A Child Hope Education

Can you imagine how much fun they would have with colored chalk!?

Do you remember what your preschool looked like? Your elementary school? I wonder if any of you would say that your school looked like the one does above.

I remember when I took a semester of college work in Mexico. The room was similar to the one you see above- there was no air conditioning, no text books, and you may be surprised to know that no toilet paper or soap was provided for the "out-house" type toilet facilities! I was shocked! I paid good money, and I expected to be able to use toilet paper!!

I remedied the toilet situation by carrying my own soap and toilet paper around in my back pack, but some of the other items were not so easy to come by. For example, my tourism teacher would pick a random subject and then ask us to write a paper on it. My thought was, I don't mind writing a paper, but where is my textbook to study the subject? Where do I get the information I need to write a paper that I know will be on topic and pertain to our class?

This brings me back to Zambia where I wonder how difficult it must be for the teacher to teach without a text!? I can do it, and do it all the time with my girls, but I have access to the Internet where every subject a person could want (and even ones you don't want) are there with a click of a key. How do the children remember everything without workbooks to fill in, textbooks to study at home, paper and pencil?

You may be amazed to learn that while these children do not have the luxuries that US schools have (a desk to themselves, oodles of school supplies, textbooks, a nice playground, and so on), they are still eager to learn! Imagine how happy they would be for a box of crayons and paper of their own!! Or a workbook and pencil! These children appreciate everything, and take NOTHING for granted!

CHILDHOPE believes that education is crucial for development and one of the most powerful tools in breaking the poverty cycle.
CHILDHOPE puts in more in education than any other program area and works to ensure that children, young people and adults get the knowledge and life skills they need to realize their full potential. The school improvement program, which is part of our formal education work, delivers:
• Support to every aspect of a school essential in creating the best learning environment for children thereby providing adequate and appropriate teaching and learning materials for basic school children.
• Supporting education through the provision of school furniture.
• Child representation on every school committee and training of school management committees which are tailored towards making schools more transparent. As parents and children realize that they are key stakeholders in the running of schools, they will begin to take decision-making seriously and begin to demand explanations on the way their schools are run.

The sponsorship program will provide the child with school supplies, school fees, and many other essentials needed for a proper education. To sponsor a child, please visit out blog at: http://childhopezambia.blogspot.com/

Also, a question was asked about sponsorship payments. You do not have to use the "subscribe" link to sponsor a child. You can make the monthly payments on your terms every month by sending a paypal payment to macandmic@gmail.com We do have a spreadsheet that keeps track of donations, so we will know how much you have paid. Make sure to mark your payment as a "gift", so that paypal does not take out fees.

Another question I received is whether Child Hope Zambia will be filing for a 501c3 status. We do plan to do that. For anyone who has done this for their own organization, you know how costly it is. I am currently looking into how much money we will need to come up with to get this done. So far, I have come up with $150 for a company to prepare out LLC docs for us, $300 in state filing fees, and $200 to apply for the 501c3 status with the federal government. The total is $650, but I am not sure if I am missing anything.

The good news is that the IRS allows a non-profit 27 months to get the 501c3 status, and all of the donations up to that point would be tax deductible (as long as the status is approved). Very good news!