It’s Advent time and my US ex-house mate just told me that whenever she thinks of me, she also has to think of those Advent calendars that came into the pure-bred US household at the beginning of December. My Mom used to take care of that tradition not having to break just because there are no Advent calendars to be found in California, where I lived at some point in the last century…

So, that always has been my first gift of the Holiday Season. And reminded me that, indeed, this is the time to give thanks (as, btw, the US Americans give a better example of by starting their Holiday Season with Thanksgiving).

Realizing once again how priviledged we are here in the West, I listened to my friend Claudia the other day. Claudia is the founder and driving power behind lernen dürfen e.V., a non-profit organization which not only builds schools in the most remote places of Burkina Faso, the so-called falaises; but is also taking care of the infrastructural aspects necessary to get the kids into school (and have them stay there on a regular basis).

And the first challenge such a kid has is to actually get from A (where they live) to B (where the school is).
On foot.
Oftentimes, they have to walk 10K, 15K, even more.
One way.

So, Claudia has organized a re-furbished Fire-Enging truck-become-4-Wheel-truck which will be transported to Burkina Faso over the year-end.

And this truck will be loaded with gifts for the schools to lend to kids in need of them:

  • old bikes
  • bike parts of all sorts
  • tires and tubes
  • bike repair (and other) tools

I have packed my box of give-aways for this project earlier today and will bring it over to Claudia later this week.

It is so easy to give.
It is SO easy for us to make the hard lives of the less fortunate a little less hard.

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