Gogo Sandra: Hardest Time of Year

At least for me, January is the hardest time of year in Swaziland. That is when school starts. School in Swaziland goes from January to December. Everyone is trying to come up with school fees for their children. School is supposed to be "free" for 1st thru 3rd grade this year and is why the government no longer allows us to have school at the CarePoints. In theory this is wonderful and it is taking steps in the right direction for education to be available for all children. For now though there has been difficulty with the schools getting paid by the government so they are charging "building fees" and other misc. charges to offset, which is making even these grades, not so free. With so many orphaned and vulnerable children, the families struggle to come up with the money. A year of school for most elementary school children is only about $100/yr with most of it having to be paid in the beginning of the year. With most family's income of much less than this a month or some having no source of income, they just cannot afford to pay for their children, often multiple children, to go to school.

There are some children who went to school last year but because they could not pay their school fees, are unable to advance in school because their grades are being withheld.

It is just heart breaking.

This is why January is the hardest month for me. The need is so great and you cannot help them all. But we can help some. As you know, I was raising funds for Nhlanhla "en-slaw-slaw" last year. Thank the Lord a significant amount was donated. The school I had tried to send him too was more expensive than I anticipated, (a very good school but more than 3 times the price of most high schools which are about $500-$750/yr).

So we found Nhlanhla a good less expensive school, St. Francis, where we think he will excel. We got him a new uniform and still have money left over to help

Siphesihle "see-pay-see-sleigh" the other high schooler I was trying to help and hopefully others.

Please pray!

Pray for the school system of Swaziland. For wisdom for the government in the distribution of the funding. For good education and smaller class sizes (last year some classes had over 70 children in them)

For the children to find a place in school (you are not automatically in a school because it is in your neighborhood) and

for the families to find ways to be able to pay for school fees.

Please pray for Children's Cup's new discipleship program now that we no longer focus on teaching grade 1 and 2. Pray that it will better minister to the children we care for and it will be able to go deeper with our children at the CarePoints.