Why Health & Education are Important
For young people growing up in poverty, obtaining an education can be an extraordinary challenge. Even when tuition, books, housing, and other educational expenses are provided, illness or injury can interrupt their studies, threaten their progress, and sometimes place their lives at risk.
Education opens doors to opportunity, independence, and a brighter future. Good health helps students walk through those doors. A student needs both the opportunity to learn and the health to pursue that opportunity.
This shared understanding brings together two independent charitable foundations: the Collins Geigert World Education Foundation (CGWEF) and Living Water Medical Outreach (LWMO). Together, they help the same disadvantaged African students overcome educational and medical challenges that might otherwise prevent them from achieving their goals.
Why Education is Important
Increasingly, globalization places new demands on students and decision-makers. Education is the key to meeting those challenges.
According to UNESCO, in Africa, there are more than 105 million children who have either never gone to school, or have only gone to grade three. In Madagascar, for example, we are told that education is required for children ages 6-14 in those areas that have a school. And of that group only 68% complete elementary education. However, most rural communities have no schools, so the statistics are skewed toward the communities that have schools, which means in rural communities, often there are no children in schools.
We envision our students becoming leaders in their communities, cities, and governments. When asked about their goals in general, we talk about expanding their world vision for themselves. Today’s students must understand the interconnection of their community, their cities, their country, and the world.
Thus, it becomes imperative for them to understand the interconnection of how an event in one area of the world can have a major impact on them. Increasingly, globalization places new demands on students and decision-makers.
Through education, students gain knowledge, develop confidence, and prepare for careers that can improve their own lives and positively influence the lives of others.
For many young people in impoverished African communities, however, continuing their education beyond the primary grades remains an impossible dream. Poverty, limited access to schools, family responsibilities, and the cost of secondary and higher education place opportunities beyond the reach of many deserving students.
Of course, we cannot change every life. But we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of the students we serve.
Education For Many Is An Impossible Dream
In most African countries, Primary education is free for 8 years and compulsory (if there is a school in the village) between the ages of 7 and 12. Secondary education past grade 8 must be paid for by the family and costs range from $600 (US) per year and up. Lower Secondary school covers grades 9 - 10 (from the lower-teen years (approximately ages 13 - 16), while Upper Secondary school covers grades 11 and 12 (ages 17 and 18).
In many communities, families struggle to provide even the basic necessities of life. Paying for tuition, books, school supplies, transportation, and housing can be overwhelming. For students who have lost one or both parents, or whose families have little or no income, these obstacles can be especially difficult to overcome.
Girls may face additional barriers when family resources are limited and educational opportunities are given preferentially to boys. For others, the immediate demands of survival take precedence over the hope of continuing their education.
These challenges can persist across generations, limiting not only individual opportunities but also the future development of entire communities.
Common Barriers To Education
There are many reasons why Secondary eduction is beyond reach for most people. Some of these issues are intractable and pervasive and solutions often are slow to be adopted and inconsistently applied and real-world situations often force setbacks. As such problems are often multi-generational and multi-decadal.
-
Parents don’t have enough money to support their children’s education at secondary school level. War, famine, and lack of job opportunities is persistent and beyond the control of people on an individual level.
-
Because of high poverty rates and discrimination towards women and girls, priority is often given to the oldest male sibling, thereby neglecting the education of girls, who end up being “given away” to older men as “brides”.
-
Low continuation rates and high dropout rates. Frequently the need to continue education becomes secondary to the needs of basic survival.
Blame serves no purpose in our quest to help individuals achieve; love and support is the key to success.
The need for Secondary & Vocational Scholarships
For students of business, commercial art, supply management, and government affairs, a university education is crucial. When students come from small villages, which all our students do, it is sometimes a big shock, to go to school in a large city of their country. We introduce each of our students to one another, so that they have a commonality among themselves, and with that new relationship can call or be of help and encouragement to one another. Since most of Africa requires their students to also learn English, it becomes fairly easy to communicate with each of them. We encourage our students to communicate with us at least once per month. In this way we can expect accountability with each, and we can hire a tutor for them if they are struggling.
Why Student Health is Equally Important
An educational opportunity can change a student's future, but that opportunity becomes difficult to pursue when illness, injury, or an untreated medical condition interferes with learning.
Students who are sick cannot always attend classes, concentrate on their studies, or complete their academic responsibilities. A serious medical emergency can interrupt an entire school year, create overwhelming financial hardship, or threaten a student's life.
For students without dependable family support or financial resources, obtaining timely, qualified medical care can be as challenging as obtaining an education.
When Illness Threatens Education
Through years of supporting students, we have encountered medical challenges ranging from serious infections and dental problems to chronic illnesses, emergency surgery, and hospitalization.
Some students have also experienced injuries, violence, and other traumatic events requiring immediate medical attention and continuing support.
These experiences have revealed that financial assistance alone is not always enough. Students may struggle to find qualified healthcare providers, reach appropriate medical facilities, obtain necessary medications, or receive adequate follow-up care.
Without timely intervention, a treatable condition can become a serious crisis, jeopardizing both a student's health and educational future.
Helping Students Stay Healthy and Continue Learning
Living Water Medical Outreach was established to help address these medical challenges for students supported by CGWEF.
Its mission is to help students obtain timely, qualified medical care through health advocacy, assistance with medical expenses, coordination with healthcare professionals, and support during recovery.
By helping students overcome barriers to medical care, LWMO seeks to reduce unnecessary interruptions to their education and support their return to school when their health allows.
Two Foundations, One Shared Commitment
CGWEF and LWMO are two independent charitable organizations with complementary missions, shared leadership, and a common commitment to the same students.
CGWEF focuses on providing the educational opportunities students need to build a better future. LWMO addresses the medical challenges that can prevent those same students from benefiting fully from those opportunities.
The two foundations work together because education and health are not separate concerns in the lives of the young people they serve. Each supports the success of the other.
A scholarship can open the door to education. Access to appropriate medical care can help keep that door open.
By addressing both needs, we hope to give students a better opportunity to complete their education, develop their abilities, and contribute meaningfully to their families and communities.
Helping Students Build Brighter Futures
Every student deserves the opportunity to learn, grow, and pursue a meaningful future without having those hopes unnecessarily cut short by poverty or treatable illness.
Through education, medical advocacy, and compassionate assistance, our two foundations seek to provide opportunities that might otherwise remain beyond reach.
Together, we can help students stay healthy, continue learning, and build brighter futures.