Today is #GivingTuesday!  Yes, now for the first time, thanks to the power of social media we have a day to give back on a global scale and it's got its own #hashtag!!  Today, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world are encouraged to come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.

And, how lucky am I could be a part of this historical day,  this day of global giving,  by launching a GoFundme campaign to raise money for two Liberian schools,  which my friend has supported single- handedly for years.  Through the creation of that GoFundMe campaign, I learned about another part of the world, which I knew nothing about, Liberia and why my friend chooses to support those schools.  Here's my version of their story:

First off, I bet you, like me, are asking yourself-why Liberia?  Why choose Liberia above all the other cultures/countries in need around the world?  Well, in some weird biblical way, Liberia,  which is also known as the United States of Liberia, was created in our own image, it was created in the image of the United States of America.    It was founded and created by freed US slaves, prior to the civil war in 1822 and by the time of the American Civil War, nearly 20,000 former Caribbean and U.S. slaves had settled in Liberia.  Those freed slaves set up their new country in the image of the country which had recently freed them-the United States of America.   The newly freed slaves(known as Americo-Liberians) built themselves a White House, similar to the one in Washington, D.C.  and like good Americans, those newly freed slaves began formal occasions by reciting the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance-the version that does not include the phrase one nation under god! Unfortunately, over time conflicts developed between the various indigenous ethnic groups and the former slaves.  Those conflicts culminated in 1980,  when a coup broke out between an indigenous group leader and the Americo-Liberian government.   The indigenous ethnic leader eventually overthrew the Americo-Liberian government and established his own regimen. The coup was followed by a series of rebel led conflicts lasting 1989 to 2003.  Those years of conflicts left the country and it's people ravaged from years of violence, leaving a generation with missing limbs, scars of war and a lack of education that dampened their futures.  

And, that's where my present GoFundMe campaign comes in,  donations will provide funding for two Liberian schools that are addressing the needs of those Liberians, scarred by years of war, by lifting up their lives through literacy.  I will be highlighting each of those two schools in two future blogs posts. It is my hope that after reading those posts, that you will be inspired, like me,  and donate your hard earned cash to my cause!  Until then, you by reading this blog have been a part of the first ever #GivingTuesday, a day of global giving.

I thank you for giving me your time and for caring about me and the world you live in!