By Brian Stevens | Operations and Communications Director
For the second consecutive year every child in the rural mountaintop village of Meno is enrolled in school - thanks in part to your support for Beyond Borders' Accelerated Education program.
How do the teachers and administrators at the Meno Community School know that every child in their village is in school?
"The teachers themselves go out to every corner of their village to search for children not in school," explained Jean Prosper Elie, Beyond Borders' program director.
Hiking through steep and rocky terrain on narrow, mountainside trails, teachers go door-to-door to the most remote corners of their village.
Often what they find explains why the Accelerated Education program is so important: older children who are unable to start school at the traditional age of 6 because their families are too poor to send them.
When the teachers first did a survey of their community they found 49 children not enrolled in school.
With each passing year that older kids aren't in school, they become more and more likely to be sent away to the city to live as household slaves.
In Meno your support for Accelerated Education plays a large role in ensuring that every child is a student - not a slave.
Today those 49 young people are in school - as is every child in Meno.
"Accelerated Education is key to keeping older kids out of slavery and getting them in to school," Elie said.
David Diggs, Beyond Borders' Director, agrees: "This is an extraordinary achievement," Diggs said. "Our goal is to replicate these same results in the 10 classrooms where we support Accelerated Education and then continue to expand the program to more communities."
On Nov. 22 those of us in the United States will pause and give thanks for the blessings of our lives. In the current economy, many of us are especially thankful for a job and for the education we received that made employment possible. In Haiti, so many children not only miss out on an education but are forced to work as household slaves far away from their families.
This Thanksgiving, if you have a job, if you've had the chance to get an education, consider showing your gratitude by giving a day's wages to our "Schools Not Slavery" campaign.
A gift of $160 - less than a day's wages for many - will send 2 children to school for a year in our Accelerated Education program.
We at Beyond Borders, the students of Meno and their parents are thankful for your solidarity and support.
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