The Children

There is enormous poverty in Guatemala, and it is the children who suffer most. Many Guatemalan children work to support their families and so are unable to go to school. They are forced into a variety of low-paying, sometimes dangerous, sometimes horrific occupations ranging from the ubiquitous shoe shine boys down to street prostitution. Such children are heirs to a life so limited that it is hard for those of us from developed countries to fully comprehend. Even if a child survives their work physically and emotionally, without an education, what chance is there that they can find better employment in the future? What chance is there that they can even envision a path away from poverty, crime, and drugs, let alone find it?

Camino Seguro, our first education partner, is opening a way for children out of the garbage dump where they subsist, and to a better life for them and their families. Las Manos assists these children on their journey by fostering proficiency in a highly marketable skill. With the ability to speak English, these children have the opportunity to continue their education and to find jobs that will allow them to provide for themselves and their families.

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Progress of the Kids in the Pilot Program

The kids in the Camino Seguro English Program are making great progress. Below are the latest results from Ross Copeland, head of the program.

"We tallied up our results from the past two rounds of assessments.  Here are the results:

 

Of all the students who were assessed, 72% of them advanced in their English language development over a three-month span.  Of those 72%, 37% actually passed into the next level of language development.  We are basing our assessments on a rubric which charts each student into 1 of four levels of language development: Pre-Production, Early Production, Speech Emergence, and Intermediate Fluency.  It also gives each student a number to show where they are within each level.  So, while most students advanced within their level, not all advanced enough to move to the next level.  But , we are really happy with these numbers.

 

We are about to start our third round of assessments.  We are really looking forward to what those results will show!"