My wife on "CNN Heroes"

My wife will be on CNN today and tomorrow in a story about a mentoring organization she volunteers with called Infinite Family. The founder, Amy Stokes, is being highlighted in a segment called CNN Heroes. Infinite Family is an internet-based mentoring program where volunteers do video chats once a week with kids in South Africa, mostly from communities where AIDS has taken away much of the adult community.

It’s a small organization now but they are hoping this exposure will help them grow both in volunteers and partnerships with other organizations, so if you or anyone you know might be interested please PM me and I'll give you my wife's email. It’s been fantastic for her and it really makes an impact in the kids’ lives. Recently 100% of the mentees in this program passed their Matric exams coming out of high school (required to enter college), while the national average is around 60%.

In any case, Jill and her mentee Kudina are in the video starting at 00:46 and again at 01:23 at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/index.html.

 

Thanks, yea I think it's so cool. Such a simple idea and it goes a long way. We've sponsored a child before but that was just sending a check, which is needed too. But this is much more rewarding.

They want to expand it to corporate mentorships too... so business people here could mentor business people around the world. Could be really helpful in the medical field especially.

 

Yea, that's probably the #1 question they get. Probably not a country out there that doesn't have areas in need... Jill grew up in Appalachia and there are parts right here in the US that are in bad shape. Most people give back somewhere in some way, so it just kinda comes down to what you happen to like and who you happen to meet.

South Africa does have some unique problems because of the effects of apartheid and some really bad leadership on AIDS. Kudina lives in Soweto (if you saw the movie District 9 that is her neighborhood) where there are communities where children are the heads of the household. Often men have to live in another city for work and with the spread of AIDS taking out tons of adults it's not uncommon for a 12 year-old to be the parent of their younger siblings... which makes school impossible and continues the cycle. Kudina is actually lucky - she lives with her mom and grandmother. We don't know anything about her father but we do know he's alive... most likely works in mines in another part of the country.

But India has some areas that have similar problems. South America and Asia, too. I'm pretty sure that Infinite Family is wanting to expand to those places. I don't know exactly what it is about Africa that seems to get more attention than other places. I know there are staggering numbers about AIDS deaths in Africa. The fact that Bono and Oprah are involved in South Africa certainly adds to the attention.

We just got involved because we went on vacation to South Africa and just loved the country. Cape Town is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and we fell in love with the people there. Once thing led to another and we got involved. I think some people make too big of a deal out of it, though. As if caring for an orphan overseas is morally superior to just teaching school in the US or volunteering at a food bank. To me it all comes from the same place of our humanity and it's all very needed. Some things are more dramatic, and they all have different kinds of impact but at the end of the day helping is helping.