I know this is old news, guys, but…
…I’m gonna say it anyways:
we hit a million subscribers!
Go get away, guys!
Go get away!
I want to talk to my friends right here.
Let me visit the bathroom for a moment, first.
There, that's a little bit better.
I got the stuff on my mouth, so I'm not sure that was a good idea.
Anyways, guys, we did it!
I can't say thank you, because that doesn't even come close to
how much I appreciate this.
I’m like literally speechless right now.
Thank you so much.
And I kind of feel embarrassed that I haven't made this video earlier,
I mean, we hit a million about a week or two ago,
so, I didn't say much.
And that was mostly because I didn’t know what to do or what to say,
because I just wasn't ready yet.
For the past weeks we've actually been working very hard for this particular video
So, please stay until the very end because
there are some shocking things that I want to talk about.
With every milestone so far we've always done a giveaway.
When we hit 100,000 we lifted off a bunch of balloons
and gave away over $3,000 worth in prizes.
At 500k we again gave away tons of prizes as well,
including an ultra wide monitor from LG.
I was again contacting sponsors for a giveaway.
A 1 million celebration giveaway contest.
I thought plans to fill up the entire studio with plastic balls.
1 million plastic balls!
Within that ball pit we would have random phrases from our sponsors,
who would draw names and dig up the price for that person.
That would have been a huge celebration.
But I decided not to.
I thought, no celebration this time.
Wednesday the 5th of December I came across a message on Facebook.
A longtime subscriber, Jay Malone, who I've been following as well,
he got diagnosed with cancer, a tumor in his right kidney.
I was driving to Brussels to pick up the RED camera when I read it.
The entire two-hour drive I was thinking about Jay,
and I'm gonna talk about what played in my head for those two hours,
but eventually it comes down to throwing the entire giveaway idea overboard
and doing something completely different.
Now, I have a good life.
Most of you guys watching right now probably also have a good life
and I strongly believe that the reason why we have a good life
is because we have education.
We’ve been to school, we can watch YouTube videos learn something new
and gain life opportunities.
Without education, whether that is school, workshops, online videos,
it doesn't matter, without education we don't stand where we are today.
We’d probably be working in factories from the age of 12 until we die.
Yes, that is how crazy my mind was rolling in the car.
I just felt so stupid to waste money for a ball pit,
to celebrate 1 million subscribers with sponsors and giveaway gear
that eventually goes to one person.
As much as it touches my heart
to see how happy the winners were from previous giveaways,
it still feels like a stupid lottery.
And it hurts me at the same time.
I want to give every one of you a camera, but I just can’t.
So, we did something different this time.
There are two things where this video goes to,
so, definitely stay until the very ends, guys,
because there's a very nice surprise for all of you.
But let's start with the first thing: education.
Last Wednesday I met a woman, Inge.
She's a teacher in a local school in Belgium.
But in 2015 she lost her heart to a small school in Sri Lanka.
It was a pretty big mess over there,
and that was because of the tsunami that hit the islands a couple years back.
But here is a slide that they have in the playground.
I would not let any child play on that.
But because of Inge and donations that she received,
they were able to restore that slide.
And here's one of those buildings there.
In Sri Lanka it can rain pretty hard,
so Inge made sure it got a new roof.
There were barely any props for the children but because of the help they got
those children can play with modern games,
their education level has risen tremendously.
They are teaching English classes within that school
for both the children and their parents.
For the past years Inge and her friends have been working very hard
to restore that school with her own hands
or by paying local businesses to help her out.
Every penny that she receives goes directly to the school and the children.
They don't need luxury, they just need a well infrastructure,
enough lecture materials, basic modern technology
and a certain level of education given.
A simple thing that we all have,
but it could mean a huge difference in the future of those children.
This right here is Thenul, he has a cleft palate, which is a disorder in his mouth.
The school where he was going to rejected to him because of that.
Both of his parents live in extreme poverty and struggled to find work.
The school that Inge and her friends was working for
took Thenul in and because of donations he was able to undergo several surgeries
to make him function like the other children.
Thenul is getting better education as he deserves right now.
He has a future, and his father is currently working in that school
being paid with the money from donations.
And just like so many other children whose parents lack the money to buy food,
let alone for school, are now going to school.
More and more children in and around the small village Madiha in Sri Lanka
are finally able to get proper education and personal support because of Inge
and everyone else involved.
the school already got a nice upgrade, but it is far from perfect
and there are way too many children that need the help for a better future.
Inge can expand the infrastructure, hire more teachers,
give the children experience with modern technology, but she needs help with that.
And this is the first time that I've done this in my life
but I've never felt so good about anything else before.
I want to help that small organization in Sri Lanka,
I wanna help Inge and support the years of work that she has put into that school.
I want to give a future to those children.
And I want to ask you guys to celebrate our 1 million subscriber milestone
by helping out too.
Because together we can make a huge difference in the small village Madiha.
If you click the very first link in the description below
you will find a GoFundMe page.
If we can raise $10,000 we can fulfil some of the biggest wishes that school has.
It’s all written down in that page,
so I’m not gonna dive too deep into those details anymore,
as I'm trying to keep this video short.
Anyways, I am not pushing anyone to donate money because
I'm very aware that not everyone can do that or has access to a credit card,
but you don't need to donate to help out.
I think it's very important to just spread the message right now,
share the funding page and, believe me, you have already done a lot to help out.
And there's one thing I want to promise you guys.
If we reach more than €10,000 within that campaign,
I am buying myself a ticket to Sri Lanka and I'm gonna film the happy faces
of those children and their parents myself.
I’m gonna film how every single penny of that donation
is going to be used within that school.
That is my promise and my summer vacation!
I really hope that you guys also appreciate that I do this,
instead of a giveaway.
For me this just feels like the right thing to do.
It's still a giveaway but a little bit different.
and Jay, I know that you’re watching right now,
I want to thank you.
I want to thank you for sharing that message on Facebook.
I know it's terrible news and I'm sure you're gonna fight through this, man,
but I want you to know that your negative news positively inspired me.
And to all the other 1 million people out there,
Thank you, thank you so much for the future that you've given me
and I really hope that together we can give a bright future to a whole lot more people
that could really use it.
Now, before I'm ending the video I said there's a second thing
that I want to share.
Let's be honest here, guys,
1 million subscribers and no giveaway for you.
That is stupid!
You know, just check out the description, guys,
there's a nice little download button in there
which goes to something I call ‘the video creator pack’,
a pack filled with video assets, transitions and a ton of love.
Enjoy!
-…Cinecom!