Adding to a Youth’s Potential

Posted on behalf of Sarah Jane Velasco, Communications Coordinator in Tabaco, Philippines.

Julie Panganiban may have come from a poor family in Tabaco, but she doesn’t let poverty get in the way of her dreams.

At the age of 13, Julie is already in her third year of high school. As a child she skipped pre-school and was accelerated to first grade. An all-around whiz kid, she excels both in the arts and sciences, but she is particularly gifted in mathematics. She is proudest of being part of the Mathematics Trainers Guild where selected students across the country undergo advanced math clinics and take qualifying exams for international math competitions. She also represents her school during division science meets and press conferences.

Julie (in red) with her sponsored friends during a youth workshop.
But even though she is excelling academically, Julie admits that she is quite shy when it comes to dealing with her peers. “It was difficult for me to adjust especially during my first year in high school. I was really very shy then,” she shares. But through the exposure she gets from Children International’s different activities, she was able to overcome her shyness. “The leadership trainings helped me to become more confident in sharing my ideas with others. Mingling with other sponsored kids in various activities helped me develop my social skills more,” she adds.

But all of that progress almost came to an end when her family suffered a serious financial crisis during her first year of high school. Julie almost had to quit school. But instead of giving in to the problem, she took it as a challenge and even got the highest grades in her class that academic year. According to Julie, “More opportunities are open to those who are educated. That’s why I’m fortunate to have a sponsor who helps me to continue with my studies.”

With the support of her sponsor, this bright young lady is well on her way to breaking through the barriers of poverty.

Democracy in Action

It’s hard to change the channel these days without stumbling across the latest polls, commercials or the latest “he said, she said” banter of politics. While it’s easy to take for granted the power of democracy, it’s still a goal that many world citizens still fight and die for today. And for the youth of Children International, it all begins with casting their first ballot.

At Children International, we feel our youth are the rising stars of tomorrow. That's why we concentrate on developing them as leaders and instilling in them the skills they will need to make a difference in their communities. One way we do this is by teaching the power of democracy.

In November, Youth Council elections were held in Cartegena, Colombia. Each of our 18 agencies has a youth council that is comprised of sponsored youth. The council is responsible for determining the direction of youth programs in each of their sponsorship areas. Council members are also nominated and two delegates are democratically elected to attend the International Youth Conference.

By engaging in the democratic process to elect their leaders, and then deciding the direction of their efforts as a team, they learn a great deal about leadership, a commitment to ideals and shared effort. In this way, youth council members become an inspiration. They provide positive role models for younger children and they strive to educate and help others.

To us, these enthusiastic youth are the world best and brightest hope for tomorrow.

Photos by Marelvis Campo, Children International Communication Coordinator in Cartegena, Colombia.

A Drive to Succeed

Posted on behalf of Deron Denton

Receiving a formal education simply isn’t feasible for many Ecuadorian youth living in desperate poverty. Their families either can’t afford supplies, uniforms and tuition costs, or the children must lend a hand in providing for the basic needs of the family.

That’s why a graduation ceremony held at the Simon Bolivar Technical Institute in Guayaquil, Ecuador, was celebrated with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. Amid an emotionally charged atmosphere, 132 sponsored youth received hard-earned vocational certifications.

One of the stars of the evening was 17-year-old Alexandra Baque, a youth sponsored since the age of 9.

Getting in Gear

Despite being the only girl in a class of 56, Alexandra graduated at the top of her Auto Mechanics course. In addition to completing her coursework, Alexandra had to handle another obstacle: her male classmates’ bias against having a girl in the class. Their attitudes became so bad that Alexandra had to take the matter into her own hands.

Soon after the course began, Alexandra reported, one of the students “told me something rude because I was the only woman, and then I reacted.” It was good for the bully that he relented when he did: Alexandra, at just 4’ 10”, has trained in self-defense nearly her whole life.

“I have practiced karate since I was 4,” said Alexandra, grinning. Although it took two months (and a ninja-style warning) to earn her classmates’ respect, she did earn it. Shortly after that incident, she says, “I earned a lot of respect and became the leader of my group.”

Shifting

If her classmates knew Alexandra better, they would have known she would not be easily sidetracked from her dream. Ever since she was little, Alexandra preferred playing with her younger brother Luis’ toy cars rather than with her own dolls. Much to Luis’ dismay, Alexandra took the cars apart and reassembled them, designing her own small vehicles from the dismantled parts.

She also credits her father with having inspired her interest in machinery. “When I was 13,” she said, “I helped my dad disassemble a piece of industrial machinery, and that really sparked my interest.”

With her own high school graduation approaching, Alexandra began taking a serious look at what she wanted to do for a living. Initially, she looked into taking vocational classes offered by Ecuador’s largest cement manufacturer – Cemento Nacional. One benefit would have been an increased opportunity to work for the company upon graduation.

Alexandra’s mother strongly discouraged this, fearing her daughter’s mistreatment in such a male-dominated atmosphere. Despite fulfilling the requirements and submitting all the necessary paperwork, Alexandra had to forego that opportunity. A determined young lady, she wasn’t terribly disappointed by this setback…she insists it strengthened her resolve to find another way to enroll in a vocational education program.

The Final Stretch

It wasn’t long before Alexandra discovered Children International’s scholarship program, now called the HOPE Fund. She was delighted at the possibility of attaining a degree that would allow her to work with cars. She again submitted the paperwork and met all the requirements. This time, Alexandra seized the chance to pursue her dream and wouldn’t let go. No amount of dissuasion from her mother was enough.

Having earned top honors in the Auto Mechanics program, Alexandra’s next goal is to open an auto shop with some of her classmates. She eventually hopes to design her own cars. Luis is likely to forget about the toy cars his older sister “redesigned” if he actually gets to drive an Alexandra Baque automobile.

It’s a pretty awesome goal for a child who, without a little help, would probably be limited to dreaming about far more mundane things. Thanks to sponsorship and programs like the HOPE Fund – and the perseverance of a young lady – it’s a dream no one doubts is possible…at least, no one who knows Alexandra.

For more information about how you can give HOPE to children like Alexandra, click here.

Investing in Tomorrow

If you’ve been acquainted with Children International for very long, you are most likely aware that our work targets areas where people live in extreme poverty. Our primary focus is uniting individual sponsors with individual children, and using this network of support to provide access to essential services such as health and dental care, educational assistance and nutritional rehabilitation to the more than 320,000 children we serve.

But we also have more far-reaching goals. Eventually, we’d like to do such a good job of helping reduce and eliminate poverty that we put ourselves out of a job.

With the degree of poverty that exists in the world, that’s not likely; but we can make a real difference. And that’s why we take our youth program so seriously. We feel we have the most outstanding youth program in existence – bar none. Our staff around the world is pouring its efforts into providing quality training in values formation, vocational education, career counseling and leadership for our young people…and it’s paying off.

One year ago we brought two youth delegates from each agency with a mature youth program to our International Youth Conference in Kansas City. These delegates were democratically elected by their peers to attend the conference – with the expectation that they would then return to their home countries and share their new-found skills in leadership, teambuilding and participation with the thousands of other young people who make up our youth program around the world. And from the reports we’re receiving, they’re doing a great job of living up to that expectation.

While they were here in Kansas City, the delegates got together and made a recording. The remarkable thing is that at least three or four languages were represented in the group, and only about half of the group could communicate with each other in a common language. But that didn’t stop these outstanding kids! Click on the video below to see and hear them sing the Conference’s theme song, “Sing It to the Mountains.”