When Scolastica’s mother passed away, she and her sister’s life changed forever. The two sisters from Nanyuki, Kenya, had to leave their lives behind and move in with their uncle, who offered to adopt the girls into his family. Scolastica’s uncle has a wife and children of his own, and works as a casual laborer to make ends meet. The family doesn’t own land and lives in a rented house, and the financial burden of two extra children caused them to quickly fall behind.
Even seemingly minor health issues can stand between a child receiving the most out of their education. Caroline, a sponsored teen from Nakuru, Kenya, lives with her mom and two siblings. Three years ago, Caroline started having issues with her eyesight. Her eyes suddenly became intolerant to bright lights, leading to discomfort in class and while studying. Her aching, red eyes would often trigger severe headaches.
Caroline was given painkillers for some time, but the irritation and headaches became too much to bear. Looking for answers, her mother took her to the hospital. Doctors discovered that Caroline’s brain was unable to adjust to various levels of brightness, causing light sensitivity.
Education is essential to break the cycle of poverty, but children also need to be healthy to be able to learn. Being affected by vision or hearing loss, chronic pain, or mobility problems can severely affect a child’s ability to learn. Donations to Chalice critical needs is one way our supporters help break the barrier poor health can place on a child in need.
Munich, a 17 year old sponsored teenager from our Tondo site in the Philippines, lives with severe mixed hearing loss in both her ears. She had a typical hearing throughout childhood but around the age of 10 her mother noticed that she was having trouble with her hearing. Munich’s family is quite poor. She lives with her parents and seven siblings in the slum and even though it was evident that Munich was in great need of hearing aids to keep up with her school work, a series of unfortunate events befell the family and she didn’t receive the help she needed.
