37

©2007 by Heinemann and Carus Publishing from

Toolkit Texts

by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann). This page may be reproduced for classroom use only.

E

ver since you were five or six years old,

the classroom has been an almost daily

part of life. There have always been

teachers to teach you how to make sense

of words on a page, to add and subtract

numbers, and to learn the many other

skills you will need as an adult.

For millions of children around the world,

however, education is still an unfulfilled

dream. More than 130 million children

between the ages of 6 and 11 are not in

school. In most cases, this is due to poverty.

Sometimes children are kept at home

because they are needed to do chores, from

working on the farm to taking care of younger

brothers and sisters. This is especially true

for girls, so fewer girls attend school than

boys. But for many families, school costs

are too high.

While the Convention on the Rights of

the Child calls for free primary (elementary)

education, many governments cannot afford

to cover all educational expenses, so parents

must pay school fees and buy books and

uniforms. In Kenya, primary school was

once free, and almost 90 percent of children

attended. But in the 1980s, the government,

short on money, started charging. The

number of children in school dropped to

50 percent.

AIDS, a disease that has taken the lives

of many Africans, makes it especially hard

for children to afford the cost of education.

The village of Majiwa (ma-GEE-wah) is

inhabited by the Luo people, who have long

valued education and often pooled their

money to send village children to boarding

schools to get a better education. AIDS is

undoing this custom. Many children have

lost parents to AIDS. Without their support,

the children cannot afford the cost of school.

Gideon, Carolina, Jacqueline, and

Benjamin have lived alone since their mother

died in the spring of 2002. The foursome

missed weeks of school when they were short

on tuition. But they were determined to keep

The Interact Club of Vashon Island High School has

made it possible for some Kenyan orphans to continue their schooling.

Education Is Our Hope

Education Is Our Hope

---

38

©2007 by Heinemann and Carus Publishing from

Toolkit Texts

by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann). This page may be reproduced for classroom use only.

going. Gideon, age 18, aspires to become an

engineer, while Benjamin, age 8, says he

“likes to read best.” To raise money for school

fees, Jacqueline and Carolina, ages 10 and 12,

collected wood to sell. Still, their chances of

staying in school were not good.

But 9,000 miles away in the U.S., on Vashon

Island in Washington, a group of high school

students was learning about the AIDS

epidemic. They were members of a service

club called Interact, and they decided they

wanted to help.

The students invited Atieno Kombe, who is

from Majiwa, to give a presentation at their

school. Without an education, children don’t

have hope or value their lives as much, Atieno

told the students who filled the school

auditorium. As a result, they get involved in

risky behavior, which can lead to AIDS. When

children go to school, they have a light

shining that keeps them focused, she said.

Afterward, Vashon High School student

Rachel Weise said, “We felt bad learning there

was a heart and a soul being destroyed by

AIDS, but there was also hope. We could help

the kids go to school.”

The group started fundraising

and educating fellow students.

They left hundreds of slips

of paper with information

about AIDS and Africa on desks all over the

school and put out collection jars. They

quickly raised $1,500, which was used to

build a well at the Majiwa high school. Before

the well, the children had to collect dirty water

from streams, which often made them sick.

The Interact group also decided to pay for

Gideon’s, Carolina’s, Jacqueline’s, and

Benjamin’s school fees. To do this, they hold

regular bake sales and sell candy. They

especially want to ensure that Jacqueline and

Carolina continue their schooling because

girls who go to school are half as likely to get

AIDS. Education, it

turns out, is not

only important

for developing

skills—it is

their best

hope for

life itself.

“ Primary education shall be free and compulsory. . . .

Education should prepare the child for life in a

spirit of understanding, peace, and tolerance.”

—The Convention on the Rights of the Child

Young Benjamin

has benefited

from Interact’s

fundraising.

---

39

©2007 by Heinemann and Carus Publishing from

Toolkit Texts

by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann). This page may be reproduced for classroom use only.

In fact, educating girls may be the

smartest way to bring families out of

poverty. Girls who have been to school are

more likely to have smaller families, and

healthier, better-educated children. The

benefits of this education range from

being able to read instructions on pill

bottles, to making better decisions, to

getting a job.

Most countries are committed to

making sure all children get some

education. Recently, Kenya made primary

school free again. Girls who want to go

to high school, however, must attend

costly boarding schools. On Vashon

Island, the bake sales continue; middle

school students are selling hacky sacks

to help out, too.

Emma Bean shared the dream of her

fellow students: “We’re hoping that by

helping one part of the village, we can

help the whole community.”

“The children are the future,” added

Femke Oldham. “We’re giving them the

opportunity to have a good future with

lots of options.”

Adapted from an article by Lesley Reed

“The children are the future . . .”

—Femke Oldham

The banner, which traveled thousands of miles, is held up by Majiwa students.