Many prayers were answered this year when Siloe School in Oaxaca, Mexico officially opened to 28 elementary students! Siloe School is a private Christian school run by our Mexico Children’s Program. Our program has always supported education by providing tutoring and covering school supplies and fees, but this is the next step in giving children in this community the best education possible.
We know that education is a key factor in breaking the cycle of poverty. LEAP Academy University Charter School Founder, Gloria Bonilla-Santiago says, “If you provide children with quality education options, support families and children holistically in a community setting and enlist the support of universities as partners with community, you produce better academic results and improved community outcomes. Then what happens? Eventually, the cycle of poverty breaks. One family at a time.”
In the impoverished communities of Oaxaca many children do not have the supplies and support they need to excel in school, so they end up dropping out. Oaxaca has some of the highest dropout rates in all of Mexico.
Siloe School is opening doors that have never been opened in this community, with plans to grow in years to come. One of the mothers of a child attending said, “I went to a very small school in a village and we didn’t have enough teachers, so I wasn’t able to learn a lot of the things that I should have. My daughter is in 4th grade and she already knows a lot more than I do.” This common sentiment both breaks our hearts and encourages us to do better for the next generation.
Siloe School students are being given unique educational opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise. Recently, they were able to attend an International Book Fair in the city. During the fair, they attended reading and writing workshops with a published children’s book writer, opening up an entire new literary world for them.
We take a holistic approach to caring for children in our programs, and place great emphasis on primary and advanced education because we know this breaks the cycle of poverty, changing the trajectory of a child’s life forever. Please join us in prayer for Siloe School as they build and grow in the years to come! We can’t wait to see what God has in store for these children.
Many of us have seen profile photos of children in sponsorship programs; they are often solemn, sad and sometimes down-right angry looking. I know I have thought at times, “Wow, that poor child must be so unhappy!” But then I come across a video from the same organization in which
In the extremely poor village of Kijabe, Kenya, there lives a crippled widow named Mary. After her husband died of AIDS a few years ago, she struggled to find food. While she suffers from HIV, too, Mary’s greatest challenge is a nerve problem in her legs. She has to use crutches
In my mind, I can still hear her cries of defeat and see the tears pouring down her face. I can see the “I am stupid” notes she had written on her school worksheets that day. My precious eight-year-old daughter was fighting to overcome dyscalculia – basically the math version of dyslexia – and we had no idea. It was
Viola lives in the slums of Kampala, Uganda with her parents and five siblings. Living conditions in this area are cramped and unsanitary. Viola’s family lives in a small, brick, two-bedroom house. The whole family shares one room and the other one is used to house chickens and a goat that
Hola (hello), my name is Alejandro
Mexico
13 yrs. old
10-11-2008
Entered the program: September 2013
Alejandro lives with his mother, father and two sisters, Suidi and Itzel (who are also in the Trigo y Miel program). They recently received a home built by Forward Edge’s ministry, Operation Enduring Homes, that has a kitchen, indoor plumbing and running water. Alejandro's father's job as a school teacher in a small village keeps him away from home for weeks at a time. Alejandro's mom works part-time at the Trigo y Miel program.
