After spending the day visiting the Santa Rosa School outside of Sucre, Bolivia, it was time for our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet, and me to visit the Gattorno School — also known as the Santa Ana School — in the center of the city. As one of eight schools we are affiliated within with in the small area that makes up downtown Sucre, I would quickly find out just how important education is to the government and the community here.
The Gattorno School itself is a private school, but not in the same sense as it would be in the United States. The government chooses which students attend the school through a lottery process, but they do not fund the school, which makes private and public school in Bolivia one in the same in most regards. Even with 18 other schools in the surrounding area, the Gattorno School still has a massive enrollment — 900 students are in attendance which serve boys and girls from first grade through twelfth grade.
Challenges for families in Sucre
When we arrived, we were greeted by the school secretary, Isabel, who assists our volunteer coordinator, Marizabel, with the Children Incorporated sponsorship program. While taking a tour of the school, in which classrooms are structured around a large courtyard, Isabel explained to us that even though there are technically a lot of educated professionals in Sucre, there are not enough jobs to satisfy the demand, and that has gotten exponentially worse since the pandemic.
Isabel explained that even though there are technically a lot of educated professionals in Sucre, there are not enough jobs to satisfy the demand.
Many parents of children at the school would like to look for work in other bigger cities like Santa Cruz or Cochabamba, but relocating is often difficult and expensive, so many families remain close to home and family, where employment options remain limited.
After we had a chance to see the school, Luis and I were escorted to a classroom where all of our sponsored children were waiting to greet us. Marizabel was also there, having coordinated the event, and the students took turns reading letters to their sponsors, reciting poetry, and playing music for us. It was very apparent that this talented group of students was enjoying the educational experience at Gattorno, as well as being very appreciative of the support they receive from their sponsors as they go through the educational journey.
For Luis and I, we were pleased with how well our sponsorship program was being run at the school, knowing that these children were greatly benefiting from having a special connection with their sponsors, and such as safe and comfortable place to receive an education.
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.
December is an important month. For some, it is the end of yet another year, a time to wrap up loose ends and bring matters, personal and professional, to closure. For others, both religious and otherwise, December is the season of advent, of fresh starts, of hope, peace, joy, and love. Sprinkled throughout the month are all sorts of days of special recommendation. For example, December 4th is “Wear Brown Shoes Day,” December 6th is “Bartender Appreciation Day,” and December 13th is “Ice Cream Day.” Of course, the majority of us celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
Children Incorporated, as a business, operates on a fiscal year calendar (July 1 through June 30), so December is definitely not a month of endings for us, though the end of the calendar year is crucial for us as far as contributions go. As our financial supporters bring their annual contributions to an end, we always anticipate the generosity of those wishing to support our work with monetary gifts before the close of the calendar year.
Our Annual Fund is what drives our mission and vision and allows us to plan for the future of our organization — one in which we can help more and more children each and every year.
This year is no different. As always, we need your support and ask that you seriously consider what you may give to help us continue our life-changing work around the world. The needs of those we serve are ever-present and ever-real as children and families struggle with food insecurity and poor nutrition, the high cost of education, a lack of adequate clothing and hygiene items, and sub-par housing and shelter.
We do all that we can with the funds we receive from sponsorship and general contributions, and our honest efforts are recognized by the major charitable monitoring groups — Charity Navigator recently awarded Children Incorporated a score of 99 out of 100! — but the needs always seem to outweigh the dollars collected. This December, we ask for your help once again by considering making a donation to our Annual Fund. Our Annual Fund is what drives our mission and vision and allows us to plan for the future of our organization — one in which we can help more and more children each and every year, while keeping up with meeting the needs of the children we already support.
Yes, December is an important month. I’d like to designate it as “Children Incorporated Thanks Its Incredible Sponsors and Donors Month” and share my gratitude to each of you for allowing our small but dedicated staff and me, personally, to do the work of helping and improving the lives of children and families. You make it all possible. Thank you.
For many families of children in our program, holidays can be a time of stress instead of celebration because money for food or gifts just isn’t available to make Thanksgiving or Christmas special.
Today we hear from our volunteer coordinator, Anne Marie, at Alleghany High School in North Carolina, about how our sponsors are helping to ensure that families have a reason to celebrate Thanksgiving together, all thanks to donations to our Feeding Programs Fund.
“Thank you so much for all that your organization does to feed familes during Thanksgiving!”
A letter from Anne Marie
“Dear Children Incorporated,
I have always been amazed at how much the Children Incorporated sponsors help and support our students. Alleghany County is located in the northwest corner of North Carolina and is very rural. Christmas trees are grown here and shipped all over the world. Alleghany High School has approximately 19.5% of the student body enrolled in the Children Incorporated sponsorship program – over 70 students in total!”
Thanks to our donors, families are receiving full Thanksgiving dinners this holiday season!
“All of our sponsored children have their instructional fees paid and school pictures and yearbooks purchased for them to help out their families. Each year, a few weeks after school starts, each student is allowed to pick out and purchase $100 worth of school gear such as shirts, sweatshirts, pants and hats, and all of our seniors have their cap and gowns paid for with Children Incorporated funds.”
Countless thanks from families in need
“Several years ago, our school noticed a need for the holidays for our families. The last day of school before Thanksgiving break, each staff member signed up to personally deliver meals to our Children Incorporated families. The school also partnered with Food Lion and Lowe’s Hardware. Lowe’s donated cooler bags and Food Lion prepared the bags for us to pick up and deliver. The meals consisted of turkey, ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, rolls and an apple pie. Over the years, we have received countless thank-yous and even tears from our families when they receive the meals. Some families have told us that they did not know what they would have to eat over the holidays otherwise.”
“Thank you so much for all that your organization does to feed families during Thanksgiving!”
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.
We recently received a letter from our volunteer coordinator, James, at the Dandora Center in Nairobi, Kenya, who writes to us to express his gratitude for Hope In Action funds that have allowed him to improve and expand the school, which is all to the great benefit of the children we serve there.
“I look back and appreciate with gratitude how much we have been able to achieve at the center through your support.”
A letter from James
“Dear Children Incorporated,
Receive warm greetings from us all at the Dandora Center, and we hope that this finds you well! The children are fine and getting on well with their daily school activities in this rather short but very busy term. Soon, national examinations and assessments will be setting in, and afterwards, the children will be entering the long December holidays.”
“At this juncture, I look back and appreciate with gratitude how much we have been able to achieve at the center through your support, which has made the environment for the children so conducive to learning.”
“I am glad that the boys’ restroom that I mentioned to you during my last communication is now complete and only needs to be painted. We have now begun constructing the girls’ restroom hoping that it will be complete by the beginning of next year. Upon completion of these restroom blocks, we hope to renovate the current room being used as toilets and convert it to a more spacious computer room that will be able to accommodate all the children with ease.”
“I appreciate the support you gave us to construct the first floor of the new classroom block which is currently being used by the children in the junior secondary school. We hope that next year we can manage to do the final floor and roofing of the block to prepare for ninth grade classrooms. Your love for the children at the center gives us hope as we make this request.”
Finally, it’s my great pleasure to share with you a few photos of the children carrying out different activities together with a few structural developments. We forever remain indebted to you as well as all the Children Incorporated sponsors for all the things you do for children.”
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 spending a few days in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, visiting with a few of our affiliated sites in the area, it was time for our Director of International Programs, Luis Bourdet, and myself to take the short trip by plane to Sucre, where Children Incorporated supports seven schools, helping hundreds of children living in poverty every year.
The students beamed with pride as we made our rounds, and Gabriella explained to Luis and me that our donors had purchased the equipment, refrigerators, kitchen tools and utensils necessary for the culinary program to exist.
I had not visited Sucre the last time I traveled to Bolivia in 2016, so I was especially excited to see the town and get a chance to meet with our volunteer coordinators and sponsored children at each of the sites. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre sits at a high elevation, which gives it a nice and cool temperature all year long, which I looked forward to after a few very hot days in Santa Cruz. Beyond the cool climate, Sucre is also recognized as the constitutional capital of the country, and is home to dozens of government run local schools and privately-run language schools for foreign visitors.
But, upon our arrival, before I even had the chance to really get to see Sucre itself, Luis and I ventured about twenty minutes outside of the city on our first day, to the small agricultural community of Yolata. I noticed immediately how incredibly narrow the cobblestone streets were, as we bounced down the road in the taxi. I gazed out the window, realizing just how very quaint the town was, only taking up a dozen or so city blocks in total, which made walking very convenient. Yolata is home to many farmers who struggle to grow enough food to feed their families and sell in markets, as the area is prone to drought throughout the year. This makes it difficult for them to get out of poverty — and makes it even more important that Children Incorporated is able to provide support for children growing up here.
Visiting the school
When we arrived at the front gate of the Santa Rosa School, a small group of children held a hand-made sign which read “Welcome” in Spanish. They were all dressed in traditional Bolivian clothing, ones that looked similar to the outfits we saw at the Montero School, where children had performed dances to celebrate our arrival. Luis and I stepped out of the taxi, and were greeted by our volunteer coordinator, Gabriella, who escorted us inside the school’s compound and into the courtyard, where dozens of children and their parents were seated under a small pavilion. After we were introduced to the group, the students performed songs and dances for us as a way to say “thank you” to their sponsors for all the support they receive throughout the year.
This is a large affiliation for us — 53 children are enrolled in our sponsorship program and, according to Gabriella, many more could use support from a caring sponsor. As we talked in her office after the children’s presentation, she explained that many of the impoverished families in the community didn’t have any plumbing or running water, and they did their best to sell small food items as street vendors in Sucre, but overall making ends meet was hard for them, even if both parents were able to work.
We continued talking as Gabriella led us on a tour of the school, showing us the classrooms for the middle and high school age students, and a new edition to the school that would accommodate younger students in the upcoming year, as more and more children were coming back to school after the pandemic and additional space was needed for them.
A wonderful treat during our visit
As with many of the other schools in Sucre, Gabriella explained, the Santa Rosa School is run by the government, but not funded fully by the government, so Children Incorporated has been a huge help in filling a gap when children’s parents can’t afford school supplies, clothes, food and hygiene items. And, she added, without our donors, they never would have been able to complete the culinary building that she was excited to show to us.
As we turned a corner to enter through a large doorway, to my surprise, we came upon the culinary classroom, which was filled with students in their chef’s uniforms, all lined up around counter tops filled with baked goods they had made for us! As Gabriella introduced us to the students, we had a chance to try Bolivian pastries and cakes that were not only beautiful, but absolutely delicious. The students beamed with pride as we made our rounds, and Gabriella explained to Luis and me that our donors had purchased the equipment, refrigerators, kitchen tools and utensils necessary for the culinary program to exist.
At least at the Santa Rosa School, she knew her children were being provided for.
Visiting homes in Yotala
After we said goodbye to the students, Gabriella wanted to take us to visit a few of the homes of our sponsored children before we returned to Sucre for the evening. We piled into her car and made our way out of the small town and up into the hills, where we first visited a family with two small children in our program, living in a two-room building with electricity and little else. The father told us he makes his own version of yogurt which he sells in the city, but it is a lot of work, and his pay is very low.
Their well-kept house was very bare, and I wondered how they stayed warm at nights when the temperature dropped. There was no means to heat the home, and the concrete walls offered no insulation. Shortly after, we visited another home on the side of a small mountain, where a family of three was living in one small room with no electricity or running water. The mother expressed her gratitude for her children’s sponsors, who took worry away from her while her children were at school receiving an education. At least at the Santa Rosa School, she knew her children were being provided for so they could focus on getting an education, which gave her the peace of mind she really needed.
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.
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.
