How can I make a difference for the Orphans' Project?
It is easy to help children involved in the Orphans' Project. Here are a few ways that you can make a positive impact today:
- Build the dream by using the amazing ADP Dream Cards in a Fundraiser or Community Service project
- Inspire others by sharing some Dream Cards from the ADP Dream Shop with your loved ones
- Contribute to the building fund directly by donating today
Overview
The seed for the Orphans' Project was planted in 2004, when ADP founder Jason Gilde traveled to Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya with paint and blank canvases. He re-visited an impoverished elementary school and asked the students to paint their dreams.
Jason was shocked when the students asked what a dream was--they had never considered what they would do if the possibilities were endless! Over the next few days, the paintings and dreams began to take shape—some hoped to become doctors, others to become business owners—but all dreamed to help relieve the poverty and disease of their native Kenyans.
Jason and others found the results so moving that he committed himself to helping the students achieve their dreams. Upon returning to the U.S., he began to do a bit of dreaming of his own. He determined that the best way to help the students achieve their goals was to fill a crucial gap in their education.
For the children in Kibera, access to education ended at 8th grade. Jason founded the Africa Dream Project with the goal of enabling these children to attend top national and international universities by building a world class International Baccalaureate (IB) high school.
International Baccalaureate is an internationally recognized high school educational standards organization which is dedicated to providing high quality, challenging, international education. There are currently only five other IB high schools in Kenya which are reserved for a privileged few.
Jason returned to Kenya in 2007 with a group of 6 like-minded individuals to meet with community leaders and education professionals to draw up plans for the high school. They selected a parcel of land, created a plan for the school, and discussed budgetary issues.
Spurgeons, a UK based education-oriented non-profit organization which currently supports Spurgeons Academy (also, see Spurgeons Child Care Kenya), a K-8 school in Kibera, currently helps to fund the high school educations of a few Kibera orphans by sending them to boarding schools at great cost. These funds would be available after the creation of the new high school to fund its staffing and maintenance and would be sufficient to cover initial operating costs.
Africa Dream Project is currently working with professionals in Kenya and the U.S. to implement the construction of a high school facility, aiming for a school that is sustainable, efficient, cost-effective, and culturally relevant. Our team is engaging in full-scale fundraising efforts to cover the initial cost of purchasing land and building the school.
Why education? Will this end extreme poverty in Kenya?
The short answer is "Partly," and education is a good place to start.
Education is one of many fronts on which Africa faces immense challenges. Fighting preventable diseases such as Malaria and HIV/AIDS, improving maternal health, protecting early childhood development, building infrastructure, controlling population growth and rural-urban migration, improving agriculture, combating government corruption, fostering small business enterprise, and finding ways which Africa can contribute to the global economy are all needs which must be addressed before extreme poverty can be eliminated in Africa.
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals suggest an 8 front attack on Africa's problems. Education plays a role on all fronts; from improving knowledge of preventable disease to finding ideal seed varieties. Educated Africans can make a difference in their country's health and economy.
Education alone will not solve all of Africa problems, but it will help provide a solid foundation for future generations.
Why is the Orphans' Project a worthwhile cause? Will my money really make a difference?
Africa Dream Project or a hundred such efforts won’t solve all of Africa’s challenges.
No one has all the answers. We each have a part to play. We each a role to play, a piece of the solution puzzle.
Compassionate people willing to serve a cause greater than themselves will overcome Africa's daunting challenges.
Africa Dream Project's mission is twofold:
First, we exist to make a difference in a few, or a few hundred, or a few thousand lives.
By providing education for some, we believe they will have a positive impact that will spread to reach many more. This impact will be a significant improvement in the lives that it touches, bringing income through new jobs at new businesses, quality medical care, and education to pass on to the successive generations.
Our second goal is awareness.
Through presentations at churches, campuses, and communities in California, the U.S., and beyond, we hope to open eyes to the realities of slum life in Kibera and the hope which survives in the dreams of Kibera's orphans. In short, we are building the very society that is necessary to see positive transformation. It may require decades of tireless effort to see the long term change in Africa, but everyone can make a difference. We hope to spark in individuals, the necessary concern for their fellow human beings which compels them to get involved in the service of empowering lives and eliminating poverty.
Will you partner with us? |
