Dominican Republic, 2008

Cecilia didn’t want to leave a legacy of illiteracy, but as each generation grew up without an education, it seemed as though the illiteracy would continue. 

Cecilia Jose is a 76-year-old great-grandmother living in Santa Fe, San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. She is disabled, due to a terrible accident years ago, but life before that was not much easier. “I had no opportunity to go to school, and neither did my husband,” she shares, “and because we were both poor, our children did not receive a good education either. So it was inevitable that without any opportunity for a better life, that all of our family would follow us in being poor and illiterate.”

 “Thankfully,” she continued, “sixteen of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren are now attending the Outreach International-sponsored school in our village. Four of them have scholarships that subsidize their school fees, and I sell candies to pay the quotas for the others.”

“Best of all, our grandchildren now realize they are persons of value in the world and can smile with hope. The fact that someone cares keeps up our faith and hope.”

Juan, the school director, adds, “For many children in the Dominican Republic, receiving an education is nothing short of a miracle. The schools sponsored by Outreach International are creating a new legacy for this generation of children. We have made miracles among the people in the Dominican Republic, and it is changing lives.”