Many prayers were answered this year when Siloe School in Oaxaca, Mexico officially opened to 28 elementary students! Siloe School is a private Christian school run by our Mexico Children’s Program. Our program has always supported education by providing tutoring and covering school supplies and fees, but this is the next step in giving children in this community the best education possible.
We know that education is a key factor in breaking the cycle of poverty. LEAP Academy University Charter School Founder, Gloria Bonilla-Santiago says, “If you provide children with quality education options, support families and children holistically in a community setting and enlist the support of universities as partners with community, you produce better academic results and improved community outcomes. Then what happens? Eventually, the cycle of poverty breaks. One family at a time.”
In the impoverished communities of Oaxaca many children do not have the supplies and support they need to excel in school, so they end up dropping out. Oaxaca has some of the highest dropout rates in all of Mexico.
Siloe School is opening doors that have never been opened in this community, with plans to grow in years to come. One of the mothers of a child attending said, “I went to a very small school in a village and we didn’t have enough teachers, so I wasn’t able to learn a lot of the things that I should have. My daughter is in 4th grade and she already knows a lot more than I do.” This common sentiment both breaks our hearts and encourages us to do better for the next generation.
Siloe School students are being given unique educational opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise. Recently, they were able to attend an International Book Fair in the city. During the fair, they attended reading and writing workshops with a published children’s book writer, opening up an entire new literary world for them.
We take a holistic approach to caring for children in our programs, and place great emphasis on primary and advanced education because we know this breaks the cycle of poverty, changing the trajectory of a child’s life forever. Please join us in prayer for Siloe School as they build and grow in the years to come! We can’t wait to see what God has in store for these children.
Many of us have seen profile photos of children in sponsorship programs; they are often solemn, sad and sometimes down-right angry looking. I know I have thought at times, “Wow, that poor child must be so unhappy!” But then I come across a video from the same organization in which
Imagine a child, seven years old, living in a garbage dump and watching both her mother and father die slowly of AIDS-related illnesses. This was reality for Erminia before she joined Forward Edge’s program for at-risk girls in Nicaragua called Village of Hope. If Erminia had continued to grow up
Ymer grew up feeling invisible, his dreams of education dimmed by discrimination and discouragement. But a spark of hope emerged when he joined tutoring classes, where a simple moment of recognition changed everything. With newfound confidence, letters of encouragement, and the support of a sponsor, Ymer discovered his worth and the power of believing in himself.
Viola lives in the slums of Kampala, Uganda with her parents and five siblings. Living conditions in this area are cramped and unsanitary. Viola’s family lives in a small, brick, two-bedroom house. The whole family shares one room and the other one is used to house chickens and a goat that
6 yrs. old
Entered the Program: August 2024
Elizaphan lives with his mother and three siblings in a rented two-room stone house. The home has access to electricity and they fetch water from a communal well. The family uses charcoal for cooking in an outdoor kitchen, and share a communal bathroom and a pit latrine with their neighbors.
Elizaphan is the youngest child in his family. His mother raises him and his siblings as a single parent since she is separated from their father due to alcohol addiction and physical abuse. She is mostly unemployed but tries to find casual jobs within the community to provide food for her children. The family is in great need.
Plus bonus group fundraising ideas!
