We have just received some photos from Street Kids Direct, showing new computers purchased with the support of a £4,700 grant earlier this year.
Street Kids Direct’s Mentoring Programme
Street Kids Direct is an amazing charity, totally volunteer-run, which has been working in Guatemala since 2001. Its initial focus was to work on getting kids off the streets in impoverished areas of Guatemala City. The charity has helped to drive the number of children on the streets from 5,000 to virtually zero. Now, Street Kids Direct helps vulnerable children to stay in school through a mentoring centre and through outreach programmes. The charity has been very successful in its efforts: 96% of its mentees progress to the next academic year vs an average of just 73% nationwide.
Hazel’s Footprints grant for computers and books
Funds provided by Hazel’s Footprints Trust are directly supporting these vulnerable children in their education. £3500 of the grant is a 50% contribution to the cost of a Smartbox computer system (20 chromebooks plus everything needed for kids to learn without the need for wifi). £1200 is for essential reading books.
This project was designed specifically to help children enrolled at Street Kids Direct’s mentoring centre with their homework. In Guatemala, homework counts for 25% of children’s school grades. Homework requires online research – and most of these children just don’t have access to smartphones let alone computers. The Smartbox will change that – 20 chromebooks with charging kit, headsets and software is included. The computers are specially configured to work in areas without internet access (a huge amount of content is available offline).
The Smartbox and reading books will directly help 65 kids in the mentoring programme. Beyond that, they will support 1,200 more kids when the portable Smartbox is taken to the charity’s outreach programmes.
We look forward to future updates and photos from this project in Guatemala City.
