This is why I love this man although he infuriates me on a regular basis Ray Evans Harrell
----- Original Message ----- From: Keith Hudson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 10:24 AM Subject: Endow a school? > When one reads something like Ed Weick's description of Veronique . . . > <<<< > One of the brightest kids I ever met was a little seven year old girl in a > huge slum in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She had a tremendous sense of what was > going on around her, and was the most adept student of about thirty or > forty in an adult (yes, adult) evening English class. I was sorely tempted > to put her in my suitcase and bring her back to Canada, where she had a > chance of getting a good education. The average schooling in the slum was > about three years, which means that little Veronique may no longer going to > school now and is on the street. While she was outstanding, there were > several other bright kids in that slum as well, all probably going nowhere. > >>>> > . . . one really wants to blubber. > > But wouldn't it be splendid to endow a school somewhere in the world for > children such as Veronique? > > Since my wake-up call of prostate cancer last year (now probably clonked on > the head for a number of years), I've been thinking about dying and who to > leave my money to when the time comes. I have grandchildren but I'd also > like to leave some money for education. I'm not rich -- just comfortably a > little more than the average I suppose -- but aware that a relatively > modest amount of money, sensibly invested, could support a small school in > a country with a reliable legal/property system -- perhaps in Nepal or > Afghanistan or Brazil or somewhere like that. > > In fact, for the last year I've been looking around in a desultory way for > possible charities which specialise in small school projects of this sort. > But I haven't found one yet. What rather prompts me is the origin of my own > school, Bablake, founded in Coventry in 1563 for the education of the > children of poor people. It was started with a relatively small amount of > money (�49) as a result of an accident of trade. Here's an account of this > from a history of the school by Peter Burden: > > <<<< > Thomas Wheatley, a maker of instruments for wool combing, sent his agent > John Oughton to Spain for some wedges of Toledo Steel. On his agent's > return the chests were found to contain silver ingots and cochineal. > Wheatley, being an honourable man and unwilling to profit by another's > mistake, tried in vain to discover to whom this treasure rightly belonged. > In the end he gave the proceeds of this lucky accident to founding a > school. . . . > >>>> > > The income was enough for a small property, one teacher and about two dozen > children (who were boarded). But, over the years, other Coventry > businessmen gave to the charity, and the school endowment grew. Thousands > of poor children were educated over the centuries until the school was > taken over by the state in the 1940s. (And, now that the state-education > system is getting into an increasing mess, I'm hoping that Bablake will > regain its independence in due course.) > > I'm a great believer in the accidents of life. Perhaps Ed's paragraph > quoted above was another accident. Could this lead to another school? Given > the brains, diligence and the *relative* affluence of FWers, such a > prospect would be entirely possible. Any ideas anyone? > > Keith Hudson > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Keith Hudson, General Editor, Calus <http://www.calus.org> > 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England > Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________________________________________
