Yesterday, Henry, Alex and I had a meeting with the teachers in a village called El Jaral. Henry wants to set up places in each of the villages that Sal y Luz has students sponsored in. Alex is the Education Coordinator for Sal y Luz and responsible for all areas of the education program.
We are starting with a village near the clinic called El Jaral. This will be our pilot program and we will not start any others until we are sure that our first one is working correctly. El Jaral has a feeding center to feed the children one meal a day, the children also receive medical and dental checkups. One of our churches in the Jackson area provides the funds for Feeding Center in this village. The village does not have a water purification system but we plan to install one this summer. The children in this village have the highest incident rate for parasites. One child was tested recently and they found over 40 different parasites in the child. Regular worming and floride treatments are provided also.
I will get back to education and the turtoring program. Most of the children in the public schools do not receive the basic skills, they drop out after 6th grade because they have to go to a high school in another town to be able to continue in school. Most families do not promote their children attending school so the child can help provide for the family. Another factor is lack of knowledge, most of the village schools do not supply the necessary skills to attend grades above 6th.
In El Jaral, there are two teachers, six grades and 80 children for those two teachers who I think really would like to help the children. Some schools have one teacher and 6 grades and lots of students. Salt and Light feels that they need to have more direct contact with the children, especially the ones sponsored through our education program.
This is a work in progress. Next week we will have a meeting with the families of the children in the school. The next step will be to give a thorough medican exam, including eye tests and dental exams for all the children. We will have someone talk to the families and children about using clean water and how important it is to their families and their health. This to help prepare them for the water purification system to be installed this summer. The next step will be to give an evaluation test to determine what level each child is in on Mathematicas and Spanish.
We hope to find local people in the community, including older students, that will donate their time two days a week for one hour to work with these student that we determine needs the extra help.
We hope that this effort, started in the early grades, will keep some of the students in school that would have dropped out. After we see what adjustments need to be made, what works and what doesn't, then we can start the same program in the other villages where we have children sponsored.
The children have already started a garden at their school and were planting bell peppers yesterday. This is part of them giving back to the community instead of just waiting for someone to give them something. As an American who has been here on several mission trips, we do not help anyone by just giving. We want the people here to be able to provide for themselves and not expect a handout. It makes us feel good to give and sometimes it is appropriate, but not all the time. We have to be very careful to make sure that what we are giving is beneficial and will not cause dissatisfaction in their lives.
Please be in pray for this effort, we need God's guidance and direction as we start this new program. After I left the meeting yesterday that we had with the teachers, I was completely over whelmed by the effort it will take to make a different in these children's lives. We cannot make a difference in their lives without God's help. They need Him as their savior and we need Him to guide us in everything we do. We need strength, courage, determination and lots of patience because what we want to accomplish will not happen in a day or even in a year. There are so many negative factors to compete with but God can take care of all those things if we are faithful to do His will.
Thank you for your support and prayers and love.
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