New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has written more than once that if we want to change the world, we must educate girls. Of course educating everyone is our goal, but there is a special need for educated women. Studies show that they bring about more transformation of villages and neighborhoods than men. And we are a Foundation that works from the ground up.
We are supporting six programs that are exclusively for girls. In Laos, we are educating girls from the highlands in the city of Pakse. In India, we sponsor 12 very poor girls to attend Loreto Sealdah School in Kolkata (Calcutta) The school is 4 blocks from the Motherhouse and burial place of St Teresa of Kolkata, better known as Mother Teresa.
In Kenya, we pay school fees for several orphaned girls to attend high school and for one to attend university. We are enabling more than 500 girls in rural South Sudan to attend school by training female teachers for them.
Closer to home, we have helped to support a home for girls near Panama city, Panama, a facility established by the Anglican diocese of Panama City. In Guatemala City and Honduras, we have helped Casa Alianza to house and educate girls, most of whom were victims of sexual trafficking. And we have paid university expenses for a young woman in Choluteca, Honduras, who will be graduating at the end of this school year.
We also help to support Confident Children out of Conflict in Juba, South Sudan and Mamma Africa School outside Nairobi. In both of these, the great majority of the students are girls.
We are proud of our support of girls— from some as young as 6 to teens and university students. If this is something you care about, please send a gift to the Bill Cook Foundation. If you so indicate, we will use your gift to support one of the programs mentioned above.
Girls from Mathare, Kenya, wearing their school uniforms. Thanks to your support, the Foundation has provided major support for their school, Mamma Africa.