Social Entrepreneur Spotlight: Lana Al-Sakka

Thursday, I had the pleasure of meeting Lana Al-Sakka, the founder and managing partner of iJordan. She studied law in England, but never practiced, first working in banking, then starting her own PR firm. Then she casually mentioned that she had started a school. My ears shot up so fast, it hurt.

Her PR firm funds "Badu Al Yawm," a nursery school for the residents of Beidha, in Southern Jordan.

Lana explained that until 20 years ago, the people of Beidha lived in caves. "Caves!" she emphasized, as I asked her to describe the living conditions.

"Did they have beds? Toilets? Electricity? Anything in the caves?"

She looked at me. "No, nothing. CAVES!"

The government forced them to move out of the caves and into shelters, but they were not prepared for life outside the caves. They were unaccostomed to earning money for rent, mattresses, electricity, etc. Today, the people of Beidha make their living from tourism.

Lana spent a lot of time in Beidha visiting friends, and people kept asking her to open a nursery school. Children there do not begin school until age 6, and their time before that was very unstructured. Parents wanted their children to learn letters and numbers and the material that their peers were learning in nursery schools nearby, but many of them were illiterate themselves.

Last year, Lana opened "Badu Al Yawn." She rented the building, fixed it up, filled it wtih toys and equipment, trained the teachers, and, last month, saw the first class graduate to school. She hired local women to serve as teachers: "I wanted it to be of the community and by the community." She cites the U.S. Head Start program as a model.

Lana has a lot of plans for the school. She wants to hire a local director to supervise the teachers and therapist to work with the children. She wants them to have access to medical and dental care. She's been talking to her corporate clients about equipment donations and organizing training sessions. She wants her school to drive change across the community, particularly among the women. The school's brochure reads:

"Your support will mean that the once over-worked and exhausted Bedouin mothers willnow have the time to manage their household chrose or learn the basics for child care to implement in their houses.

Your support will strengthen the women of Beidha, boost their morals, and provide them with training opportunities to help them embark on their child care careers and bridge the gap that is evident when entering schools.

Your support will result in a pre-school where small children will be taught the necessary educational and social skills to support their natural growth."

Social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, early childhood education, lawyers acting as social engineers ... Lana is my new hero.