Help Children - Slovenia

Children are our future. Help them!

In the developed world, knowledge shouldn't be a privilege of the chosen. It has to find its way to all children, with no exceptions. We want the next generation to embody our healthiest aspirations and to become responsible adults, be able and willing to work, and to support themselves and others. Children are our future, and the best way to invest in the future is to help them complete their education.

Children in Slovenia need support, especially the less fortunate. Our humanitarian project Believe in Yourself & Kickstart the World focuses its Slovenia projects on the financially challanged and less developed sections of the country. Two major projects have been completed, bringing new resources and opportunities to those who may have previously been passed over.

Believe in Yourself & Kickstart the World joined forces with Jana Magazine's Slovene Woman of the Year event to ensure participation in school field trips for all students. These outings are a necessary and beneficial part of elementary education, but they are not compulsory in Slovenian schools and remain at the mercy of family economic conditions. The underprivileged children are ashamed to speak out, and only sadness and teary eyes tell their stories. In the end, those who can pay benefit, while the remainder are denied an educational experience due to their financial limitations.

We began the campaign on December 1, 2006 and finished on January 6, 2007 . The money we collected was equitably divided among all the elementary schools in Slovenia. The project touched every city and village school, helping to light the flame of enthusiasm in the students' hearts. Our aim is big and bold: those who believe will conquer the world!

Our foundation's second major Slovenian project was titled The World in a Palm. The goal was to supply internet accessible computers to the remote primary schools of Slovenia, thereby better connecting them with the world.

I launched the campaign by auctioning some prints from my photographic exhibition Faces of the World. Among those purchasing my works were the President of Slovenia, Danilo Türk and the Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković. The project was also supported by corporate sponsors such as Perutnina Ptuj Group, SRC, Si.Mobil, Županov sklad and Raiffeisen Bank.

Believe in Yourself & Kickstart the World raised enough funds to purchase and install 31 computers throughout Slovenia's rural areas. The schools accepted our requirement that the computers be placed in libraries, or other areas having easy student access.To read more, click here.

Believe in Yourself & Kickstart the World is here to help the youth of the world become tomorrow's leaders. We don't believe in handouts, but fully support institutions and programs that concentrate on developing potential. Everyone has potential, but they don't all have opportunity and motivation.

Benka Pulko