Federer: 'Reaching one million children through Foundation is incredible'
In a press release Roger Federer commented on his Foundation reaching one million children. The 20-time Grand Slam winner felt proud and pleased with the unbelievable achievement. Federer founded his charity association back in 2004.
"I would never have dared to dream that one day I would influence the lives of one million children; that I could give them a better education", said Federer. "When I started the Roger Federer Foundation at a young age, I just wanted to give back some of my fortune and privileges without a specific plan. That was 15 years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday when we sat down at a Foundation board meeting many years ago and set ourselves the following goal: by the end of 2018, we wanted to give one million children the chance to benefit from a better quality of education. It sounded crazy and unattainable. Yet given the need that exists in the world, it was still just a modest contribution. We had to try. This challenging goal awoke unimagined strength in all members of our team and spurred our ambition. Now that we have achieved our goal, I stand here, elated yet humble. I am filled with the laughter of children I have met on my travels, and nourished by the tremendous motivation of teachers. And I am deeply impressed by the communities' enthusiasm and engagement to improve their children’s education. I remain modest, however, because today, 64 million children across the world still do not attend primary school. In low-income countries, a shocking 85% of children do not have access to early education; that is more than 200 million children. Achieving one goal means setting new ones. Our next strategy for 2019–2025 focuses on the youngest students: whether in southern Africa or Switzerland, we want to give children the best start on their educational path through life. Our guiding principle in this endeavour is that hildren should be ready for schools and schools should be ready for the children. This means that not only should children be prepared to start school, but also that the schools should provide a child-friendly environment, especially for the youngest."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2MrINPI
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