There is no public high school where these kids live! We pay tuition and safe roundtrip transportation to the nearest private high school, so 30 selected rural high school children with the drive and desire to become professionals and community leaders can reach their goal. Education is a necessity, not a privilege.
In the farming communities of El Hato and Vuelta Grande, where the average monthly per capita income level is USD $250, there is no public high school where bright and motivated children can continue their schooling. A private school education costs USD$1,000, a prohibitive expense for impoverished families who live without electricity or water. Instead, fully capable and driven children stop their schooling to become domestic servants or teenaged parents.
By funding full-time high school scholarships, we ensure that at least 20 12-16 year old children with the drive, maturity, and interest to break barriers to female education will do so at a first-rate institution that is also accessible by public transportation. The high-school school curriculum prepares them with academic and vocational skills and positions these children to secure professional-level careers and income upon graduation.
Graduation from high school will position these bright children for careers and income levels beyond domestic servitude, which is the typical path for rural Guatemalan children. By securing a higher income for themselves, they will be able to contribute in greater significance to their families' and communities' livelihoods, in addition to serving as leadership models to young girls in the communities. We are helping children break their own barriers to progress.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
