Yesterday, I wrote about one of my favorite books of all time, Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza (pictured here.) If you haven’t read about her amazing story of survival during the Rwandan genocides, check out yesterday’s post or the book Left to Tell.
Today, I wanted to let you know about her charity: The Left To Tell Charitable Fund, which is controlled by her publisher, Hay House, Inc. The mission of the charitable fund is to help Rwandan orphans with educational needs, providing scholarships for school-age children. Education is important to Immaculee, and both of her parents, killed during the genocide, were educators. Scholarships buy things such as materials, clothes, and food, and they can also pay for school fees. A scholarship for a college student in Rwanda is $1000; for an elementary student, it costs $500. On the website, it gives an example of a $5000 donation being able to help 10 elementary students go to school in Rwanda.
As we know, and as the authors discuss in my other favorite book–Half the Sky–education is the best way to fight the problems going on in the world. When students are educated, they are less likely to get married and pregnant young, continue old traditions for no reason, or join violent gangs. Education is the long-term solution. The Left to Tell Charitable Fund is mostly funded through a percentage of sales for Immaculee’s book–Left to Tell. So, when you purchase a copy of this book for yourself or as a gift, you are helping the children in Rwanda. Other sources come from the sale of the Left to Tell bracelets (which young people would love to wear!), private donations, and Immaculee’s speaking engagements. I love charities where you can buy gifts for the loved ones in your lives, and proceeds go to help someone else. They are the truly the gifts that keep on giving.
If you are interested in learning more about this charity, please visit this link.
The theme of my blog is, of course, read these books and use them. And in this case, you can purchase a copy and really do good in the world–so can teens. Tomorrow, I plan to write about how we can help people in the world even when we don’t have any extra money to donate. It’s a tough economy, but money isn’t the only way to help.
A book about the Rwandan genocide for children ages 9 to 12:
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