Education for All
The beautiful thing about education is that no one can take it away from you. It is the right possession that goes with you to your grave
- Michael Panom Koryom
Leora Smith is leading a project out of Canada to enable Michael Panom Koryom to attend Graduate School. If you would like to join her group or make a donation please see our contact section.
A Call for Action
My name is Leora Smith and I am an 18-year old student living in Toronto. About a year ago I traveled to Poland and personally walked through and viewed the remains of Polish concentration camps alongside Holocaust survivors. As these survivors told me their stories I was so grateful for their sharing and felt that I was finally beginning to grasp a piece of history about which I had often learned but with which I had long struggled to establish a connection. The more I was taught, the more I felt I understood and I began to develop a great sense of appreciation for education. I began to value education as a means of appreciating the past and eradicating hate. Already about to begin my senior year, I wished I had found this appreciation earlier. I do know, however, that I will never let go of it.
About four months ago as I was researching the conflict and current situation in Darfur I stumbled across a story written by a man named Michael Panom Koryom who is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. He wrote of his journey from Sudan to Kenya, and of the education that he received once he arrived. Michael spoke of his education with such a sense of wonder and gratefulness. I was touched that one could feel and express so purely the values that I, being so privileged, had only just become grateful for. At first, the very fact that such a heartwarming story could come from such a heartbreaking beginning made me so happy.
At the end of his story, however, Michael had written two sentences that seemed to be almost an afterthought. They read: My greatest preoccupation, therefore, is to get to university so that I will be able to help others in return. I finished secondary school, but I did not go to university or college because of financial difficulties.I read the lines about three times before I really took in what was written. I could not believe that this was the ending to his story. With such selfless intentions, could such a strong person really be hindered simply because of financial difficulties? It all seemed too unfair, and too easy to solve.
In fact, it is easy to solve, and that is why, with the help of many other people, I would like to take it upon myself to solve it. Money should never be a hindrance in ones life, there is much too much of it to go around. We need your help to make our campaign to send Michael to school a success. Because if anyone ever deserved it, he does. With enough enthusiastic people we can show that we believe that everyone deserves the chance to be educated. Join me to change one incredible life and send a message that we stand in solidarity with Michael and all other Sudanese who have suffered at the hands of genocide and Civil War.
Click here to read Michael's story