YouAreHOPE for Lagos, Africa - Providing School Supplies to as many impoverished children as possible with your generous assistance via the STEEM blockchain and the power of the community that cares!

WHAT KNITS ME
By @misterakpan

I may not have grown up with a lot of privileges, but I didn't have to worry about my supplies for school, or where my fees will come from. My parents were just as capable. My world was often the criss-cross between lack of basic needs, and a fundamental kind of abundance: I picked mangoes with kids whose household struggled for the next meal, and I mingled with the others who knew for sure that the power generator will light their homes from six in the night till they slept. I was a social and economic hybrid.

That created in me a special kind of humility, accompanied with enough empathy. Since I have had a taste of both worlds -- so to say -- I know the proverbial “where it stings.”

Now that is my story. That is what drives me to charity. Yours could be different. Yours should be different. And I am sure YouAreHOPE founder, @sircork’s, is a unique drive. But we only acknowledge that, to throw it all out of the window. We are united by a common goal of making the world a better place, by providing for those who are not in a position to repay us, not as a religious obligation, not a social responsibility but because this is just who we are, intrinsically as humans.

This is who YOU are. This is who I am.

Today You Are Hope launches across the globe and I am proud to announce the opportunity to reach out to 14% of the world population that is ravaged by extreme poverty, who lack access to basic human needs including food and clean water. It is a privilege to serve as an agent, reaching out to rejoins in Nigeria, Africa to provide basic needs where it is needed most. You can learn about @YouAreHope from the announcement blog here

OUR PILOT PROJECT

PROVIDING SCHOOL SUPPLIES TO 15 KIDS IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL IN ABAK, IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

What can a hundred dollars buy?

A trip to a day spa. Or school supplies for over a dozen kids in a primary school in Nigeria. Backpacks. Notebooks. Pens. Pencils. Crayons.

We will work with the school administrators and distribute these to the kids who will be asked to fulfill a simple task. What's this task? We figured we could hit two birds with a stone.

Here's how:

Steemit creates an ecosystem that rewards creative content creation. We believe in a charity that doesn't threaten the recipient's dignity. We put these together and it birthed the idea to task the kids to each submit an essay on any fun topic of some choices we will provide to them. We will then reward the best entries with our supplies, and smaller consolation prizes for everyone else.

That sounds good, right?

There is no limit to what we can achieve when we come together to offer hope to those who need it. We will publish a report of our initiative. We hope to build on that and reach more and more children, giving their parents one less thing to worry about.

”If we take what we have and share it
Those of us who can spare it
Take a little and give it away
So many lives hang in the balance.”
Bebe Winans, Let It Be

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About the articles’ author:

Ubokobong “misterakpan” Akpan is a community-driven Nigerian fortunate to be born at a time when it was still safe to have a soccer game on a tarred road. His passions are preserving culture, driving social interactions, and the blockchain. Between those he is building a distribution business, growing plantain and bananas, and whoops arses on FIFA.
His Steemit handle is @misterkpan

[African school images from teabagcharity.org.uk]