How You Can Help                        

The Generosity of the Poor

Throughout the world those with the lowest incomes are the most generous--they give a larger percentage of what they have to others than do any other people. The poor do this even though they do not have the necessities of life for themselves. Such generosity is a challenge to us. Yet, we in the middle class don't have to push ourselves into poverty to help a poor girl to get an education. To educate a girl we don't even have to be as generous as the poor are. But we do need to be generous.

The word for sponsor in Latin America is godmother or godfather. In Kenya a sponsor is called father or mother. By funding the education of a girl we are seen as being caring, as a parent would be. Girls describe their CBB scholarships as a gift of love. Those with very low incomes understand that generosity comes from caring about one another. After all, that's how they manage to survive on incomes insufficient for the necessities of life.

Forty million girls of school age in the developing world, far more than boys, are not in school, mainly because their family cannot afford the cost of their school uniform, books, supplies and fees, etc. In Afghanistan, India, and Nepal, where CBB funds projects, gender gaps in education are among the widest in the world. The girls receiving scholarships do the work of studying--our donations are not a hand-out. These girls want to learn, but they can do so only through our generosity to them.

You are invited to show your caring for these girls and women by giving to their education. You may give to any project or country, or where most needed. Pledges of quarterly contributions are especially helpful in funding the on-going costs of girl's education.