As many advisors at KKIS Project, Advisors working with the KKIS in The Riviera Maya come across a vast number of students from all walks of life. Many circumstances students living in poverty encounter are beyond their control.

They can face many challenges that affect their emotional well-being, relationships with others, and school achievement. When serving in schools with students who are living in poverty, it is important to know how to do our best to help and empower our students.

Many students from developing countries, like Mexico, dream about a better future. Unfortunately, even basic education can be hard to attain when families are in low income. 

Mexico is one place where families must pay fees for education. Families in rural areas often subsist on 40USD per week, which makes it difficult for them to afford schooling for their children.

KKIS Foundation was established to provide ongoing support to these students so that they can graduate from high school and college to help their families escape from poverty.

How Can Education Help Fight Poverty?

Education is crucial because it enables an individual to have a sound mind, opportunities in life, and become a productive member of society. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford an education, which is why providing scholarships are quite remarkable.

In the Riveria Maya, like many parts of Mexico education in public high school is not 100% free. There are costs like uniforms, registration, transportation, phone data etc. that adds up.

Using the pesos for school instead of buying food and other basics becomes a choice many don’t want to face but do. That’s why donating to a scholarship foundation is a unique and rewarding experience as it enables you to provide a life-changing opportunity to students from all walks of life.

By donating student’s scholarships, you can help in their career aspirations, lifting education outcomes, and improving socio-economic conditions.

When students are awarded an educational scholarship, they are given a fair shot at success. Scholarship programs give children, from low income families the chance to decide for themselves which school to attend, one that is best suited for them. Take our very own Miriam, for example. 

Miriam, a high school junior in law, comes from a low-income, single-parent household in a difficult neighborhood. Since being awarded an educational scholarship by KKIS, Miriam has become a leader both in school at home.

Miriam said: “for me (education) it is like a teaching that is not only given at school, education also comes from home, and helps us to be better prepared for life.”

Sadly, those living in conditions of extreme poverty sometimes cannot even afford the most meagre costs associated with the most inexpensive of educations; like those offered at public schools. It is, therefore, the KKIS responsibility to step up efforts to help people living in such conditions gather the means to earn better livelihoods. https://kkisproject.org/donations-change-the-lives-of-students/

For example, our student Lety graduated from High school wanting to obtain a degree in Architecture. She is very thankful for all the opportunities and experiences she has had as the result of being able to have an education.

She feels that education and knowledge are key to empowerment and to help break her family out of the cycle of poverty. She hopes to help the students KKIS funded to have better opportunities than her childhood.

Education Teaches Students Self Reliance

At KKIS, we believe the correlation between education and self-reliance is that education helps people utilize resources that are available to them by providing social knowledge and skills. Thanks to education, students can harness all given materials to independently survive and grow out of poverty.

– For instance, communication skill is an innate ability, yet literacy is not. It’s hard for people learning to write or read if they don’t have proper training. –

Not only does education ensure students reach their full potential, but it also creates more opportunities. The majority of companies these days rely on academic achievements as an aspect of evaluation.

Education enables us to maximize the possibility to earn higher career prospects.

By graduating middle school, our students have already widened their chance of getting an average-paid job. From that, having access to a high school education can really enhance their opportunity in achieving a decent income.

A great example of a person whose life was completely changed when he reached a higher level of education is our KKIS’s student Armando. He was born in a society where poverty is common, but his endeavor and knowledge at higher education enabled him to a brighter future. Education can provide an opportunity and freedom to anyone willing to follow its path.

Note to Sponsor: “I want you to know that the scholarship has really helped me a lot” – Armando

At KKIS, we realize that we cannot solve all the problems but we can seek to make a difference in the lives of promising children by giving them school supplies and encouraging them to continue their education – https://kkisproject.org/school-supplies/