The New Year brings new beginnings. It’s a blank slate waiting to be engraved, an opportunity to leave a tangible mark on the world that we hope will represent our very best. We often approach this opportunity for change with new goals, or a determination to complete last year’s which were left unfinished, or even a resolve to stop making New Year Resolutions altogether and live in the moment. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s popular “I Have a Dream,” speech he said, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” By definition, equality is the state of being equal in status, rights and opportunities; it connotes a sense of fairness and justice. So as you read this you might be thinking “what do New Year Resolutions and the idea of equality have to do with one another?”
Get healthy, lose weight, exercise more, get promoted at work, make more money, save more money, travel more, spend more time with family, connect more with friends, though all excellent goals, are naturally, inwardly focused. We often don’t venture far from our own personal habits and close familial relationships. We all tend to look myopically at the gift of time ahead of us. We often cannot see the extraordinary opportunities that lie just beyond our doorstep - the opportunities to irrevocably transform another person's future. What would our world look like if we all decided to prioritize a Giving Goal in addition to all our other goals for the year? What change could we achieve if we were committed to one consistent and impactful act of justice?
For many beaten down by the cycle of generational poverty, the New Year does not ignite a sense of hope but rather resignation. “Will I find a consistent job?” “Will I be able to eat and feed my children?” “Which child has to stay home, which child should I pick to go to school?” “Will my children survive the year?” The New Year for many means, more struggle and more heartache. But this does not have to be their reality forever. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dreams of equality and justice inspired change in a generation locked in a broken culture of inequality, injustice and discrimination, a culture wrestling with maintaining the status quo versus embracing a new era of social change.
In 2019, Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream for equality is now our dream too! Education is a vehicle for empowerment, and quality education is a route to equality. The benefits of quality education are numerous, from better wages and job opportunities, to improved health and latent protection of human rights due to greater awareness. The cycle of poverty can be broken! But it takes everyone working together for justice to make it happen! Children living in extreme poverty can face the future with a sense of hope when we partner to provide them with the opportunities that quality education provides. For many families living on less than $2 a day in Mathare, Kenya, eduKenya’s work is vital. Through our work in providing quality education and support services to the families of Mathare, the cycle of poverty is losing its foothold in that community.
As you think about the year ahead, have you considered adding a Giving Goal to your New Year’s Resolutions? Would you join us in fighting for equality for the children of Mathare through one consistent act of justice every month?
eduKenya’s Classroom Sponsorship Program is the perfect opportunity for you to make a commitment this year to give thoughtfully and consistently to a justice cause. For a gift of $45 a month, your gift and those of other partners will educate an entire class comprised of 20-25 children. This means multiplied impact for your giving every month!
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” We too believe that now is the time! Now is the time for justice for those living in extreme poverty! Now is the time to give the opportunity for children and families to not just survive but thrive!
Commit to a Giving Goal in 2019. Join us in our journey to see families thrive in Mathare and give through the eduKenya Classroom Sponsorship Program.