Child Educational Sponsorship at State Schools

The sponsorship scheme continues to do well with over 360 children sponsored in primary and secondary education. Education is not compulsory but is recognized as a very valuable opportunity, often denied to children who do not have access to outside help, due to the high hidden costs involved. It is these children that we try to help with sponsorship. Your £50 donation has provided a school manual, currently costing £14 for primary students and £20 for secondary students; shoes; uniform; rucksacks and school supplies. For the older children, who attend college in the city, we also give help towards bus fares and, if necessary, a watch.

All the ministries taking part in the scheme have expressed their sincere gratitude towards all our generous donors. They report that many of the families make great sacrifices to educate their children, as they regard it as the best investment they can make to lift the children and themselves out of poverty.

At this time of year we are considering sponsorship for 2010. The school year runs from February to November. Thus all the school clothing and supplies are promoted in the shops during January. We need to send out the sponsorship money by the end of November, to get it to the Pastors with adequate time to buy/procure the appropriate uniform etc. for the children early in the New Year.

The two options available are:
a) sponsorship for a full year (£50) or
b) a half-year option (£25) where, to cover the year, we match 2 sponsors to the same child.

Please would you make any cheques payable to “CH Trust” and send to CH Trust 20 Chapel Street, Spondon, Derby DE21 7JP

Here are some extracts from letters received from the youngsters we have helped in 2009 and hope to help in 2010:

11 year old Elia lives in Comayaguela, a poor district on the edge of the capital, and has received sponsorship for the first time this year.

“I hope that all the kind and generous people who are helping me are well and may God keep you in good health.

I am the second of 5 siblings, the youngest is a boy and there are 4 girls. We live with my Mum because my Dad is in prison. She works in a place, which is a house for people who have been deported from the USA. She stays there overnight, with the two youngest children. We others stay at home. In the daytime she stays at home with us. Sometimes she irons clothes for other people because she can not manage on what her first job pays her. Life here in Honduras is hard, as we poor people cannot afford to eat. Meat is too expensive and the basic grain price goes up every day. It is already hard to survive in Honduras, with lack of work and everything being so expensive. Thanks to God and to you all for taking pity on the poor people”

15 year old Gabriel attends Vicente College and lives in the poor district of La Pena por Bajo on the outskirts of the capital city. He has written to be considered for sponsorship in 2010

“We are 7 people in my house, my mum, my dad, my grandma and 4 children. All my family are poor and we do not have the money to be able to live comfortably. My mum and my dad are the only ones working and they struggle to earn enough to buy food and the basics, like drinking water and light. My mum works hard cleaning houses, washing and ironing clothes for those who will give her work. Her wages are not much but with this she can buy something for us to eat at least once a day.

I have 3 siblings. We all study although we have had great difficulty in completing the course because we do not have a reliable source of income. I study at Vicente Caceres Institute. It is a good college, which includes many children from poor homes in the outskirts of the city like mine. I am currently in 9th grade. It has been difficult to get this far, not because I do not want to but because I cannot afford the books, uniform, shoes and rucksack. When I can, I go to my lessons. I do not live near school and have to take the bus, which is an extra expense. I cannot walk, as it is too far away. We cannot eat anything at break time, when we go to school, because there isn’t enough money for transport and food”

Gabriel now has a sponsor for 2010