Last week, I asked whether you'd be willing to give up a latte or two to save a life. This week, the challenge is going to be a little less dramatic but a lot more direct in terms of comparison: would you give up one of your own take-out lunches to provide a classroom of African schoolgirls with their own (more badly needed) lunch?

Seriously. Because $15 will provide lunch to a class of 50 girls in Burkina Faso - girls who walk many miles to go to school each day and who would otherwise go hungry.

From the project website:

The Friends of Burkina Faso (FBF) supports NEEED, a Burkinabe
grantmakers organization that enrolls young rural girls in village
schools, using funds to purchase a lamb and school materials for
students’ first year of schooling. The family assumes responsibility
for their children’s education for 5 years of primary school, and 4
years of middle school for those who qualify. Each spring, parents sell
the fattened lamb. Proceeds are used to buy school materials and a new
lamb for the next year.

Students walk 6 km to attend school from the local
village. They have nothing to eat throughout the day. The project will
provide a noon meal to students, enhancing their capacity to learn.

The establishment of the school was a wonderful first step in improving the lives of these girls and those of their families, but in order to really take advantage of the benefits that the school is providing, the girls need to be well-nourished. Contributions provide for that nourishment, but in addition to that, they help support the local economy, because they are channelled through local food providers, thereby generating and sustaining local employment. Which makes this all a triple-win situation - the girls win, their families win, and the local community and economy wins. It's sustainable development in its very best form.

But even if you just break it down to it's most basic component - getting food to schoolgirls who need it - it's a more than worthy cause. Imagine if your daughter went hungry every day at school? Imagine if she was unable to really learn because her tummy was rumbling and she couldn't concentrate on her lessons? Imagine that times fifty. Times hundreds.

15 bucks is nothing, to feed a classroom of children, and to help a community get on its feet.

(And spreading the word? FREE! Blog it, button it, tell all your friends!)

The Burkina Faso project is one of the projects being supported by Global Giving, an online program
that connects potential donors with community-based development
projects. As Lisa Stone announced at the beginning of this week, BlogHer has teamed up with Global Giving in an effort to save as many women's lives as possible between now and Mother's Day. Getting food and education to young girls seems a pretty good way of supporting that goal.