Removing Obstacles
One of the favorite television shows of folks here at Rivers of the World (ROW) is “Everybody Loves Raymond,” featuring lead characters Raymond Romano and two-time Emmy award winner Patricia Heaton. Ms. Heaton recently did a wonderful thing in support of ROW.
One of the chapters of ROW is called ROW Kids, which focuses its efforts on children all over the world, whether it is providing food, clothing or education. Ms. Heaton was kind enough to do a video on You Tube on behalf of ROW, specifically promoting ROW Kids. On the video, Ms. Heaton describes a girl in Belize who had to drop out of school at age 12. Shortly after ROW Kids was established, this girl was provided a scholarship and later obtained a job working at a large resort.
In July 2005, participants of a church-sponsored mission trip to Billy White, Belize saw firsthand that poverty in this small rural town was the result of the limited educational opportunities for the children in Billy White. Following that mission trip, ROW Kids was created and has since grown from the small village of Billy White to examining the needs of children in six countries, over four continents. One of the main goals of ROW Kids is to break the cycle of poverty and economic exploitation through the improvement of children’s educational opportunities.
Educational programs administered by ROW Kids focus on removing obstacles to school attendance and performance and providing each child a means to obtain the necessary education to bring them out of their dire poverty. These children need the basic necessities, such as clothing, shoes, books, paper and educational materials in order to achieve an education.
As Christians, we should strive to do our part to remove any obstacles that may be standing in the way of any child receiving an education, which would allow them to become productive citizens in society. We are given a command in Deuteronomy 15:11, which says:
“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”
If you are interested in ways you can help provide an education to children through ROW Kids, visit us at www.rowkids.org.
