A message from Sam, our Community Program Coordinator.
Since the day we arrived to the San Pedro Itzicán community, God has opened the doors and hearts of the people, but He has also opened our eyes to see beyond and discover the needs that each person or group has or has had. As we spent time and made relationships we quickly discovered that the desire for school was significantly decreasing and that the quality of teaching was also on the decline.
In our research, we saw that not only was academics on the decline, but there was an increased amount of children, specifically in the 4th and 5th grade that did not know how to read or write, pre-teens who were about to enter high school who did not know how to divide or multiply. It was after our discoveries that we decided to offer an after school program; specifically homework club, where the children and teens alike had a safe place to study, a place where they would not be judged for not being at their academic level, a place where they would be taught and instructed with love and patience.
At first when the idea was proposed, I thought it was kind of crazy. How were we going to convince a group of kids who were already uninterested in school to attend an extra class after school?
But on the first day, we had 3 children show up for class. Then those 3 quickly became 10 and those 10 spread the word about our after school program, telling them that this opportunity was the best thing that had happened to them. Soon parents were coming to our base every day to ask what they could do so that their children could attend. We went from having 3 children in class to having 3 shifts of 15 children per class for 4 days a week, and today we now have a waitlist of those desiring to attend.
To me, it is incredible how love, patience and a small snack can achieve so many things. Today, the value of education is on the rise, we are seeing grateful parents, and interest in teachers wondering what we are doing so that these children want to study more.
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