Last May, twenty of your fellow classmates became part of school history when they formed the first Belmont study-abroad group to journey to Africa. They traveled a total of 19,000 miles to the countries of South Africa and Botswana. While in Cape Town, they worked with an organization called Living Hope. As an organization, their mission is to be as actively involved with the local community townships as possible:
- They have a radio station which was the first post-apartheid radio station in the country.
- They run a hospice that houses patients with HIV/AIDS and TB.
- They go into schools and teach kids about abstinence and morals.
- They offer jobs to locals who have been trained and are part of the organization itself.
- They work with homeless, youth, sick, and underprivileged by helping them regain strength and courage that was lost during the apartheid.
- They were recipients of the 2007 "Courageous Leadership Award" presented by Willow Creek Community Church and World Vision for leadership in the worldwide fight against AIDS.
Click on the videos to the right ---> Go on. They won't bite.
(it won't even redirect you to a new site, or open in a new window, or anything!)
(it won't even redirect you to a new site, or open in a new window, or anything!)
Without the internet, those in the townships and even the workers at Living Hope don't have access to basic knowledge that we take for granted. With books, they will be able to read about a subject, broaden their knowledge and enhance their work as an organization, plus distribute the texts to others which will start the cycle all over again. As a university filled with information and textbooks, we have a chance to do something profound, yet simple: use the abundance of books in our very own backpacks (most of which we sell back for $10 or don't ever use again) to help people who are in desperate need of textbooks, knowledge, and information.
Basically, we are trying to fill a need of an organization that has done and continues to do wonders in Cape Town, South Africa. We need your help though, and all it takes is a single textbook. If each student gave one, we'd have thousands of books and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of information which translates into hope for these people across the ocean.
Basically, we are trying to fill a need of an organization that has done and continues to do wonders in Cape Town, South Africa. We need your help though, and all it takes is a single textbook. If each student gave one, we'd have thousands of books and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of information which translates into hope for these people across the ocean.
