Breaking Borders Boarding School
Breaking
Borders’s mission is to provide a safe and collaborative environment for
children to gain both strong academics and a broader view of the world. The
project involves the establishment of a private boarding school fully funded by
donations. The program begins in elementary school and extends throughout high
school with children returning home for breaks. There will be students from a
variety of different countries including some who have certain disabilities.
I
believe that the diversity in cultures and abilities will not only heighten the children’s
academic environment, but also allow for a greater development of compassion
for one another. The children will come from different regions, will have faced different
challenges, and each one will have their own story to share.
This organization is unique in that it is creating an intangible
resource, empathy. Although its effects will not be immediate, the long lasting
impact that schools like this can have across the world is unlimited. This
issue is especially important to me because as a psychology minor I have
learned how lack of empathy and bullying, can bring long-lasting detrimental
effects. I have also seen through volunteering at the Los Angeles Blind
Children’s Center that when students with different capabilities and different
backgrounds are put together, they develop a new appreciation for one another. Different
perspectives bring greater critical thinking. Challenges taken on together and
individual victories are celebrated collectively.
Anima
Mundi Development Partners should support this organization because some of the
biggest problems surrounding global justice today stem from a common
denominator, a lack of empathy. This lack of understanding of one another is
what keeps people from reaching out and helping others in need. This project
has the potential to bring a change in mindset, how we think about each other, and how we react to the struggles of others.