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education

The Wrong Focus

     Whatever you focus on, you get more of.

     In the 1850s, Americans had a life expectancy of 45 years. Only 10% of the country had access to secondary education. The infant mortality rate was almost 20%. But what America did over the next century was unprecedented. American entrepreneurs innovated. They built products that, once considered luxuries, were suddenly accessible to the average household. Incredible infrastructure and whole industries developed around these products. It wasn’t until after Henry Ford made the car affordable to the average American that roads were built, suburbs were developed, and agriculture became more productive.

     America focused on innovation… and development, infrastructure, and prosperity eventually followed.

     We spend billions of dollars every year trying to eradicate poverty, yet many countries receiving the largest portions of aid are poorer today than they were 50 years ago. So why do we continue to focus on poverty?

     What we have realized is that we are focusing on the wrong target. When we focus on poverty, we see everything through that lens. Focusing on not being poor is like focusing on not running your car into a ditch. Whatever you fix your eyes on, you will eventually collide with. What we should focus on instead, is the road ahead of us.

     Our mission at Action Two Africa is to create innovators who will drive their country and their economies forward. We focus on education because it is through this means that we empower today’s youth to become tomorrow’s inventors, creators, and entrepreneurs. Our focus is on the road ahead.

     Our mission is not to push resources on communities. Rather, it is to enable and empower children to get an education, so they can create their own resources. That is the only way forward.

     So with this focus in mind, will you consider joining our mission?

The Fight Against Stigma

    Numbers and statistics are great, but today, I want to tell you a story.     When Christina and I were in Kenya, working in the Kiambiu slum, the issue of HIV and AIDS came up a lot. It was my understanding that they were the cause of hundreds of thousands of deaths in Africa each year. […] Continue reading →

Godfrey’s Story

Tears streamed down Godfrey’s cheeks as he explained how, one day, he wanted to become a teacher. His eyes averted, he struggled to summon the words to explain just how passionate he was about arming the next generation with the most powerful weapon of all: education. It’s been over two years since Godfrey and his […] Continue reading →

Overcoming

Our most recent project, “Empower Kenyan Girls through Education” aims to provide girls in Kiambiu with the opportunity to pursue the education that they’re constitutionally guaranteed. Mercy is one of the young women benefitting from this project, and her story is a testament to the motivation and passion that characterizes the youth in her community. […] Continue reading →

Education & Rights

It’s impossible to know your rights if no one ever took the time to teach them to you. For many women in Kenya, it is in school that they learn for the first time about their basic human and legal rights. Many are not taught about these things in their communities or by their families. […] Continue reading →

Serving Local Passion

“Why don’t we, for once, instead of arriving in the community to tell people what to do, why don’t we, for once, listen to them?” -Ernesto Sirolli Action Two Africa is a partnership built on listening to local passion. Christina and I met Humphrey when we were living in Kenya, and after sitting with him […] Continue reading →

Every Girl Counts

According to the African Development Bank, more girls in Africa are in school today than ever before. In fact, the number of girls in East Africa that are attending school has almost doubled in the last 10 years. This is promising news, and reason to celebrate! However, the girls who are not currently in school, […] Continue reading →

Girl’s Power

Empowering girls matters. According to The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), when girls are in school, they are “less likely to marry early and against their will; less likely to die in childbirth; less vulnerable to disease; more likely to have healthy babies; more likely to send their own children to school; […] Continue reading →

2017: Looking Forward

2017 is here and the months are already flying by! Last December, seven of the incredible young men and women in our Child Sponsorship Program graduated from high school! We want to recognize their hard work! Congratulations to Sharon, Peter, Diana, Daniel, Esther, Nancy, and Sanchez for finishing some of the most challenging years of […] Continue reading →