With one year left in our “Tea Kids” program in Bangladesh, we need your help to finish strong.
For generations, tea farms have been a big part of Bangladesh’s economy. And for generations, the way these huge farms turned a profit was by hiring tribal laborers, requiring them to work long hours for very low pay, and “giving” the laborers and their families a place to live on farm property.
But here’s the thing: wages are less than $1 per day, and the provided housing is little more than a mud hut with no electricity or running water.
This system is very intentional. Education isn’t provided and laborers are often illiterate. They dream of a better life for their children, but with their low wages, they barely make enough to feed their children, much less send them to school.
In 2018, the Diocese of Sylhet, Bangladesh and Bishop Bejoy D’Cruze reached out with a wonderful idea: would we commit to supporting Catholic schools for tea farmers’ children for three years? With your help, we’ve said yes for the last two years.
Even though the tea kids are making incredible strides, thanks to your generous giving, there is still much work that needs to be done. This year, we need to raise $8,391 more to fulfill our three-year commitment to these children.
Here’s how you can help right now:
- $671.20 covers the cost of 10 students for a full year
- $335.60 provides 5 students with books, school supplies, uniforms, and shoes for a full year
- $100.68 covers the costs for 3 students for six months
- $67.12 provides for one child for a full year
- $33.56 pays for a child for six months
You’ve done amazing things for these children over the last 2 years. Together, let’s finish what we started. Click the green “Give Now” button to give and change a child’s life forever.
It can’t be overstated how much good you made possible these last two years. Without your help, there’s no way the parents of these amazing 153 children would’ve been able to afford their kids’ school costs—not on a $1 daily wage.
Now here we are, two years later. 2020 is set to be the third and final year of our tea kids program. Without your help, there is a very real possiblity that we won’t be able to finish what we started! Will you donate right now and help us make sure this doesn’t happen?
Click here to give now and allow a tea kid to go to school for one more year.
Meet the Tea Kids
Agnes
8-year-old Agnes is in 2nd grade today, thanks to your support. Her dad is a tea laborer, and his $1 daily wage is all the family of four has to survive on. She dreams of being a doctor, and it’s only through your generosity that this dream may one day come true! Her parents never got to go to school, so they can’t read or write, and their only hope for their daughter to have a better life is the school you’re helping to support.
Shipa
Shipa is 12 and dreams of being an engineer one day. Both of her parents work in the same tea farm, earning just $1 per day. On Sundays, the only day he has off from the tea farm, Shipa’s dad sells firewood at the local market to make extra money for the family to live on. Shipa has 5 siblings, so the extra income is necessary. Thanks to you, Shipa gets to go to school, and her dream of one day being an engineer is closer every day.
Swadhin
Swadhin, 12, is a first-generation learner. He and his brother are the first two in his family to ever get to go to school! Swadhin dreams of becoming a doctor one day because he knows he can help the sick. In his short life, he’s seen so much illness. His family lives in a mud hut with a tin roof, with no running water or plumbing. His parents, both tea laborers, can’t afford nutritious food or clean water, so Swadhin, his brother, and his parents are often sick. Swadhin has big dreams for himself, and so does his mom: “I want to see my son become a doctor, but more than anything, I want to see him grow to be a good human being, happy, and well salaried, so that he doesn’t lack anything when he grows up.”
Click here to give now and help tea kids like Agnes, Shipa, and Swadhin today.