When you first see Kua, she’s at the blackboard, the teacher admiring her work. She’s sporting a baseball cap and t-shirt with her school skirt and is undoubtedly smiling.
When they break for lunch, her classmates fall into a familiar stride behind their friend and leader. Kua knows everybody in Pha Theung school and village.
And everybody knows Kua. She is a confident, intelligent and friendly female who loves her village and her school.
As they file out the door, she announces to all of them that they’re going to take the falang, …
He looks down at the boiled chicken head in his hands. “Deal.”
One night after leaving the Seeds of Learning facilities recently, I found myself peering over the edge of an active volcanic crater in Nicaragua, sharing gasps of awe with fellow travelers from every corner of the globe. We next ventured through the dark to explore a large cave, normally a place where you would feel as far removed from all familiarities as possible.
As we approached I heard two American accents, which led to a casual conversation with two fellow travelers who told me they worked in advertising. The conversation went …
For the past week I have been spending time in Dario, Nicaragua formalizing our first partnership in Latin America with an incredible organization called Seeds of Learning. We share a common approach to community development, which is grounded in the belief that each village must be deeply entrenched participants in the construction of their school, library or community center.
These structures we build neither “belong” to Seeds of Learning nor Pencils of Promise. They belong to the community; we are merely facilitators towards this end. Sustainability lies in local ownership, not …
(From Adam, currently in Nicaragua working on our next partnership)
PoP was founded in October of 2008, with the simple ambition of finding a way to build just a single school. That was it. I was about to turn 25 years old, so I put $25 into a new PoP bank account and we were off. The goal was to throw two small fundraisers with my closest friends in NYC, and turn that multitude of small donations into a school for a community of tremendous need. So one year later, where …
Muhammad Yunus, one of the most repsected leaders in anti-poverty efforts today, will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama at an award ceremony on Wednesday, August 12.
Dr. Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist by training, is the recipiant of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Grameen Bank, for their efforts to “create economic and social development from below”. Grameen bank
It was exciting, although not entirely surprising, for us to hear that Muhammad Yunus, one of the most respected leaders in anti-poverty efforts today, will …
