By Rocio Mendoza | Executive Director
Dear Loyal Friends,
Can you imagine your life without education? Working long hours at a low-skilled, low-wage job just to survive-that is, if you can even find one. Living a life of stifled dreams and feeling powerless to change your circumstances.
Growing up in Honduras, it isn't too hard to imagine. This is the bleak reality awaiting the over 50% of Honduran youth who never finish high school. And to think that for $50 a month, you can ensure that one promising high school student not only makes it to their high school graduation, but is equipped to make a successful transition to college - a transition too few young people in Honduras have the opportunity to make. Only 14% of Honduran high school graduates enter college, in comparison to 90% of OYE's youth scholars.
Ivelis is one of the few, but it has been a bumpy road. Money was always tight in Ivelis' family, but the situation only got worse when her parents separated. She was in 9th grade at the time and all of a sudden her education was no longer a priority. Despite economic difficulties and family instability, Ivelis persisted and supported by an OYE scholarship, she graduated from high school at the top of her class in 2012. But beyond encouraging academic success, OYE became a second home and the place where she has found her voice.
In her words: "OYE has helped me grow. I have become more responsible and learned how to face life's challenges... I've found a place where I belong."
Now 21, Ivelis is attending college and holds a leadership role in CREA, an OYE initiative that has provided comprehensive sex education, with a focus on gender and rights, to over 750 teens in less than two years. But beyond energizing workshops and providing critical information on sexual and reproductive health, Ivelis has become a trusted confidant for many teen girls, listening to their troubles and answering tough questions they do not feel comfortable asking other adults in their lives. Today she is a leader and we could not be more proud of the empowered, dynamic, and reslilient young woman she has become.
While various international foundations provide crucial funding to cover much of our direct program costs, it is your contributions that prepare our young leaders with the confidence and skills to lead these invaluable programs that reach thousands of disadvantaged teens each year.
Today I write to thank you for your past contributions and ask for your continued support of our work to empower promising youth like Ivelis. Without valuable contributions like yours, at-risk youth will continue to go without an education, their only means to build a better and brighter future in Honduras.
On behalf of all of us at OYE, and most especially our youth, thank you for your support and belief in our work. We do not take you for granted.
Sincerely,
Rocío Mendoza
Executive Director
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