To begin with, I had all kinds of grand schemes, but I have now come to realize that it comes down to helping just one child at a time. I know this sounds like a low barrier – and I do get into arguments with people sometimes, especially when they tell me that, instead of giving $10,000 to just one child, I could feed a whole school in Kenya for that sum. My answer is to say that person could go on to become a teacher at that school and will go on to teach many children to come.
People also sometimes ask if we give a scholarship to a refugee from South Sudan to study medicine in the US, how do we know that they will go back home? My answer is that we would be lucky to have them, but that the people I support will always help their people no matter where they are.
A life with purpose
An important starting point for me was discovering United World Colleges (UWC), an international network of schools and educational programs which, together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), set up an initiative in 2016 to give 100 scholarships to refugees to come to their schools.
The past few years have seen youngsters from Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Western Sahara, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Tibet, Colombia, and Guatemala, all educated at one of UWC’s 18 schools. I have been lucky enough to mentor some of these children.
Typically, I will put some of my own money to help pay for a child’s education or to support an educational project. I may then get the Bilthoven-based Stichting Careduca Foundation, which aims to advance the education of children locally and internationally, and of which I am Chair, to put in a donation as well. I may also convince other organizations, such as UBS Optimus Foundation, to multiply the sum, resulting in a considerable amount of money available to help with specific projects.