PSH working with children: An update Monday, October 24th, 2011 at 8:09 am
As promised, we are bringing you more news now on how things are going with the communities we are working with. The needs of every community are unique, so we try to tailor the solutions we provide to make sure we have the most impact.
In Ilaje, we have partnered with Hands-At-Work to sponsor 154 orphans. Ensuring that these kids get a good education is a big part of what we are doing there.
All the children (in both nursery and primary sections) enjoy basic free education. Children get free book supplies, pencils, pens, school uniforms, bags, etc. In the Nursery section, we have pre-nursery and regular nursery classes. In Primary, we have from Classes 1 – 5. Class 5 students are actually being provided with extra-curricular classes (by a community-based organization) in preparation for the Common Entrance Examination into High/Secondary School.
Ilaje Children learning at school
All the children come regularly to school and are taught by various subject teachers. They receive homework to ensure they understand and practice all they are taught in class, and to help keep them occupied. Knowing what the children are up to outside of school hours is important. It can help prevent them from falling under the influence of individuals or groups that would be detrimental to them. Gangs can be a problem for these kids – even at such a young age – so keeping that interface going can provide a lot of help for the families.
From January – June, 2011, 60% of the children being supported by Poverty Stops Here – in addition to the free school supplies – have also received new school uniforms. The others will have received theirs by the end of the third quarter of 2011. Currently, the school has 7 teachers and they are supported monthly by incentives which are given to them regularly. The care workers (who help out with After-school visits, for instance) are not currently receiving any incentives yet. However, we are finalizing Income Generating Activities (IGAs) which will be implemented to help provide some compensation for these people.
To see more information on PSH’s activities, you can head over to our Impact page.
There is still much Poverty Stops Here needs to do, in Ilaje as well as all our other partner-communities; but we know that, with you help, there is also much we can achieve.
So, if you’ve got a minute, why not check out what you can do to assist us by checking out this page. It’ll only take a couple of minutes!
Thanks for your support.
The PSH Team
