I’m turning 36 years young! Here in a village in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.
My 36th birthday is here!
It’s going to be a great natal year–I can already feel it. Perhaps it will be good luck for you, too. In this post, I’m giving away a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world.
But back to that strange birthday gift…
Much to the chagrin of my momma-san, I’ve become quite difficult to buy presents for. Some friends even think I’m impossible to find presents for. Not so. I love handwritten letters, homemade brownies, girlfriends in next-to-nothing, and–most of all–when people do something nice.
You, my dear readers, have an awesome track record of doing nice things.
For my b-day in 2010, you all raised more than $100,000 for high-need public school classrooms in the US. In 2011, you helped build libraries overseas (Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam), and last year, you helped poor youth in developing nations finish school.
In lieu of gifts this year, my birthday wish is to provide clean water to the people who need it most. I’m doing it on this page. There are fun prizes involved, so keep reading…
I recently traveled to the Tigray Region in Ethiopia with the incredible Charity: Water team. I witnessed, first-hand, what life is like for people living without clean, safe water.
Nearly 1 billion people worldwide fall into this group. For me, it’s not just a health issue. That’s not the most interesting part. If you want to offer a hand up (education, work) and not a hand out, water is highly leveraged for breaking the cycle of poverty.
In fact, every $1 invested in improved water access and sanitation can yield an average of $12 in economic returns.
Here’s how:
In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year (e.g. the entire annual workforce of France!) walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking for miles to the nearest source. The solution? Installing simple water wells for clean water in strategically close locations.
Children can then spend more time in classrooms learning, and women can contribute to their communities with their minds instead of carrying jerry cans most of the day.
A jerry can, 40 pounds when full.
Clean water creates more capable problem solvers in places with persistent problems. If you want to empower people instead of doling out aid indefinitely, this is a powerful starting point.
Here’s what I’d love to ask, and where the free roundtrip ticket comes in:
1. Join my 36th birthday challenge by clicking here. It’s worth clicking through just to check out the site. Donations are tax-deductible.
2. To get your engines started, I’ve put in $3,600 of my own money.
3. If the spirit moves you, please make a $36 donation (or whatever you can: $1, $36, $1,000, etc.) to providing clean water to those who need it most. Even a $1 can make a big difference!
4. Charity: Water sends 100% of every donation directly to fund projects in the field. No “administrative fees” or anything–every penny of every dollar goes to the field. Cool, right? And because I was just in Ethiopia, they’ll be sending it there. The best part: Charity: Water will report back in 18 months with GPS coordinates, photos and information about the communities we’ve impacted.
– If you all help raise $36,000, I will personally add another $5,000.
– If you all help raise $100,000 (100% doable), I’ll add on a total of $10,000.
– The deadline is 5pm PST on Friday, August 2nd, 2013.
Sweetening the Pot…
– I’m giving away a free round-trip ticket anywhere in the world that Star Alliance flies, which is just about everywhere. There is no expiration date on the trip, so no rush on deciding where or when to go. If you like, I’ll fly you to San Francisco to have dinner with me, but other places might be more interesting 🙂
Here’s how to get it:
– Spread the word however you can. Send people to this post or to my Charity: Water birthday page. Here’s the URL for copying and pasting: http://my.charitywater.org/timferriss
– Leave a comment below telling me what you did (Facebook, Twitter, blog post, e-mail blast, e-mail signature, encouraged employees/friends to do the same, company donation matching, etc.). Measurement of any type gets huge bonus points. This comment must be put up no later than 5pm PST on Friday, August 2nd, 2013.
– Lastly, answer one question at the very top of your comment: “What does education mean to you?” Begin your answer with “To me, education means…”
Based on comments, I’ll pick the top five promoters. Then, you’ll all vote on the winner of the round-trip.
But the best reason of all to participate…
Beyond the bribes, you’ll feel awesome about yourself for doing real good for people who have so little. People who, without water, might not have much of a future at all.
Trust me. It feels great.
Will you pause for a moment and step up, even if for $1? It would mean the world to me. I’ll share updates as I get them.
Again, here is where to go to donate $1, $36, $360, or whatever you can.
Thank you for reading this post. You are all rock stars, and I continue to write on this blog purely because of you.
Pura vida!
Tim
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
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To me, education means connecting people to information resources and teaching them how to learn.
This is very different from the traditional model of teaching people straight from the books. It’s the 21st century, and if we’re connected to the Internet, we have limitless knowledge at our fingertips. We don’t need pay for it. Instead, education is not about giving people information; it’s about teaching them how to find and learn whatever they need to learn so that they can continue learning and growing for the rest of their lives.
I strongly believe in the clean water cause. I made a blog post on ACE Productivity and shared multiple times on Twitter and Facebook. This is truly about saving people’s lives by saving their time and their health. Everyone needs to share and contribute as they are able.
I am all over this one….i have sent an email blast to over 500 colleagues and friends, posting on Facebook, tweeting it, putting on google circles, plus posting to the 76 groups I belong to on Linkedin, etc. I am also setting up a crowdsource donation to benefit this project.
To me education is …….a building block essential to freedom…
Great work Tim Ferris!! and Happy Birthday
To me, education means providing one with the tools to achieve success. Such a big question … Its the graduate project I’ve been waiting for! So relevant since you pose it after visiting rural communities and developing nations. As an educator whose travel addiction has taught me a more global humanitarian outlook, I am frequently curious about the role of education in developing communities. Those who get schooling seem to love it. Then there are so many who don’t get to go to school… Are they missing out on something? Are they content? Are they being educated by someone, are they being given the tools to achieve success? Is the traditional community’s way of life sufficient? Is it insufficient and unjust? How can they be provided with the opportunity to succeed?
At the same time, why do so many kids in “the west” who get unlimited access to school so bored with it?
So many questions… Great topic. Thanks for getting the discussion going and let’s hope positive change is around the corner. I’m tweeting and reposting your link on facebook.
Coincidentally my students learned about the global water crisis this past year and we watched that very same video clip. Great project… Good luck and happy birthday.
To me, education means revealing to people the potential inside themselves, in their community, and in the world around them.
I shared the link on facebook & donated. This is an awesome cause!
Hey Tim I’m glad I just read this post. It was just my birthday as well on the 20th! This is actually my very first post on your blog. Very glad I could contribute to a cause like this. I actually recently started reading your 4 hour work week book which my room mate has. It’s changing my mindset in a big way. I posted on my facebook and tweeted; I hope that brings in a few more people! You’ve inspired me to do something helpful when I turn 36 in two years. I want to be in Africa just like you working on a project that will help a lot of people. My mind is set that that’s going to happen, so I’ll let you know what I’m involved with when it’s all set! Good luck on raising the rest of the funds!
I am going to do the same.
I believe we can change the world too.
To me, education means sharing.
People learn from sharing the experience and thoughts.
So we can see things from a different perspective.
To me, education means… unfolding life.
I sent it to family and friends, because I know they’ll do the same!
Happy birthday Tim,
I know how much you love quotes, so please take this one as a humble birthday present:
“When you are good to others, you are best to yourself” – Benjamin Franklin
Joos
Tim,
This is great! I love water projects! To me, education, particularly surrounding clean water development, is so very important. First, you can’t just show up, dig a well and say “here’s clean water to drink! Bye!” Any great water project gets the locals involves and educates them on how the well was dug, how the pump works and, most importantly, how to maintain and fix it because once the suppliers leave, the locals are left to tend to it. If you don’t educate them, the well becomes useless in a short amount of time. A local board should also be picked to decide how to run it in a village. A small fee is usually charged so that everyone has “skin in the game” when it comes to the viability of the well.
Education should also include how to completely disassemble and reassemble the well and how and where to find each replacement part should it every be necessary. Usually taking some of the locals to a local store (hardware) is a great idea!
Finally, educating the entire community about what it means to have clean water is important. Often, we think “clean drinking water,” so we tell people to drink this water instead of water from their disease-filled stream. But, if they aren’t taught about sanitary practices such as hand-washing regularly, especially after using the toilet, or washing dishes or clothes in the clean water, many of the diseases may still be spread and affect people in the village.
So, in summary, education is so essential to humanity, especially when we’re discussing something as important as the foundation of life: water!
I’m really glad you are doing this and I have promoted this on Facebook and Twitter and throughout my office. I’ve actually held my own birthday parties in the past where I asked folks to bring checks for Water For People. It was a great fundraiser!
Happy Birthday!!
Great idea! Donated and Blasted to 800+ peeps on twitter and FB. Registered to do the same on my birthday too!
To me, education means love. Every aspect of education, whether you are teaching, learning, self educating, etc. shows a love to fill the every conceivable space that we hold. Education represents a love of the past, a love of the present, and a love of the future. What stronger sense of love isn there, than to give of yourself is the pursuit of understanding, and that is what education is.
To me, education means growing together as unified creatures. Knowledge has become so easy to attain, but it is limitless. Along with the problems of the world, it is nothing new and it will never go away. Together, along with good education, we can move in a direction that will allow us to use our knowledge to eliminate our problems while sharing in our wealth, health, and renewable resources. We can all do our part for the planet and it’s people, but without education, how will could we progress?
Everything that has ever been achieved by humans was once an unthinkable task. As people learned more, more was achieved. It is so important for us to be able to access educational resources when we want to learn something or solve a new problem. We must share our knowledge and grow together, so we can all enjoy life with happiness, peacefulness, and abundance.
I shared your link via Twitter (https://twitter.com/MisterShred/status/360513498033307649) as well as emailed it to contacts in my email.
Great cause and great effort to bring visibility and action.
Word spreading is already underway.
Tweet
Google +
Fb
Path
Email
SMS
Let me know if there is anywhere else I can post and have an impact. Will be contributing tonight.
To me education is, and always will be, the big difference maker in the world. Getting exposure to new ideas teaches you not only those ideas, but opens your mind to endless possibilities, it’s like opening a faucet that you can not close again.
I’ve shared this blog post on all my social media and also wrote a post about it on my personal site, which I also shared.
This is a worthy cause, Tim. Thanks for letting us take part of it.
To me, education is an input that creates the possibility to produce better outputs. For yourself, and if one has been educated properly, for that output to also benefit others.
Donated and shared.
To me education means- to draw forth, which stems from its Latin roots in the word educare (edu car-ray) That’s what I think true education is, when what is already inside you is pulled out, is inspired to be.
Tim- Happy Birthday. I am inspired by that part in the Four Hour Work Week where you instruct readers to call up someone famous and ask for help. Well, I’m not calling, I’m writing you here. I am a visionary and a dreamer, wanting to make my dream home of a converted school bus a reality. Currently I have $900 in savings and need to get this thing weatherized and homey by Fall for my four year old son and I. Can you help? Can anyone out there? My local community continues to shower me with blessings, but I need money to make this happen. Please consider donating to make my dream come true, or directing me to some other resources to make this possible. THANK YOU! You inspire me to commit to myself and live outside the box. Slowly but surely I’m getting there. Getting my home base down is the big first step! Thanks for reading everyone.
Happy Birthday Tim, I appreciate your good work and I will promote this post. But I will like you and Charity Water to also look at a place call Ogoni. Ogoni people are one of the many indigenous peoples in the region of southeast Nigeria. Their land is polluted with oil and they do not have clean water. Many communities do not have access to food because the polluted seas contain fewer and fewer fish. People of the Ogoni Africa are one of the poorest region in Africa, and even people who can afford infant formula must use clean water to mix it or they will increase the risk of their babies contracting life threatening diarrheal disease. Please support Ogoni Advancement Organization Inc with the fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. http://www.ogoniadvancement.org.
Thank you.
Educations means to me, the opportunity for any person, no matter their background or circumstance the ability to have choice. Security, empowerment, enlightenment and enjoyment can all come from education but the real owner for anyone living a life of circumstance is the ability to make your own decisions by having options available to you.
I shared this on Facebook but also direct email with friends and coworkers. I’m also hitting up friends at a music festival this weekend requesting they that donate the same price as a bottle of water for every bottle they buy over the next three days.
Good luck with your goal!
To me, education means integrating cognitive resources to improve the world around us with empathy, respect, and knowledge. Education brings homogeneity to the opportunities and quality of life available for future generations.
Link shared on facebook, with some persuasive text encouraging my friends to donate as well! I also donated a small amount to the water projects. Happy 36th, Can’t wait to hear you on the JRE again!
To me, education means to be given an unbiased opportunity to learn about the world around. It means to be enlightened not only through books and lectures, but through hands on experiments, travel, and real life scenarios. It means to learn that teachers are not just those placed at the front of a classroom, but many times come in the form of problems and strangers placed in front of you. Education encompasses an entire lifetime, not just the first twenty three years of ones existence.
As for the link, I have shared on twitter, facebook, and email. I have reached out to those I know to help! Currently tracking with bit.ly
To me, education means a serious chance at breaking the cycle of poverty and disease around the world, especially if girls are given an equal chance at education as boys. Worthy projects like the Girl Effect point out that girls with more education are less likely to marry in their teen years, die in childbirth, or lose their infants to death. They’re less likely to contract STDs and also likely to have fewer children. Financially they will earn more and contribute more to their nation’s economic health, too. I think education for everyone will eventually lead to less overpopulation, better health, less poverty, healthier environment, less crime and violence, less superstition, and better opportunity for all.
Happy birthday, Tim, and thanks for these annual inspiring birthday activities! I wrote a post about your fundraiser on my website’s blog and will track the clicks to see how many click through to Charity: Water. I’ve also offered an incentive to my readers–for each one who signs up for my free e-book (topic: How to Learn Workplace Spanish) between now and 2 hours before the deadline, I will donate $2. I’ll track to see how many people download my e-book and make my donation by the deadline. I have also advertised this plan to all my friends on Facebook. Have a great year–Happy 36th!
To me, education is the first step to making the world a better place. If the entire world had equal access to food, water, and education we could untie to accomplish anything. I personally believe we need to drop our borders and stop looking at ourselves as individual nationalities, but as one entire human race united together to better the planet we live on. In order to achieve something like this, the people of the world need to be educated. I’ve always been driven by the desire to help people people in anyway possible. Last summer, I had the opportunity to travel to Northern India with my University to install a computer lab in a Buddhist Nunnery. It was an incredibly life changing experience to travel to the other side of the world to bring people computers in order to help them learn and expand their knowledge base. Shortly after my trip, I created a facebook page called Higher Perspective. I used the page to post inspirational pictures and quotes in hopes to motivate people to do what makes them happy and to treat others with kindness and respect. Within the past few months my page has grown to have over 100,000 fans and I also have a website for it on which I post interesting articles and stories. A fellow page admin had just recently brought my attention to Tim Ferriss and The Four Hour Work Week and when I saw this article I had to share it with my fan base.
Over the course of the day on July 25th, I shared this link – http://my.charitywater.org/timferriss – on all the pages and sites I work with. I’m not sure if your familiar with Facebook page insights, but it tells you exactly how many people saw the link. Here’s a breakdown of the pages I shared it on and the exact number of people who saw the link as of 7/25/13 – 11:45 PM CST:
Higher Perspective (www.fb.com/HigherPerspective) – 1,956 People
The Arcane Front (www.fb.com/TheArcaneFront) – 1,756 People
The Anti-Medi (www.fb.com/TheAntiMedia) – 3,386 People
Revolutionary Images (www.fb.com/Revolutionaryimages) – 3,562 People
Alternative Journalism (www.fb.com/AlternativeJournalism) – 293 People
Who am I to be Blind? – (www.fb.com/WhoAmIToBeBlind) – 914 People
That’s a total of 11,867 people who saw the link; I really hope they were as inspired and motivated by Tim’s cause as I was. I will continue to share the link a few more time over the duration of the donation period and I hope I can help make a serious dent in the funding.
We have to be the change we want to see in the world, so let’s create a better world for ourselves and our children to come.
-Sam
To me, education means freedom to choose your destiny.
I requested for a donation match from my company.
Education is the freedom to make the right choices in life.
Great birthday challenge! I’ve spread the word via social media and to specific people I know will rally more. 🙂
Happy birthday in Africa!
To me, education means allowing people and communities to reach their full potential through empowerment, self discovery of body, mind and spirit, and finally by fostering creativity. I truly believe that schooling is only the beginning of education!
Happy Birthday Tim! This is such a great cause that you are raising money for. I have shared the post with my coworkers and facebook friends, which is over 1000 people collectively! I will be donating and will encourage everyone to do the same.
Also, just a quick thank you for being such a great and naturally gifted educator. I have learned so much from reading your first two books, and am very excited to get started on the 4-Hour Chef.
Cheers
I posted on twitter via Bufferapp. Great idea. Kudos to you and all who donate.
For me educaution means growth. Mentally, socially and in my case even physically since I really upped my training after being inspired by my fellow students.
I posted a link on Facebook.
I also work in the water processing industry. Making clean water and cleaning waste water. In fact my educaution was water processing technology. I’m hoping that someday I’ll use my knowledge and experience and go out into the world and help people hands on with getting a better life.
“To me, education means teaching people to love learning, to be able to learn for themselves, so that they may be life-long learners.”
I shared this via my three twitter accounts and at the school I teach at.
To me, education means directional growth for anyone who participates.
Tim, great cause, as soon as I can donate (no cc yet), will do.
Shared on my facebook, google+, linkedIn and mail your birthday page.
Cheers from Croatia
I donated 🙂 What a great cause.
Have an awesome birthday!!!
To me education means a way out of poverty. It is only through education that one can help themselves and their community out of poverty, or any other challenge that they might be facing. To me education means a way to put an end in corruption, as it is only because of corruption that many areas don’t have access to clean water. Education can open one’s eyes and mind to their surrounding that will eventually lead them to think of new rules and alternative solution.
Hey Tim
This is a great online project, something close to my heart as I live in Africa and have travelled to Ethiopia, and seen everything first hand as well.
I encouraged all my friends and followers on my facebook, twitter and tumblr to either donate or share the post as I did. I also emailed a few influential South African writers and poets to share my blog post on the issue as well. I hope some of the people here can also donate to this project.
I hope you can reach your ultimate goal. I will try to use my influence to make it a reality as well.
All the best
Amir
To me, education means to be equipped with the knowledge and information to make a difference in this world. For education is not merely the transfer of knowledge but the transformation of an individual in the pursuit of knowledge.
Happy Birthday Tim!!! =)
I’m from Singapore and I’ve spread the word of your site, http://my.charitywater.org/timferriss on Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, e-mail, and encouraged colleagues, family, friends to do the same….
If I get the round trip, take me to where you are, I’d like to meet you in person….
To me, education means you learn about what interests you – not what you’re forced to. In the case of 3rd world countries, it means hope…thanks to you Tim!
Happy Birthday, and thank you for letting me share this with my friends!
Well said.
Hey Tim,
The link to your donation page is down at the moment and gives me a 404 Error.
This is a great cause. I donated yesterday and shared via FB and Twitter.
Thanks for the heads up, Gene. We’re looking into it!
Donna
Executive Assistant to Timothy Ferriss
love how you are always about empower people. the more children can spend learning vs just walking for water the better this world will be. good on you.
To me, education means helping children and adults believe in the beauty of their dreams. Education gives people the power to accomplish what they set out to do. Without education, we would be without hope.
I shared the link to your donation page on Twitter at https://twitter.com/wonderwall7/status/360838205362282497
Hi Tim,
To me, education means access to knowledge and skills that we are all equally entitled to regardless of race, culture or where we live on this planet.
I’ve donated and shared your charity URL with all my Facebook friends.
Well done Tim!
Best regards,
Jason
To me (a 16 year old teenager from Sweden), education means freedom from poverty and the ability to inspire others with knowledge. Education is the ability to grow and mature. Education is the ability to try, to make a mistake, to learn, and to try again.
Perhaps it can be said that education is knowing what you can do, and how you can do it.
Studying can be hard work, but I love the satisfaction after I’ve learned something new that no one can take away from me. And when I’ve learned something new, it’s just like a lotus flower. It opens up more and more to learn and discover.
I’m an app- and web developer and I’m currently developing an iPhone App for Charity: Water, with the goal to spread the word to more people in the world. I’m also creating a video for this, which I’ll post to YouTube later and I have shared it on my Instagram (11 000+ followers), my Facebook and Twitter. And finally, I’ve written a small blog post on my website: http://www.davidgabor.com/blog.html, which has about 500 visitors a day.
This is a very important project, and I would be proud to be a part of it.
Happy birthday, Tim!
-David
Love the line about the lotus flower, great reply David.
To me, education means going beyond the scope of what is known to the unknown. This creates growth in understanding, compassion, creativity, freedom and power to help and change yourself and the world. Eduction is knowledge that can change lives and move continents. It develops our minds to the infinite and is the core to what could bring a better tomorrow, for us all.
I think to give such great things on your birthday is a tradition many of us should emulate.
I shared this on:
•Private Facebook wall
•Facebook page (/diabeticdietguide)
•Twitter (@marcusgrip)
•Instagram (@marcusgrip)
•Google+ page (/diabeticdietguide).
•Newsletter list of 600+ subscribers (I can gladly email a copy)
•Blog post (http://www.diabetic-diet-guide.com/?p=1978)
…and friends and family I know have a heart to help others (including two groups of university students I met in Costa Rica in the beginning of this year during a med, dent and vet volunteer program + more related groups). So far 10 clicks on the newsletter (it’s a bit off-topic for diabetics so I expected lower click-rate) and 1 that emailed me to say she donated.
I hope this will bring much water to the people of Ethiopia and I donated 36 dollars -the very first money I just earned through my online course which I made as my “muse” thanks to your “The 4-Hour Work Week” book! Great way to spend my first earned money!
To me education means… Freedom
Freedom from ignorance, racism, sectarianism
Freedom to choose a different kind of life
Freedom from blindly following orders
Freedom to understand more than just survival
The spread of education is the foundation for freedom in these regions, and it breeds more and higher education. All the other aid and initiatives fall short if the people don’t have the education and freedom to make the most of it. If bringing local clean water to people is the start to spreading education then it is easily the most important objective.
Over the last few months I’ve been hard at work building my fledgling muse ( and now I’m in a position to use it for the greater good! I’ve created a promotion for my product that pledges $5 to your challenge for every unit sold. To promote this oportunity I’ve posted about this to my personal and company FB and Twitter accounts, updated my product listing and created a press release announcing it. I will be continuing to remind my friends, customers, and followers throughout the week and building traffic to these updates. I’ll be able to easily measure how much I fund from product sales, and will encourage FB friends and Tweeps to let me know if they’ve donated directly so that I can track some of that as well. To $100,000 and beyond!! (and happy birthday!)
Muse: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COAYSWA
To me, education means (never having to say you’re sorry), I kid, to me, education means the difference between life and death.
For sharing Tim’s Birthday charity I’ve went through all the regular channels yes. Facetweetgooglegram. In addition to that I’ve created a Trackable QR code that I will be post among the affluent urging them to donate. I’m not the most successful of the readers, yet. So aside from a small donation I can only donate more of my time by sharing Tim’s Birthday with others.
Here is the QR code: http://bit.ly/15lMuJx
To me, education means far more than going to school. It actually has little to do with school and far more to do with life and living. I’ve learned more outside of school than I learned in it. Education never has to stop, when the focus is on a school or classes people tend to forget about learning on their own, just for the sake of learning and enjoying new things or ideas.
I shared the link on my Facebook page and encouraged people to check it out and consider giving.
Happy B-Day Tim, keep up the good work.
Hey Tim,
Is it possible the link is down? Can’t open it anymore.
To me, education means… EMPOWERMENT as a way of defining, challenging and overcoming barriers in order to gain greater control of your life!
I posted the link to this post on Twitter / Facebook with Hootsuite to be able to measure the impact.
All the best!
Matthieu
To me, education means facilitating dreams, empowering ourselves to think in terms of change that’s attainable for everyone and available to everyone.
Happy Birthday Tim and best of luck with the fund raiser. Thanks for the opportunity to donate to charity: water and to share your efforts on my blog, linkedin, twitter and FB of course:)
Hi Tim!!
Just came across your blog…its too late to wish even a belated b’day..hope u had a good one though and wishing you a great year ahead anyway…
thought would share the below link ,might be quite relevant to your current cause..
To me Education is not just a piece of paper testifying your qualifications or the initials after your name. It is awareness ,freedom from ignorance and yes the power to impact lives .All of these need not necessarily come from a formal education!
Best Regards
Best Regards
Thanks for the Charity idea Tim. Just donated.
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hope you also get your “and girlfriend/s in next to nothing” wish as well.
And to me Education is essentially Enlightenment.
It is a way of improving oneself by integrating knowledge & experience from others.
To me, education means a chance to change everything.
I shared this to my 200 friends in Facebook and I posted the link on twitter and weibo (chinese twitter).
I also posted it on the intranet of my company (~2500 employees).
Keep changing the world, Tim!
This sounds Great I am posting it on my facebook Page, email blast from all our guests at the B&B we run as well as donating. Education means to me: the opening of the mind to new ideas thoughts and experiences.
Thanks a lot
Hi Tim,
to me, education means … progress in your life. That is how I came to your book 4-hours-week and I’m still educating myself with my 37 years.
Thanks for your ideas and your charity campaigns. I donated right now and posted a blog post about charitywater.org.
I would appreciate it to meet you somewhere in the world.
greets, Klaus-M.
To me education means; choices. Gaining knowledge, whether formally or informally gives people the power to make choices. For example, Tim Ferriss briefly and informally educates his followers about the charity group, Water. People have now gained the knowledge that not all others have ready access to clean water. Learning that a donation today can help communities in Ethiopia tomorrow, is a part of being educated. Here is where choice comes in. Do you help or do you not? Will it improve your life to give to others? Yes. Will it improve the lives of countless others when you give? Yes.
As for this NTFF (New Tim Ferriss Follower), I pledge $36. I will promote the campaign to the youth via my daughter’s (already done), nieces and nephews Facebook accounts. (They have many more followers than I!) I do not believe this will raise funding, but it may educate the generations to come, so they can make good choices! ?
Happy Birthday Tim. My ticket would be to San Francisco. 🙂 ?
To me education means; choices. Gaining knowledge, whether formally or informally gives people the power to make choices. For example, Tim Ferriss briefly and informally educates his followers about the charity group, Water. People have now gained the knowledge that not all others have ready access to clean water. Learning that a donation today can help communities in Ethiopia tomorrow, is a part of being educated. Here is where choice comes in. Do you help or do you not? Will it improve your life to give to others? Yes. Will it improve the lives of countless others when you give? Yes.
As for this NTFF (New Tim Ferriss Follower), I pledge $36. I will promote the campaign to the youth via my daughter’s (already done), nieces and nephews Facebook accounts. (They have many more followers than I!) I do not believe this will raise funding, but it may educate the generations to come, so they can make good choices! ?
Happy Birthday Tim. My ticket would be to San Francisco. 🙂
To me, education means having an opportunity and power. To challenge oneself and to grow for a better human society.
I shared your link through Facebook and have a happy birthday Tim!
Hey Tim, I am a fan of the what you are doing with mycharitywater. I am a long distance hiker (the Appalachian trail) and have experimented with every way of purifying water. The best I have found is the “Sawyer Sqeeze”, (no I do not work for them or sell their product) It is good for 1,000,000 gallons, is not too much money, is small and only wieghs 4 ozs. I was thinking you might use your fame to make a deal with them for discounted water filters for people who need them and raise money to get them to those people. Hope this post makes it to you. Happy birthday!
Thanks, TheKansasKid
To me, education means gaining confidence in my abilities, and enriching my perspective in life.
My contribution is that I tell people about Charity:Water all the time, until they tell me to shut up. Then I force them to watch Kevin Rose’s awesome Foundation interview with Scott Harrison, until they befriend me.
In all seriousness, this would be a wonderful opportunity. I’m a college student looking to travel before the start of the new school year. I can think of few better ways to enrich my own education than through the art of travel.
To me, education means knowledge and development of skills for something you love and care about.
I shared the link on my facebook and twitter accounts and donated as much as I could to the charity. Good luck!
So it’s Sunday morning and I’m getting ready to head up to my favorite coffee shop in Winter Garden, Florida, Axum Coffee. It looks like Aksum is very near the Tigray region. Let me explain. The folks that opened up Axum Coffee did some mission work over there and adopted a child (I think they’ve adopted more than one). Anyhow, this coffee shop I go to sends all profits over to Aksum to…wait for it…help provide water!
I just thought it was neat that I jumped on your blog to scope out tips for finding cheap flights to France, and hear is a post to get a free flight by doing something that definitely means something to me. I’ve been supporting this coffee shop for over a year and feel good about every 4$ latte I purchase (normally just drink black coffee, but I’m hoping they make bigger profits off my latte at Axum). I will certainly post this everywhere, everyday until the 2nd! Gotta run! Thanks Tim and I will be back for the flight tips! Have a great day!
Wow 24/07 same birthday as me! Birthday of champions Tim!
Thanks, Tim – you constantly remind me of what’s important. This is so great.
I tweeted your link and I added a quote and an excerpt of your blog in my email signature lines. See below:
“Behind me is infinite power, before me is endless possibility, around me is boundless opportunity”. – Author Unknown
In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year (e.g. the entire annual workforce of France!) walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking for miles to the nearest source. The solution? Installing simple water wells for clean water in strategically close locations. Click here to see what Tim Ferriss is doing for his 36th Birthday – it’s awesome ? http://my.charitywater.org/timferriss
To me, education is freedom. The freedom to think for yourself, to be yourself, and to choose your next steps and your own path after having the world open and the opportunity to understand things on a broader level.– by having history and multiple thoughts, trials, tests, facts, and opinions laid out before you.
I am not able to travel, but I am happy to help spread the word.
I’m having a hard time getting to your donation page, Tim. Can I just donate and promote donations to the Charity Water webpage itself?
To me education means the ability to learn about anything this universe has to offer whether it’s through formal education or just opening your mind to learn something new every day so one can learn and grow in this lifetime.
I tweeted this post (only 45 followers but every person counts 🙂 and posted on my Facebook page (219 friends) and wrote a blog post on one of my blogs and added it to Google+. I also pledged the $36 and will do the same for my birthday. Every little bit helps.
Happy Birthday!
“To me, education means being alive because if you’re not learning, you’re dead.”
This is a great idea, btw, and a great cause. Thanks.
Shared on Facebook asking others to read and pass on. Education
For me, education means purely value creation. It’s the best we can do as humans to improve the quality of life of our peers.
I post on my FB and TW, but rather than wait for donations, I shared the information about the reality spoken of the article. I live in Argentina and few people use paypal, as well as restrictions to convert our currency to USD.
At least seek to raise awareness of this situation.
Regards,
-Mario.
—–
Para mi, educación significa pura creación de valor. Es lo mejor que podemos hacer como humanos para mejorar la calidad de vida de nuestros hermanos.
Compartí tu post en FB y Twitter, pero mas que esperar donaciones, compartí los datos acerca de la realidad de la que habla el artículo. Vivo en argentina y poca gente usa paypal, además de las restricciones para convertir nuestra moneda a USD.
Al menos busco generar conciencia de esta situación.
Saludos,
Hey Tim,
Happy, happy Birthday…. awesome gift. Feels better to give than to receive.
Best wishes,
What does education mean to me?
It means that we have the ability to lift humanity to a conclusion that we are all related. It means that people no longer have to stay in the shadows of fear, guilt, or depression, they can be lifted to a scale of pure happiness and joy.
With education, we have the ability to go to the moon, we also have the ability to go into our hearts. In our heart we know that ancient knowledge of love, of giving, is our true nature.
Mother Earth has dealt with man and his ways, it’s ready for her women and children to come forward, its ready for the men to stand up next to their women.
Education of the heart is gaining momentum, its been in our head, but it wants to be in our hearts. Our children want to learn the ways from those who have come before us, for that to happen, basic necessities need to exist. Our right to water is first, without this, education cannot develop, we need water. We need our children to be happy, our women to be happy, our hearts to be filled with love, not despair.
History remembers those with nothing, who come to something. History looks into the human aspect of love, how did we love famously said before, if we don’t have love, we will not have education.
Open your hearts, let your heart guide you, it will lead to our future, the way of the children.
You asked, share what we did, it’s not what I did, but spirit. Spirit wanted this to be shared Tim.
Spirit spoke and it’s coming even as this key is being typed. This is more of what it had to say.
http://bit.ly/17NWJGK
It continued after this Tim, it wanted to get out, you’ve taken this so far, I wish it goes to every heart it can.
http://bit.ly/19rUnRO
We are all related.
This is for the 36 years young birthday/charity water program.
I have heard about charity water for some years now and I constantly post about it to thousands of LinkedIn connections in addition to Facebook and other social media outlets. Often, people don’t really appreciate what they have until they lose it. However, with charity water, they are helping people who have never had. The business model is exemplary since most charity’s are not able to give 100 percent of the donations to charity.
I recently used some credit card points to donate to another such organization, I would have preferred charity water but it wasn’t an option.
If I were to win a trip anywhere in the world I would choose a place where I can both gain knowledge and idea’s and be able to reciprocate as well. (The law of reciprocity) Giving the place I visit a way to benefit from my going there. Although having dinner and meeting with Tim is very tempting! To expand upon my entrepreneurial spirit.
A person is a accumulation of they have done until now. All experiences, knowledge, relationships etc.
It is important to live and leave a positive impact wherever one chooses to be in life. In this instance, the positive impact can last for generations.
To me, education means learning from other’s mistakes and successes so that we can make our own mistakes and have our own successes.
To promote Charity: Water, I first researched the celebrities who have officially supported clean water initiatives in the past. Then I searched for and found their official twitter pages, tweeted them the link and asked politely for a re-tweet. I included that if we raised $100,000, Tim would donate an additional $10,000 of his own money. If you add up the number of followers for each celebrity I tweeted, the total potential exposure for the charity is 48,725,302 people…and I’m not done yet.
Massive action Adam, awesome brother.
Hi Tim … Happy Birthday! and what a fantastic cause…
I will post on facebook and on Google+ and I will add your cause to my email signature… on Saturday morning I will donate 5€ for every km I run this week (which I’m starting today)
To me, education means a world of opportunities: Past, Present and, most excitingly, Future!
I copied your URL to my facebook page……love your work and anxious to see what you come up with next!
To me education means opportunity. Not only is education critical to our own personal and economic success but it is something we can all be involved in on a daily basis. That lifelong journey of learning opens all kinds of doors that wouldn’t be there otherwise and makes us better people. Maybe the only thing more rewarding in education than learning is teaching – those opportunities we get to pass our knowledge onto others are very powerful and satisfying…
Happy Birthday Tim – I was glad to donate to your project and think it’s a really cool idea.
To me, education means expanding your view of the world.
Posted it on my facebook and twitter pages. Good luck reaching your goal!
To me, education means opportunity for empowerment and lasting change. Education is an amazing gift that builds communities, confidence and economic growth.
I shared this with my Facebook friends and followers (approx 1,200 people), Tweeted to 400 followers and emailed my top email subscribers and influencers.
Happy 36th Birthday Tim! And thank you for all of your contributions. I was a part of the CreativeLIVE 4 Hour Life workshop, which you graciously shared and gave to us. Thank you again for everything.
Education means to me: An opportunity to learn new things, it is also an opportunity to provide a better lifestyle for your family if you are the first to graduate from college.
Your charity is great and humbling, we, as americans take things as clean running water for granted. Go Team Clean Agua!!!!!
Tim you are amazing, you make me want to be a better person!
To me, education means a better future, not only for an individual, but for the human race. Free education should be a basic human right. Think how sad it would be if the cure for cancer is stuck in the mind of person who cannot afford to pay school fees…
I wish I could give more than the meager amount I just sent.
Shared on my facebook page, twitter feed; and believe me, I’ll also spread to word to colleagues and friends.
I’m from South Africa, and I thank you for realizing how vital projects like these are.
Happy Birthday! To me education means the opportunity to discover our world and to succeed independent of one’s class, rank or family history.
I shared my pledge to this project via Facebook (100+ friends) and twitter (200+followers).
To me, education means fueling rather than quenching the curiosity inherent in every child ever born.
I helped spread the word by:
1. Harassing friends and family (word of mouth).
2. Harassing Facebook friends.
3. Harassing Twitter Followers.
4. Adding a link to my gmail signature.
To me, education means perceiving and analyzing reality correctly, the process of forming my essence, character, and will.
Education is something that no one can give you, though modern “Education System” claims they can do so. You will be the only KEY people give yourself education.
In a nutshell, education should be self-driven-based infrastructure for a person, not the job-training machine promoted by politicians and mass media.
And that’s why having access to books/libraries and water is important…
Regarding the promotion, I cover an interesting group: Chinese readers. My readers (www.freeluohan.com) are mainly young entrepreneurs, and investors who have liberal spirits.
1. Tim’s idea was send out to all my subscribers, encouraging them to get involved in this project. (check http://freeluohan.com/timferriss/email.png)
2. The article will be highlighted on my website for one week. (check http://www.freeluohan.com)
3. The article will be put on Caixin – a leading media focusing on business, finance, and economics. (http://freeluohan.blog.caixin.com/archives/59706)
4. If my subscribers contribute to this project, and send me their info, I will give away my own gifts.
OK, man, that’s all I can do, just want to keep things interesting.
Hit me back if you like it.
B. Z.
Education is the only way out of poverty.
I have always thought that teaching people is the best way to increase their chance of improving their living situation and also increases the chances of solving the huge challenges humanity is facing right now.
I donated $36 to charity water and helped promote your campaign by posting your page to all my spanish speaking friends!
Thanks Tim for making this a better world.
To me, education ultimately means freedom. The more knowledge and skills one has the more there is to choose from in life. Choice gives one the power to create their destiny which is the ultimate freedom.
I shared this campaign via Twitter!
Hi Tim,
I posted this on FB and twitter.
To me, education means giving someone permission to question… to think critically.
(I wish I understood that while I was in school… )
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” – Albert Einstein
Happy Birthday Tim. I made a small donation and shared with my community even if small that might help 🙂
Every small bit has a big meaning. Your amazing Christelle.
H A P P Y ** B I R T H D A Y !!! I am donating to your most worthy cause. In fact just the other day, I saw a picture of children who were not able to access clean drinking water and I was not quite sure how to put an end to this situation. WHAT PERPLEXED ME THE MOST WAS — I did not even know where to start!
ALONG MARCHES MY FAVORITE AUTHOR TIM – WITH THE ANSWER!! On the day of his birth, THER IS NOTHING better A GOOD MAN COULD DO!! THANK YOU!!! One person can make a difference and with many people working together in community– this can be the change that we want to see in the world. THAT IS A BIRTHDAY WISH WORTH BELIEVING IN!
The places I will be sharing this are as follows: All my social media groups (member of 70+ groups) As I write this I am at a T.R. “Life and Wealth Mastery Event” I will be sure to share this giving opportunity with everyone here! I will share this with my fellow MaryKay sisters as well as with my e-mail list, my friends at “Off the Mat into the World” who work on similar causes for good (I just did a yoga-marathon for them to raise funds for the Amazon) and all of my family and friends.
EDUCATION TO ME: Is the drawing out of one’s own natural talents, not the pounding in of information but the freedom to live and learn. The easiest way to learn anything is in an “Open Source Model” where the world becomes your classroom. Then the most important lesson is always to remain real:
Remember we are one and, “THE DANCE OF THE SOUL, is SACRED, it all begins when BEAUTIFUL AUTHENTIC ME and BEAUTIFUL AUTHENTIC YOU live in COMMUNITY and IN FREEDOM!”
As always I wish you,
“Life, Love, Laughter and Light”
–Sheila visit me at SheilaMac.com
AGAIN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM! No matter who wins, we all win with AWESOME BIRTHDAY WISHES FROM A HEART OF GOLD LIKE YOURS! 🙂
To me, education means the ability to open your mind to multiple paradigms. It’s the only solution to understand and overcome prejudice, and it is the foundation needed to access and obtain opportunity. My adopted daughter, Delilah, was born in a tukul (traditional rural huts) in a small village in the Hosana area of Ethiopia. According to information and a videography provided to us by our agency, her 11 year old uncle walks several miles each way, every day, with containers to collect water for her family, from a polluted stream. Her birth family are subsistence farmers living off what they grow. No modern irrigation. This charity means something very important to my family. Our hope is by raising and educating Delilah in the U.S., she will someday want to contribute to the benefit of her culture
To me, (real) education means everything. The greatest and most valuable gift you can give to anyone any age any time. Never stop learning and you will never stop growing”
Have just spread the word to my movement’s 3304 followers Tim 🙂
check out Every Day Super Hero in Facebook. We promote creative projects and those creating them that aim to help kids in need around the world
https://www.facebook.com/youtheeverydaysuperhero
Cheers Tim, great books, great blog, great actions to help change the world.
To me, (real) education means everything. The greatest and most valuable gift you can give to anyone any age any time. Never stop learning and you will never stop growing”
Have just spread the word to my movement’s followers Tim
check out EveryDay SuperHero in Facebook(the one with 3304 followers). We promote creative projects and those creating them that aim to help kids in need around the world
Cheers Tim, great books, great blog, great actions to help change the world.
Without sounding negative, what are Charity:Water’s maintenance plans once the new wells are in place?
This often is more important than actually digging the well. Resources and training should be put in place the empower the people to maintain the suplly once it is up and running. There is no use in creating a water source if six months down the road the pipes block/burst etc and no-one has the ability and tools to fix it.
If we give people the tools and knowledge they will have greater empowerment than if we just give them the water.
Oh Oh Oh this is so much fun! Will report results shortly.
To me, education means to understand the world.
Hi Tim,
We met in JFK airport last year– a really happy coincidence for me, since I was leaving to Buenos Aires on a trip partially inspired by you! (you were heading back to SF). You may remember because Richard Branson also showed up! Amazing…
To round off this inspiring layover, I got you a b-day gift, a book with a title I thought was aptly-named for your lifestyle(!) — “Fearless Death” (a Buddhist book about facing all aspects of life without fear)– and also had it signed for you by the author. If its OK.. is there an address I could send it to that would get to you? (I promise not to send you more stuff and honestly think you’d at least find it interesting).
I have also donated to the b-day campaign. I think its a brilliant way to celebrate one’s bday!
I’ve shared it on facebook and send the link to few friends. I hope it helps.
“To me education means everything, because every situation can be inspiring and we can really learn something in every moment.”
Happy travels, and very best wishes!
Michal
To me, education means teaching a person how to make a sustainable living, thereby enabling him/her to provide for his/her family, contribute to his/her community, and nurture the much needed healing of the Earth.
I posted your Charity.Water blog page to my Twitter account (3,975); my personal Elisa Brown FB page (876); my Elisa Brown Music fan page (671), and on my LinkedIn page (500+).
Thank you for encouraging others to celebrate your birthday in such a thoughtful manner.
Have a Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy 36th Birthday!
Kind regards,
Elisa Brown
To me, education means teaching a person how to make a sustainable living, thereby enabling him/her to provide for his/her family, contribute to his/her community, and nurture the much needed healing of the Earth.
I posted your Charity.Water blog to my Twitter account FB pages, and LinkedIn account.
Thank you for encouraging others to share in your bithday celebration in such a thoughtful manner.
Have a Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy 36th Birthday!
Kind regards,
Elisa
To me, education in any form means freedom to fully develop ourselves, our abilities, all our many gifts – to be our best selves in our life times.
Thanks, Tim, I tweeted your message from our company twitter account and will be sure to blog and Facebook about you later on today. Thanks for connecting us to this wonderful charity and for all your great insights and wisdom along the way.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Tim!
Keep up the great work with your philanthropy.
Dear Mr. Timothy Ferris,
You Sir have been one of the greatest inspirations in my life thus far. This time two years ago at the age of 16, I stumbled upon 4HWW at Barnes and Noble. That night I didn’t go to sleep until I finished reading it. My mom was in pure awe when I told her the next day that I had finished. Before that day, I had never read a book besides a handful from school. I HATED reading. Since then, reading has been one of my favorite things to do. Instead of watching T.V. now, I read. Although I only know you though your three books, you have changed my life and I know my future.
The thing that is really spectacular is that you do this for sooooo many people. You change lives in more ways than one. And with the power that you have by endorsing products, I view you on the same level as Oprah.
When I saw this post –Happy Birthday by the way– I was glued to the cause. Water is something that I have been concerned about my whole life. I remember reading an article many years ago saying how wars fought for oil will eventually be fought for water. Water is vital to us, and I’m glad to share it with others. But how could I get others to donate to water charity? Recently I participated in Noah Kagan’s appsumo contest and spread the word about his product to hopefully start a company that you would endorse on your blog. I had family, friends, and friends of friends send out my mass email, make Facebook posts, tweet, and make phone calls. Then, I even offered to donate $1 to nature.org for every 1 person that entered (taking a whole 10 seconds of their time). The results were terrible. I couldn’t believe it. Literally thousands of people saw the message, and they ignored it with charity money on the line.
I realized that this method wouldn’t work now. So I turned to the 80/20 rule and found where my results were coming from. As sad as it is, my friends don’t care enough about charity. They are primarily between the age of 17 – 21 and simply won’t give their money to charity. They are the “80”. The “20” is my family (both sides), my families friends, and the small collection of people that I know 25 plus. I am still reaching out to people with http://my.charitywater.org/timferriss, and over the next day will probably knock on doors in my surrounding area; a couple does this every year for Komen and raises thousands just in my neighborhood.
Finally, what does education mean to me? This brings me to a quote from one of my greatest teachers saying, “you can strip me of my money and family, but you cannot take away my education”. As I begin college in less than a month, I see education a little differently than my parents (both teachers) did. They saw it as the road to a respectable career and becoming a renaissance man/woman. I agree with the second part. To me, education is not only crucial for one’s overall well-being, but also as a vehicle for seizing opportunity, and freedom of knowledge. You have honestly shaped a large part of this view.
Thank you Tim,
Jack
Jack, thank you so much for this wonderful and kind comment. It’s nice to meet you. You sounds like you have an excellent head on your shoulders, and you’re looking at things the right way.
Keep it up!
Pura vida 🙂
Tim
To me, education means 1) learning how to learn (independently and with others), 2) developing an inextinguishable desire for knowledge and excitement in life, and 3) spreading the “fire,” so to speak.
We learn how to learn (you can substitute the word “learn” with “grow” or “live fully” here) so we never stop learning throughout life, allowing us to dodge that deadly bullet aka boredom. We also should nudge and inspire our friends, family, co-workers etc to do the same in order to enhance our individual and collective awareness of and appreciation for the world’s beauty, both simple and complex, and ultimately make the world a better place.
Tim: I look forward to learning what education means to you.
I shared this initiative on FB, the most efficient way, and via word of mouth, perhaps the least efficient way but arguably the most effective.
Tim what a great way to celebrate. Thanks for putting this out here for all of us to be a part of. I’ve celebrated your birthday with you for the last couple of years and you always do something so thoughtful and generous.
I love it! So I’m stealing this idea and using it for my birthdays too. Thanks for the inspiration.
Happy birthday,
Michelle
Tim
Education has changed my life. I was horrible at sports so in the summer my mom would just drop me off at the library. I started reading books about Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett.
This helped me win a stock market competition when I was 12, which then led me to my dream job as a stock analyst at a money management firm.
I love this cause and just gave! Thanks!
To me, education means making a huge impact on someone else’s life by helping them acquire new knowledge and abilities. It’s as simple as that.
In order to get the word out about Charity: Water, I have sent out an e-mail to all my contacts.
Hey, Timmy, brotha.
Love what you do, my man, and honestly, I NEVER took time to delve into Charity Water, not sure why, I just never did, NO excuse for that.
Every year for the past 6 years I’ve held a fundraiser which you always supported without question.
I saw your tweet and checked the charity water video and I got teary eyed.
I made my donation and made a video today on youtube and shared via twitter, facebook, pinterest….. I don’t want a prize or to be put into the drawing, I’d rather that money be spent towards your charity
My Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjAsRHGbRMc
I’m going to focus more on paying it forward, beyond my norm. The more success I achieve it is only fair for me to focus more on helping others.
I KNOW how little things add up, so I encouraged peeps to donate just 1 dollar. I felt like a million bucks after donating.
What does education mean to me?
WOW…. a former teacher for 11 years in public schools, I still consider myself a teacher, always
Educations is about empowering the minds of kids / adults to find their strengths and leverage those strengths in way to better the world.
I feel your experience in education showed you that you were adventurous, analytical, excellent at speaking and educating others to empower them and make their lives better….. You took your knowledge and share it here as a platform and around the world, the end result ALWAYS being you are trying to help people live richer lives, not in financial terms, but from a standpoint of showing them how amazing life can be and in turn, they pay it forward to others
Education empowers people to share their message with the end result helping to create a better world….. Pay it forward.
Thanks for all you do, brotha!
To me, education means the difference between life and death. I don’t mean to be dramatic but it’s the truth. My family came to this country by any means necessary for my brother and I to receive an education. I will not go into specific details about that but know that they did put their life in danger. In Peru, (like in many countries), families must pay for every book, every supply and every uniforms for their child to attend school (even elementary school) not to mention fees. My family didn’t have the money. Which meant they could probably afford enough for us to make it through 2nd or 3rd grade and then we would begin selling goods or products on the streets instead of attending school. So although my parents could have have a normal poverty level living they didn’t want the same for us. So they put their lives on line for us to have the opportunity for free education here in the US. My family is not unique. There are thousands of families from all around the world who risked everything for their children to have a chance at an education. Now, I am 33 years old and feel blessed for what my parents did many years ago. I realize education isn’t only about what you learned in school but the learning of new concepts in any field or area that sparks interest in your mind and encourages you to invent, grow, research and support ideas and movements that help humanity—-just like this movement.
It’s amazing to see everyone joining this movement. Happy to donate, I am def sharing on facebook and email!