Five wks ago I began privately fundraising to get $ to pay for a year of education at decent boarding schools and out-of-pocket financial needs for all of the remaining school age members of my Maasai bonus daughter’s extended family. They need $5k and I’m grateful that donors have given over $7k! via /r/gratitude

The first four weeks I called friends and family and was able to raise $2500, then I remembered I still have my mother's address book because I ignored my impulse to throw it away months ago after she died. It contains the contact information for former colleagues, close friends, former students, and some of their children and even their grandchildren, because my mother's professional career, which spanned almost 70 years (she was still working tutoring students up to a few weeks before she died at 92) was all about doing whatever she could to ensure that every child has access to the best possible education.

I met my bonus daughter after tracking her down through my mother's email, because my mother had paid her school fees some years ago through a charity. One thing led to another and now I love her like my own, and her family has adopted me.