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24 May 2010
Sophie McKee - Guatemala Co-ordinator since 2003
"I've worked for the Foundation since it started in 2003. At that time it was just mainly fundraising in the UK but I started working for the Foundation full time in January 2005 when our school first opened.
"My job involves a little bit of everything. I organise the accounts, the finances, deciding where to distribute the money, I do all the daily things and I make the big decisions- whether we spend money on health or provisions or all the extras. There's also lots of just running back and forth between the schools- you never really get the same day twice- the day is filled with whatever drama happens here in the morning.
"If the Foundation had more money, we would increase the number of students that we could accept and of course every year we are trying to improve the standard of things for our existing students. Better schools, better materials, offer better services. Obviously health is a big issue over here as well- we would spend more money on supporting the families, stabilising services and improving health care.
"There's a lot more people in the area that we could also be helping. You'll always have the cases that you have to turn away, which is heartbreaking- especially when they are really deserving. But there will always be a limit and you have to establish that limit. If we had five primary schools then we would fill five primary schools, if we had five high schools then we'd fill five high schools. And that's just in this area- it would be really great in the future if we could move into other areas of Guatemala and increase our help to other areas struggling in poverty.
"The biggest hurdle that we are facing at the moment is the battle against traditional views that can hold some of the students back. Some of them have motivation problems- for many of them the importance of education has never been pushed on them at home. Most of the families that we help have never pushed the importance of education on their children- for them the most important thing has always been just surviving- whether they have enough money to get through the day and buy food seems more important. If the kids are working, they get some excitement from getting cash in their hands- it's quite hard to make them understand the long term effects of education.
"We've also seen a lot of our young students getting pregnant- and over here it's not uncommon for girls to have children in their teens and to have a family of four or five kids in their twenties. This year we are expanding our sex education extensively to try and get more of our young women to successfully complete their education.
"Every time we finish a year we have success stories. For every child that finishes their school year, it's a big step for them and it's another little success for the Foundation. Even in the four years since we've been running we've had some huge success stories- like our first college graduates, Luis and Carlos, and this year we've had three more college graduates.
"We have all the ones that are near misses- the ones that struggle at home and at school but we manage to pull them through and to get them back on track. Alcohol, drugs and family abuse are all different issues that they may have to face- these are all obstacles for the young people to overcome. If we get students to pull through all this and to get back on track and keep studying, to get through these incredibly tough moments without giving up, then these are the real successes of the Foundation."