One Pencil at a Time
I am proud to work for a company whose mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. I’m equally proud that — in pursuit of this mission — Microsoft contributes over $1 billion a year in cash, software and services to more than 100,000 nonprofits around the world each year.
But numbers alone don’t tell the story of impact.
Fortunately, working on the Microsoft Philanthropies team, I also get to hear examples daily — of nonprofits transformed by the cloud, of young people learning new skills and accessing new opportunities and of organizations raising more funds with support from our employees.
But even hearing these stories can tell you only so much.
There is nothing more powerful than being in the field with an organization to truly understand the impact they are making on the ground. That is why I was thrilled to join Pencils of Promise in Guatemala, where they are working in 155 partner communities to bring quality education to Guatemalan children, who typically only attend school for four short years.
Pencils of Promise is one of our global partners in our year-long Upgrade Your World initiative, celebrating the launch of Windows 10. As a partner, we invested $500,000 in their work to increase educational opportunities in the developing world. This included support for the construction of 10 new PoP schools.
While in Guatemala, we travelled to five rural communities to unveil and dedicate some of these schools. We met with students, teachers, principals and community members. There was music and dancing, flowers and fresh coconuts. And, in more than one community, fireworks. Mostly, there were smiles — hundreds of warm, appreciative smiles.
The rock-star greetings we received were moving on several levels.
First, these communities knew and LOVED Pencils of Promise. This was evident in every interaction I experienced. They valued not only the promise of an education for their children, but the people who work alongside them as community partners to make it possible.
Second, there was so much hope for the future. While only 3 out of 10 Guatemalan children currently finish 6th grade, that is changing. The kids I met had big hopes and dreams and plans for their future, enabled and inspired by their access to quality education. With programs like Pencils of Promise, they are on the path to make those dreams a reality.
Finally, there is potential to achieve even more. As part of our support, the local team is using Surface Pros with Windows 10 to monitor and evaluate their programming. Technology helps them track literacy and learning results for each child to ensure PoP can optimize their approach and make a real difference for even more kids.
I returned from Guatemala with real world proof of impact; proof that goes beyond what anyone can imagine by just looking at numbers or hearing the stories. The organization that started in 2008 with a gift of one pencil from founder Adam Braun to a young boy in India has grown to over 344 schools around the word, changing the lives of the nearly 34,000 students. Including the lives of many of my new friends pictured.
As we continue to work at Microsoft Philanthropies to empower a more inclusive world, I reflect often on my trip to Guatemala and the real people behind this work. Thanks to a weaving and handwritten note from a grandmother I met in Barrios I on my desk, I’m reminded each and every day that our mission is being achieved one person, and sometimes one pencil, at a time.
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Check out #PoPFieldTrip on Instagram to follow our adventures in Guatemala, Ghana and Laos.
To learn more about PoP’s work, visit pencilsofpromise.org
