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If you can found a CHARITY what would it be? what would it do?
My wife and I are thinking of starting a free school here in the Philippines to help children from squatter families. My goal is to give them a free education from elementary to college and have foreign employers petition them. Hopefully, they can go abroad and help their families up and out of poverty. That's what happened to my mother's family in the early 70s. She and my aunt came to the US and petitioned her whole family. Now, my aunts and uncles have their own houses and live a decent comfortable life. They used to be extremely poor (ie., 1 cup of rice a day poor. As in living in a garage that floods 1/2 the year poor). As for myself, my parents' experience with poverty made them value education so they pushed me to finish college and grad school.
My mother instilled in me a strong UTANG NG LOOB (debt of obligation--if someone is kind to you and helps you out, you repay them many times over) I want to repay that good fortune by helping poor families here help themselves through a free school that opens up a world of new possibilities for people. I used to think my mom's stories of poverty and hardship were just embellished tales used to hype a moral... When I first visited the Philippines after 21 years in the US in 2000, I saw first hand that her stories were real. 4 year olds begging on the street or selling sampaguita flowers for a few measly bucks under a red hot sun really gets to me. I could see my own Mom and her relatives doing the same if they didn't take their opportunities back in the 70s. So after I moved back in 2003, I've always had this idea of a charity. My wife and I are probably going to fund it with our own funds since we ourselves believe that PRIVATE charity is what works best.
What kind of charities would you like to start and what are your reasons for your plans?
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