In the eloquent words of KCF Founder and Director David Ault:
The pursuit of education for many children in developing countries is a journey filled with drawbacks and determination. Both energies seem to relentlessly dance together in our ongoing quest for fulfillment. Whether by bicycle or on foot, that journey to a classroom can be fraught with long distances, inclement weather, and rough terrain. This, on top of the chores necessary to navigate a life in the harshest of slums and villages, makes each child’s journey worthy of our highest respect and our unending support.
In the province of Siem Reap, Cambodia where two of our schools offer free education to more than 600 area children, it is common for many of them to travel up to 16 kilometers to step across the threshold of a classroom. Brothers and sisters ride three to a bicycle through dirt roads that transform into muddy obstacles during monsoons, others walk whether rain or shine.
Through the volcanic highlands of Guatemala, teenage girls who are studying through our sponsorship programs travel up to two hours by bus and foot for the chance to further their education. This distance, on top of the family duties of cooking, cleaning and agricultural laboring, leave them with minimum hours of sleep.
And in the northern Bihar state of India, considered one of the poorest areas in this vast country, children battling hunger, dehydration along with similar traveling challenges as our other sponsored schools, are highly susceptible to quitting not because of desire, but by physical weakness.
It is these honorable journeys, the ones Kaleidoscope Child Foundation continue to witness first-hand, that inspire us to host our own A Walk For Education.
