Help 500 Thai children get an education

We love the Education Matters program and we love helping kids get a quality education! But, it is always good to ask the hard questions - is it working? Are we really helping these kids? Does getting an education really make a difference? The answers seem obvious - of course, it makes a difference, but it is still good to ask the question and to look into the lives of those we have helped and see where they are now!

Out of the hundreds of children we have helped over the years, we have now seen over 20 children graduate from High School and almost all of them have graduated from College. Three of these college graduates recently had the opportunity to return to China to try to find their tribal ancestors in a very remote region of Yunan province. Many of the Mien tribe migrated from China into Laos and Thailand about 200 years ago to avoid war. Our students grew up in Thailand but they wanted to see where they came and try to connect with their heritage. It was so amazing to see how grown up these girls are, and to see their interest finding where they came from. 

The truth is, where these girls came from was a very poor farming village in the mountains of Thailand near the Laos border. Their families scrape out a meager existence by planting corn on the steep mountainsides. Most of the girls in their village quit school at a very young age and get married. But thanks to Education Matters, these girls stayed in school and even went to college. Now they have good jobs and can support themselves and also help their families. They are able to travel and visit the land of their ancestors and learn first hand about where they came from. They really are delightful young ladies who are living very different lives, because people like you invested in them and helped them get a good education! It really does make a world of difference!