One of my favorite people in this world is my roomate Justin Zoradi. Justin is bunking with me until he and his girl Trisha get married this August. He’s only been in the house for a month or so, but already the place has a better feel just because he is around. Justin and Trisha moved to Portland a couple years ago and started a non-profit called These Numbers Have Faces, a partnership between American micro-investors and students in South Africa. Essentially, anybody willing to invest in a student can provide a college scolarship for about $23 a month. Incredible. Just down the street at Reed, students pay nearly 40k per semester.And yet the life changing affects of a college education mean just as much in South Africa as it does here. Many of the students Justin is working with in SA are the first to attend college. If you think about it, most Americans get some kind of scholarship, you know, either from our parents or from the government or from a program that cuts us a deal. It’s awesome that Justin has provided a means for us to give back to the world in such an efficient way.
What I love about Justin is he sees a sad story in the world and rather shaking his head and declaring that life is bad simply decides to tell a better one. And he’s recruiting other people to tell the story with him. He’s doing this while working full time and attending college himself, getting his masters from Portland State. He even gives some of his time to The Mentoring Project. Amazing.
So Justin, thanks for being my roomate and for inspiring me. I was taught when I was a kid that you become like the people you hang around. If you hang around negative people, you’ll become negative, or people who see themselves as victims will create more people who see themselves as victims. Man, it’s great to hang around somebody who believes they can change the world. Blessings to you and it’s my pleasure to tell the friends who read this blog about you and Numbers.
Don
P.S. The dishes in the dishwasher are dirty. And Lucy ate chapter three of your masters thesis.
Justin is certainly living an incredible story. I love the movers and shakers of this world. I took a class on South African History in college. Intense. And now I have friends living and serving in Jo’burg and their stories are heartbreaking.
Justin’s NPO reminds me of Turame in Burundi (Micro-finance: giving a $40 loan to locals can drastically increase their quality of life) and The Girl Effect (with 2 more years of education, a 3rd world girl can increase her lifespan and also the life of her family).
As a urban high school teacher myself, I’m daily trying to sort out how to get MY kids to college. My kids are stressed out. Unemployment is close to 14% and DAILY in their city 5 homes are lost to foreclosure. A student told me this week that her family is moving to a shelter Monday. How am I supposed to expect her to complete her homework? Moreover, how can I assist her in her future?
These programs make me cry, I’m not gonna lie. I love it that we get to be the Hands and Feet of Christ.
Hands and Feet, people.
Your picture was really clost to this art project that one of MY really good friends who is a lot like justin. His name is austin, and he’s always trying to find ways to live Jesus in creative and eye-opening ways. Last year, he went around and asked people, “if you can say one thing to the church of america (universal) what would it be.” He took their picture holding their message and held an art gallery for his community showing his work.
http://www.speaklisten.com
This was my entry/message… http://zoogi0.xanga.com/661322576/speaklistencom/
cheers,
jam
Mmm, perfect way for me to start my day. Thanks! =)
” I was taught when I was a kid that you become like the people you hang around.”
My pastor, Andy Stanley, says it this way, “Your friends determine the quality and direction of your life.”
peace|dewde
hey, that’s one way to put term limits on roommates…take in engaged people. Brilliant.
That’s awesome and inspiring…thanks for sharing that.
Ya’ll are lucky (hmm…not spiritual sounding enough)…blessed (…too spiritual sounding)…oh wait…BLUCKY! Ya’ll are blucky to have each other.
That’s really awesome.
what a cool organization!
good people make great friends….
It’s great to have people striving to grow taller than the giants that surround us. You guys rock!
Wow, thank you for bringing These Numbers Have Faces to my attention. Since my trip to SA in 2007, the children of that nation have never been very far from my consciousness. I am wondering if TNHF is hoping to expand beyond Gugulethu in the future?
Heading over to donate/shop now!!!
The people we hang out with really do determine a lot about us. Not just our attitude but also our reputation. Great post, thanks Don.
both justin and trisha have touched me with their good hearts–not just for their friends in gugulethu, but for their friends in the states, as well. they are true lovers and encouragers, hopeful and joyful about making things better in the world.
plus, they’re hot.
not to mention he is devilishly good looking.
Service inspires service… its just a good thing to hang around. I need some more in my life…
On a side note, and I don’t mean to focus on the trivial, but 40k a semester?! That can’t be right.
i’m a South African. i have lived here my whole life. and i love my country so much that it breaks my heart. it’s funny because often when organisations similar to TNHF start, they have the best intentions but no authenticity. it’s not good enough saying, “we want to help the poor in Africa.” Africa’s pretty big. often, people have preconceived ideas. “they live in forests with lions for pets.” “there’re no white people in Africa!” or they come across as condescending or patronising, even when they don’t mean to, simply because they don’t truly know the love and fight we face here every day. (there is a difference between book knowledge and heart knowledge when i say they don’t KNOW.)
TNHF is different from these. it’s specific. it’s moving. it has more than just motives, it has action. it has love painted across it, sacrificial and painful. it has hope and brings hope. These Numbers does more than just care – it acts in love. that much is clear. TNHF knows our love and fight; and further still, they are loving and fighting with us.
and when i see what they are doing in my own country, i can tell you right now that it inspires me to do more. after all, this is my home. i’m not going anywhere, and neither are the problems.
so, Justin and Trisha…. thank you. that is all i want to say in closing – THANK YOU.
Great post Don! Looks like TNHF is the real deal! I can’t wait to follow their progress in SA…
Keep up the good work TNHF!
Justin has inspired people since HE was just a kid himself! He does a great “no touchy karate” skit. I see him changing the world by turning an old military base into a meeting place for international peace conferences! Go Justin. Make it happen!
JZ surely has ‘got the ghost’…(and only he will probably be aware of what that means and it’s context!)
“Believe your voice can mean something”
Don thank you for inspiring JZ also – what a team that home has!
http://www.reed.edu/apply/tuition.html
Looks like $25,000 a semester, which is still up there. Seems like my tuition at Auburn was less than $1,000 a quarter in the late 90′s early 00′s.
Looks like Don had the right idea auditing classes at $100 a pop.
“What I love about Justin is he sees a sad story in the world and rather shaking his head and declaring that life is bad simply decides to tell a better one”
Don, you could NOT have put it better…what a privilege it is to know such a person…this is the Justin I know also, summed up so perfectly…what a challenge to the world….what an inspiration…anyone that has known him in any context knows the amazin ability Justin has to take even the most troublesome of times and make something beautiful out of it…
Don,
Please come the Rescue on April 25th in Portland.
Invisiblechildren.com
So looking forward to reading every single chapter. So easy to read and filled with the God given gift of fluidity that I didn’t want to stop reading, but there was no more to read!
It is so easy to soak in every word Donald Miller writes. He is gifted and being gifted by God and actually using this gift to further God’s kingdom through these gifts…………….astinkingmazing! Cannot wait to read the book in it’s “wholeness”. Blessings!
I got to know Justin when we both spent 2005 – 2006 over in Belfast. I spent some time with him down at a Catholic Community Center where I got cursed out and threatened by a 7 year old girl the first day I was there. He always went down there to build relationships and tutor these kids. He also had the courage to tell them that he was a Protestant in order to change their view on who Protestants were (when a few of these kids probably had connections with the IRA).
I know a lot of folks who are working with amazing organizations and doing incredible things around the World. Of all these organizations started at a grass route level, I have not encountered any that were better run. This speaks volumes to the entire TNHF team in Portland as well as those folks who are now working in Belfast towards the same goal. Keep up the great work!
love the stories of people whom notice something wrong in the world and do something to make it right. itʻs like picking up that crumbled piece of something on sidewalk and putting it in the trash. been to SA many times and will enjoy spreading the word.
cheers.
Don-
I’m sorry about chapter three of your thesis becoming the fecal matter of said canine “Lucy”.
I think maybe this brings an entirely new meaning to the phrase “The dog ate my homework.” Kudos on your masters though.
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[...] was plodding around donald miller’s blog one day back in october, and found this older post written about his then-roommate justin. not to kill the chronology of the story, but i ended up [...]
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