Taken to Heart

How many times do we read about orphanages across the world and the terrible conditions and suffering children? How many times do we see commercials pleading with us to help the children? How many times do we volunteer with an organization and walk away thinking we wish we could do more?

I think the answer to all of these questions is "all the time", or at least it seems that way to me. I have written before about on of my favorite quotes, "Be the change you wish to see in the world". Student Amy Lambert has taken this challenge to heart. At only 24 years old, she has raised the funds to buy an orphanage in Africa, after volunteering there and seeing too much suffering and need first hand.

What if we all took action, however small, when seeing situations where help is needed? Imagine the impact. Imagine the change in the world, and the hope that would bring. Imagine the idea of taking action becoming contagious as people begin to see change taking shape.

I am so inspired by Amy, and hope that when she moves to Tanzania this July to begin running the orphanage, more people hear about her story and her success.

Student buys African orphanage
A student who visited a run-down African orphanage was so moved by the children's plight that she raised £30,000 to buy it.

The undergraduate at Bath Spa university raised more than £30,000 in just seven months
Amy Lambert, 24, set about gathering funds after witnessing the horrors at the decrepit Kichijo Orphanage in Tanzania.
She spent eight weeks volunteering there last summer, when she cared for 150 boys and girls - many of whom had lost one or both parents to AIDS and HIV.
Miss Lambert found children who were starving, dangerously dehydrated and sleeping in dirty beds.
The undergraduate at Bath Spa university raised more than £30,000 in just seven months.
But rather than passing the cash to authorities, she asked them if she offered to buy the orphanage instead.
Now she plans to complete her degree in Psychology and Health Studies this July before moving out to run the orphanage full time.
Miss Lambert of Pewsham, Wiltshire said: "These children are the most beautiful, selfless people I have ever met. I have never felt so helpless."
Her offer to buy the orphanage was accepted earlier this year and now plans to tear down the crumbling building and replace it with a modern one.
She also hopes to add a school room to educate the children and sew crops to teach them about self-sufficiency.

Anyone who would like to donate money towards Amy Lambert's orphanage should visit http://www.wearecollecting.co.uk

article and photo courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk