Don’t believe in second chances? Meet Sherry Joseph – a polite, hardworking, well-adjusted young woman from Georgetown, Guyana. At first appearance, you’d never guess this person was raised in an orphanage, or that she was sent there because her parents went to prison for drugs when she was only 8 years old. But St. Ann’s Home is more than a holding cell for orphaned and abandoned girls. The children are treated like family and given every opportunity to get a good education and make something of their lives.
We’ve been working with St. Ann’s to provide scholarships for girls to attend Marian Academy – Guyana’s only Catholic school. The students at Marian Academy get a quality education that includes a solid spiritual and moral foundation they won’t find in the public schools; and they are placed in the appropriate grade for their learning level, so that they don’t fall behind.
Sherry was one of the girls we sponsored. She worked her way through school, graduated, and today is employed at Marian Academy as a teacher! She still visits St. Ann’s to help care for the children and spend time with Sister Beatrice, the orphanage director, who is like a mother to her.
It’s great to see what a difference a Catholic education can make in a child’s life! Girls like Sherry too often end up on the streets, involved with drugs and other risky behaviors; but thanks to all the people who cared enough to reach out a helping hand, Sherry found a better path and stuck to it.
Education is a huge part of what we do at Cross Catholic. We’re fond of the old saying, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.”
We’ve got a lot of great education projects this year that you can check out by clicking here. There are other kids like Sherry just waiting for someone to invest in their future.
