Cliff Hinderman Shares Oaxaca Street Children School Experiences with Rotary
Cliff Hinderman was the guest speaker at the Iowa Great Lakes Rotary regular noon meeting on Wednesday, May 11. Cliff shared the beginnings and current experiences with his school program in Oaxaca Mexico for the street children.
Oaxaca is an area where people are frequently killed over land rights and many children aren’t able to go to school. The area boasts 16 languages with over 200 dialects. The way a person dresses often signifies where they are from. Many kids aren’t able to go to school as they don’t have the necessary birth certificate and immunizations to attend. Cliff shared his story of how he wanted to help an initial child during a vacation he took to the area – that has resulted in a program that now sponsors 662 kids in schools in Oaxaca. The program does not give money to children, but an education. This year, the program has 11 university graduates and student range in age from 4-31. The program boasts its first doctor this year as well! 162 families interviewed to be a part of the program this year – 62 were accepted. Students are privately sponsored by people in countries throughout the world – Dickinson County currently has 122 sponsors. The program employs 6 people (all from Mexico) and the remainder of the work is done with volunteers from all over the world. Over 120 volunteer hours are recorded weekly. The program has a student center that is open from 9-4 daily and provides a student atmosphere for the children, who attend a network of 43 different schools.