Street Kids Update

SOPUDEP is already half way through their school year and the street kids education program is working well. While they still are looking for funding to put them up in a home and food is scarce, these 31 kids are attending class everyday thanks to the interest being paid from an American teacher who happened to be teaching just up the road at another school.

Steven Kirby came to us at the start of the school year wanting to help with the street kids program. To my understanding he had just stumbled across the school while on the Internet.

Because SFF has been under some financial crunches and haven’t been able to put money towards much more than just the 47 staff we weren't able to hire the teachers that Rea needed to be able to educate these kids. Kids that regardless of age (5 to 17) are all starting from the same point in their education.

With these conditions, Steven not only started volunteering his time to teach these kids, but he has been putting part of his paycheck every month from his other teaching job to hire three other teachers from the community to help in this endeavor. He is also lending a hand to purchase sewing machines for these homeless boys and girls to give them a skill to be able to earn a living on the street. It's a good start to this important project!

I know Steven probably would rather not be put into the spotlight, but I just thought this was a pretty cool story!

Lets do more things like that for the students and staff of SOPUDEP school! I can’t stress enough how important steady and regular support is no matter what is being given.

Thank you again to everyone who has given their time, energy and money to this very progressive program!

Ryan Sawatzky