LatinaLista — In 2011, Arizona State University (ASU) biomedical engineering junior Tina Hakimi read an article posted on the university’s web site about a fellow student’s work with orphans in Mexico. The article sparked an idea and gave her reason to “hope.”
After reading the article about how fellow ASU student Neil Saez has been traveling to a Mexican orphanage since the age of 2, as part of his parents’ nonprofit’s mission to financially help the children with everything from food and clothing to a college education, Hakimi realized that providing money to further their education was only half the battle.
Hakimi felt the children needed to be inspired, encouraged and enlightened as to what a college education could given them. In other words, these children needed hope — as in Camp H.O.P.E.
Standing for Helping Orphans Prosper through Education, Camp H.O.P.E. is a student-run organization that in 2011 held its first week-long camp at Estado 29, an orphanage in Ensenada, Mexico. Fifteen ASU students volunteered to be counselors and went to show the children just how much fun learning can be.
All week long, the children participated in educational activities that taught them there was another side to learning.
This year, Hakimi and her group want to do the same for needy children in Arizona. They have a site and are raising funds for supplies for this summer’s camps.
Picture this: hundreds of children in a community. They all have the financial opportunity to pursue a higher education.
But what they really need is the passion to chase after it.
Camp H.O.P.E. can do this! It is our continuous mission to provide children all around the world with educational activities.
