This year — 2024 — is a very special year for Wide Horizons For Children. It marks the 50th anniversary of our founding in the US, which arose from the need to find permanent homes for children orphaned by the Vietnam war. To celebrate this milestone, we are presenting a series of stories — stories of hope and transformation — from across these five decades. Over the next two years, we will publish one new story per month showcasing all areas of our work: Family Preservation, Adoption, and Orphan Care.
Please join us for this journey back in time and enjoy these powerful stories that shine a spotlight on the healing power of love and hope.
A First for Carlos
Families in the rural community of Las Minas, Guatemala have long been trapped in intergenerational poverty. Some try going to the U.S. to find work so they can send money back home. But very few have succeeded.
The struggle to survive in this community means working instead of learning. Education hasn’t historically been viewed as a viable path out of poverty. Families pull their kids out of school so they can work and earn an income. Carlos could have been one of those kids. But today, he is a high school graduate with a brighter future.
We first met Carlos when we began working in Las Minas in 2020 to provide multifaceted services that support and empower families through our Family Preservation program. The lift provided to families through resources such as school supplies and food baskets helps kids like Carlos stay in school.
But Carlos didn’t just stay in school. He persevered and seized every educational opportunity — from tutoring to homework help — so he could build a better future for himself and his family.
Today, Carlos stands proud as both the community’s first high school graduate and as a hero to other kids!
He hopes to become a teacher, and the lessons he is passing on have already begun. His continuing education will transform his whole family and provide the additional income they need to survive. More and more families in the community are also starting to see a better future for their kids — one made possible through education and your support.
Carlos’ achievement is especially important in this deeply impoverished community where education has always been valued less than labor to help put food on your family’s table. The educational path Carlos has chosen shows others his age and younger that when you’re not lurching from one crisis to another, struggling to survive, education can give you a future that’s very different from that of your parents.
And that can only be a good thing.
Thank you for your continuing presence on our journey of exploring stories from 50 years of hope and transformation!
