Landmark Education Graduate Skips Safari, Builds Schools Instead

When most people talk about what they did on vacation, they usually don’t say that they built and supplied a school for over 100 children so that it could open before he came home. Most people are not like Paul Boutin. In Landmark Education’s Curriculum for Living, Boutin saw for himself that he could create anything from nothing. He didn’t know that would involve giving up his Safari vacation in Kenya to become a builder of nursery schools.

Boutin’s ‘vacation’ didn’t even last one day. He saw the half-built, abandoned school, and when he heard that the village ran out of money and wouldn’t be able to start the next school term in a few weeks, he left his tour and got into action. He found that the women of the village were willing to help, but he needed supplies. Getting some good advice from the local school principal, he went to a larger town and managed to cut through red tape and middlemen and get school supplies at a reasonable price, $360, which covered not just the over 100 kids at the school he would help open, but 500 other kids at regional schools nearby!

Another $200 or so bought supplies to finish construction, including 2x4s for desks, and the school opened on time for the next semester. Boutin flew home, but he now had a team in Kenya eager to open more schools, and he knew that the extraordinary accomplshiments were just beginning. He found philanthropists who not only paid for the training of the Kenya team, but also gave as much money as Boutin needed for more schools. The owner of a safari hotel and his vice president of transport have given a local means to pass money through to pay salaries.

Two have been built so more and eight more are on the way this year. Each school is getting not only supplies, but the aforementioned money for teacher salaries, means of communication between Boutin’s team members and himself, and soccer balls to connect the communities! The political situation in Kenya has prevented Boutin from returning to the country for now, but as the schools are in the countryside, their construction has been unaffected by the violence. In fact, Boutin’s team will be taking their school building skills to Darfur in the Sudan as soon as safe passage can be arranged. A school for 5,000 youngsters from the refugee camps there is in the works--The teachers are already in the refugee camp.

At the same time Boutin has been unstoppable in making a difference for others, he has been unstoppable in his own personal success. His new high tech consulting business has skyrocketed, with Boutin making over $1 million in the first six weeks. He and each of the other managing partners have a ‘philanthropy game’ each quarter which will be posted on the company web site. Finally, Boutin now coaches others on how to make a difference with projects in Africa.