Friday Sep 30, 2016
"Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans - Lifting children out of poverty through education"
Vicki Horsfield
Executive Director Creating Opportunities for Guatamalans
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Vicki is looking for help with the Guatemala programs. Salaries for part time staff, staff salaries, living conditions and improving sewer conditions.
Vicki is started to learn Spanish 15 years ago and wanted to immerse herself into Spanish to speak it. She chose Guatemala because it was the cheapest to fly to. She learned very quickly the needs of the small children and immediately changed her focus in life and her journey for making changes.
Vicki explained that if a student is given the opportunity to learn they will be be given the potential to contribute to the world.
About the Speaker
Vicki was born in Canada but grew up in California. After her education, traveling around the world and working as a mother and teacher, she went to Guatemala in 2012 for the summer to improve her Spanish. She did not expect to fall in love with a country I hadn't known much about or to have my heart go out to its people living in extreme poverty after a 36 year civil war. And when she returned to Canada, she couldn't just crawl into her nice, warm bed in her comfortable home and pretend she hadn't seen what she had. So she applied for retirement and returned to Guatemala to do what she could to help.
After working for 2 non-profit organizations in Guatemala, Vicki started a charity in April 2014, along with a young Guatemalan man who has a heart to serve. He himself was sponsored to go to school and he is the only one of his 7 siblings to graduate from high school. Their purpose is to educate Guatemalans to afford them a better future.
Their non-profit organization, Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans, provides sponsorship to children of families living below the poverty line to ensure that they have the necessary supplies to attend school. The organization provides their sponsored children, as well as other children in the community, with an after-school educational support program where they do their homework under supervision and with assistance. Many of these children have illiterate parents and often no electricity in their homes. Therefore, assistance and monitoring of their homework is crucial to their success in school. Because the Guatemalan school system is very poor, they also provide additional teaching time, with a focus on critical thinking, plus a reading and math program. They teach English classes to these children and also to adults to provide them with a much needed skill in the growing Guatemalan tourist industry. They have a growing library, which we hope one day will serve the whole community.
After working for 2 other non-profit organizations in Guatemala, I started a charity in April of 2014, along with a young Guatemalan man who has a heart to serve. He himself was sponsored to go to school and he is the only one of his 7 siblings to graduate from high school. Our purpose is to educate Guatemalans as a means to a better future.
Our non-profit organization, Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans, provides sponsorship to children of families living below the poverty line to ensure that they have the necessary supplies to attend school. Our organization provides our sponsored children, as well as other children in the community, with an after-school educational support program where they do their homework under supervision and with assistance. Many of these children have illiterate parents and often have no electricity in their homes. Therefore, assistance and monitoring of their homework is crucial to their success in school. Because the Guatemalan school system is very poor, we also provide additional teaching time, with a focus on critical thinking, plus a reading and math program. We teach English classes to these children and also to adults to provide them with a much needed skill in the growing Guatemalan tourist industry. We have a growing library, which we hope one day will serve the whole community.
Vicki joined Rotary in August, 2015- Rotary E-Club of Canada 1, district 5370. As a teacher and a Rotarian, she knows that education is one of the lasting means of breaking the cycle of poverty. With an education, not only will the children sponsored through their program have a more prosperous future but their children and grandchildren will not experience the poverty that their families live in at present. With an education, they will also be able to make better decisions for themselves, their community and their country.
After working for 2 non-profit organizations in Guatemala, Vicki started a charity in April 2014, along with a young Guatemalan man who has a heart to serve. He himself was sponsored to go to school and he is the only one of his 7 siblings to graduate from high school. Their purpose is to educate Guatemalans to afford them a better future.
Their non-profit organization, Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans, provides sponsorship to children of families living below the poverty line to ensure that they have the necessary supplies to attend school. The organization provides their sponsored children, as well as other children in the community, with an after-school educational support program where they do their homework under supervision and with assistance. Many of these children have illiterate parents and often no electricity in their homes. Therefore, assistance and monitoring of their homework is crucial to their success in school. Because the Guatemalan school system is very poor, they also provide additional teaching time, with a focus on critical thinking, plus a reading and math program. They teach English classes to these children and also to adults to provide them with a much needed skill in the growing Guatemalan tourist industry. They have a growing library, which we hope one day will serve the whole community.
After working for 2 other non-profit organizations in Guatemala, I started a charity in April of 2014, along with a young Guatemalan man who has a heart to serve. He himself was sponsored to go to school and he is the only one of his 7 siblings to graduate from high school. Our purpose is to educate Guatemalans as a means to a better future.
Our non-profit organization, Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans, provides sponsorship to children of families living below the poverty line to ensure that they have the necessary supplies to attend school. Our organization provides our sponsored children, as well as other children in the community, with an after-school educational support program where they do their homework under supervision and with assistance. Many of these children have illiterate parents and often have no electricity in their homes. Therefore, assistance and monitoring of their homework is crucial to their success in school. Because the Guatemalan school system is very poor, we also provide additional teaching time, with a focus on critical thinking, plus a reading and math program. We teach English classes to these children and also to adults to provide them with a much needed skill in the growing Guatemalan tourist industry. We have a growing library, which we hope one day will serve the whole community.
Vicki joined Rotary in August, 2015- Rotary E-Club of Canada 1, district 5370. As a teacher and a Rotarian, she knows that education is one of the lasting means of breaking the cycle of poverty. With an education, not only will the children sponsored through their program have a more prosperous future but their children and grandchildren will not experience the poverty that their families live in at present. With an education, they will also be able to make better decisions for themselves, their community and their country.