What would happen if half the population in America were uneducated? What if the children in America had no way of being educated? What if more than half of America were living in poverty? This is exactly what’s taking place in the developing world!  1 in 4 adults in the developing countries are illiterate while more than 100 million children do not go to school. These and many other issues in the poorest countries are still increasing and becoming a great concern. These tragic predicaments will be reduced considerably with the help of the Millennium Development Goals.

The Millennium Development Goals are as follows: to rid hunger and poverty, achieve worldwide primary education, do away with sexism, decrease the high rates of child mortality, care for maternal health, fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, maintain the environment, and develop a global partnership. These superb objectives should and will not go unheard or be hindered.
By achieving worldwide primary education, the high rates of HIV/AIDS will decrease. Primary education isn’t just a want in this world, but a need. How can one go forth without receiving proper education? Children in the poorest countries require proper education in order to survive. Learning about the incurable disease will most definitely bring the high cases of HIV/AIDS down and many lives will be saved as a result.

It is common for children in a poor country to work on the street. Abuse is one major factor for their doing so. Poverty is another. Working all day every day is asking too much of the children, who just want and need to be loved and cared for. However, other children are living in even worse situations. Some children are homeless and live out in the streets. These kids who lack a home, food, and clothing are more likely to be killed or abused than the children who are forced to find a job and provide for their family. Through desperation, these homeless children are pulled into making prostitution and drugs a part of their life. Some children even escape from the intolerable situations (such as abuse or neglect) at their home and live by themselves.

One nerve-wracking fact is that many fail to contemplate as to why the children are homeless on the streets of these countries. Many do not want to show compassion for the less fortunate and turn from them. They do not know that these children could have been victims of a situation, fled their home, and as a result, are homeless. “Why do they steal?” some ask. The answer to this question is clear, and will be left in the open for you to answer.

In the developing world, many believe that a woman’s only job is to stay in the house and cook, clean, and take care of her family. Another saddening fact is that many parents marry their daughters off at a young age to avoid raising her. Having no knowledge of birth control can lead the way to early pregnancy and the boy and girl become parents at  a very young age. Lack of knowledge about the proper foods to eat is another great concern. Mothers know not what to feed their children, leading to other sicknesses such as anemia and malnutrition. Men are in control of their own lives, forcing women to latch on to them being they have no money or safety.
Malnutrition is a major issue in the third world countries. Statistics show that 500 million people are malnourished. 10 million die every year. Third world countries grow desperate for food and suffer from hunger and malnutrition, while the first and second world countries are concerned only about the possibility of nuclear war.  
Diarrhea is the most common cause of death in young children in developing countries. 1 out of 10 children die in Indonesia a year. The infections start from lack of hygiene and consuming contaminated foods. Dehydration is the cause of death due to large amounts of water loss. Measles has a death rate in Mexico 180 times higher than the United States. Measles’ death rate in a few African countries is 400 times that of the United States. In West Africa, 1 in 20 people die from measles.   The Millennium Development Goals come forth to rid the third world countries of these unbearable situations. These issues can be conquered one by one as we get together  to make the world a better place.

- Deborah Rose

EI participant studies while her mother works.Did you know that one in four adults in the developing world - 872 million people - is illiterate (Oxfam UK – Education Now Campaign)? Or that more than 100 million children remain out of school (Source:UNFPA)? Or that 46% of girls in the world's poorest countries have no access to primary education? Or the fact that more than 1 in 4 adults cannot read or write and 2/3 of those are women (Source:ActionAid)?

These may look like mind numbing numbers but every number here refers to a human life that may become tragic due to lack of basic education. It is incredibly unfortunate that many people fail to get even the simplest facilities like primary education which so many of us take for granted. Due to the lack of opportunities, the uneducated ones remain trapped in the vicious circle of poverty and illiteracy and face harsh circumstances throughout their lives. Getting educated is the basic right of every human being and yet, a disproportionately large section of the population fails to get a chance to attend even the primary school.

Education alone can ensure that the poor find positive ways to overcome their adversities and get empowered to create bright future for themselves and their families. In fact, according to Oxfam, young people who have completed primary education are less than half as likely to contract HIV as those missing an education. Universal primary education alone would prevent 700,000 cases of HIV each year – about 30% all new infections in this age group. It is, thus, imperative that, at the minimum, primary education be made available to everyone around the world.

Is achieving universal primary education an impossible dream? Consider this data from ActionAid: Americans spend around $20 billion on ice creams every year and the cost of providing universal primary education per year is just half of that!

While adequate funds are not the only answer, it does help to allocate sufficient resources for this goal. With sustained efforts by governments and organizations, it is definitely possible to ensure that even the poorest and most disadvantaged people of the world learn the basics of reading and writing. Moreover, thanks to a well planned initiative started by the UN, achieving this goal can become simpler. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the UN aim to make seemingly impossible dreams come true.

Eradication of hunger and poverty, achievement of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and women empowerment, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and development of a global partnership are the eight goals that need to be achieved by 2015. These are not mere lofty statements to be relegated to the record books and forgotten but a workable blueprint formed by and agreed upon by every country in the world. This partnership to end extreme poverty from the world by 2015 was formed by the leaders of all countries and the goals endorsed at the highest political level.

In the 2000 UN Millennium Summit, these eight targets were accepted by all the countries, whether poor or rich. The poorer countries committed themselves to changing their policies and governance to improve their citizen's lives and the rich ones pledged to provide all the resources needed. The best part is the meticulous monitoring being done to ensure that the countries move steadily towards their goals. The national Millennium Goals reports and the Secretary General’s reports to the General Assembly keep track of the actual performance of every country against the millennium targets.

2007 was the mid point for the achievement of the goals and interesting results came out from the reports of the countries. Many countries have done very well in achieving most of the goals and ensuring sustainable growth. However, a lot of work needs to be done on several goals, including the goal of universal primary education.

The millennium goals, particularly the one targeting universal primary education by 2015, are within our reach. What we need to do is remind the governments about the promises made and support every endeavor made for the fulfillment of those promises. We need to galvanize help from every quarter of the society to make this mission an unprecedented success. Ensuring that every boy and girl in the world completes a full course of primary education is not that tough. We just need to be willing to help those that never get the same opportunities as ourselves - all we need to do is care.

- Neha Singh

Street children have very sad life stories. Poverty, neglect, abuse and despair are the chief components of their lives. They are neglected not only because their caretakers are too poor to provide them with the normal childhood facilities, but also because people in the social ladder think these kids are a nuisance at best.

Several factors force a child, to work on the street. Poverty and the burden of feeding too many mouths often push parents to send their child to find work. Obviously this is not a part time job to earn pocket-money, but a full-time occupation that could make a difference between a family being fed that day or going hungry. Children prove to be an important source of income for the family. They may have to sell goods or resort to begging. The hand-to-mouth situation of living means no health care facility and certainly no education. Procuring food and water everyday is such a struggle, the parents fail to see too far into the future and can only dream of the possible advantages of educating their child.

If the description of this child moved you, you will probably be amazed to know that another category of street kids exists that is generally considered more unfortunate than the one that is referred to above. “Homeless street kids” are completely alone. They have no family and no home to go back to everyday. They are at the highest risk of being murdered and abused. With no safety net to fall back on, these kids are consistently ill-treated and fall into the traps of drugs and prostitution early in life.

Due to lack of protective care that a family might provide, they are very vulnerable to emotional and physical abuse. Needless to say health and education are completely ignored because of lack of funds and proper guidance. Unbearable conditions at home often force these children to flee and live by themselves. While there are many who have no family, there are others who run away from violence or lack of care. For them, home is a place of such fear and misery, they look for livelihood and comfort on streets. However, their search for protection and care fails as most believe they are a threat to society which must be removed.

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that is the essence of inhumanity” – George Bernard Shaw

One of the saddest aspects is the complete lack of understanding many people in the world show towards street-kids. They are mistrusted and looked down upon universally. Instead of seeing them as victims, people turn away from them because of the common misconception that they are thieves. Despite popular belief, research shows all street kids are not into illegal activities. While it is the toughness of life on the streets which breaks their back, it is the moral policing of the society which breaks their spirit.

An attitude change is important. Only when we develop a true understanding of their plight will we be able to work towards removing the “street” from these kids’ lives.

~ by Neha Singh

“Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.” said Edward Everette, the former US Secretary of State.

Education is power. It helps individuals to be aware of their rights, to make rational decisions and to protect themselves against abuse and oppression. However, millions of people around the world are being denied access to education and the vast majority are women. UNICEF believes for every 100 boys that are out of school, there are 115 girls in the same situation across the world. There are several deep rooted social, religious and cultural norms that serve to exclude women from receiving an education and thereby, occupying a position of power and authority.

Lack of education has an impact through out a woman’s life cycle. Even before birth, female fetuses are killed in countries like India and China where the birth of a baby girl is not preferred. This is because a girl would lead to a greater financial burden on the family to get her married and virtually no income. In the middle years, girls face another type of discrimination. They lack access to education. Many of them have to help out with the household work and take care of their siblings instead of going to school or playing. Although the rates of girls’ primary education have improved in most countries, only 43 per cent of girls in the developing world attend secondary school.

Child marriage is another practice prevalent in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Parents in these regions tend to get their daughters married off at a very young age to rid themselves of the burden of raising them. Early marriage and lack of knowledge about birth control leads to early pregnancy and parenthood. HIV is also a consequence of illiteracy. Lack of information about HIV and their sexual rights makes women more susceptible to HIV.

Adolescent mothers are less likely to seek medical attention as a result the rates of infant and maternal mortality are higher in these cases. Uneducated mothers are also not aware of the nutritional choices for their children. This leads to problems like malnutrition and anemia among the children. They are less likely to send their own children to school and often do not participate in the labor force or the political process. They rarely have any say in the household affairs. Men often control every aspect of their lives including their freedom, mobility and health care. As they grow into old age, women face the double discrimination of age and gender. They again, totally depend on men as they don't have any savings and security of their own.

The situation in Central American countries like Nicaragua is no different. UNICEF believes that poverty, lack of education and few opportunities epitomize the lives of many women in this region. The country has exceptionally high maternal mortality rate and adolescent mothers account for 1 in 4 births. Women constitute only 30% of the labor force and they also play a limited role in the political process.

Education is the only tool that can break this intergenerational cycle of oppression, abuse, and poverty of women. Education has the power to transform societies. Educated women are more aware of their rights. They are likely to have fewer and healthier children. They can protect themselves against diseases like HIV. They are more likely to send their children to school. A greater participation of educated women in the economy and political process would lead to a better world today as well as future generations.

Aristotle had once said “The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.”

It is time for all the people and their governments across the world to realize this and join together to make education an international priority. It is the responsibility of all educated citizens of the world to help our fellow beings live better lives.

~ by Shamala Pulugurtha 

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. - Derek Bok

It is so important to continuously challenge ourselves, learn something new, refresh our knowledge and keep our brains active. Good education instills in us the importance of learning, making us more skilled, understanding and confident. Someone without education often fails to have clear cut goals and this lack of vision for his own future makes him disillusioned and sometimes destructive. Violence at home, poverty, crime, addictions may be some of the sad aspects of illiteracy. Education is an asset that helps its owner communicate better and have access to more information. Thus, shortcomings of ignorance overshadow financial strains of education. In fact long term gains of education are life altering.

Each additional year of education translates into an increase in an individual’s earning potential. Wages of educated workers are higher, as are earnings of small business owners and farmers who are inspired to take advantage of new technologies. In fact there is a huge gap in the salaries between those who complete higher education and those who manage to finish high school.

Lack of education translates into much more than just monetary loss. An uneducated person knows and understands little about the political scenario of their country and hence fails to demand rights which benefit them and others around them. They continue to be exploited, abused and ignored by society. They fail to understand the changing scenario of their society and have a hard time adapting to new systems or accepting new ways of life.

Ignorance in women is all the more damaging because it translates into many lost opportunities for not just herself but also her children. Women’s education enables them to marry later, have fewer kids and thus afford better health and education for each child.

It has been found that independent of household income, mothers with primary education have better access to information that can keep their children healthy. Since educated mothers access and use information about health care for themselves and their family, they are instrumental in creating a healthy society. The society also benefits due to lower fertility and the at-home schooling that educated mothers provide to their kids.

Basic literacy is a fundamental right. As defined by the United Nations, it is the ability to read 40 words per minute, write 20 words per minute, and do 2-digit arithmetic. The percentage of poor who are lacking in basic literacy skills is very high. Unfortunately due to lack of education the gap between the poor and the rich gets wider. The best education stays confined to the wealthy section of the society while the section that is economically deprived craves for simple primary education.

One of the important goals of the UN Millennium Project is to “ensure, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, be able to complete a full course of primary education.”

This goal is particularly important for the poorest section of the society. Not only does gender parity in education decrease with poverty, drop out rates rise significantly in low income families. While low rates of enrollment is a huge problem in south Asia, in Latin America enrollment is moving towards being universal in many countries, but drop out rates and repetition lead to low completion rates. Children with disabilities are even less likely to be enrolled in schools. Lack of education thus makes them doubly disabled.

At the bare minimum, people should be able to read and write with sufficient proficiency to manage day to day activities like reading a newspaper, road signs and the like. Obviously there is no maximum. The right education opens doors that were previously closed. Guiding them through new paths, helping them conquer their fears and allay their self-doubts, pushing them to keep looking for better ideas - good education becomes a person’s most trusted friend and mentor throughout life. It is high time everyone in the world had such an indispensable companion.

~ written by Neha Singh / photos by Leslie Alsheimer, Santa Fe Digital Darkroom

What are your goals for 2007 - 2008?

We are hoping to increase our retention rates (number of children which stay in the program) from 88% in 2006 to 95% in 2007. Our current focus is on refining processes and procedures so the program is more sustainable and reproducible – our objective is to devise a model which is easy to implement in other communities.

We want to foster even more community ownership and help the parents take a greater level of ownership for their children’s education. Our plan is to stay relatively flat in 2007 in enrollment, as we strengthen EI’s foundation. In 2008 we will identity two new communities and start working with them, with the intention of doubling our number of students enrolled.

Financially our 2007 goal is to raise enough funds to create a reserve fund for more financial stability before we increase enrollment in 2008. We would also like to hire at least two more local employees and use volunteers for less critical roles. We believe this can provide more stability for the program and heighten community ownership overall. We expect this will accelerate the development of a more skilled parental directive within the communities. We will continue to increase the number of Nicaraguan volunteers both in the community and outside.

What are some of the success stories of the graduates of the program?

Firstly, what is success to you?

I used to think that success was finishing high school and maybe even college. Over time I realized I was projecting my own values and beliefs onto these families. I realized success to these families - where on average, parents reached about 3^rd grade - is for our kids to surpass their parents by at least 2 years.

We are now pleased if they get through primary school, more pleased if they make it to high school. Currently we have two kids just about ready to go to college next year. This is a new level for us and we are looking at how to handle this and facilitate their next educational needs.

How have you traditionally found donors? What works and hasn’t worked?

For years now I have been juggling tech jobs and my many EI responsibilities. Due to lack of time, most of our donors have just appeared from interpersonal connections of mine, our volunteers or our staff. The biggest gain has been from volunteers promoting the program once they have been to Nicaragua. I can’t say what has not worked. We have been too small to experiment. It has either happened or it hasn’t. Again it’s been an organic process.

How do you keep donors?

We try to stay connected to them and keep them informed, so they feel they are really making a difference with their donations. We find our most committed donors are those who feel connected either to me personally or to the project, the children and the communities we serve. Our most loyal donors have either been exposed to this type of poverty or have been to the countries themselves.

Why are you doing this?

Because I love it. I believe education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty as is developing the community spirit. It fills me, energizes me and makes me happy. Seeing the kids smile and in school instead of or as well as selling on the streets is wonderful. Every child deserves the chance to go to school.

What is in it for you?

Satisfaction. Joy. My payment is seeing those children go to school, them eagerly showing us their school work, seeing the shift of family values to include education as a high priority. Seeing the parents proud of their children and participating in a world they never dreamed of until EI came to them. I have to say another exciting factor has been witnessing our visitors and long term ground team volunteers become positively affected by the work and by the community. It seems we all receive more than we could possibly give to these amazing people.

Why quit a presumably good job to do this?

Actually, while I continue to try to leave the tech world, financial necessities continue to drive me back and I dream of the day where I can focus completely on my true love…Empowerment International. It will be interesting to see how far it can go when I can one day focus 150% of my time to it as opposed to only 60% now.

I am much happier doing something which makes a difference in the world and I feel educating children can affect so many of our world issues. My tech job is fun, but it has never filled my soul or made me feel satisfied. Honestly, this comes from a place beyond me… it is something I feel driven to do from a higher place and I am the vehicle that is being used to do this work. May sound esoteric by hey you asked…

~ by Janine Ramlochan

EI started in 1998 as a Costa Rican non-profit organization. Soon after, it expanded to Nicaragua.

EI's approach addresses the root cause and the plight of many street children in the slums (‘barrios’) in both countries.

Street children generally come from poor families. They cannot attend school even where public education is free due to lack of funds for mandatory uniforms and school supplies. They also lack emotional support from their families. Instead of being educated, they are sent out to work on the streets selling fruits, vegetables, and trinkets.

EI reverses this trend by working with the children and their families to enable them to attend school. We provide financial and emotional support.

When these children receive an education, they are able to stay off the streets, find better jobs, and eventually break the cycle of poverty that has haunted their families for generations.