A is for About
The Alphabet Foundation is a non-profit organisation whose sole purpose is to bring the most basic of human rights, an education, to the poor, underprivileged and orphaned children of the world.
Our project is simple, inexpensive, and efficient. Whilst our goal is expansive, we focus on small, specific locations, working only with locals, establishing basic community run schools. The school buildings will not be over-capitalised nor built to last for a century. They will clean, pleasant and dry. Our initial efforts will focus on the many refugee and internally displaced peoples of South East Asia, with a vision to expanding to all parts of the world.
We will provide an opportunity for the least privileged to obtain an education that would otherwise be denied to them.
One of the most expensive elements to any aid project is establishing local administrative offices and networks. In keeping with our objective of running our projects with as little ancillary costs as possible, we actively seek out local partners to assist.
You can free a child from hunger with food and water. An education can free the child.
B is for Burma
Like any aid project the question always arises, where do you begin. The Alphabet Foundation has been actively involve over the last three years in providing support for Burmese refugees on the Thai/Burma border.
For almost two decades tens of thousands of people have fled repression in Burma and sought refuge in the forested region along the Thai/Burma border. Bush camps that were intended to be temporary places of refuge have turned into semi permanent villages. Viewed with hostility in Burma and unwanted in Thailand there is no government they can turn to for assistance in providing the most basic of services. Sometimes the only safe place for them is in a refugee camp where what was intended to be temporary protection is becoming long-term isolation and uncertainty. Of course, the problems these people face are myriad.
We intend to tackle one of those problems – the education of the children.
Many of the refugees have gathered around the border town of Mae Sot in North West Thailand. The Mae Tao Clinic, founded and run by Dr. Cynthia Maung, is based there and provides free health care for refugees, migrant workers and others who cross the border from Burma to Thailand. The clinic has also established some rudimentary schools and orphanages.
C is for Corporate Sponsorship
The Alphabet Foundation is run purely on a voluntary basis. There is no staff or Directors fees and all donations directly support a specific education project.
Our model is unique, with 100% of donations going directly to affected areas where we liaise with local communities in determining the best ways of implementing spending. Corporate sponsors meet the costs of running the foundation
We believe that by securing corporate sponsorship we can offer a guarantee that every dollar donated goes to the intended recipients. We pride ourselves on this and appreciate the support we receive from the business community.
If you would like to sponsor a letter of the alphabet and support the running of the foundation contact us at enquiries@thealphabetfoundation.org
D is for Donate
Please support the foundation by sending your donations by cheque or money order to:
The Alphabet Foundation
PO Box 889
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Sydney, Australia
Registered Charitable Fundraising
Authority CFN/20523
ACN: 130 385 830
Phone: +61 (0)416 899 334
Refund Policy
All donations are non-refundable. Please contact us prior to making a donation if you need to discuss this policy. Donations of $2.00 or more are tax-deductible. Please indicate at the time of donation if a receipt is required.
E is for Education
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit."
The right to at least a primary education is seen as so important that the United Nations gave it the second highest priority in the Millennium Development Goals, after the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.
The importance of education is that it creates opportunities and choices for individuals, offering chances to improve standards of living while creating citizens who are skilful, well-informed and equipped to help their country achieve economic and social prosperity.
A safe and caring environment and good quality early childhood care and education, both in families and formal programs, helps improve the survival, growth, development and learning potential of young children.
No one should be denied the opportunity to complete a good quality primary education because it is not affordable.
Children should not have to travel great distances or fear for their safety getting to school. Education needs to be inclusive and flexible, supplying the needs of all learners, including those who may have to work to help in the family businesses.
F is for Funding
With any aid program the significance of well directed funding is of the greatest importance.
We have found over the time that the most overlooked issue regarding any aid programs is the lack of voice the recipients have in how financial assistance is directed. There is no advantage in a community centre if the village lacks clean drinking water. Many times the wishes of the people are overlooked by the erroneous ideas of bureaucrats.
The Alphabet Foundation prides itself on listening to the people and implementing programs that are sustainable and beneficial to everyone. We believe that the best results are achieved when all parties are involved in the decision-making.
Programs are funded through an application process enabling the foundation to have the greatest influence on the needs of the community. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation is done on a regular basis where teachers and committees will take responsibility for keeping records of student’s -their names, attendance of the school, and results of all assessments.
The local program administrators will visit the schools at least four time a year, schools’ contact person will provide written records and photographs of their time there. Twice a year they will submit a narrative report to the foundation including photos, number of students, and teachers, activity.
At the end of each school year the receipts and account will send to the foundation for the availability to all supporters of the foundation.
G is for Gallery
The Alphabet Founatdion
H is for Health
While the priority of the foundation is based on education, we recognise the fact that health and education work in unison. Most of the students attending the schools will be from a background where the families have restricted access to health care.
In addressing this important issue each school will implement a health care program to provide information and to encourage healthy lifestyle practices. Funds within the school budget will be allocated for sanitation supplies, students' food, Vitamin A and Iron supplements and wherever possible to provide safe drinking water. Orphanage schools are provided with mosquito nets to assist in the prevention of the spread of malaria, a common problem in many of these areas.
I is for Information
Should you require any further information on any of our programs please feel free to contact us at: enquiries@thealphabetfoudnation.org
J is for Junta
Humanitarian organisations are saying that the Burmese Junta has recently launched a fresh series of attacks against its people. A 30-year-old mother of three awakens in the darkness most nights to the sound of her children's screams.
"They keep having nightmares about our journey here," she said.
That journey, she recalled, began when she was four months pregnant and government soldiers torched her village and forced local farmers off their land. It ended four weeks later, after her husband died of malaria en route to this camp. She and her children arrived here this summer dehydrated and exhausted. She soon went into early labour with a stillborn son. Nightmares of all kinds are rife in this camp, where new clusters of villagers arrive almost daily, a consequence of Burma's largest military offensive against its own people in more than a decade, according to aid groups and Western diplomats. The offensive has targeted minorities.
According to estimates by relief groups, Burma's forces have burned down more than 200 civilian villages here in Karen state, destroyed crops and placed land mines along key jungle passages to prevent refugees from returning to their home villages. Dozens of people have died, and at least 20,000 civilians have been displaced over the past eight to ten months.
Burma is also known as Myanmar.
K is for Karen
The Karen in Burma have suffered oppression at the hands of successive regimes of that country for decades.
Forced re-settlement and labour, incarceration, denial of political representation and citizenship status rights among other human rights violations have led thousands of Karen to move into into Thailand.
While many argue that they have a better life there, their status is yet unsure. Many of them are in Thailand as refugees.
The following quotes are taken from the Human Rights Watch World Report 2002: "Villagers continued to be forcibly relocated, and those suspected of aiding guerrillas were tortured and sometimes killed. In January, government soldiers extrajudicially executed three ethnic minority Palaung men in Ho Ha village in Shan State after a search for weapons turned up an old carbine rifle that villagers used for hunting."
In January, the Burmese army reportedly displaced some 30,000 villagers in Karen State when it burned villages in its dry season offensive.
L is for Links
www.maetaoclinic.org
www.msap.unsw.edu.au
M is for Media
N is for News
To stay informed on current and future events please join our mailing list. Send an email to enquiries@thealphabetfoundation.org
O is for Objectives
The Alphabet Foundation’s core objectives
To increase
Access to education including provision for re-entry to formal education and for and the opportunity to further educational guidance
To promote
Equity in the distribution of education opportunities and in resource allocation, including equal opportunities for disadvantaged groups, ethnic minorities and rural communities
To assist
With the achievement of overall qualitative improvements in education services and standards, particularly in basic education
To provide
Education which is relevant to the needs of individuals and of the community
To facilitate
The effective and efficient use of resources in education and training
P is for Projects
Current Projects
Community Schools Initiative for Internally Displaced People on the Thai/ Burma Border.
Future Projects
To be Announced
Q is for Quotes
"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead - Anthropologist
"Here once again education is crucial, it enables children tobecome more aware of their rights and to exercise them in a respectful manner which helps them shape their own future.”
Carol Bellamy - Executive Director of UNICEF
"The well-being of children requires action at the highest level. We are determined to take that action."
World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, 1990
Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.”
Kofi Annan - Former United Nations Secretary-General
R is for Ruler
S is for Sponsors
T is for Target
U is for Understanding
Sometimes when we look at the plight of the many children who are born into conflict or suffering we find it hard to understand how this can be happening is this modern era.
Extreme poverty means that many families are struggling simply to survive, and lack the money and sometimes health to meet even their most basic needs.
However, because children are dependent on adults for so much, they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Sadly, the rights of many children are abused. All adults, not just parents, have legal and moral responsibilities. for children, and that is why many countries, have laws which protect them.
Because of this extreme vulnerability, the United Nations created the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Convention is the most broadly accepted human rights document ever produced. Although there is a long way to go before every child on the planet can be certain of their rights, the acknowledgment that children even have these rights is a big step.
Understanding that they have rights and making sure their communities know them too, these children will grow up to be aware and responsible adults.
V is for Video
W is for Words
- Sad
- Happy
- Lonely
- Comforted
- Afraid
- Safe
- Helpless
- Protected
- Unworthy
- Valued
- Despair
- Hope
- Fear
- Courage
- Distrust
- Trust
- Shame
- Pride
- Forgotten
- Remembered
- Doubtful
- Confident
- Oppressed
- Uplifted
- Incapable
- Capable
- Unfortunate
- Fortunate
- Depraved
- Blessed
- Neglected
- Noticed
X is For Expenses
Hard to believe that for the cost to send one child to school for a year in some countries will educate almost 700 children for a year in others.
Sadly this is a fact. Here is some food for thought.
Budget for 3 schools housing 670 children ranging from ages 4 – 15 years
$4,000
3 school buildings on land provided by the local community
$5,000
Salaries for 25 teachers at an annual cost
$1,000
Teaching facilities and equipment
$1,000
Students uniforms, stationary and school equipment
$500
Staff development and training
$1,500
Health programs including food and medicines
$1,500
Monitoring and administration
$500
Special event costs
Y is for You
To submit feedback please send us an email enquiries@thealphabetfoundation.org
Z is for Zero
This is the number of underprivileged children we would like to see go without the opportunity for a basic education.
Ambitious? You bet. But we know that change of this significance has to begin with a single step.
Over 100 million children, currently have none or limited access to education.
Many of these children will be the hardest to reach because over half of them are in countries in conflict, or recovering from conflict. There are also insufficient resources, lack of political will, and numerous barriers to getting and keeping children - particularly girls - in school. Basic education is empowering for individuals, their families, communities, and nations. Alternatively, a lack of opportunity created by the absence of education can cause despair.
