In 2009 I decided to set up the Learn! Foundation. Without education, the chance that you will get out of the poverty spiral is actually nil. Learn! Foundation offers children a chance for a future. A future in which they can support themselves and their families. It is so beautiful to see how eager these children are to learn. Never go to school reluctantly and happy with the opportunities they get.
My background as a social worker and (relation) therapist comes in handy every now and then, because psycho-social processes such as developing self-confidence and self-esteem and being able to stand up for yourself are also important for our target group. Social backgrounds and the frame of reference in which children grow up play a crucial role in this.
Especially the children of very poor descent deserve a chance. Every year I visit our projects several times. Not to check, but to assess together with our branch in Kilifi what is going well and what could be improved. To see together with Jackline, our partner in Kilifi, what the needs of the community, of the school and the children look like. And to take that step forward together.
Why Kilifi > Kenya? We have done several projects, including in Togo, Suriname, South Africa and Kenya. Ultimately, our focus has increasingly shifted to Kilifi > Kenya. Not least because of the good cooperation with our partner there. But also because we are convinced that by focusing we achieve more than by shredding. Sometimes the comment is made 'oh, it's just a drop in the ocean what you do...'. My answer is: 'let me be that drop, because I see with my own eyes what we have achieved'. Set against the enormous world suffering, you can make everything small.
I feel - together with the children involved - grateful for the opportunities that we as a foundation are able to share.
'Whatever the question, education is the answer'.
Ingrid Vink
