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Faces of Change

High School Students in Milwaukee Reach for the Stars, United States of America

In 2002, AKF USA was awarded a matching grant through NetAid Foundation's World Schoolhouse Fund, to help Afghan communities reconstruct their education system. Through its global network of partners, NetAid connects people in developed countries directly to organizations with projects around the world that use sustainable methods and produce measurable ends to poverty. NetAid raises funds through the Internet and also uses the Web to report back to its donors about NetAid sponsored development projects. Parallel to AKF's practice, all donated funds go directly to project activities.

The goal to raise $150,000 through the NetAid website for AKF USA's Afghan education program was reached in April 2003, with the final contribution coming from a benefit concert organized by two high school seniors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here's the story of their contributions towards the efforts to make education globally available.

By the time the first buds of spring appear most high school seniors heading to college know where they'll be going in the fall. And, once those proverbial thick envelopes arrive in the mail, it's not unusual for students to walk through the remaining months of school with their heads in the clouds. For Sankalpo (Sean) Ghose and his buddy David (DA) Wallach, two seniors at the University School of Milwaukee, the last semester of their high school career was spent getting serious about global citizenship and doing their part to fight poverty.

In January, the two seniors rolled up their sleeves to kick off planning a school concert to benefit an organization of their choice. Last year, they organized a concert featuring local bands that raised $1,000 for UNICEF. This time, they envisioned something much bigger. "People want to donate, but you need to give them an incentive," Sean explains.

Wasting no time, Sean and DA set their marks high: They sought to get Milwaukee's own Willy Porter, a well-known musician, to headline the show. Porter's music, which has been described as "bluesy-folk", has garnered high praise from the press and his popularity is growing. "We figured it wouldn't hurt to contact him to find out if he'd do it," says DA. "But we knew he's way out of our league."

They found Porter's web site-and the number of his manager, Marc Spector. "We called him and said, �we're doing this concert at our school to support universal education,'" Sean recalls. After two weeks, Marc called to say that Porter agreed to perform at their concert and would do it for free! "That's when we realized this was really going to be big," recalls DA.

"We were so psyched," says Sean. "I remember telling people at school, and they just couldn't believe it."

With Porter's appearance locked in place, the boys had to decide which organization would receive proceeds from the concert. "DA and I had a lot of late-night phone conversations about this. We specifically wanted to raise money for something we believe in," says Sean, who is passionate about universal education. "Education," he says, "impacts everything."

The team returned to the web to find an organization that best appealed to their desire to support education projects in impoverished areas of the world. "That's how we found out about NetAid. We were happy to know that they wouldn't use any of the money for themselves and we felt confident that our money would really be used to help others. We felt safe." Clicking through the site led them to the NetAid World Schoolhouse. "It matched what we wanted perfectly."

The ambitious duo immediately contacted staffers at NetAid. "We were really impressed by their excitement and entrepreneurial spirit," remarks Nicki Pombier, Program Associate. Nicki set DA and Sean up with the NetAid logo and usage instructions, as well as informational material about the organization.

Tickets for the show at the 400-seat school theater were sold out two days before the concert on April 25th-a remarkable accomplishment, since tickets went on sale just over a week prior to the event. The boys had also sold over 100 concert T-shirts to benefit universal education. As the day of the concert drew near, mishaps and pressure were par for the course, but the team garnered the support they needed to make the event an incredible success. With two local bands on the line-up and Porter headlining, DA and Sean were ready to make it all happen.

"I was nervous, but I thought, hey, all the money is here, let's just try and have fun," remembers Sean. It wouldn't be too long before their jitters disappeared. "When Porter came on, the entire audience went wild."

The concert raked in over $5,400 to benefit the Iraq crisis fund and two NetAid World Schoolhouse projects in Togo and Afghanistan. Their contribution will go towards closing out the call for donations for both projects.

Now that the concert is over, both DA and Sean are looking forward to a long summer traveling in India, then in August, the two will head off to college, Harvard and Columbia respectively, where they both hope to continue to take action for universal education. It takes partnerships to change the world. AKF works with individuals, communities and organizations to make development happen.