From three students last year to twelve this year...these are the bright and shining faces of the children at George Town Primary who will be the recipients of Cayman's ARK "Mentor - Educate - Reinforce" (MER) program in 2019-20.
The first step over the past few weeks was an assessment of each child by our partners, the Cayman Learning Center. All of these children are eager learners with huge potential - but they are struggling because of core learning weaknesses and deficiencies (such as dyslexia and other serious learning disabilities).
During the rest of the school year, these kids will receive intensive learning help provided by the Cayman Learning Center, four times a week, in-school, during school hours. We will also be developing the individual children's interests with a mentoring approach throughout the year. With the huge generosity of all of our MER sponsors, ARK is humbled and privileged to support these children and their families - at school and in their home lives too.
Through a home visit to each family by ARK, we established that these kids have loving, hard working parents and caregivers, who earnestly want the best for their children.
Yet they too are struggling to get ahead, among circumstances that are holding them back. Many are single parents with little or no financial support from former partners/spouses. One little girl's family had no electricity for four years, and her mother worked three low-paying jobs just to get re-connected. One family has no running water and uses the neighbor's garden hose. It comes as little surprise that children living in these dire conditions have a hard time learning at school.
In the coming months, we will be identifying areas where ARK's supporters can help out in tangible ways. (One sibling has already benefited from your #caymankind donations to help with his terrible dental situation.)
If your heart is touched and you want to be involved, we urge you to get in touch!
