Life around Us

Finding a charity that speaks to you

I never realised I was looking, until I found it, only to realise that I have been looking for it all along.

I have been looking for a way to give something back to the society, be it through work, business, or a charitable organisation. I’ve finally stumbled across something which speaks to me on a fundamental level.

I’m not sure if you have thought of what does charity mean. So far, to me, the word “charity” means giving away money to the poor/needy, most of the time with only a vague idea of where that money is going. I don’t like giving just because I pity the person. I would rather give so that the person will be empowered to do something about his/her situation. This thought did not fully materialise until I read about Room to Read.

I’ve recently read a book by John Wood - Leaving Microsoft to change the world. As the title suggest, he left Microsoft and set up Room to Read, an organisation providing children with the opportunity to learn. He started off with an aim to give books to children in Nepal, as their biggest school library has only 20 books, made up of leftovers by travelers, with books like “The Lonely Planet Guide to Mongolia” and romance novels by Danielle Steel. From that small aim, it evolved into building schools and libraries for several countries, on top of the original aim of supplying books to these group of children.

I’m sure there will be more blogging entries to come about this, but why not visit the website for yourself. See if this speaks to you as much as it did to me.

© 2008 shang lee . com.