Letter from the Director | Education in Honduras | The Idea | The Program | Sponsor a Child

Letter from the Director

Dear Fellow Graduate,

I am personally acquainted with many people who have never attended school, and many more people who have had only a few years of schooling, and who are at best semi-literate. All these people have different strengths, weaknesses, and dreams. But what they all have in common is that they have grown up, and are now raising their children, in a debilitating cycle of poverty. Many of these same people do not have enough money to provide even an elementary education for their children. This is the reality of millions of Latin Americans, and it is not inevitable. It can be changed. You and I can help facilitate access to educations for numerous children, one student at a time, and in doing so directly and permanently better the lives of countless generations. One of the most powerful ways to bring about a better tomorrow is to break the debilitating cycle of poverty by investing in our youth and the institutions that affect them. I invite you to join Un Mundo's dynamic Break the Cycle scholarship program. Our vision is simple: to help break the cycle of debilitating poverty by facilitating access to education. I hope you enjoy learning more about this program, and again, I invite you to help change the world.

Kenneth Joseph Hutz, J.D. Un Mundo Executive Director back to top ^

Education in Honduras

For many it is difficult to imagine as true the education situation in Honduras. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, only about 60 percent of Honduran children finish the sixth grade, only about 35 percent reach the ninth grade, and less than 1 percent go on to a university. The Honduran government estimates that up to 175,000 children fail to receive schooling of any kind each year because their families lack sufficient financial resources or because parents rely on their children's labor to meet basic family needs. The Honduran Ministry of Labor estimates that every year an additional 97,000 children between the ages of 10 and 14 years of age drop out of school to work.

Perhaps what is most unbelievable about the education situation in Honduras is how little money is needed to send a child to school for a year. But what is certainly not difficult to imagine is that improving the educational level of Hondurans is critical to achieving economic and personal development.

According to U.S.A.I.D., the number one perennial shortcoming of the Honduran education system is a well-documented lack of access to education due to indirect costs, such as matriculation fees, school uniforms, school supplies, and transportation costs. Children living in remote areas suffer the most, and must often move to another town to attend even a middle school. back to top ^

The Idea

Un Mundo is the organizational patron of the Break the Cycle scholarship program. Un Mundo is a revolutionary and comprehensive California 501(c)(3) development organization, promoting dignity, community, and self-sufficiency while facilitating access to health care, education, and livable wages in marginalized communities.

The Philosophy behind Un Mundo's Break the Cycle scholarship program is to provide a grass-roots and sustainable approach to helping the people of Honduras break their chains of poverty through education. Our vision is a long-term one, focused on empowering people to achieve their own economic and personal development. We believe that it is critical for under-developed peoples to recognize the value and power of education if they are to better their lot. Toward this end we work with local community leaders to facilitate a relationship between willing donors and worthy recipients.

The immediate objective of the Break the Cycle scholarship program is to facilitate access to education for every student in the marginalized communities with which we partner who would otherwise be forced to forgo education for lack of funds. Our goal is to see every child in these communities enrolled in school.

The intermediate objective of the Break the Cycle scholarship program is to promote unity and awareness in these same communities by relying on the community itself to assess and address their common problems. This objective is pursued through a democratically elected and impartial selection committee that promotes and administers the Break the Cycle program in their community.

The ultimate and long-term objective of the Break the Cycle scholarship program is to promote dignity, community, and self-sufficiency in these communities. We further this objective by limiting our participation to that of merely facilitators, bringing the worlds of surplus and need together in a responsible way while empowering the communities we serve. back to top ^

The Program

At the start of every school year, through a popular vote, Un Mundo requires communities to elect a scholarship selection committee. This selection committee is then educated on how to publicize the Break the Cycle program in their community, administer and collect scholarship applications, select students based first on financial need and secondly on their academic promise, and make sure students and parents follow through with their reporting and fundraising responsibilities.

Selections take place each year at least one month before the school year begins. Scholarships are awarded to primary, high school, and university age students. Any child living within the community, either enrolled or intending to enroll in any private or public school, is eligible for a scholarship.

For primary and high school students, the selection committee purchases and distributes supplies. For university students, money is administered in part through school administrators and in part directly to the student. Un Mundo officers oversee this entire process.

Once the selection committee chooses recipients, each donor(s) is matched with a sponsored student(s). Twice a year, sponsored students (or parents, in the case of very young students) are required to write thank-you letters directly to donors. The first of these letters provides a photo of the student. Each subsequent letter reports the amount that student received for the year and any personal information the student wishes to share with his/her donor. Donors are encouraged to write back to students and develop a personal relationship. Also twice a year sponsored high school and university students are required to put on a fundraising activity. The proceeds from these activities are reinvested into the Break the Cycle program in the name of the sponsored students.

At the beginning of every year all scholarship applicants are re-evaluated. And all continued sponsorships are contingent upon students and parents twice writing thank-you letters and fund-raising during the previous year. back to top ^

Sponsor a Child

Our Use of Your Funds

• Primary school. $75 a year will help get a child to school by purchasing a uniform, books, school supplies, and a book bag and snacks.
• High school. $125 a year will help get a child to school by paying for tuition, transportation costs, a uniform, books, school supplies, and a book bag.
• University. $1,000 a year will help a child receive a university education by paying all matriculation fees, room and board, books and school supplies, transportation costs, and a limited food and clothing budget.

Other Ways to Help

Please pass on this website URL to any of your family, friends, church, or other groups who might be interested in helping to break the cycle of poverty through education. Individuals and groups may sponsor one or several children.

NAME:_________________________________ ADDRESS:_______________________________ PHONE:_______________________ EMAIL:____________________________________

Please make checks payable to: ‘Break the Cycle c/o Un Mundo’ and mail them to 250 Vincent Drive, Mountain View, CA 94041

Or sponsor a child online through Un Mundo by PayPal. Please note in the 'Payment for' box that your donation is for Break the Cycle. back to top ^