As the leaves fall and families gather around the Thanksgiving table, we at ITIAH Angels for Learning are counting our blessings. At the top of that list is you.
Every school day in Port-au-Prince, the children of EML walk through the gates in their neat uniforms, ready to learn. What they find inside is made possible by people they may never meet, donors who give each month, volunteers who share their time and talents, and friends who spread the word about our mission. You are the reason there are books on the shelves, pencils in small hands and teachers at the front of the classroom.
Life in Port-Au-Prince remains difficult. 1.5 million children are not attending school. Families face uncertainties and daily challenges that would test anyone’s spirit. Yet inside the walls of EML, something remarkable happens. Children laugh, raise their hands, solve problems and dream out loud. For a few hours each day, the classroom becomes a place of safety, routine and hope. That hope does not appear by accident. It is built, lesson by lesson, by a community that refuses to give up on these children.
Even at an early age, gratitude is something our students understand deeply. Watching other kids in their neighborhood having to stay home every day, they are fully aware that an education is a gift that was never promised to them. So they treat their miracle as a precious gift that came from above. They take care of their books, help younger siblings and pray for our donors and volunteers who make it possible for them. Their teachers model that same spirit, showing up with dedication even when the road to reach the school building places them at high risk.
This Thanksgiving, we want to return that gratitude to you. Whether you gave once or give every month, whether you volunteered at an event or simply shared our newsletter with a friend, you have helped write a better story for a child at that school. Thank you for believing that every child deserves to learn whether they are in the United States and beyond, and for turning that belief into action.
As you gather with your loved ones this month, we hope you will hold the children of EML in your hearts. And know that, across the miles, they are holding you in theirs. From all of us at ITIAH Angels for Learning and EML, thank you, merci, mèsi anpil.
To learn more about EML, go to www.itiahangels.org
Happy Thanksgiving!
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