Hello! My name is Sapphira--yeah, like that dragon in Eragon! Fun fact about me: I love to travel (who doesn't?). I plan to hike the Inca trail in Macchu Picchu, Peru with an alpaca by my side. I am a Junior at the Rutgers Business School in New Brunswick and am majoring in Business Analytics and Information Technology. I am also a part of the Women's Ultimate Frisbee team and Rutgers University Business for Youth (RUBY, for short). In RUBY, our mission is to educate underprivileged high school students. Our club provides a mentorship program to teach students from Elizabeth Township, NJ about the business world. I learned about Global Brigades through interviewing Pawel, who was a past brigader, for a position on RUBY e-board.

When I first heard about it, I knew it was something I want to experience. The Global Business Brigade that I am going on goes hand-in-hand with RUBY's goal: to educate the impoverished. On this brigade, volunteers will consult with villagers in Honduras about savings, banking systems and loans. Many of these families do not have access to the necessary resources and/or education to address their financial needs.

The idea of educating the impoverished is important to me because growing up in New York, I was surrounded by people who were on opposite ends of the inequality gap; it made me realize how big the gap is. It's a fact that low-income families are unable to provide the same style of parenting as those of middle- and upper-classes; low-income parents read less to their children and provide less help with homework. Inequality of opportunity is a prevalent problem and the first step to closing the inequality gap is to start by educating people. This is also applicable to third-world countries, which is what the Global Business Brigade seeks to change!

I am fortunate enough to have access to quality education and am eager to give back to the villages in Honduras. You can help out these families in Honduras too, by donating towards a good cause and by helping foster a well-educated community.