In 2024, I visited an area in Lebanon with a local leader named Fadi. He had learned that the children there did not have access to education. He saw the great need and decided to start a school in the community to give them the opportunity to learn. We visited a home with three children to tell the family that a new school was opening in their community. Before Fadi told them about the school, I noticed the children’s eyes — they were void, lacked hope, and unable to dream of a brighter tomorrow. But when Fadi told them they would get to learn, I saw an immediate transformation in all the children, especially in a girl named Roukaya. In that moment, something changed within her. Hope and dreams began to form. After taking it in for a moment, the first thing she asked was, “Will I get a backpack?”​

 

I understood that to Roukaya, the “backpack” represented far more than just a bag. It symbolized opportunity, belonging, and purpose. It represented hope. The image of a backpack and all that it stands for stayed with me for over a year and eventually inspired the vision for Hope In Every Backpack.

 

Backpacks are a powerful symbol of our lives and what we carry with us: our experiences, fears, and dreams. Sadly, far too many children around the world are carrying heavy loads in their “backpacks” that no child should ever have to bear. They carry the weight of hunger, sickness, trauma, the horrors of war, displacement, exploitation, and the belief that they are unworthy of love and respect.​

 

There are countless children in the world, just like Roukaya, waiting for the burdens they carry to be lifted and to carry hope instead. Our mission is to see that happen.