HOW IT STARTED
-Traveling to Africa was an amazing experience for my family, the friends that accompanied us, and me. However, as our days there turned into weeks, the perfections and beauty began to reveal a new side to Africa. My family had the luxury of traveling with South Africans, who were able to show us safe paths through the unforgiving continent, but as we got off the beaten paths we could see the poverty seeping through the cracks of every country side, of every city, of every home. Despite all this, there was still one thing that USA had in common with all these places —our reliance on cell phones.
Through all of this poverty and hardship, many families still rely on cell phones, no matter how simple the task. I began to wonder how much modern civilizations rely upon these communication devices for everyday life. I couldn’t comprehend why these families with nothing still had cell phones and as I researched, I began to understand and I felt like I needed to help in some way, in any way.
There were numerous families relying on their phones, but it hadn’t occurred to me what these families would be forced to go through if one of their phones broke. I know from personal experience how often it happens and the trouble one must go through to fix it. As I grow towards independence, I appreciate the value of money especially for those in developing countries. For me, I just had to pull some allowance together to pay for a repair, and that still seemed like a big deal. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for kids with nothing, whose only true possession is a simple cell phone. Living in pampered Encinitas, I may not know what these people go through, but I can only presume the suffering and hardships accompanied with a broken cell phone. If it is a big deal for me, I can’t picture their struggle. So I decided to help out. Even if it relatively is small, all I can hope is that I can help a family, and fix an unavoidable problem.
