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Program ALCANCE
Juan Ayala Argueta, Principal of Cantón Santa Marta School
“It is very important for those parents who had not enrolled their children in school because they lacked the financial resources. Many families have a hard time coming up with the fee to send their children to school. This is a way to provide an incentive to the children to continue their education, since assistance is expected to increase. School desertion is frequent in this school, approximately 10% annually, especially during the harvest times (April through August) there is a great incidence of desertion and absenteeism which is worrisome. They start to desert when they turn seven.”
Sonia Lidia Leiva, mother of two beneficiaries
“My children are in 4th and 5th grade. I’m very happy because they have provided great help by giving me the school supply. Honestly, I wasn’t going to enroll my children in school whit year because I didn’t have the means to purchase school supply for them. I am a single mother, my husband died, and I work the fields, but I only make enough money for food.”
Building Capacity: San Pedro Masahuat, El Salvador
Marta Sonia Ayala, Beneficiary
Ayala, is 55 years old and has eight children. Before participating in the San Pedro Masahuat Program, she picked cotton and harvested chilis, tomatoes and onions for a living (she was earning less than one dollar a day). Today, the program allows her to earn $120 a month.
"Now I have my salary secure, we are moving forward. Our lives have changed with the support of our friends in the United States."
Speaking of about her daughter, Ayala said, " 'Mama, I want to study,' she says. I am thinking how I am going to do it" "This job has helped me a lot because I have a way to send my children to school."
(Information extracted from a Washington Post Article by Krissah Williams published on Friday, October 8, 2004; Page A01)
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