END Poverty through Education and Job Training

Here’s how our Maryknollers are helping:

Maryknoll has always been dedicated to ending poverty by giving people the means they need to change their own lives. We know that two of the best tools are education and training.

In hundreds of Maryknoll missions throughout the world, children and adults are acquiring literacy, job skills, and the confidence they need to live in their communities with dignity.

Be A Beacon of Hope!

See how Education makes a difference:

Training at the Eastern Deanery AIDS Program

“When a more inclusive approach is part of treating a patient’s needs, we see better outcomes. It’s as simple as that.”

~ Father Rick Bauer

In Nairobi, Kenya, Father Richard Bauer, M.M. heads a training mission at the Eastern Deanery AIDS Program that may well change the delivery of healthcare in Africa.

Education makes a difference when holistic palliative care that respects African traditions can finally be available.

Father Rick is working closely with several palliative care networks to develop a curriculum and training program that can serve as a model for other countries.

Your gift to Maryknoll will make sure that there will be a change in the delivery of healthcare in Africa.

Combating Human Trafficking in Cambodia

“The women and girls who come to us at Horizons are very poor and very frightened. Without our shelter and training program, they could never survive on their own.”

~ Father Kevin Conroy

The cross-border trafficking of women and girls into Cambodia is a nightmare for the victims. Many have no family. None of them has an education.

Education makes a difference when Horizons Vocational Training Institute, a Maryknoll-supported mission, takes young victims off the street and brings them into safe shelter. That’s where they begin their primary and 9th-grade education.

After passing the requisite government exams, they begin two years of hotel and tourism training. Students can study reception, food and beverage service, catering, or other hospitality jobs.

When adolescent girls and young women go into shelters as trafficking survivors, they are usually taught sewing, cooking, hairdressing, or manicuring. These jobs are not well paying or as stable. At Horizons, students who complete their studies are placed in four- and five-star hotels where wages and benefits are much better.

Your gift to Maryknoll will make sure women and girls at risk are protected first, and then educated for jobs that will provide a living wage.

Training Church Leaders in Tanzania

“Our parishioners are devout. But the distances they have to travel just to get to church are a challenge. That’s why our catechists and pastoral ministers are so important. They are Christ among us.”

~ Father Edward Schoellmann, M.M.

The population is very spread out. Parishioners who live in villages outside Bukundi can travel 30-50 miles just to get to Mass on Sunday.

Education makes a difference as seen in Father Ed’s catechist-training program where students develop a solid foundation in theology and spirituality. Some choose to become Eucharistic ministers so they can bring Holy Communion to the sick and homebound. As more students complete their coursework each year, Father Ed says the parish is growing in faith and parishioners in outlying areas are better connected to parish life.

Your gift to Maryknoll will make sure that we can continue to train catechists and pastoral ministers in Bukundi.

Empowering the Blind in Peru

“Our training center is called the Casa Bartimeo… after the blind man that Jesus took pity on and healed. We are healers, too. We give the blind employable skills so they are no longer living in the shadows. They can have a future.”

~ Father Kyungsu Son, M.M.

Blind persons often work as masseuses. However, technical schools that teach massage therapy are rare in Peru where over 160,000 people are blind and many more are visually impaired.

Education makes a difference when blind students can receive extensive training at the House of Bartimaeus. Curriculum includes training in massage therapy, reflexology and shiatsu, a Japanese therapy. Training is intense. Students learn from licensed blind professors—everything from anatomical bone structure and muscle to joint function and the physiology of the body’s organs.

Your gift to Maryknoll will make sure that students successfully complete their course work and become productive members of their community and breadwinners for their families.

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