The Advantages of Fluency in English

Why Indian children who learn English can have an upper hand in life

Through my work with Children Incorporated, I have become accustomed to not always speaking the same language as our sponsored children. The language barrier doesn’t keep me from doing my job of reporting on the burden of poverty that they face in their lives, however, because what they can’t communicate with me, I can see for myself at their homes, schools, and in their communities. I hear stories from our volunteer coordinators about the kids’ […]

Our Founder’s Father, Honored in India

The J. Calvitt Clarke Home in Dornakal helps boys receive an education

After spending a long day visiting two projects outside of Hyderabad, Luis Bourdet, our Director of International Programs, and I prepared to travel even further into India’s rural landscape to a small town called Dornakal, in the state of Telangana, where we would be visiting six more homes. Before we left, Luis had explained to me that our projects in Dornakal are nestled in a cathedral compound run by the Diocese of Dornakal, which is […]

In Rural India, Children Face Extreme Poverty

Visiting the Lou Ann Long Girls’ Hostel in Yadgir

When Luis Bourdet, Children Incorporated Director of International Programs, and I left the Chandrakal Methodist Boarding Home to visit the Lou Ann Long Girls’ Hostel on our second day in India, I was just starting to get an understanding of what poverty looks like for children in the country. The Chandrakal Methodist Boarding Home, although older and lacking in funds, is providing for hundreds of students coming from poor farming communities – kids who otherwise […]

Stark Differences Between Neighboring Countries

India and Sri Lanka may be close in proximity, but they are far apart when it comes to educating children

I didn’t know what to expect upon arriving to India after having spent a week visiting our affiliated projects in Sri Lanka. India was a place of wonder to me. Most of what I knew about the country was statistical information about its enormous population and the extreme poverty Indians face; of the 1.2 billion people living in India, an estimated 23.6 percent of the population lives on the equivalent of $1.25 or less a […]

New Schools and More Kids in Need

When the school year starts, our coordinators meet new children who need support

After two days of visiting our affiliated schools in Lawrence County, Kentucky, U.S. Projects Specialist Shelley Oxenham and I traveled about an hour south to Floyd County to meet with a new Volunteer Coordinator, Scott Shannon, as well as to visit with a long-term coordinator, Sharon Collins, who had recently been transferred to a new school. Although Scott was brand new to the Children Incorporated program and Sharon was not, since they were both new […]

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Why families in Kentucky don’t just leave and start over

Since I first started visiting our affiliated projects in Eastern Kentucky in April of 2015, I have been reporting on the burden of poverty that our sponsored children and their families face every day. With a lack of jobs and scarcity of resources for people in need in this region of the United States, I often get asked when I return home: Why don’t people in need just move somewhere else? It is a question […]