Back to School Bags

Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world – Nelson Mandela

The Situation at Hand: Just like anywhere in the world, going back to school includes a list of supplies needed for the new school year. And just like anywhere in the world, there are families that this becomes a difficulty for alongside schools that are underfunded and cannot pick up that slack for these student members.

We have many primary schools in our area, with student bodies ranging from 16 to 125 kids per school. Schools can be in far off areas that unfortunately get little to no government assistance with the new supplies that are needed at the start of each school year and teachers or principals that don’t push for this assistance. The basic back to school supplies are not much, but when paired with the fact that our area, the Brunca Region, has the highest poverty rate in the country an unpleasant picture begins to form.

We have reached out into our community and beyond to connect with and support the smallest and therefore least supported schools in our area. Most of the time the schools are in odd geographical locations (up in mountains, off dirt roads that are hard to maneuver, especially in the rain) with little government support for their small student bodies (20 children or less). The local communities, whose children attend these school, tend to be hard working families that are doing low-income jobs, making the purchase of back to school supplies difficult to achieve, leaving these needs on the school to support and provide the basics for these children. Help us keep these kids from slipping through the cracks.

Our Solution: We are working with the each school in our program to determine which of their students are in need of support for back to school supplies. With this information we work with local and abroad communities to gather what is needed and purchase the rest of our needs with funds that are raised.

The children of these schools are the direct beneficiaries of this project. At the beginning of the school year we meet them in their schools to hand out their back pack full of new school supplies. While we do not believe that by offering these kids a backpack full of their school essentials will ensure attendance, good grades or focus in class, we do believe that it will reduce the financial barrier they and their family may face about the cost of attending another year of primary school in the first place.