Since I started Make Money Your Way last July, I decided to pledge 10% of my blogging income to support children’s education in my village. I previously shared that I awarded two scholarships to the top two middle school students so they could attend high school 150 miles away for three years.
The estimated cost for boarding school is around $2,500 per child, per year, totaling $15,000 over the next three years. So, I need to earn $150,000 from blogging to meet this goal.
Here’s how the funds look so far:
– July’s income: $404
– August’s income: $253
– September’s income: $297
– October’s income: $357
– November’s income: $269
– December’s income: $462
– January’s income: $329
– February’s income: $634
– March’s income: $195 (after donating $300 to Charity:Water)
– April’s income: $459
– May’s income: $697
– June’s income: $756
Total from my blogging income: $5,112. Plus, I received $2,550 from reader donations and two old laptops. A big thank you to everyone who has contributed!
So far, I’ve spent $4,066 on supplies, uniforms for the new school year, boarding school tuition, and buying laptops for a computer literacy project. I have $3,596 left.
**Boarding School Kids**
I paid $478 for April’s tuition a bit late because the school delayed providing receipts for March’s payment. Additionally, I funded a field trip for accounting students to Guatemala City. Though it was frustrating not to have receipts on time, I had to work around that.
Next week, there’s a parents’ meeting to review the kids’ grades for the first quarter of the year, and although they invited me, I decided that the $50 in gas for a three-hour drive would be better spent on the project. I did visit the school soon, as it’s on my way to Guatemala City. I also gave $45 to a student who chose to visit her family rather than go on an expensive field trip, which made me proud.
The kids mostly just need tuition covered unless they require new uniforms. Recently, I spent $32 on arts and crafts supplies and $24 for bus rides for summer practice.
Total expenses for tuition and board from April to June: $1,535
**Computer Literacy Project**
Currently, there are four laptops being used in the village. Instead of donating them to the school, where computers often break and go unattended, I chose to set up an internet café at the house of a girl who cleans my place. She’s familiar with computers and uses the laptops to teach kids for three half days a week, while renting them out the rest of the time.
The project quickly took off with 50 kids enrolling. These children had never encountered computers before, so initial lessons involved basic skills like turning the computer on and off and using Paint to learn mouse handling. The sessions are organized into 12 groups, with each child attending a one-hour session per week.
I pay the girl $25 a week for teaching. She usually works part-time at my place and sells snacks on the side, so this extra income helps her out. I also cover the internet costs, which amounted to $192 in April due to the purchase of a Wi-Fi router. This expense went down in May and rose again in June when the kids used more data.
Total expenses from April to June: $716
**Book Reading Project**
In Guatemala, reading isn’t common, so I decided to introduce books to the kids, starting with comic books and fairy tales to make reading enjoyable. The girl who teaches computer classes observed that many kids read slowly and often missed key parts of the story, so light, colorful books seemed like the best starting point.
The books were a hit! Some kids quickly read through all the books, and with a $300 donation, I bought more, including popular comics. Since many kids are eager to learn English, I plan to get some basic English reading books next.
Total expenses from April to June: $340
Now, I have $1,305 left. Thank you all for supporting my blogs and making these projects possible!