Aug 9 2012

CFCA scholars in Colombia share talents with community

Posted on August 9, 2012 by admin

By Harrison Garcia, CFCA communications liaison in Bogota, Colombia

CFCA scholars Ingrid and Samuel plan their workshops at their local CFCA office.

A scholarship means a lot for a youth who wants to continue getting an education.

The CFCA project in Bogota has 14 scholarship students who want to give back after the support they’ve received from CFCA.

We recently chatted with two of them, Ingrid and Samuel, and heard about their hopes and dreams for the future.

After years of sponsorship, both these youth were selected to receive a CFCA scholarship in addition to their sponsorship.

Ingrid, 21, a CFCA scholar

I am learning to be a sports teacher at the National Pedagogic University in Bogota. For me, sponsorship is great and really changed my life. Read more

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Jul 25 2012

Helping your kids develop a global worldview, part 1

Posted on July 25, 2012 by admin

By Kristin Littrell, CFCA freelancer

I’m a mom to two young girls, and there’s a lot I don’t know about parenting. A lot.

Kristin Littrell and family

But I do know that my husband and I long for our children to have a global worldview.

We want them to know from a young age that they live in a world bigger than their school, neighborhood or even country.

We hope they’ll see their life in relation to the world, not just in relation to the girl at school who has more trendy clothes or takes better vacations.

We believe a global worldview produces compassion, a celebration of diversity and a belief that we are all, regardless of location, created in God’s image.

We pray it will encourage our kids to make choices that benefit the good of others, sometimes even at the expense of their own desires.

Because our kids are still young, we’re just beginning this journey, but we’re doing a few things that we hope are planting the seeds of a compassionate global worldview in their hearts and minds.

I’d love to share them with you through a few upcoming blog posts. For now, let’s start by watching the Olympics with our kids.

Let the Olympics bring the world to your living room Read more

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Jul 18 2012

Why is my 18-year-old sponsored friend in fifth grade?

Posted on July 18, 2012 by admin

Ask Sponsor Services Q. Why is my 18-year-old sponsored friend in fifth grade?

A. Education in other countries is very different from education in the United States.
Many countries may have public school at no cost, but the school supplies, uniform and books can sometimes equal a family’s entire monthly income.

Sometimes, difficult choices must be made: food for the family or a school uniform.

The Hope for a Family sponsorship program helps families in these predicaments.

Your monthly contribution helps your sponsored friend prepare for school, which may include purchasing a uniform or supplies. Once a child is accepted into the CFCA program, they can receive benefits and begin their education.

First-time students must start at the beginning, regardless of their age, which is why some older children are placed in elementary courses.

Another common reason may be that your sponsored friend had to repeat a grade or skip school at times to help the family put food on the table.

Many projects offer benefits such as tutoring programs for students who get behind in school or economic development programs for parents so they don’t have to pull their children out of school.

One thing these older children need more than anything is encouragement. It can be quite daunting to start school so far behind your peers.

If this is the case with your sponsored friend, you can send letters to show her or him your support. (Try sending an eLetter on our website.)

You’d be surprised to know just how much your words mean to your sponsored friend.

(Read about 16-year-old Gladness in Tanzania who used sponsorship benefits to purchase a new school uniform.)

For more information, please email mail@cfcausa.org or call Sponsor Services at (800) 875-6564 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time.

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Jun 27 2012

CFCA’s partnership with Cristo Rey Kansas City

Posted on June 27, 2012 by admin

Laura, Cristo Rey intern at CFCA office in Kansas City

Laura, one of the Cristo Rey interns working at CFCA this year. Laura helped prepare photos and family profiles of children and elderly awaiting sponsorship. These profiles are shown at weekly church presentations around the country.

Every day we see how education is key to breaking the cycle of poverty worldwide.

It could be a CFCA scholar graduating from college.
Perhaps it is a sponsored child walking hours to school and back.
Or perhaps it is a sponsored youth getting a new uniform so she can attend school with dignity.

We also see the importance of education much closer to home ó that is, right here in our Kansas City headquarters.

For six years since the inception of Cristo Rey, our CFCA office has had a local partnership with Cristo Rey Kansas City High School, one of 25 innovative high schools in the Cristo Rey Network. These schools serve culturally diverse students with economic need.

A Jesuit priest, the Rev. John P. Foley, began the first Cristo Rey high school in 1996. He had just returned to Chicago after working in missions in Peru for 34 years.

Our mission of solidarity with those living in poverty complements the Catholic high school’s mission, detailed on its website: “Cristo Rey Kansas City is shaped and energized by the educational vision of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth in the Vincentian spirit of service to the poor and partnership with those of means.” Read more

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Jun 22 2012

Emma, CFCA scholarship student from Costa Rica

Posted on June 22, 2012 by admin

By Emma, a CFCA scholar who studies social work at the University of Costa Rica branch at San RamÛn

Since I was little, my mother always told us, ìYou, your sister and I are family.î And itís true. My mom is Francisca, my sister, Milagro, and yours truly.

This May, it will be 20 years since my father passed away, which means weíve never had a fatherís presence. However, Mom always made an effort to keep us moving forward and to give us, within her means, what we needed.

My mother has worked as a maid since she was 11 years old. Her earnings and the pension we receive for my fatherís death are the only income we have at home.

The CFCA scholarship is a great blessing for my family. Itís a great help for my mother so that she doesnít have to worry about helping me with money to pay for my studies.

I think that without the scholarship, I wouldnít have entered the university because I didnít have the means to do so. All that I have achieved in academics has been thanks first to God, and next to CFCA as a foundation and then to the scholarship because I have been able to pay for all the necessities. Read more

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Jun 8 2012

Sponsorship helps families afford school, part 2

Posted on June 8, 2012 by admin

Last week we blogged about Rachel in Kenya, who received a school uniform through money saved from sponsorship benefits.

Providing children with the required uniform, books and supplies does not guarantee they will learn. The quality of the school has a significant impact on the child’s education.

Manjula lives in the Rasulpura slum in Hyderabad, India, with her two children. Her 12-year-old daughter, Aarthi, is sponsored through CFCA’s Hope for a Family program. Manjula earns about $60 a month as a maid.

Aarthi with her mother, Manjula, and her brother, Sai, outside their home in Hyderabad, India.

She has switched Aarthi to a different school twice because of overcrowded classrooms. One class of Aarthi’s had 60 schoolchildren.

“It became very difficult for the children to follow the class,” Manjula said. “There was no personal attention towards the children.”

Manjula uses Aarthi’s sponsorship funds to help pay the higher school fees at Aarthi’s current school.

“It is a better school in our locality,” Manjula said. “Each class is in a separate room. Benches are there. Teachers are also good.”

Like CFCA projects in Kenya, the Hyderabad project deposits sponsorship funds into a child account. Parents decide how to use the funds with oversight from their CFCA social worker.

CFCA sponsorship can impact other siblings in the family, too. Because Aarthi is sponsored, Manjula belongs to a CFCA mothers group. She borrowed money from her group’s collective savings program to send her son to school.

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