Jaden Foundation - History

According to official statistics, 96% of Belizean children attend primary school and Belize’s adult literacy rate is currently at 76.5%. Sadly enough, there are some isolated pockets of Belize where these statistics do not hold up. This is mainly the case in rural Mayan and Latino villages.

Simone Engeln & her family live in one of these communities. Their property (The Belize Jungle Dome) is surrounded by Mayan and former Guatemalan refugee families. 2 years ago Simone discovered that there were 14 children of school age living right beside her who were not receiving any kind of education.

It was the middle of a school year, so finding placements for these children at that time was not possible. So Simone decided to start teaching these children, even though she had no former teaching experience. For 6 months she taught a group of 14 children (aged 5 to 15) in one of their spare bedrooms. She was teaching them things as basic as holding a pencil, counting to ten and little bits of English (the official language of Belize).

During these first months, Simone experienced the amazing generosity of people from all over the world. Scholastics donated $800 worth of books, Singlish (a special teaching method, where children learn English through music and movement) donated materials and many individuals sent arts & craft supplies, books, games and more. This was when the seeds for the Jaden Foundation were sewn...

When the new school year started, Simone managed to get all the kids sponsored and accepted in to local schools. They are now in their second year of school and doing well.

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Jaden Foundation - History