Why we built this

Over the following months, I began to talk to both my daughters about what they had, and what they needed.  We discussed the differences between ‘wants’ and ‘needs’.  We began to discuss what we had in abundant supply, and what other people in the world couldn’t even access – or even know that such things existed.

To my daughters’ credit, they got it.  They picked up the mantle and began to learn more about other people and parts of the world, and asked about simple things that they had, like beds, and wondered what people did when they didn’t have them.  Then they asked about balls and toys, towels, shoes, clothes, soap, food, refrigerators….the conversations had their own momentum, and we talked about it a lot.

The Idea

After a few months of this, I began to think about my oldest daughter’s upcoming birthday – Alana turned 8 in 2015.  We began to talk about the gifts she wanted, and things she actually needed.  On her own, she came to the conclusion that she really didn’t ‘need’ anything.   Sure, there were a couple of things she wanted, but she could suggest those from a few members of the immediate family.  Beyond that, she didn’t need anything from her extended family, friends and classmates.

That’s when we began to talk about the joy of giving, and how people enjoy giving gifts to celebrate milestones and express appreciation for someone.  I floated the suggestion that people donate a small amount to charity instead of accepting gifts, and, to my delight, Alana jumped on the idea.

Alana seized on the idea of suggesting donations to a charity instead of material gifts, and she began to think of all the people that could benefit from the generosity of her friends and family. She looked at charities for the environment, people without homes, people with disabilities, various health causes, and animal groups.

Eventually, she landed on ‘education’ as a primary cause she felt passionate about, and selected a UK based charity that does work training teachers in Uganda.

Later, after a discussion about water, she added a second charity that provides clean water in rural villages in Africa since, as she observed, an education isn’t important if you will die without access to clean water.

Charity: Water and Red Earth Education were the two charities Alana selected.

We turned it into a project. The three of us picked a name and bought this URL. Alana designed the artwork for her page, laid out the website. That year, 2015, we asked family and friends to donate Alana’s age in their own currency to one of these two charities.

And they did. Alana originally set a goal of raising £100, which was quickly hit. Then she raised it to £200, and reached it. Then £250, and it was exceeded. When the final total came in at over £600 (she likes to refer to the larger number in USD: $1,000), she was ecstatic that people would give so much to the causes she had selected. She was also proud of her own work on the website, identifying the charity, and doing her own projects to raise money for these two worthwhile causes.