Our visit to the Montero School came to an end by late morning, around 11 a.m., when our sponsored children slowly started to trickle out of the school’s compound, heading home to enjoy the rest of their Saturday with their families.
After a quick lunch of traditional Bolivian foods, including the amazing Pique a lo Macho, our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet, and I made our way to the driveway where a pick-up truck was waiting to take us a few miles down the road to the newly completed agricultural school.
Visiting the new school
I opted to sit in the bed of the truck with a few of the teachers who were accompanying us, along with our volunteer coordinator. Another truck followed behind us, which brought some of the students who were currently enrolled in the agricultural program. For all of them, it was a big event that Luis and I were there to finally see the completed school, which had been under construction for the last two years.
When we turned off the dusty main road to enter the school’s property, all I could see was open land – land that the Montero School administrators had purchased to use for the agricultural school years back, with the promise that Children Incorporated would provide funds for the classrooms, greenhouses, stables, barns and silos.
We parked in front of the entrance to the school, and walked onto the property, which was expansive. Buildings lined the right side and the fields for farming were on the left, probably covering the distance of two football fields. Our volunteer coordinator, Sister Reina, explained that students who attend the school are enrolled in a five-year program – some start while they are still in high school at the Montero School, and some start after graduation. They grow corn, fruit and other local produce, while raising pigs and chickens, and learn how to compost and operate and maintain heavy machinery.
This new addition to the Montero School has potential to help thousands of students and their families in this community.
Another Hope in Action Success
As we walked the grounds and chatted about the school, visiting the new classrooms and getting to see the progress that has been made with working so much land, I could see why Luis was so enthusiastic for me to see the school for myself. With few opportunities for families living in poverty in Bolivia to send their children on to higher education to learn a trade, it was apparent that this school was an absolute blessing for so many students, who would gain the skills they need to generate an income for themselves, and provide a better future for their own children someday. Thanks to our Hope In Action Fund — and more specifically, the generosity of our amazing donors — this new addition to the Montero School has potential to help thousands of students and their families in this community, which is something to be very proud of.
You can sponsor a child 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 sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child that is available for sponsorship.
Each year, our volunteer coordinators write letters to our office to let us know their first-hand experiences with just how powerful sponsorship is for children at their schools.
Today we hear from Monica at Gouge Elementary School in North Carolina about how our program has helped children this past year, all thanks to our caring sponsors.
A letter from Monica
“I can’t believe it is that time of year again. I have been thinking for a while on a story to share that has stuck out in my mind. As usual, Children Incorporated always comes through and it always is when someone needs it the most.”
“The Children Incorporated sponsored children, just like children anywhere, are rough on what they have. But the book bags were tough, and lasted all year, which I was happy with.”
“We had a child enrolled at our school not long ago. This child and her parent had to walk to school just to enroll her. Right away, my first thought was that Children Incorporated will help make what this family is going through a little easier. She will be able to be taken care of while she is at the school and have all the things she needs. She will be able to go on field trips and be dressed how she needs.”
“It is times like this when I wish our sponsors could be a fly on the wall. To physically see and be able to feel and know how much their sponsorship and dedication really does for so many would really be stunning for them. And it is not just for the child. It also impacts their family, the school, and me. The sponsors have even made a change in my own children, who are not even enrolled in the sponsorship program. My own children see what I buy and keep at the house during the summer to make sure that all of the items go to the sponsored children as soon as school starts in the fall. This has shown them how you are supposed to treat those that are in the most need. So Children Incorporated does much more than just give money to a child. They change the lives of so many around them.”
Thankful for our sponsorship program
Thanks to our sponsors, children at Gouge Elementary School are receiving much-needed support.
“I am privileged to be part of this wonderful program. I am grateful that I can see how happy these children are, especially when I get to see them wear their new clothes. Last year, I was also able to buy all of them brand new, good quality backpacks which they carried with them all year long. The Children Incorporated sponsored children, just like children anywhere, are rough on what they have. But the book bags were tough, and lasted all year, which I was happy with.”
“At the end of this past school year, though, I realized I would not have enough funds to buy the newer bookbags for the next school year. At first, I thought about buying cheaper ones, but I didn’t want to and was so frustrated about how outrageously expensive things are in the stores and how it takes a lot to stretch out funds just to get children the basic things they need. I hated that inflation meant children would have less.”
“But like I said, Children Incorporated always comes through right on time. I talked with Renée, who is the Director of U.S. Programs, and she was able to designate Hope In Action Funds for me to buy the wonderful bookbags. I will also be able to buy shoes and clothes for the new year, thanks to the Back to School Fund!”
“Thank you all for what you do for each of us! You inspire us to become better!”
You can sponsor a child 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 sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child that is available for sponsorship.
After many years of planning, our first affiliated site in Puerto Rico was established and is called Iglesia Bautista de Metrópolis. Iglesia Bautista de Metrópolis is located in Carolina, and the church was created from an older congregation called Bautista Cristo Restaura, which is located in Levittown. Our sponsorship program currently serves children who live in the areas surrounding both Iglesia Bautista de Metrópolis and Bautista Cristo Restaura, but is operated under just one name.
Children have been enrolled in our sponsorship program who come mostly from the congregation’s most vulnerable families.
It all began thanks to a wonderful man named Jesus Garcia. In February 2020, I began conversations with Jesus, who at the time was the pastor of Iglesia Bautista de Metrópolis, about the possibility of an affiliation with Children Incorporated. But the start of the pandemic lockdown in March 2020 put the plan on hold. In the winter of 2020-2021, Jesus and I talked further. At that time, Jesus identified two volunteer coordinators, Marilyn and Carleen, who he felt would be great to run our sponsorship program.
Getting the program off the ground
In early 2021, the development of the coronavirus vaccine was a hopeful sign that things would get back to normal for many of us around the globe. In February of the same year, Children Incorporated sent a Hope In Action Program grant for media equipment to Iglesia Bautista de Metrópolis so that Jesus and the coordinators could reach families with information on needed resources, infection control, wellness checks, and much more. In May 2021, Children Incorporated received from the coordinators, Marilyn and Carleen, the first 20 children’s applications for enrollment. Our organization sent another Hope In Action Fund program grant to buy clothing for the children while they waited to be matched over time with sponsors.
The first year went very smoothly. The children were assigned, communication was regular, and financial reporting was received. Then, in August 2022, we learned that Jesus, who was the impetus for our affiliation, had accepted a call to move and to serve a congregation in Connecticut effective immediately. Our coordinators continued to provide for the children while the search committee reviewed and interviewed candidates. During this period, I asked the coordinators if they would be able to accommodate a visit from Children Incorporated in the spring of 2023, and they expressed pleasure at the prospect.
Getting to know Children Incorporated
Eventually the church’s search committee found the right people in its own backyard. Congregation members and married couple Ricartel and Luz Omayra were selected and hired in December 2022 as the new pastoral leadership team. They went through an orientation process to learn their new responsibilities, and Jesus told them about Children Incorporated.
In March 2023 we held a Zoom meeting with the former pastor and the new pastoral team as well as one of our coordinators, Carleen. A visit was scheduled for April 2023 with Renée Kube and Kristen Walthall, the two Children Incorporated staff members who run our U.S. Programs Department, and me. We looked forward to this visit very much.
When we arrived in April, Ricartel and Omayra picked us up at the airport in San Juan, and we started our time together with a driving tour of the area. They showed us Residencial Luis Llorens Torres, which is the largest public housing project in Puerto Rico. It opened in 1953, and it is badly showing its age. The complex goes on for block after block and is believed to be home to about 3,000 people. (There are about 325 public housing projects on the island, but this one is by far the largest.) Like virtually all public housing projects, this one is mired in generational poverty and social problems.
Our sponsorship program in Puerto Rico is helping families who are struggling to make ends meet.
There are two schools within this public housing project, and while neither is presently affiliated with Children Incorporated, there may be an opportunity to do so in the future as our outreach grows.
After the driving tour, Ricartel and Omayra took us to a restaurant for a dinner meeting with our coordinator, Carleen, who had just gotten off work and had driven to meet us. We had previously learned the other coordinator, Marilyn, could no longer continue serving. We had discussed finding a replacement for Marilyn so that Carleen would have some coverage and support.
There is truly nothing like a face-to-face meeting. Ricartel, Omayra, and Carleen are dedicated to making lives better, and they have a passion for serving. All three asked questions and developed a better understanding of our organization (especially Ricartel and Omayra, who are new to Children Incorporated).
Seeing our affiliated site
After dinner, we drove to the Carolina area where Iglesia Bautista de Metrópolis is located. It was dusk, almost full dark, and as we entered the surrounding neighborhood, Ricartel and Omayra explained it can be dangerous at night, especially for strangers. They showed us a few streets where some of our sponsored children live, but we did not get out and walk around.
Both explained they want the church to do even more outreach in the community than it has already been doing. To start, children have been enrolled in our sponsorship program who come mostly from the congregation’s most vulnerable families. This gave staff (including the pastor, the coordinator, and the bookkeeper) the chance to assess whether Children Incorporated is a reliable partner. They have been highly satisfied. Ricartel and Omayra said their inaugural outreach as pastors was a holiday visitation in the neighborhood around the church. They, along with the congregation’s families and children, strolled around, approached people, and gave the children small gifts and invitations to come to the church. They and Carleen want to enroll the children in this neighborhood without regard to whether their parents join the church, but they have to get the parents to trust them and to come to them for help. Continuing dialog is a high priority.
Then we arrived at the church where Carleen, who had driven ahead, joined us. We received a full tour of the grounds, including rooms where they’d like to hold after-school and summer programs for children. Next, we went into the building, and we were proudly taken to the area where they keep the equipment purchased with the first Hope In Action Program grant. The equipment is deeply appreciated and is used every week.
Meeting our sponsored children
Finally we got to the best part – meeting some of the children and their families. They had come to meet us, to say thank you, and to hand deliver letters for their sponsors.
Ethan, the first child we met, is five years old and will turn six in July. He was just enrolled in our sponsorship program in March, and at this time he has still not been matched with a sponsor. (However, we will be assigning him as a substitute in place of one of our 12th grade graduates.) At the time of our visit, Ethan was in kindergarten and was doing very well. He loves cartoon characters (especially Mario) and superheroes (especially Spider-Man). Ethan lives with his parents and older sister in a small house with a cement floor, cement walls, and a cement roof. His parents are responsible and loving, but their combined low wages in a bakery and a hospital do not adequately cover their expenses or provide for their children. Having a sponsor’s help with school clothing, shoes, and classroom supplies will mean a lot to Ethan.
Valeria is Ethan’s older sister. She is 12 years old, and she’s looking forward to becoming a teenager in July. She is in the seventh grade, and her favorite subject in school is family life. In her free time, she loves to draw. Valeria is excited to have a sponsor and is hopeful her little brother will be matched with a sponsor soon.
Jayden, another one of the sponsored children, is just finishing fourth grade. He loves science, drawing, and cartoons. He and his little brother, Nathan, live with their mother, a homemaker and father, a door-to-door salesman. The parents are struggling to make ends meet, and having Jayden matched with a sponsor has been a blessing.
A special moment was when I got to meet one of my sponsored children, Esteban. Esteban is 18 years old and is preparing to graduate from high school. He likes computers and loves basketball. He and his younger sister live with their single mom in a small apartment. The mom works as a nanny for very low wages. Esteban is thinking about becoming a chef but is not sure yet.
I feel Ricartel and Omayra have a good sense of our organization’s mission, and they are grateful that our sponsors and donors can provide much needed support to the children, families, and communities.
The last child we visited, George, was 10 years old at the time of our visit, and he has now turned 11. He is finishing fourth grade, where his best subject is math. George’s mom works in an accounting office, and his dad is in the U.S. Army. He is an enlisted soldier, not an officer, and his pay is low. The parents are ambitious for a better life, and they hope that soon they will no longer need outside assistance of any kind. But for now, they are glad there’s help for their son with his basic and educational needs. [NOTE: Using basic pay as the measure of military compensation, about 4.5 percent of enlisted personnel earn less than the poverty thresholds, according to the Center for Naval Analysis. Many more hover at the threshold or just above it.]
We said our goodbyes to the children and their mothers and left the church. Afterwards, we went to an administration building and had a business meeting. I went over the Specific Assistance Report, which shows all of the financial support provided by Children Incorporated from both our Hope In Action and Sponsorship Programs. Ricartel and Omayra were impressed and touched to see the impact.
Overall, this was a very successful trip. We went into the visit feeling cautiously optimistic about the new leadership, but we left enthusiastic. I feel Ricartel and Omayra have a good sense of our organization’s mission, and they are grateful that our sponsors and donors can provide much needed support to the children, families, and communities. We all also feel there is real room to grow.
You can sponsor a child 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 sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in that is available for sponsorship.
Last fall, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, and our U.S. Sponsorship Specialist, Kristen Walthall, had the chance to return to Arizona for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic to visit our affiliated sites and meet with our volunteer coordinators. Today, as a part of our Stories of Hope series, we hear from Renée about the history of Navajo Nation and the effects of the pandemic on this already vulnerable population.
“The families are trying to hold on to their way of life while developing their capacity to earn their livelihoods and facing the challenges of poverty.”
About Navajo Nation
“The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous territory that includes portions of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and shares a border with Colorado. The community of Teec Nos Pos is close to the Four Corners National Monument and Navajo Tribal Park. It contains the quadripoint where those four states come together, the only place in the U.S. where that occurs. The Hopi Reservation is completely enclosed by the Navajo Reservation,” explains Renée.
“The largest towns and small cities within Navajo Nation (in order of size and population) are Tuba City, Arizona; Shiprock, New Mexico; Chinle, Arizona; Kayenta, Arizona; Fort Defiance, Arizona; Window Rock, Arizona (the capital); and its bordering community, St. Michaels, Arizona. Children Incorporated has affiliated sites in Tuba City, Kayenta, and St. Michaels, as well as in many of the smaller communities.”
“There are larger cities just outside the border of Navajo Nation, and these are important places for shopping for groceries and supplies; for medical care that falls beyond the scope of the Indian Health Service Clinics; and for job opportunities for those who choose to live outside the reservation. Two of these cities are in Arizona: Flagstaff to the south and Page to the north. Children Incorporated has affiliations in Page,” said Renée.
“However, many Navajo people choose not to live in either the larger cities or the towns. Instead, they prefer hozho naasha, which means ‘to walk in beauty,’ expressed by being in balance with and closely interconnected with the natural world, living in very small communities, and finding happiness and joy in daily life skills, ceremonies, and events. For traditional Navajos, such things might include living in a hogan (or having one nearby for ceremonial use), growing traditional crops (especially corn for its food and sacred pollen), herding sheep (for its meat and wool), and attending ceremonial events like a kinaalda (puberty ceremony), nidaa (enemy way), ye’ii bicheii (a healing ceremony), and more. It is considered important to understand hozho so that one can use it to guide choices and decisions throughout one’s life.”
Renée is pictured in one of the many amazing national parks in Arizona.
“Traditional Navajos believe that at birth one starts the Corn Pollen Path of Life. One aspires to reach 102 years of age, the culmination of a long, happy, and fruitful life, and to be in good condition and in balance with everything. Within the path of life, they wish to have and maintain beauty and balance within family, home, livelihood, kinship, community, Navajo Nation, and the world outside. Wherever one goes, one is to live by the teachings, to find good things out there, and to bring them home,” explains Renée.
Understand the people
“The Navajo tribe call themselves Diné, which literally means ‘The People.’ Traditional Navajo believe it is imperative to go back to the true essence of hozho and to instill it back into the lives of Diné children and youth. They believe that their youth feel a yearning for more knowledge of Navajo language and culture, which will help them to feel pride and to help them make moral decisions.”
“The reservation’s landscape is full of beauty and variety; it is ever changing. The families are trying to hold on to their way of life while developing their capacity to earn their livelihoods and facing the challenges of poverty. The pandemic has dealt a terrible blow to these efforts,” said Renée.
The detrimental effects of the pandemic
“Covid-19 was and still is contracted at disproportionate rates on Navajo Nation as compared to the rest of the country. This is due to the historic marginalization of its people. There has been long standing neglect by government entities when it comes to basic infrastructure to support Native populations. The conditions in which people are born, live, learn, and work are known as the social determinants of health. When those are inadequate, then there are negative effects on people’s physical and mental health. It has been documented extensively that low quality jobs, limited income, poverty, and low education are fundamentally connected to poor health outcomes.”
“Within Navajo Nation, 35.8% of households are below the federal poverty threshold, and most hover at or barely above it. (This is compared to 12% at the national level.) Federal funding for health care has been inadequate and has not kept pace with rising costs of prescription drugs, specialized healthcare, and competitive salaries to attract health professionals. Life expectancy is lower for Navajo Nation as compared to the rest of the country. There are higher rates of heart disease, substance abuse, diabetes, and obesity,” said Renée.
“With the return of not only students, but the entire administration, faculty, and staff, assessments can now be better made on the negative impacts of the pandemic on student population and enrollment.”
“These pre-existing conditions made people more vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus, and to experiencing serious illness and death. Access to basic health services presents challenges for most of Navajo Nation, due to the remoteness of rural areas where families live. Lack of family transportation and/or cost of fuel are often factors that impede access to health care.”
“Navajo Nation enforced some of the most extreme social distancing measures in the country. It enacted 57-hour weekend lockdowns during the height of the pandemic and closed even essential businesses such as gas stations,” said Renée.
“When schools across the U.S. closed abruptly in March 2020 in an effort to slow the spread of Covid-19, there were immediate challenges for continuing the children’s education. Many districts across the country already had technology infrastructure, and students had school-issued electronic devices. That was not the case on Navajo Nation.”
“The remainder of the 2019-2020 school year was a scramble to make paper packets for the littlest students and to try and get electronic devices into the hands of the older students. This resulted in sibling groups walking for distances to find hills that might have a cellular signal; families driving to towns where they could go to parking lots and surf off merchants’ Wi-Fi signals; and even school buses becoming Wi-Fi hotspots where families would drive to predetermined places so they could take their children to the buses to upload their work and download their new assignments,” said Renée.
“Navajo Nation President, Jonathan Nez, said the reservation is a telecommunications desert, but it is a desert that is ready to bloom. There has been a big push to build and expand the network, but there’s a long way to go.”
“The 2020-2021 school year began as more of the same. Some Navajo Nation school districts were able to implement hybrid instruction with increased school-based health measures. In these, children were divided, with half going to the schools for in-person instruction for two days, then the other half going for two days, with one day reserved for deep-cleaning, parent conferences, and/or food preparation and distribution. But many remote districts were not able to implement hybrid instruction. Instead, they remained on fully-virtual instruction, which has many deficits for students. The children missed the face-to-face encounters with caring administration, faculty, and staff. They missed opportunities for in-person classroom discussions and hands-on learning in small groups. They missed athletics, clubs, and other activities. Furthermore, in many communities, schools are also the hub for needed supports such as school meals, counseling, and before-and-after-school childcare,” said Renée.
“Thankfully, the development of a vaccine and its trial in December 2020, followed by a rollout to the public over the spring of 2021, was a huge help. As the school year ended in May 2021, more families were getting the vaccine. Infection rates began to drop.”
New hope in a new school year
“The 2021-2022 school year saw the development of boosters and a big push to return to fully in-person instruction. All public health measures were followed, and Navajo Nation displayed an online Covid Dashboard to show the rise, drop, and autumn/winter surges of infection rates. Just like everywhere else, people developed ‘Covid fatigue.’ People found it increasingly difficult and depressing to stay at home for so long,” said Renée.
“The 2022-2023 school year is seeing a further return to normal. In most places, schools have fully reopened to in-person learning, and athletics, clubs, and activities have resumed. The Navajo Nation Fairs returned. However, on the reservation, caution is still the byword. Masking and social distancing are still observed. With the return of not only students, but the entire administration, faculty, and staff, assessments can now be better made on the negative impacts of the pandemic on student population and enrollment. The smaller and more rural schools have lost a large percentage of children, as their families migrated to other towns in search of work, health clinics, and schools that could offer more opportunities for their children. The viability of some of these schools is in question, and a few of these are affiliated with our organization.”
You can sponsor a child 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 sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child that is available for sponsorship.
Since I had arrived in Tacloban to visit our affiliated sites in early January, I had heard so much from our volunteer coordinator, WimWim, about Typhoon Yolanda and how it had devastated the city ten years earlier. WimWim explained that although very tragic, the entire community and the government of Tacloban learned a valuable lesson in the aftermath about emergency preparedness and the importance of having a plan in place in case a storm of such magnitude occurred again.
As WimWim, Ester, and I drove from the Volunteer for the Visayans office to the Santo Nino Center on the morning of the third day of my visit, WimWim told me about how the Santo Nino Center and the Cancumbang Center, two of the three affiliations Children Incorporated has in Tacloban, both serve as evacuation centers for the neighborhood, where residents can gather and safely wait for further instructions about how they should cautiously proceed through harsh weather — or if nothing else, stay dry when the water starts to get high.
I found myself very grateful to know that they had a place such as the Santo Nino Center to meet their daily basic needs, but also help them if an emergency were to arise.
The Santo Nino Center is roughly a 45-minute drive from the VFV office, and located in a quaint neighborhood on the outskirts of town. Although not what I would consider very rural, compared to the bustling city center where the Visayans Center at Bliss is, the Santo Nino neighborhood was very serene, where most people walked or rode on small motorbikes, and animals freely roamed the streets, not needing to be concerned for heavy traffic.
When we arrived at the Santo Nino Center, before we went inside, we walked across the street and proceeded down a narrow walkway down about 50 yards to a row of houses. Ester explained that a few of our sponsored children lived in these houses, and the support they received from Children Incorporated was especially important because most of them lived with either a single parent or only had one parent who was working, as farming or service jobs in the area paid very little or were mostly seasonal.
Sponsored children walk with their mother to the Santo Nino Center for the monthly distribution of basic needs items they receive.
I could now see exactly why the Santo Nino Center was crucial as an evacuation location for this area — the houses were little and built below the road, and even on a dry day like today, there were pools of water collecting on the ground, with little drainage and little direct sunlight due to the heavy foliage that surrounded us.
We then made our way back up the small hill to help prepare for the afternoon feeding program at the Santo Nino Center. Thanks to our sponsors, children receive four meals a week at the center, and monthly distributions of food, hygiene items and school supplies. Although a simple and small building, the center was perfect for not only the Children Incorporated programs that were facilitated there, but was more than sufficient for an evacuation site. The one room building had folding tables, a small kitchen, a storage area, a bathroom, a handwashing station and a water filtration system that all could help ensure families would stay safe as needed if they were waiting out a storm.
It was the kind of safe environment that all children and families deserve.
Once the VFV staff finished preparing a lunch of chicken, rice and stewed vegetables, the children started to arrive, each having a reusable container and drinking cup with them. The children were allowed to come eat anytime between 12 and 2 pm, depending on when they were done with school for the day. I loved the flexibility of the system in place — there was much-needed structure for when the center was open, but an understanding that the children might be on slightly different schedules.
As I watched the children enjoy their meal and chat with each other and the staff, I found myself very grateful to know that they had a place such as the Santo Nino Center to meet their daily basic needs, but also help them if an emergency were to arise. It was the kind of safe environment that all children and families deserve, and I was proud that Children Incorporated played such a huge part in all of it.
You can sponsor a child in the Philippines 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 sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in the Philippines that is available for sponsorship.
After leaving Costa Rica in the fall of 2022, our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet, traveled to Nicaragua to visit our two affiliated sites in the country, the first being the Casa Betania Center.
“We were very glad that he wants to continue his education, and we will be glad to support him because of his family situation and his interest in higher education.”
Today, we hear from Luis about his meetings with our volunteer coordinator, our sponsored children, and their parents during his time there.
A Visit to Boaco
“Casa Betania is a community center with an after-school program and a medical clinic and serves 90 of our sponsored children. It is located in Boaco, a city about an hour and a half away from the capital city of Managua,” explained Luis.
“As with all of our other affiliated sites in Central America, this center is also run by the Sisters of Mercy and provides educational support for the children.”
“With the support of older children and a couple of volunteers, the younger children get their schoolwork done while at the center. Some come once a week, and some come more often, depending on their school needs,” said Luis.
Grateful for the Support of Sponsors
“The center provides the children with a meal during their time there. Our sponsors ensure that the children have school supplies, uniforms, shoes and clothing, food, and medical care. At Casa Betania, neither the children in attendance nor their families are charged for visiting the on-site medical clinic.”
One of our sponsored children at Casa Betania receives food while she is at the center.
“During my visit, all of our sponsored children came to the center to meet with me, and I was able to ask many questions regarding the benefits they receive from their sponsors. All indicated that the program is essential for their education, and they are glad to have sponsors. The food received is also welcome by the families, as the economic situation of all of them is very precarious,” said Luis.
“Additionally, I was presented with requests for support from our Higher Education Fund, as this fund has provided life changing opportunities to many in the past. One former participant and one that is still going to university and graduating this year are full-time volunteers at Casa Betania, where they tutor our sponsored children.”
Helping Renaldo
“Before we ended the day, we conducted a few home visits. One of the houses we went to was truly deplorable, and our coordinator will look into the possibility of helping this family obtain a government funded home, so that they can live with dignity. One of the sponsored children who lives at the home, Renaldo,* will graduate this year, and he would like to attend university. He also volunteers with the after-school program and helps our coordinator with all activities at the center. We were very glad that he wants to continue his education, and we will be happy to support him because of his family situation and his interest in higher education,” explained Luis.
You can sponsor a child in Nicaragua 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 sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in Nicaragua that is available for sponsorship.
