Education is vital for the children of La Limonada to escape a cycle of extreme poverty, gang violence, drug addiction and physical and sexual abuse. In order to break this cycle, our schools provide loving care from teachers who share God’s unconditional love, provide tutoring, gang prevention programs, sexual education, and psychologists provide one-on-one counseling.
“Across society, every additional year of formal schooling for males reduces the risk of their becoming involved in conflict by 20%.” - Save The Children
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“Educated women tend to be healthier, participate more in the formal labor market, earn more income, have fewer children, and provide better health care and education to their children, all of which eventually improve the well-being of all individuals and lift households out of poverty.” - World Bank
To deal with overcrowding, the Guatemala school system operates on a half-day schedule. The students who attend our schools are with us for a half-day and attend either public or private schools the other half of the day. However, the public school system in Guatemala is so deficient (for example: teachers at public schools are only required to have a 6th grade education) that private schools are the only option for students to receive quality education that will provide them with opportunities for their future.
It is our goal to do whatever possible to ensure that the children we serve in La Limonada attend formal schools for the part of the day that they are not attending our schools. Also, the programs offered through our schools only have the capacity to serve children through 15 years of age so we provide scholarships for students to continue their education beyond that point.
In order to strengthen the education and opportunities for the children we serve, we have identified 68 children from our schools and from the Mi Casita Safe Home for whom we want to provide scholarships for quality private schools in Guatemala City.
Our scholarship program seeks to provide 68 students with a quality education through private high schools and universities in Guatemala City. The average annual cost of educating each of these students is $500 (or $42 a month) for high school students and $1,000 (or $84 a month) for college students. These costs include tuition, uniforms, books and school supplies.
You can provide a child from La Limonada with a scholarship by making a one-time or monthly donation to our Scholarship Fund today!
“The purpose of education is the expansion of the soul – the body and the spirit – to the fullness of its capacity.” – Gilbert Fairholm