Since 2017, children with physical impairment have been able to access the same educational programs as their peers at Lifting Hands (LH). This is one of the results of Lifting Hands’ transformational partnership with Sealand Americas, now in its third year.
Community leaders and employees Jean Carlo Cubillo and Dayana Castro and a local team of Sealanders have been providing LH youth, from both primary and secondary school grades, with additional support needed to successfully graduate from school. They have addressed needs in such diverse areas as one-on-one tutoring in math, sports classes, and provided individual support for children needing special attention.
In 2019, Sealanders added a career preparation program for Lifting Hands’ older students (aged 15 to 20). Each of these leaders and their local team prepare a different module and teach it to the students. Using a specific approach for transformation that they had themselves been trained on, Sealanders also stay in touch between sessions. They created a Whatsapp group and share motivational messages with LH youth.
Sealand Americas employees were very proud to learn about LH’s great results in 2018. In the LH annual survey with mothers of LH students, there were no school year failures, no school dropouts and no youth pregnancies reported!
Sealanders continue to explore specific needs with LH and plan how to address these. Their objective is not only to ensure continued access to education for every child and teenager served by LH, but to be an actively engaged partner in driving transformational results once these programs are accessed.