By Kassia Binkowski | Director of Development & Communications
For the past six years we’ve been telling you how our reading promoters are not only students, but they are mentors, and teachers, and leaders, and even entrepreneurs. I’m excited to report that now six of our teens are also community health promoters!
That’s right, during the school recess from November through December, several of our reading promoters have been hired to promote health and wellbeing among family and friends. Why do I mention this? Because once more the power of literacy has unlocked opportunities that these kids had hardly dreamed of. Our teens were hired because of the promotion skills they have developed in our program: self-confidence, the capacity to communicate clearly and persuasively, the ability to teach, and compassion for others. They were hired through Angelica’s uncle who works for the health program. In a country where everyone tells a story about Guatemalans being like crabs in a basket – collaborating to form a pile to the top only for the first one to escape and leave the rest behind – these teens have formed a network of mutual benefit. Angelica did not just take the job for herself. She shared the opportunity with her compañeros. In a country with high levels of malnutrition and short life spans, this community is lucky to have six new health promoters who will share valuable knowledge about health, hygiene, and nutrition.
Once again we are reminded of how our model is working in all kinds of amazing ways to improve quality of life and break the cycle of poverty in Guatemala. Like we’ve always said, invest in a teen and you’ll change thousands of lives. Donate during the month of December so we can reach even more teens in 2013. Help us reach $30,000 by December 31st. Give generously and thank you for your partnership in this work.
Links:
By Linda Smith | Founder & Executive Director, Reading Village
By Kassia Binkowski | Director of Communications and Development
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