Last night, as I drove home from piano lessons, I was utterly inspired and excited by two stories I heard on Market Place (you can hear the story here). The first was about a man named Greg Mortenson who has been working in Pakistan and Afghanistan to build schools and promote education (especially for females). His whole deal is that peace is brought about through education… I like that a lot.
“In July 1992, Mortenson’s sister, Christa, died from a massive seizure….
To honor his sister’s memory, in 1993, Mortenson climbed Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain in the Karakoram range.
While recovering from the climb in a village called Korphe, Mortenson met a group of children sitting in the dirt writing with sticks in the sand, and made a promise to help them build a school.
From that rash promise, grew a remarkable humanitarian campaign, in which Mortenson has dedicated his life to promote education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
As of 2009, Mortenson has established or significantly supports 131 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 58,000 children, including 44,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.”
-excerpt from threecupsoftea.com
The second inspiration came from the next story on Market Place (you can hear it here). It was about how people feel good about buying gifts when part of the proceeds are donated to good causes, especially during financially difficult times.
“Now,” I thought, “there’s something I can do – donate a portion of my pattern sales to help this guy build some schools and get some peace flowing around!”
Hmmm… how to get the word out? Oh ya, I have a blog!
So, here’s the skinny…
For the month of December I will be donating 10% from all of my pattern sales (you can find them at happyday.etsy.com or on my Ravelry page) to The Central Asia Institute (www.ikat.org), which is the organization Greg has set up to promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Together we can help promote peace through education! Hooray!
I am so excited about this! Can you help me spread the word far and wide? Please send this post to everyone that you know who might be interested.
Thanks so much and Cheers!
~Annie
Happy Day Momma 