Dear ADRA Family,
It is likely that right now the children in your life are not in school. Whether they are your own kids, grandkids or neighbors, they are probably stuck at home like the rest of us.
Being trapped indoors is no fun for anybody, but for kids it is especially difficult. They may have their laptops and televisions, gaming devices and tablets, but it is not an adequate substitute for the school, the playground, and the world outside.
But the truth is this: one day this global health crisis will pass. One day we will have vaccines and better tracking and containment of the COVID-19 virus. One day the children in your life will go back to school.
That’s not the case for everybody. Regardless of the pandemic, 262 million children do not get to go to school. When this crisis passes, they will still be stuck at home, or working underage, or marrying early, or begging on the street, or surviving in a refugee camp.
When the pandemic ends, there will still be 25 million primary school-age children who have never been to school. Likely more, by then. Ninety percent of children with disabilities in the developing world will still be waiting at home. Refugee children will still be five times more likely than their non-refugee peers to be out of school.
Right now, you’re probably thinking: isn’t this supposed to be a message of hope?
The hope is this: together, we can come together to see that every child, everywhere, has a chance to go to school.
And we can do it. ADRA and the Adventist church are nearing the finish line of a signature campaign that says one million people care about the rights of children. Are you one of those people?
Right now, we have more than 600,000 signatures. That means 600,000 people want children to have a chance to go to school. I hope you are one of them. Please sign today so that we can continue to work with governments and world leaders to see that every child in the world has the chance to go to school.
This shelter-in-place will end one day, and when it does millions of children in America and Europe will go back to school. With your help, we can extend that same hope to every child, everywhere.
May God bless you all
To learn more about the Every Child. Everywhere. In School. campaign, visit ADRA.org/InSchool
