About AWIEF
Able & Willing is a non-profit, IRS 501(c)(3), non-denominational, all volunteer run organization with headquarters in Frederick, Maryland
Vision
To create a world of educated, empowered and enlightened people.
Mission
Our Mission is to promote education and development in the following ways:
- Build schools in areas where access to basic education is limited
- Establish income-generating projects that teach students life skills and allow the schools to be self-supporting
- Foster regenerative natural resource activities within the communities where the schools are located
- Educate the US public about other countries and cultures and raise awareness of the interdependent nature of the world
Goals
- Join together with local people to build schools in communities in developing countries, utilizing local resources and skills.
- Emphasize positive traditional African cultural values in school curriculums, such as resolving conflict in group, studying traditional proverbs, and working together rather than competing.
- Incorporate conservation and renewal of natural resources in school construction and in the curriculum of the schools we help build.
- Include literacy classes for women in our school programs.
Our Approach
More than simply constructing the buildings, AWIEF helps to establish the programs that enable schools to support to themselves. In doing so, the organization seeks to model a healthy process of development that promotes self-reliance and helps to break the cycle of dependency on foreign aid.
Part of that process in Congo has involved recruitment of local children and parents to help carry bricks, transport water, and mix cement in the physical construction of buildings. A sense of pride that develops when people witness a school come together out of cooperation more than capital. Villagers also get to experience and observe the development of a Parents' Committee, the democratically-elected School Board, and the creation of income-generating activities that are both culturally appropriate and environmentally responsible.
