Educate Me is trying to ‘redefine education’, as they believe kids can reach their full potential through different approaches that do not treat children as minors but rather embraces them fully. The social enterprise is organising a fundraiser on Thursday where 22 children will sell products that they have lovingly made from scratch. From getting the materials and deciding what to use, to making the product with their own hands, the children will be funding their own dreams, as part of Educate Me’s Ask programme.
The Ask programme is about asking the children, who are mostly between the ages of seven to 14, about what they want and then helping them to realise it. The children’s dreams often include things that require money and the fundraiser is the way they raise it. This approach teaches them about themselves and how to get what they want, without discouraging them, says Mohamed Ramadan, director of innovations at Educate Me.
“Some of the kids want to learn how to swim or go horseback riding. Some of the girls may want to learn self-defence and take karate classes. So we ask them ‘how will you go through with this?’ and we help them come up with a plan for raising the money. This is our fourth fundraiser and we teach them things like planning and goal-setting as well as give them exposure to the world around them and themselves,” said Ramadan.
Some of the products include handicrafts, carpentry or wooden crafts, paintings, drawings and origami. The fundraiser will be held at 10 Mahmoud Bassiouny and will last from 5-10pm.
