Children International's Youth Council gives sponsored youth the opportunity to choose projects to others and embodies the child sponsorship's philosophy of helping children help themselves and others. Each Youth Council receives an annual grant, known as the Youth Empowerment Fund. The fund gives youth a chance to improve their communities by increasing access to job training and basic necessities like clean water.
One particularly impressive example can be found in a village in Guatemala, where children had to cross a five kilometer trek to the nearest school. This five kilometer journey was divided into two phases: first, a three kilometer hike along a lonely road surrounded by mountains where there were mudslides and children walking alone would sometimes be stolen; second, a two kilometer walk along the shoulder of a curvy highway where speeding cars could strike at any second.
To avoid this danger, parents often kept their children out of school until they were 8 or 9, putting them at a huge academic disadvantage. In response, the Guatemala Youth Council spent their Youth Empowerment Fund to build two classrooms closer to the teacher and worked with the Education Ministry to hire teachers. Today, the Viejo Paxixil School serves 135 students from preschool through Grade 6.
No comments:
Post a Comment