second week thoughts

It seems that I always have a story once each day has come to a close, though time permits me in getting something posted every evening. Below is one highlight from the week.

Each child is required to pay 50 pesos for registration. This is the equivalent of $1.50, and is really just to show us that the parents are willing to give to help in the education of their children and show that they are generally interested and will make the effort. The finances in which we use to purchase supplies and school materials comes from you people who make donations from the states.

Our preschool children have already received a backpack and school uniform (which includes Makarios shirt, khaki pants, and underwear). Every child in our programs will also receive a tooth brush and notebook, in addition to a snack each day. As of right now, we do not have enough funds to run each of our programs so we are using the dollar fifty from each child.

On Wednesday two of my older students, Francia and Yoslena, approached me while we were crossing the river to go to class. I had warned them the other day that if their parents do not pay the 50 pesos that they could not continue coming to the school (trying to teach responsibility is such a pain). Francia told me that she and Yoslena had collected bottles and turned them in for change, and she handed me some coins and some small bills that amounted to 50 pesos, 25 pesos per girl, that they had made so they could come to school. I was so touched.

I was perfectly content with allowing that to be sufficient, but on Thursday the girls turned in the other 50 pesos. There are 6 children in Yoslena's family, and not all have paid. It has been two weeks into the program, and we are not wanting to cut kids from the list, but there are a few parents who have not completed their children's registration by paying the fee. We will see what happens come Monday.