough to question it.

“The native children of Jamaica are black and the school is open to all children,” I explained.

Through education, my children have learned of the errors of our own country’s past. A year after the trip to Jamaica, we had visited the home of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia. The tour guide had pointed out the nearby home of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s best friend from childhood. My boys were shocked to learn that he wasn’t allowed to play with his friend anymore once they started attending separate and segregated schools, because his best friend was white.

“That’s not fair,” Ryan had argued.

“No,” I agreed, “that wasn’t fair.”

Education has taught my children to question the inequalities in life. I pray that I am showing them how to fight for change. Education is a right for all children, but that doesn’t mean that it happens automatically. It is our duty, as citizens of the world, to ensure that each child has the opportunity to go to school. In return, we will all benefit from the contributions these children will one day make to our global society.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

Singular Story, Shared Destiny

By Courtney Anne Lenoir
Locust Valley, NY

During Barack Obama’s acceptance speech last November, he stated these powerful words, “Our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared.” How does this apply to education as a human right for all children?

We all have unique gifts and life experiences that add to the fabric of who we are becoming as adults. In order to strive for peace, we need to look at each other with humanity, understanding our differences but searching for what unites us as citizens of the world.

I am writing today because of my singular story. On September 11th, almost eight years ago, at the age of nine, my idyllic childhood came to a crashing halt. The events that day had a devastating effect on my family with the loss of my father, but they also affected the nation by forcing us out of the comfort zone we had been living in.

In the aftermath, teens were exposed to the realities of war, inequality and hate. We saw it in Iraq. We see it in Darfur, India, Kenya, Haiti, Palestine and many other developing nations on the globe. These places in great turmoil are regions with enormous inequality. When basic human rights are neglected, individuals become desperate in their thoughts and actions. It is a known fact that education increases the standard of living and ultimately, it is the best tool to stop the vicious cycle of poverty.

Howard Thurman said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” In the last few years, I have come alive with the passion to reach out to my peers, to share my story and to work together to inspire change.

I think personal tragedy can bring out the best and the worst in people. I have seen both. Instead of being bitter, I have used my situation as a catalyst to find my profound purpose in life at a rather early age. I owe this to the memory of my father.

By starting the organization Generation Y Not, which works with the strategy formulated by ONE, I have created a forum for young people to gather and mobilize their communities in this revolution to end poverty.

The world we are living in today is so much more interconnected than our parents’ world. Advances in media and technology enable us to share information, images, and thoughts instantly no matter where we may be physically located. Each of us has a responsibility in our shared destiny. Our generation has a voice and when we are called upon to share that voice, we need to understand what we are talking about. We cannot simply sit back and nod to every opinion our parents may have, we also cannot always disagree. We need to acquire information so we can make independent, informed opinions. Because of our connectedness, our idealism, and the amount of information we have at our fingertips, this generation could be the first to see the end of extreme poverty.

Although each of the Millennium Development Goals is crucial to the improvement of humanity, I am a champion for Universal Primary Education. I sponsor three children in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, so that they have the funds needed for mandatory uniforms, books and school supplies. Without my support, these small details would be enormous financial obstacles that would stand in the way of their education. I have raised money to build new classrooms for the schools so that the students do not have to sit and try and learn with muddy floors and nothing but a leaking tin roof overhead.

I have never felt more proud to be an American than when I had the opportunity to attend Action Week for the Global Campaign for Education. Alongside peers from ONE, CARE, and Mercy Corps, passionate teens like me went door to door on the Hill speaking to members of Congress about the importance of The Education for All Act. I was able to share my stories with influential men and women from both sides of the aisle and was amazed at the fact that they listened to me, a young teenager.

I told them how important my education has been and how fortunate I am to be living in a country that values both boys and girls. Experts feel that the education of girls could have the most positive impact on developing nations. When girls are educated, their future brightens. The amount of income they make increases greatly. They have healthier children and less malnutrition. Educated women are less likely to become HIV positive, and they gain a sense of self worth. As an African proverb states, “Educate a boy and you educate and individual. Educate a girl and you educate a community.”

Universal education may also increase the security of our nation. If quality, moderate schooling is offered to children, then desperate families will choose this over the other options which may involve the doctrine of hate and fervor of religion. Education for all could save us or other nations from another September 11th.

I may only be a student but when the play is over, when the sports season ends, when the driver’s license is attained, when the exams are done, and when I have been admitted to college, I will have made a significant contribution to the future of humanity. Do not for a minute think that just because I am a minor that I cannot make a major difference in our world. It is the positive and sometimes crazy idealism of youth that approaches today’s obstacles with hope. “Our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared.” We will not put up with a future filled with war, poverty and hate, when we know that in order to live happily ever after, all you need is peace, equality and love.