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FROM THE FIELD

ADRA's Popular Gift Catalog Helps Honduran Schoolchildren
04 Aug 2008 21:39:00 GMT
 Source: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International
Joel Paco/Nadia McGill

Website: Website: http://www.adra.org

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Silver Spring, Maryland--—Ninety children received backpacks filled with school supplies on July 23 at an elementary school in the city of El Edén, in western Honduras, as a result of donations provided through ADRA's Really Useful Gift Catalog.

One of the recipients, Mario René Amaya, 14, had been working recently as a farm laborer, after dropping out of school because his family could not afford his school supplies. Having received the supplies, Mario returned to school to continue with his studies, a decision that will likely impact not only his overall success, but also that of his community in El Edén.

"This event was monumental," said Oscar Quintanilla, the principal of the Esteban Guardiola School. "This is what we need."

The children, ranging in age from six to 14, belong to large farming families who often don't have the means to send their children to school. Because the parents work as local farm laborers, their only source of income is derived from crops they grow, such as beans and corn. In this part of Honduras, it is not uncommon for children to drop out of school and work as farm hands in order to earn additional income for the family.

"ADRA Honduras not only provides support to the agricultural sector, the health sector, the local infrastructure, and for food security projects," said Claudio Sandoval, country director for ADRA Honduras, "we also put an emphasis on education, which helps to improve the educational level of each family, and in the end, the entire community, as is the case in El Edén".

Each child who benefited from this program received a backpack, eight notebooks, one box of crayons, one box of markers, 12 pencils, 12 pens, one set of trigonometry rules, two pencil sharpeners, a pair of scissors, a bottle of glue, and an eraser.

The distribution of these school supplies was made possible due to the donations given to the project for Honduran schoolchildren showcased in the 2007 edition of ADRA's Really Useful Gift Catalog, in addition to the support of the ADRA office in Honduras, and the Honduras Department of Education. These donations allow ADRA to make education accessible to vulnerable people, providing the basic resources necessary to encourage learning.

ADRA's Really Useful Gift Catalog has allowed hundreds of thousands of ADRA supporters to become involved in various causes, such as financing feeding programs, school constructions, vocational training, agricultural projects, awareness campaigns, and many other initiatives in countries around the world. This year's catalog includes dozens of ways to support families, promote health, provide food and water, establish livelihoods, and respond to emergencies. For every gift that ADRA receives through the Gift Catalog, 100 percent goes directly to the project for which it was specified. ADRA's Gift Catalog is available online at www.adra.org/giftcatalog, or by calling 1.800.424.2372 (ADRA).

ADRA has been active in Honduras since 1998, working primarily in the areas of infrastructure, health care, economic development, food security, emergency management, and education.

ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.

Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.

-END-

Authors: Joel Paco/Nadia McGill

Media Contact: Hearly Mayr Director for Public Awareness ADRA International 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 Phone: 301.680.6376 E-mail: Media.Inquiries@adra.org




[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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