Tag Archives: child poverty

Shelley Callahan | En Español

It’s a long way from Kentucky to Ethiopia – 7,432 miles to be exact; twice as far as the Bolivia-to-Kentucky trip we just made.

One would think the differences in the three locales are profound, but other than the climates, they are strikingly similar.

Children play in the roads near dilapidated homes and other signs of obvious poverty. But they laugh and sing, clad in pants and t-shirts and sneakers, pretending to be sports stars as they play ball on makeshift fields by the roads.

From Kentucky to Kenya, Children Incorporated supports children all over the world.

At least that’s what I’ve been told – I won’t arrive in Ethiopia for a few more hours, but I’ve just finished a whirlwind tour of Bolivia and rural Kentucky, and my colleague, Luis Bourdet, assures me that Ethiopia will be the same.

Luis, who’s visited Children Incorporated’s sponsored children and their families in Africa every couple of years for the last decade, says the issues are similar as well – child poverty is an endemic due to fractured families and parents who can’t make ends meet. 

Our first stop is Addis Ababa, and I have no doubt we’ll see the same things there that we saw in Jackson County, Kentucky and in Montero, Bolivia: a combination of devastating poverty, the simple happiness of children and the lifesaving efforts of volunteers.

We’ll likely see the same on our next stop in rural Shashamane and then in Kenya’s communities of Nairobi and Materi.

So far, the big difference between our last trip to Kentucky and our current trip to Africa is the special packages we bring. In Kentucky, it was bicycles. In Africa, it’s mosquito nets. The environmental needs between 8,000 miles are different, but children everywhere are much the same, and so our goal is too: to give children not only food and medicine, but also hope, determination, and especially education.

Children play in the roads near dilapidated homes and other signs of obvious poverty. But they laugh and sing, clad in pants and t-shirts and sneakers, pretending to be sports stars as they play ball on makeshift fields by the roads.

Ethiopia’s mass migration

One of the differences between Kentucky and Ethiopia is the reasons why families are poor. In Kentucky, it was a lack of jobs. But Ethiopia is a country on the rise – in Addis Ababa, buildings and roads are being built everywhere, so labor jobs are plentiful. The problem is housing; the government has been relocating (often forcibly) Ethiopians from rural land into the cities where the cost of housing can be 20 times what they’d been paying.

There are also no social services there. In Kentucky, families live in rundown trailers and often don’t have enough money for food or school supplies, but they do have access to school buses, health clinics and social workers.

In Ethiopia, organizations like Children Incorporated are the only ones who provide these services so we’re coming to visit some of the Children Incorporated affiliated projects that provide children and their families with education, medical aid and a future.

Our first stop will be at the Rainbow Center, where children of relocated families get support. We’re also going to visit some of the families and talk to them about their experiences and needs.

The rural poor

From there, we’ll head out to the smaller city of Shashamane, where the Kids Hope Ethiopia center supports after-school programs for children. Shashamane residents are worse off than their Addis Ababa countrymen because there isn’t enough clean water or food here and there’s almost no transportation. We’ll meet with some of the families there too before leaving for Nairobi in Kenya, about 1,500 miles away.

Kenya on $1.25 per day

Kenya is a developing nation but the poverty there is much deeper; half of all Kenyans live below the poverty level and about 17 percent live on less than $1.25 per day.

In Kenya, sponsorship often means the difference between children going to school or not.

Some of the poverty in Kenya is due to disease – malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and pneumonia take a huge toll so healthcare will be one of our major issues when we head toward Nairobi.

The capital city is home to one of the world’s largest slums but it’s also home to several Children Incorporated schools and community centers. The facilities provide medical aid, HIV/AIDS counseling and day-to-day necessities, in addition to education for children.

We’re planning to visit the schools and the homes of the children who attend them before heading to Materi, where Children Incorporated sponsors a boarding school for girls.

A common goal

Each stop on our itinerary will mean some differences, of course. The rural children of Shashamane, with no transportation and little food, face different issues than those in the overpopulated crime-filled slums of Nairobi — at least on the surface. At its core, their issue is all the same: they need food, clothes, shoes, medicine and an education, just like the children we saw in Kentucky and in Bolivia.

So the 11,600 miles between La Paz, Bolivia and Materi, Kenya, do little to change our goal: to give children with the basics so they have a chance to rise above poverty. But, it’s more than that, really. On the heels of our recent site visits in Bolivia and Kentucky, I can see that sponsorships provides something intangible, but visible in their young faces: love.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN AFRICA?

You can sponsor a child in Africa in one of three ways – call our office and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org, or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Africa that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Wayne County lies nestled amid the vast natural beauty of the Allegheny Mountains, which still conceal deposits of the coal that once made this a rich and populous area of the Mountaineer State. Automation of mines and the ecological stigmas attached to coal as a fuel source have seriously damaged Wayne County’s economy. With coal mining almost shut down, all businesses that once depended on mining – and the buying power of the miners — have closed. Unemployment continues to rise, and industry development remains at a crawl.

When flash floods hit West Virginia a few years ago, none of the families of our sponsored and unsponsored children could have prepared for what was going to happen.

Like many small towns in this rural part of West Virginia, Dunlow is remote, located far from any sizeable town or city. A few strip mines still produce coal, and there are some sawmills that cut lumber. Overall, however, Dunlow’s economy is struggling, with high unemployment and a lack of industry development. Many residents in this region live well below the poverty line, plagued by all the socioeconomic struggles that accompany poverty. One of our affiliated schools in the area, Dunlow Elementary School, offers a place where children can count on support, encouragement, and a nutritious warm meal not only every day, but also in cases of emergency, such as flash flooding — thanks to the help they received from our Hope In Action Fund.

Our Hope In Action Fund steps in to help  

When flash floods hit West Virginia a few years ago, none of the families of our sponsored and unsponsored children could have prepared for what was going to happen. Fortunately, none of them lost their homes in the flood, but the water and subsequent mud from the flooding caused damage and left behind a great mess to clean up. To make matters worse, school was out for summer break, and many families lived in isolated areas with no phone and no transportation, so they didn’t have many options for getting the urgent support they needed to begin to repair their houses.

Thankfully, our Hope In Action Fund helped families during this time of crisis. In order to start the clean-up process, many people needed bleach, laundry detergent, rubber gloves, and extra-strength trash bags. Our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, requested funds be sent to Dunlow to purchase these items; and our volunteer coordinator at Dunlow Elementary School was able to buy the cleaning supplies and deliver them to families, giving them a sense of relief that they were being supported while they worked to get their homes and lives back on track.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN WEST VIRGINIA?

You can sponsor a child in West Virginia in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

“I don’t know who gave us these bikes, but tell her I love her!”

The boy’s words keep echoing in my mind as we make the eight-hour trek from Kentucky back to Richmond, Va. Over the course of the last several weeks, we’ve met with so many children I’ve nearly lost count, but their faces and words stand out in my memory.

Kentucky and Bolivia are worlds apart, but there are many similarities between the two.

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View from La Paz, Bolivia

Eastern Kentucky is one of the poorest regions in the United States. Unemployment is high and children grow up in run-down trailers, far from main roads and more importantly, social services and public facilities like libraries and community centers.

It’s not unlike the mountain towns of Bolivia, which have a much larger population but a similar situation for impoverished children who live in dilapidated homes on the outskirts of town with no transportation and no access to public services.

There are other parallels, including the songs,  hobbies and games children play. Separated by 4,000 miles, the children of Bolivia probably never realize that their counterparts in Kentucky are also playing soccer behind the school in the afternoon. Their cartoon-character t-shirts and tennis shoes, gifts from sponsors, are interchangeable — even their pets.

Cats and kittens

Three days ago, I met Allison in Jackson County, Kentucky. The 7-year-old lives down a logging road with her underemployed parents, her sisters and her cats. When her sponsor asked her what kind of gifts she’d like, her main request was for cat food.

Just like Efrain. The Bolivian fourth-grader lives in a one-bedroom home with his mother, two siblings and three kittens. Efrain politely answered our questions about his schoolwork, his home and his new donated shoes, but it was the kittens that he really wanted to talk about; he couldn’t wait to show us the spot where they sleep next to the bed he shares with his brother.

Kentucky and Bolivia are worlds apart, but there are many similarities between the two.

Constructing a better life

The construction projects aren’t that much different either. In Bolivia, Children Incorporated donated materials and volunteers helped renovate an entire school about 25 kilometers outside Montero. In Kentucky, we didn’t have to build the schools but we did build a ramp at the home of 11-year-old Dennis.

The fifth-grader and his two siblings live with their elderly great-grandparents, who are struggling to care for three children while their own health is failing. Gail, Dennis’ great-grandmother, couldn’t climb the front steps anymore so Children Incorporated donated building materials and the local high school vocational students all got together to build her a ramp.

Skipping a generation

That underprivileged children live with aging grandparents is another ubiquitous truth across nations. In Kentucky, it’s largely caused by the rampant drug use that has swept the region, leaving parents dead, incarcerated or incapable of raising children.

In Bolivia, parents often depart for other countries to find work, leaving children with their grandparents. Regardless of the reasons, this missing generation is especially hard on families as the already-impoverished elderly struggle to care for growing, hungry children.

And in both countries, Children Incorporated sponsors send in food, clothes, shoes and school supplies — and cat food.

Next stop: Kenya

As we near Richmond, it’s time to turn our attention to the next trip – it’s 8,000 miles to Kenya and we’ve got several days before we begin. I have no doubt that once we arrive, we’ll find that just like in Bolivia and Kentucky, the children there need clothes and food but love sports and cats.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD?

You can sponsor a child with Children Incorporated in one of three ways – call our office and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org, or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Nothing is close in eastern Kentucky. Schools are an hour apart, and each one can easily be an hour away from the children who go there. Walmart – the only place to buy a bike in the entire region – is an even longer drive.

In a rented pickup truck, we trekked out to Walmart on a mission: to pick out and purchase bikes for underprivileged elementary and middle school children. The bikes would be a gift from Claudette Gurley of New Hampshire, who raised money for children’s bikes in honor of a cross-country cyclist friend who recently passed away. 

A surprise at school

DSCF7641Ten bikes were slated for elementary and middle school children in Wolfe County, Kentucky. Wolfe County has a population of about 7,300 and is ranked 14th on the list of Poorest Counties in the United States. The median income for an entire household is less than $26,000 here – about half the national figure.

Virtually every child in the region would qualify as “underprivileged” to outside observers, so schools are staffed with resource coordinators who help them get assistance from outside agencies and non-profits like Children Incorporated.

At Campton Elementary School, the resource coordinator is Susan Lacy, who helped pick out several children to receive bikes. She said that one of her biggest challenges is ensuring that the students have enough to eat when they’re at home. The kids get one healthy meal each school day through free or reduced lunch at Campton, but on weekends and holidays, many go hungry.

Getting after-school snacks is a big deal for these kids – getting a bike was going to be unfathomable.

Susan called in the two students at Campton who were receiving the bikes so they could be the first to see their new wheels. Their shy but appreciative faces said it all – they were overwhelmed by the new presents and were clearly eager for the school day to be over so they could try them out.

After they’d had a few minutes to absorb the news, we loaded the bikes back into the truck to deliver them directly to their homes.

Living conditions

“One of her biggest challenges is ensuring that the students have enough to eat when they’re at home.”

-Susan Lacy

The next stop was Rogers Elementary, also in Wolfe County. Susan is the coordinator here as well, although the two schools are about an hour apart.

At Rogers, a brother and sister came out to see their bikes, and their excitement made us glow the whole drive to their home for the drop-off. There, we met their mother, a single mom with five children in a dilapidated trailer, surrounded by other unoccupied and often burnt-out trailers far from the main road.

Susan said this was one of the poorest areas in eastern Kentucky and that the trailers face a continual threat from fire. Even without the ubiquitous cracked and broken windows, the trailers are hard to heat in the winter and families burn huge quantities of firewood in cramped conditions, leaving the trailers at risk for out-of-control fires.

We’re glad that the children’s mother let us come here. It is truly difficult for many of the families to let anyone see their living conditions, and often, they turn down donations if a drop-off is required because they’re embarrassed by their poverty.

But, in this case, the mother beams as the bikes are delivered to her happy children.

‘Tell her I love her!’

At Red River Valley Elementary, we gave bikes to two sets of brothers. The four boys were sweet and excited, and one of them exclaimed: “I don’t know who gave us these bikes, but tell her I love her!”

All of the Children Incorporated children know they have sponsors, but the youngest don’t always understand what that means. They understand that they receive food, clothes, and gifts, but they don’t always connect those items to a specific person who has sent them. Seeing this child understand that a stranger had purchased a bike just for him was one of my warmest memories of the trip.

At the boy’s home, we handed over the bikes to his mother, who has four children and suffers from periodic strokes. Her health keeps her from working or driving, so the children have nothing much to do in rural Kentucky all summer. The bikes are a blessing for the children, who were gifted with the freedom that comes from fast wheels and the wind in your hair on a hot day.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN Kentucky?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways – call our office and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Located just southeast of Mexico, Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America. Its spectacular mountains boast a wealth of natural resources and stunning biodiversity. For centuries, this land served as the core territory of the renowned Mayan civilization. Following two centuries of Spanish colonization, Guatemala gained its independence in the early nineteenth century — only to endure another 150 years of political instability and civil unrest. Additionally, this area is prone to devastating natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes, which cause mudslides and flooding.

Thanks to these programs, which are supported by Children Incorporated donors, many students will have the skills they need to obtain employment after they graduate so they can help support their families right out of high school, and eventually become financially independent.

Despite recent economic growth and successful democratic elections, Guatemala still struggles with widespread poverty, illiteracy, crime, and high rates of unemployment and underemployment. Villa Nueva, located just southwest of Guatemala City, is the largest city in the country and is no exception to these maladies. Located in a low-income neighborhood, the Juan Apostol School provides for children not only through its excellent academic program, but also through its exceptional skills training programs. Founded in 1964, the school strives to give students many different opportunities to rise above the difficult socioeconomic circumstances into which they were born, which gives them the chance to have a brighter future.

Many different options for learning

On a recent trip to Guatemala, our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet, visited the Juan Apostol School to see how the skills training programs were helping to prepare students for future employment. The school is a private one with over 1,000 students in two buildings — one for primary education, and the second for secondary education and skills training programs.

The school provides an education to children of low-income families in Villa Nueva, located just southwest of Guatemala City. The school serves as a safe haven for kids growing up in poor communities, especially since the city is riddled with many gangs and much criminal activity.

Luis found that the skills training programs were even more impressive than he remembered from his last visit to the school a few years ago. Thanks to these programs, which are supported by Children Incorporated donors, many students will have the skills they need to obtain employment after they graduate so that they can help support their families right out of high school, and eventually become financially independent. Every student in the school attends computer training classes, and they have the option to participate in the graphic design or computer repair and maintenance programs, or a robotics lab.

Luis also visited the cosmetology program for high school students, where students learn various cosmetic techniques such as giving manicures, doing makeup, cutting hair, and styling hair, and they learn about fashion. Lastly, at the end of his visit, Luis was able to watch as students prepared food in the school’s culinary program, during which they learn not only to cook, but also about visual presentation and the use of spices so that when they graduate from high school, they will be ready for employment at high-end tourist restaurants.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN GUATEMALA?

You can sponsor a child in Guatemala in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org, or go online to our sponsor portal and search for a child in Guatemala who is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan |

Bolivia is still fresh in my mind as we head out on I-64 to get to our next destination: Williamsburg, Kentucky.

I am joined this time by Shelley Oxenham, who manages relationships with all of our U.S. volunteer coordinators. Shelley has worked for Children Incorporated for eight years. She works closely with our volunteers and has watched many of the children we serve grow up and graduate.

One of the great things about a road trip is that it gives you time to think. In the past, when I thought of poverty in America, I immediately pictured the urban poor – children raised in inner-city slums amid gangs and street crime. But in Appalachia, poverty has a different face. Whitley County with a population of 36,000, is a picturesque mountain community in eastern Kentucky – or it would be, if not for the visible signs of economic decline. The collapse of the coal industry hit the entire region hard, and the railroads have cut jobs as well. In their place, a booming meth trade has sprung up, along with the accompanying deaths, drug addiction and incarcerations.

Shelley and I arrive on a Tuesday morning to meet with Sherry Paul, Children Incorporated’s volunteer coordinator at Whitley Elementary School. Eight children are enrolled at the moment, with a long waitlist of others in need of help.

Where have all the parents gone?

Almost all of the children here live in poverty. The drug problem has left a disproportionate number of children essentially parentless. There are so many grandparents raising children that the school has set up a support group for them.

More than emotional support, what they really need is concrete help. Over 90 percent of the children at the elementary school qualify for reduced lunch prices because of their income and for many, school is the only place where they’re guaranteed a proper meal.

The lack of food at home is particularly a problem during the winter break, when the kids face more than a week without a meal. In the days leading up to Christmas, Sherry makes gift baskets for the children, packing in flour, sugar, butter, peanut butter, bacon, eggs, bologna, hot dogs, bread, Pop-Tarts and oatmeal so their grandparents have something to cook for them.

Aging caregivers – a whole new challenge

One of our sponsored children and their grandmother in Jackson County, Kentucky

Dennis with his grandmother

Two hours up the road from Whitley County is Jackson, where we met with Genevieve, the volunteer coordinator at LBJ Elementary School. There are 28 children enrolled in the Children Incorporated program here, and most are in a similar situation to those in Whitley.

One of them is Dennis, an 11-year-old who, in many ways, is a typical fifth-grader. He’s into basketball, football and riding his dirt bike. But Dennis and his two siblings live with their great-grandparents, who are in their 80s with failing health.

In addition to food, clothes and school supplies, which all of the Children Incorporated families need, Dennis’ family also needed a ramp at the house for his great-grandmother, Gail, who can’t manage the front steps. Genevieve coordinated the project, enlisting the high school vocational students to build the ramp for free with all of the supplies purchased by Children Incorporated.

We met Gail at the school, where she was attending a nutrition class set up for parents, grandparents and great-grandparents trying to raise children on meager incomes (most bring in less than $10,000 a year). The nutrition class helps them figure out how to make the best of what they have, and while they’re there, they can pick up the food and supplies that Genevieve provides thanks to Children Incorporated funding.

Building a new future

Twenty minutes down the road, we visit Wolfe County Middle and High schools, where volunteer coordinator, Connie, takes care of 72 children at the middle school and 52 at the high school. It’s a big enough job that she’s got an intern helping her out because for the teens, the immediate needs of food and clothes are only one concern – their near future looms large on the horizon.

There aren’t many jobs here for kids after graduation, and there are no good ones. The Dairy Queen, Save-A-Lot and hardware store are the best job prospects for graduates who stay in town. Most residents who do have jobs commute to factories or logging sites in other communities.

Along with food and clothes, Connie must also prioritize travel for her high school students. The Children Incorporated funds pay for students’ class field trips to other areas, allowing the kids to at least see other parts of the state. It’s the only time many have ever left eastern Kentucky and for some, the only time they ever will.

Connie’s goal is to get the graduates out of town and on to better lives. She and Shelley are working on a plan to obtain Children Incorporated funds for college or technical school so the teens, most of whom have lost their parents to drugs and jail, can build their own futures.

Reversing the endemic poverty here isn’t an easy or a short-term goal, but Connie and Shelley are determined. One by one it is possible to help a child rise above these challenges and position them for a brighter future. It’s a long process, but each child who graduates is one step closer to breaking the cycle of rural poverty.

*Names changed to protect the individuals. 

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN Kentucky?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways – call our office and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

SPONSOR A CHILD