Lorrie Williams

Lorrie Williams is my hero! I got to meet her at my school because I wrote her a letter and invited her to come so I could get to know her and to ask her questions personally. I found out about her when I watched her story on the news. She was the head mistress in a small school in Africa. She is really interesting. I think she is courageous, and a persevering person. I hope she'll interest you.

Lorrie always was the kind of person who wanted to make a difference. Before Lorrie went to Africa, she saw a flier saying that they need a teacher in Africa, so Lorrie said "what the heck!" and went to Africa for an adventure. Little did she know that she had a lot of challenges ahead of her. She had no electricity, no water from a tap or sink and she was the Head Mistress of a school. Being a Head Mistress doesn't seem bad, but there is one problem. Head Mistresses or Masters have the job of kicking people out of school if they can't pay the fees. One day Lorrie had to kick out the brightest, smartest, most nice, and most caring person in the whole school and Lorrie said to her boss "I am sorry I can not do that. She is too special!" He said, "Then you pay for her." So Lorrie did!!

Lorrie had a lot of problems ahead of her cause she was too nice. She didn't want to kick kids out so she would send letters to her friends asking if they could send her money so she can keep these kids in school. Lorrie would send pictures a well for her friends who were sponsoring the kids. After a while Lorrie ran out of friends to ask, so she decided to start a foundation called CHES (Canadian Harambee Education Society). Harambee is a African word that means pulling together.

Lorrie stuck with her foundation because she knew that it would be successful and, because of CHES, many girls in Kenya are being sponsored and are getting an education. I think Lorrie did something really helpful for Kenyan girls because in their culture, they do chores when the boys play. The girls don't get school privileges like boys. Girls' literacy rates are lower than boys by eleven percent! Girls in Kenya can only expect, according to Lorrie, to get to around grade 6 in school. It is very important that girls get a chance in high school because they could be very intelligent and they could get scholarships and jobs. Margaret, the first person Lorrie helped, had the power of separating with her husband because of the education that she received. And also with education many girls can afford their own piece of land instead of marrying for a home.

Lorrie did an amazing job in Africa. She really made a difference to many of the girls. She never gave up. She kept trying and trying to make smiles on peoples faces. She had the courage and perseverance to do an amazing deed. I can't imagine doing a deed like her cause I can't imagine going to a place with no electricity, small rooms, and no running water! However, she has inspired me so that one day I'll do something courageous to help the world!!