A home visit

Today the director (principal) of the Sabana Perdida school, and I, went to visit one of our students. This young man is 13 years old, and in his second year of school. He is a hard worker. His mom came to the school one time to complain to his teacher, that he was studying too much math at home. His mom is poor and doesn't really see the value of education.

At any rate, the mom was asleep when we arrived, late afternoon. She doesn't work, because she "cannot find a job."

We found Fredery skinny and depressed. I was surprised to see the boy who was always so excited and happy, now with no enthusiasm for life. His mom said she can hardly feed him. I think he has lost several pounds since I saw him just before the Christmas break.

Why am I telling you this? Well, this is the sort of situation I find myself faced with frequently. This mom is doing nothing to help herself or her son. She hasn't lost any weight, however, so obviously she is getting the food she needs. She isn't out looking for a job. She is at home waiting for one to come knock on her door and fix all her problems. She has the victim mentality. Meanwhile, her son cannot go to school, because she will not or cannot pay his tuition.

The director, however, says that the neighbors told her that the woman is not, in fact, the child's mother, that his mother is in the US working, and that she sends support to this woman to take care of the child; that the woman chooses to spend the support on the medical costs of her own aged mom, instead of providing food for the child who lives in her house. It's obviously a difficult situation. We have no CPS to send to find out what's really going on.

I don't know who is telling the truth. I only know that I cannot fix it.

The director upon seeing how bad the situation is, has invited him back to school. She is even talking about making sure he gets a good meal from the school kitchen before he starts each day. Since lunch is the main meal of the day, that might actually work.

For about three years I've been pondering and praying over one thing. We need the finances for the children to go to school. The teachers must be paid. But I don't like to make the school dependent on others for everything. I have often thought if we could have something the students could make and sell as a fundraiser, it would be perfect.

Everyone here sells things. Even people who have full time jobs, sell things to their neighbors on the side. The tuition costs for a child who is unsponsored right now, are about $35-40 a month. This means that with only $10 a week in profits, a student could basically pay his/her own way. Not only that, he/she would be developing small business skills, that are practically a necessity of life here.

What could we make?

It needs to be something:

• the teens can learn to make
• of good quality
• useful or decorative
  
• not something everyone would be able to make, so it couldn't be easily copied (as in the process/recipe is secret, or requires tools not readily available)
• made in a reasonable amount of time

Inexpensive jewelry is a favorite here, so that would be a possibility, although I rather favor something that would be useful to make the lives of poor people a bit easier. Any ideas?

We also need someone who can teach them how to make their product.

It's the teach a man to fish plan. One of our students cleans house just once a month, to earn her tuition for the month. But I cannot hire all the kids! :)