Morning thought 4
Thursday 23rd May 2019
Good morning! On Tuesday I spoke
to you about Mustard Seed Jersey’s Adopt a Granny Sponsorship programme.
Additionally, we have a smaller Education Sponsorship programme. The aim is to
assist young people so that they can gain qualifications and as a result obtain
better paid employment, enabling them to break out of the poverty cycle and
become self-sufficient.
Inevitably, even in the most
loving of families, if there’s not enough money for food then education often
takes a back seat. Understanding the value of education, over the years we have
helped provide kindergartens and homework clubs. Mustard Seed Jersey aims to
help families with children who are able to attend school but don’t have the
resources. In each case, it will be discussed with the family and the young
person on what is the best solution. Sometimes it may be providing travel
costs, sometimes it may be providing the accommodation near the high school.
I first met Sebi
when he was in our kindergarten in Romania, then saw him through the homework
clubs. His family lived in a distant village and had very few resources. Sebi was keen to learn. When it was time for vocational
school, he had achieved good grades and told us he desperately wanted to study
catering. With the funding received we were able to make his dream come true,
by supplying the shortfall so he could go to the vocational school where he
achieved his desired catering qualifications.
It is a well
known saying: “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day but
teach a man how to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime”. I believe that’s
what we do at Mustard Seed Jersey with our education sponsorship programme.